I stayed in Costa Rica on a crazy whim, which began with a comment. Not an embarrassing one. It was in English, which I’m good at, being my first language. Spanish is my second, reserved for family members who forgive my poor grammar and humor me. Not so here.

I was working as a naturalist guide in a remote jungle lodge. Quite the social experiment. Imagine having to spend 24-7 with your co-workers and an ultra-control freak boss.

One afternoon a rumor spread. Here it spread fast being one of the few forms of legal entertainment. A new group of tourists were arriving and, gasp, they had a guide. Rumour was he a ladies man.

“Watch out for him.” the other guides said.

He turned out to be nice. I even shared a rare treat with him, bought at the local store a 2 hour boat drive away. As a small group of us stood chatting, in Spanish, I bragged about the treat.

He looked at me smiling. “Better use English.”

“You just said, you shared yourself with me.”

Blushing, I switched to English.