Maybe at the beggining you won't notice, but Costa Rica has a completely different variety of spanish. Cultural influences have led to a vocabulary that's a mix of english, spanish and caribbean dialects.

Obviously you're not gonna go mouthing these things off at a business meeting with your regional supervisor, but when you're not at a business meeting with your regional supervisor, you can have some fun with the language.

Costarrican term	Proper spanish term	Translation
Aguevado	Aburrido	Boring or depressed.
Chopo	Arma de fuego	A gun, more like a "gat" or a "nine".
Chunche	Objeto	Thing. A generic term used for anything and everything. Kinda like a whatchamacallit or a thingamabob.
Harina/Guevo	Dinero	Money. You might hear "todo el guevo" -> "loads of money".
Jama	Comida	Food
Jeton	Mentiroso	Liar
Lata	Bus	Bus. Wait until you get on one of the public buses and you'll see why the term.
Madre (que madre)	Que mal	In a two words, "this sucks".
Mae (Maje)	Nonexistant	A generic term used to refer to others. Originally masculine in gender, but recently ported to any of the two. Comes from the english "man" (e.g. "Hey man")
Mierda	Nonexistant	"Que mierda" -> "That sucks". Sometimes heard is also "que shit". "Esa mierda" -> See "chunche".
Pinta	No idea.	I guess "punk" would be the best translation. Your typical street corner urban dweller with the long hair, multiple piercings, etc.
Playo	Homosexual	Gay. More exactly "queer", except it's not considered a slur.
Tuanis		Good, nice. Comes from the english "too nice".
Yodo	Café	Coffee. Yodo is iodine, you get the picture.
Varas	Objetos/Actitudes	"Que varas de mae" -> "The hell is wrong with you?" "Traigase esa vara" -> "Bring that thing over here"