Travels in Costa Rica: Our first taste of Heredia

After our placement interviews for Spanish classes at Intercultura, the language school we attended while living in Heredia, we were taken on a tour of the town.

Heredia is a dynamic little town. Each day, Dana and I walked ten minutes uphill (no, really... it was an entire uphill walk to the school from our house) to get to school, and once we emerged from the housing area, we would pass numerous schools (there are several schools on one street), each with their own park or fenced-in playground, a few pharmacies, movie rental stores, bakeries, and stores of all types. General stores, beauty parlors, pet shops, restaurants, and clothing boutiques are set up side-to-side, lining the sidewalks.

enjoying the marketplace and tasting the fruit!

On our first tour, we were taken to the market in the town square. There were varieties of stalls inside the marketplace. Ticos sell baked goods, fruit and vegetables, clothing, and more. It was very interesting to see the way Ticos buy their fruit from the market daily. Dana and I once bought some starfruit, "moras" (blackberries), and "mamone", a fruit with a shell one peels off to reveal a grapelike seed to suck on, from the market. "Guanabana," or guava, is also a common fruit in Costa Rica. One can find it in cookies and artificial flavors all around the country.

After the market, our group stopped for lunch at "Las Fresas" for lunch. There, we were introduced to the typical Costa Rican lunch, "casado," which directly translated means "married." This national dish contains rice and beans with cabbage-and-tomato salad, fried plantains (YUM!), and meat. At Las Fresas, we each had our choice of the steak, chicken, fish, or vegetarian version of casado. I elected to try the chicken, and it was pretty good. My favorite was definitely the friend plantains, which are a staple in almost every lunch and dinner in Costa Rica.

To drink, Ticos frequently enjoy "cas" or "guanabana," a fruit drink made from the fruits that supply their namesake. Cas is a type of guava and is a little less sweet than guanabana (I preferred guanabana), and they are both in a smoothie form. It is normal to ask for these drinks "con agua" (with water) or "con leche" (with milk). With milk, the drink is less of a smoothie has more of a milkshake consistency.

That first tour gave us a small taste of Costa Rican life. After Las Fresas, we passed many of the shops and bars that would become landmarks and hangouts to us in the weeks to come. We couldn't wait to get out there on our own!