The US-based Costa Rican singer talks about what her new life looks like and what she misses most about Costa Rica

Carolina Paniagua has been one of the main voices of the group Taboga Band for more than 13 years, but since July 2021 she lives in the United States and on these national dates she misses this little piece of land where she was born the most.

However, the long distance hasn’t stopped her from feeling like she lives in Tiquicia, Long Hamptons, east of Long Island, New York State, where she now lives with her gringo husband.

The singer said that on these days she always pulls out her little Costa Rican flag, decorates her house and cooks pure typical dishes. For example, at the time of the interview she was enjoying a spritz next to a Tico friend she was visiting with her family.

According to him, there are a lot of Ticos where he lives, but they don’t get together to celebrate independence like in New Jersey, so he has to content himself with decorating his house a little.

“Here on the island nothing is done to celebrate, here it’s like in Papagayo, it’s completely different, here it’s more of a holiday, to enjoy the festivals you have to go to New Jersey, and sometimes we sing there, But When the traffic is good, they spend more than three hours on the road because you have to go through Manhattan,” he said.

The woman from Ramón said that she had dreamed of living in the United States since she was 16 years old and that although she is very happy in her new home at the moment, there is something about the country that she misses very much and has They also did nothing to do with their traditions.

“I don’t miss the country as such, because I knew a lot about Costa Rica, I walked around every corner singing and took quite a few walks there, what I miss most is the human warmth, the people. Here it is a country with more work, it is a drier country, I say, in human terms. It is colder here and I have met people from other countries and that comforts you, but what I miss about Costa Rica is the warmth of my people and my family,” he said.

Caro said that since she lives in a more touristy area, she creates her own garden on the terrace of her house, where she has a lemon tree and a field of chayotes and other vegetables.

He also has the saving grace that the area where he lives has a nearby supermarket that sells all the vegetables needed for a pot of meat, so he feels the craving from time to time.

“I make my gallo pinto, I make my typical meals. I can go to the supermarket and find everything there, the only thing I didn’t find there is the margarine or butter and some coffee, but let’s say everything is there. Powdered milk, there is Worcestershire sauce, there are yams, bananas from there, avocado, where I live there is a supermarket that even carries chayotes from San Ramón, there are states where you can’t get any of it, that’s why I I do not care. It has made change difficult, but certain things need to be so far away,” he said.

I was thinking about organizing a festival for everyone here so I don’t have to go to New Jersey, but we’re going there little by little.”

— Carolina Paniagua, singer

The singer, who recently opened the Colombian Jessi Uribe’s concert in New York, also confessed that she has the great saving grace that there is a Tico near her house that on Thursdays is dedicated to cooking pure Tico food for her to sell, and thanks to her it is because the craving for arracache or papaya has disappeared.

“Or Ticos tacos, which I won’t find here, because here it’s the Mexican taco that makes us a rooster. I didn’t find the Costa Rican stew or the meat in sauce here, but in New Jersey there are many typical restaurants. Or the salchichón, here they sell a tico, but it doesn’t taste the same to me, I have a feeling , it’s more massive,” he explained.

This weekend he hopes to go on the “Ticos Cruise,” which he says is based in Manhattan and is a type of ship on which only Costa Ricans celebrate independence.

“It’s a party of Ticos cigars on a cruise ship sailing down the Hudson River,” he said.

At the end of August 2020, the artist suffered a pre-infarction with a facial stroke, which developed into a stroke on September 2nd, leaving her in very poor health.

Nevertheless, she gradually recovers to the point that to this day she states that she has after-effects that only she can notice on her face.

What she is most pleased about is that she can sing like before and no longer feels any major discomfort when she is on stage.

“They are consequences that only I notice, so I don’t even count them, I just feel them. “I haven’t used a cane in a long time and I can speak great. I think I sing better now than before,” he said.

According to him, he now sings a lot with José Tijerino, who was the singer of Calle 8 and now lives in the United States, and they worked out very well with the recruitment.

It is expensive to expect to return to the country soon to visit his family and also because in December, thanks to a publisher in New York, a book in honor of his father will be published, containing poems he wrote before his death he had stored there. His wish is to take the book to the Turrialba School, where his father studied, and to a national bookstore.