Most people usually associate countries with only having one main type of culture, but in reality, there is a diverse range of cultures within a country. I learned more about this today from Dr. Ramirez, our guest lecturer for the day. From her presentation, it was interesting to learn that even in the seven main regions of Costa Rica, the cultures vary: different music and different food. With us mainly staying in Heredia, we focused more on Heredia’s culture. When we got to the “typical food in Costa Rica” section, I realized how much weight I was probably going to gain because there is just so much I still have to try. For the first time this morning, our host mom made us gallopinto for breakfast. It was delicioso! Gallo pinto is a traditional Latin America dish that consists of rice and beans. Some other traditional dishes that I am eager to try are pati (pastry cake stuffed with meat), tortillas con harina de yuca (flatbread), and casado (rice, beans, meat, fried banana).

It was interesting to see that in one of our activities during class today, people’s views of Costa Rica were very similar. We had to explain why we used certain colors for our paintings of oxcarts designs on the canvas. A lot of us connected the colors we used in our paintings to the location of Costa Rica relative to the oceans and the apparent heat and sun that is constant throughout the day. Overall, it seemed like that all of our thoughts and views on Costa Rica and Heredia were positive. On a deeper level, I believe the reason for that is, because we are truly interested in learning more about the culture and being completely indulged in it.

During our dance class, we practiced and may have butchered some of the basic moves for the salsa and the merengue. It was amusing though, to see some of the other students try to attempt the more advanced moves. We tried to advance our skills by increasing the speed at which we danced, and really made it seem like we were all in a Zumba class trying to get a nice workout in for the day. It is just incredible to see the beauty of dancing and the impact it has on people. Last night, I witnessed a couple of friends salsa dancing and they seemed genuinely happy just dancing with each other. That’s the power I believe dancing can have for some people.