Gallery • 9 Photos

Manuel Antonio Beach, located in Quepos, is a very beautiful sight and one of the nicest beaches in Costa Rica. The beach is also part of Manuel Antonio National Park, which is full of monkeys (monos) and trees.

Due to the fact that our whole community switched to virtual learning, I decided to pack up my bags and computer and head to beautiful Heredia, Costa Rica. I have now been here alone for six weeks, living with a Costa Rican family. My experience so far has been amazing, so I wanted to share a little bit about their culture, along with some images I’ve taken recently. 

Food and Drinks

• Barbudos, or string bean fritters, are eaten for breakfast or dinner and have been used for many years to help get young children to eat their vegetables. They are a mix of eggs (huevos) and green beans (vainicas).  
• Casados are one of the most popular and typical dishes of Costa Rica. This dish is a big plate of food usually consisting of rice, black beans, plantains, salad, and a protein source (chicken, beef, pork, or fish). A casado, meaning married, originates many years back and was used to distinguish who was married or not. In other words, someone with a larger plate of food was married and someone with less food was single.
• Beer (cerveza) is found all over Costa Rica, and Imperial Beer is one of the most popular. Many young adults drink beer, as the drinking age is 18. 
• Coffee (café) is typically called cafecito in Costa Rica, as many Ticos drink it various times a day, especially as an afternoon snack. Additionally, the coffee here is handpicked, and there are only two seasons (dry and rainy), which are both ideal climates to grow coffee, making coffee a Costa Rican staple. 
• Gallo pinto is a very common breakfast here, consisting of rice and beans as a base, and many people add eggs, meat, or sour cream (natilla) on top. 
• Fresco de cas (Costa Rican guava) and fresco de guanabana (soursop) are two popular juices where you blend the fruit with a little bit of water and sugar. 

Customs

• Christmas Eve (nochebuena) is celebrated by almost all families, with an emphasis on the children and having family time, while New Year’s Eve (nochevieja) has an emphasis on adults with many parties, fireworks, dancing, and drinking. 
• Ticos! The Costa Ricans refer to themselves as Ticos or Ticas because of their tendency to add the suffix –tico to many words. 
• Many family members call their children or loved ones gordo or gorda, literally translating to “fatty,” but in this case used as a term of endearment. 
• The Costa Rican currency is colones. 613.9 colones is equivalent to 1 US dollar. 

Music/Dancing

• The most popular music and dancing I’ve encountered while in Costa Rica is Merengue, Salsa, Rumba, Bachata, Cumbia, and songs in English. The people I know here love to listen to Beyonce, Frank Sinatra, Coldplay, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and many songs from the 80s.