After a very early morning and a whole day of traveling, we made it to Costa Rica! Yesterday, we spent the evening getting to know our host moms and brushing up on our Spanish. And this morning, we are ready to see Heredia! One of my big first impression of Costa Rica was how friendly everybody is and that was an expectation coming in, so it was most definitely met. When we arrived and were picked up by our host moms, each of us were greeted with a hug. They made sure we felt welcome right off the bat.

Another first impression was how beautiful the architecture of the houses was. I didn’t have any specific expectations but my host house is especially different in comparison to the design of houses in the States. You have to walk up a flight of stairs to get to the main floor after you enter, which I feel is not common at home, but it is very cool.

We woke up bright and early after a restful sleep and had gallo pinto (rice and beans) and huevos (eggs) with fruit for breakfast. Off to see Heredia! We started out with going to the center of the city. Because it’s Sunday, many places were closed or closed midday. We made our way over to the marcados which is the market. They had everything from fruits and vegetables to cat and dog food. They even had places where you could sit and have food called sodas. When picturing Costa Rica, I was imagining more individual street vendors scattered about and I wasn’t picturing everything to be in one place, so that was an impression that did not match my expectation. Our tour guide, Sylvia, bought us mamón to try, which is a Spanish lime and it was really delicious. We learned that Heredia is known as the city of flowers because of the former President of Costa Rica, Alfredo González Flores, who lived in Heredia.

After enjoying some music from a live band, we departed for lunch, which consisted of fried plantains, steak, chicken, pork, and potatoes. We then went to the mall to explore and got a beautiful view of the city from the rooftop. When we left the mall, we went to a park and played soccer while others watched. They also had some little kids from the neighborhood join the game.

Overall, Costa Rica matched and exceeded my expectations. Everyone is so friendly and it’s beautiful here. I can’t wait to see even more.