I am officially done my first full day in Costa Rica! My first impressions of Costa Rica definitely matched my expectations. The people are friendly, welcoming, kind and have very warm hospitality. I expected food to be a huge part of their culture and it certainly is! After just the first day, I have tried so many new foods like plantains, squash, gallo pinto, corn panqueques, papaya, and so many more fruits I can’t remember the names of!
The first example of hospitality I noticed was when I interacted with mama Julia for the first time. To start off, I was a little nervous about staying with a host family, but mama has been so loving and opened us with warm arms. She even calls Jenna, Lizzie, and I her amors. I noticed after our first dinner as a familia, my Spanish was a bit rusty, especially because mama speaks no english. However, I have faith that after a few more days it will get easier. I also expected my Spanish to be much worse before arriving in Costa Rica but surprisingly I pick up better than I thought!
In addition, the houses and architecture in Costa Rica is just what I imagined. You can definitely feel the history and culture behind each building especially when we were on our walking tour of Heredia today. I really enjoyed watching the women dance in their dresses in front of the gazebo and hearing the live band after church. We even got a photo with the dancers! Religion is something that is very important to me so listening to the mass for a minute while we stepped in to take a photo, was very fascinating. Also the whole mass was in Spanish which was no surprise but definitely cool!
After walking around the town we got to visit a mercado (market) where many people sold fruits, vegetables, meats, cheese, and really anything! Even though a lot of shops were closed I could really see how important it was for people to grow their own food and come together and share with each other.
After lunch and our tour of Heredia, we went to the mall which is something I did not expect to do but I thought it was lovely. It was much bigger than expected and had a lot of green space and people playing or sitting outside. My favorite part of today was watching my friends play soccer with some local kids in the neighborhood. It was so easy to talk to them especially because they knew a little english too 😉 I just really enjoyed spending time outside, getting closer with the group, and taking all the little moments in. Wether that be watching them retrieve a lost ball that was kicked over the fence, or taking this ADORABLE photo of everyone, or sharing my sunscreen with Jack. I truly just feel at peace and that everyone here has so much appreciation for their country.
I can’t wait to make more memories! It’s only day 2 and I am loving it ❤️