While in Costa Rica, during the classic limbo period at the end of dinner, I engaged in Preguntas Picantes. The best way I can explain this is that it’s just your typical after-dinner gossip, except it’s more like a 3-on-1 interview, and all of the questions are in Spanish (I explained it pretty well). Four of us from across the world would just fade into the jungle, sharing our deepest darkest secrets in what was for most of us, a foreign language. There is nothing like trying to answer spicy questions about your sex life (or lack of it) in a language you can barely talk to a taxi driver in. 

The last night we had together in Costa Rica, we went on a night hike in the jungle to our favorite clearing (where we spotted a mountain lion on a camera trap a few weeks before), squeezed onto a small bench, and just stared at the moon in each others arms. We watched the clouds dissipate on the mountain peaks in the moonlight, listened to the wind, and told our last stories. We talked about how much the world meant to us, cried, and soaked in each others’ energies for the final time. It wasn’t just true friendship–it was more.

Alex Motawi