The Concept of Time in Costa Rica

Here is my representation of the concept of time related to the language used to express it in Costa Rica.  You learn in Spanish class that "ahora" means "now," but as you can see... it can mean "today" or even "tonight." 

You also learn that "Ahora mismo" means "right now,"  which I don't know if I've ever heard here.  Here, they say "ya" to mean right now.  The difficult thing is that "ya" can also mean "already" "in 5 minutes" "5 minutes ago" or even an exclamation of "enough" as in "Stop doing that already....enough!" And here's a weird one for you:  "Ya regreso" means "I'll be right back."  What does it literally mean, though....?  "I'm already back... or I'm back now." 

You would think that "ya casi...ahorita" would mean "almost"... but I joke that it actually means "in 20 minutes."  I have timed it on various occasions and each time it took 20 minutes for something to happen.  Hahah... now, I don't think that is truly scientifically accurate, but it makes me laugh. 

Then, there's "ahorita."  "Ahorita" is the weirdest one of all.  It literally means: "In a little bit,"  but it often seems to stretch anywhere from 20 minutes to never.  It really depends on the context and the intention of the speaker.  For example:  At the hospital when nobody was working at a counter, they would tell me the person would be there "ahorita."  They would walk up 40 minutes later from their breakfast break like nothing had happened.  Or anther example:  When I was selling ceviche at the theatre and asked if someone wanted to buy it, they said "ahorita."  In this case, they had no intention of ever buying it. 

Then, there's the subjunctive tense.... I'm not even going to go into that, but that throws a whole other level of confusion into the matter of time and possibility.  Let's just say that if someone tells you they'll see you later in the subjunctive tense, it may or may not happen.  That really changes one's perceptions of plans, doesn't it?  Before I learned this tense, I just thought the person was saying they would see me later. 

So.... this is why it has taken me a year to semi-understand the concept of time in language here.  And, as you can imagine - there have been many occasions where I have been confused and then, sometimes, disappointed due to lack of understanding in statements of time.  Of course, I think it is funny now and I hope that this representation might save some other "extranjeros" from misunderstandings about time and maybe just make everyone else smile. :]