Costa Rica is a beautiful country with lots of amazing features. It is a very nice and easy place to walk around. The Central Park in Heredia, was one of my favorite spots today. The flowers and trees were gorgeous and so full of life. The sky is unbelievably blue, until the clouds started to come in for the late afternoon shower. As it is a Sunday it was nice to see all of the people out this morning in the park and the church nearby.  All of the Ticos, a name for Costa Ricans, I’ve met so far have been really welcoming and patient, especially with my limited Spanish speaking skills.

One aspect that I expected but did not fully understand until I got here was the directional and street sign aspect of Costa Rica. There are truly no street signs in the neighborhood I am staying in and there aren’t even house numbers. Everyone just uses landmarks, which is helpful but very different from America. There are parts of the province, specifically in Heredia’s center that is set up like a grid, where there are street signs. However, these street signs are not name like they are in the US, they are simply “Calle” followed by a number or “Avenida” followed by a number. For example, Calle 5 and Avenida 7, which is simply street 5 and avenue 7, which are numbered in relation to the Central Park in Heredia. The system is very easy to follow and helpful with determining where you are in relation to the center of town. You don’t have to remember the order of street names as you do in the United States as you just have to follow the numbers. The streets and avenues are also number in a way so that odd numbers are on one side of the park and evens are on the other, as another way of determining your location.

The houses are similar but also different from what I expected. They are generally one story, although the house I am in is two, and they are relatively close together. I did not expect the almost inside yard my host family has. When you enter their house, you first enter a gate which leads to a parking spot, and their front yard or garden. The garden is inside the gate and surrounded by the gate one side and concrete walls and the house on the other sides. This is different as it is outdoors as there is no roof over it, but it still seems almost inside to me as it is surrounded by walls and a gate. Some of the houses also have bars on their window or very large fences or gates around their houses. I learned that this is not necessarily because they live in a dangerous area, or that they are worried about someone breaking in, they have them simply to make themselves feel more secure. This was very different from the United States, as if you had bars on your windows it is probably because you live in an unsafe area, and are fearful of someone breaking into your home.

Overall, Costa Rica has surpassed and changed everything I had expected to see. The country is so pleasant and relaxed. All of the Ticos are friendly and easy-going people which is different from the states. While I need to brush up on my Spanish skills, my first impressions of Costa Rica have been nothing but fantastic.