After a day of exploring Heredia, I feel that I had a fairly good idea of what to expect in the city from what was discussed in pre-departure meetings, images I had googled of the area, and some general knowledge of Latin American culture. However, there were certain things I did not expect or consider before coming here that I now find quite interesting. While I expected to see a mix of the traditional culture of Heredia with more modern and global influences, I was not sure what that cultural mix would look like in the city. After seeing the city today, I find it interesting how the smaller, local businesses maintained a strong and vibrant presence in the heart of downtown Heredia, while new shopping complexes and American fast food chains tended to cluster on streets with heavier traffic outside of the city center. It seems that both types of businesses are currently able to coexist because they are filling different niches in the market, although with the trend of shopping malls becoming more popular in Costa Rica I wonder if smaller, local businesses will continue to be able to compete. 

I also did not anticipate what the traffic would be like in Heredia, which can be quite bad, especially for pedestrians, and I wonder if it may have consequences for local businesses. Pedestrians cannot assume a right of way in Heredia and there are a limited number of walk signs and crosswalks to help pedestrians safely cross busy streets. I speculate that If car traffic continues to increase through the area as more people move to the province Heredia, walking could become less popular which could then endanger smaller, local businesses which are more reliant on pedestrian traffic for business. If worsened traffic were to eliminate the niche these small businesses serve in the local economy, they could lose the ability to compete with international businesses that cater to more car oriented customers. I also wonder how these small businesses are able to keep their storefronts in stock, since the narrow and sometimes congested streets they are found on do not allow for tractor trailers to come in with large quantities of goods, the way many of the stores of the US suburbs I am familiar with are stocked. I imagine that these businesses instead rely on a network of smaller, local providers and receive smaller shipments of specific goods to keep products in stock.

Ultimately, I think it may be in the interest of local officials to improve the safety of the streets for pedestrians and improve the flow of automobile traffic outside of central Heredia in order to preserve the smaller businesses of Heredia and the unique culture they are a part of.  Of course, having only been here for one day, there are likely many other factors at play that complicate my shallow and narrow analysis, and I hope to develop a better understanding of the issues I have discussed over the course of the next two weeks.