¡Bienvenidos a Costa Rica! I am SO excited to be living in such a beautiful country for the next two weeks! Coming to Costa Rica, I expected there to be bright sunlight and warm temperatures, which is exactly what we experienced this morning. Since we are staying in the region of Heredia, which is outside the capital of San José, I expected to be living in a green, suburban area. However, Heredia is much more urban than I expected, with grid-style streets and bustling city traffic. While there were lots of cars, most of them were small sedans, with very few SUVs. I learned that this is because the bigger the car, the more expensive it is to import. Despite the urban environment, we could see the mountains in the distance and we got to see lots of different plants in the Center Plaza and near the university. After all, Heredia is known as “La Ciudad de las Flores.”

One aspect of Heredia that I found really interesting was how religious the area is. We saw quite a few churches while on our walking tour and I learned that the area is mostly Catholic. Many of the shops and restaurants were closed Sunday morning so that everyone could go to mass. We even walked past an outdoor church service!

Another thing that surprised me was the number of familiar big-name companies that we saw in Heredia. While I expected to see chain restaurants such as McDonald’s, I did not expect to drive past an Office Depot or Chuck-E-Cheese.

So far, my experience in Heredia has been wonderful with quite a few surprises. I am excited to continue exploring the region, as well as the rest of Costa Rica. ¡Pura vida!