Typical Costa Rican Homes

Important disclaimer: I really can't claim to understand the home life of all Costa Ricans. I only saw the inside of four separate houses during my stay, so I'm just stating some things I saw because I know there was a lot I wasn't expecting when I arrived.

For ease and organization, I'll break my observations down by area of the house to answer the question: what are Costa Rican houses like?

In general

My host home: I lived downstairs with my host
mother, her niece lived upstairs with her husband and child

Houses in Costa Rica—especially the sort that a host student would find themselves in—are quite similar to American houses in style, just with muted luxuries. There is no air conditioning. Most if not all rooms are tile floors. There may not be cable, and there really may not be Wifi—electronics are extremely expensive, so many people don't have computers and thus don't get Wifi. As a courtesy, note that many Wifi services in Costa Rica charge by the amount of data used, not just a monthly fee like in the U.S, so try not to torrent the Lord of the Rings movie series or the Encyclopedia Britannica on your host mother's Wifi. 

Bedrooms

Bedrooms—similar to in European housing—tend to be smaller in favor of having larger common areas. There is a TV in most bedrooms, and a good deal of people even have cable services. However, it is all in Spanish. The closest you'll get to English television is if you happen upon a movie that has only gotten Spanish subtitles instead of Spanish dubbed voices. Not everyone has cable but if not the television will have antennae that pick up several basic channels—namely TeleTica (channel 7 on every TV I tried), which is a national channel but has a very local news feel that plays news programs, talkshows, and Saturday morning cartoons. Also of note, every single day it plays announcements of who in Costa Rica died that day and where their funeral will be held, all to the tune of "Gabriel's Solo" from The Mission.

Where I slept for 7 weeks!

Most beds in the homes are unfortunately exceedingly uncomfortable, usually because they're ancient. I'm not certain about all of them, but I'm pretty sure that my mattress did not have springs and was just stuffed. Most of the support comes from the wooden slats that support the mattress as part of the bed frame. In several of the houses I saw there were no fitted sheets, only what I would think of as a top sheet tucked into the bed
frame around the mattress. As far as size goes, all of the host students I talked to slept on "single" beds, though these appeared slightly wider than American twin beds. In homes, because the bedrooms are typically quite small, I never saw any beds larger than what would be called a "double bed" in the U.S. In hotels however, you can get as large as an American king-sized bed, though if you stay in less-expensive and/or non-American hotels a double will be more common.

Bathrooms

#1 rule to abide by in public restrooms: Don't flush anything that didn't come out of your own body. The sewer system cannot handle toilet paper and especially cannot handle feminine hygiene products (you aren't even supposed to flush those in the US, by the way), and you will find yourself with a clogged toilet if you try to flush things. There will always be a trash can next to any toilet you use to toss used toilet paper and whatever else you might need to dispose of. Toilet paper is almost always lightly scented, so many restrooms actually don't reek like you might expect.

Well, public restrooms and private restrooms in Costa Rica are entirely separate creatures. Public bathrooms are usually pretty nasty and if you can help it, avoid them. Unless you paid to use it (the most I paid to use one was 32 cents) there is no guarantee or realistic expectation of available toilet paper or soap. Accordingly, if you imagine that you will potentially find yourself in a public restroom at any point, make sure to have tissues and hand sanitizer on you. Paid public restrooms are passable; they at least have toilet paper and soap but tend to not be cleaned at any recent time and frequently lack toilet seats. Restrooms inside of restaurants are fine, and those in bars are decent but usually lack toilet seats and sometimes soap.

Private restrooms obviously always have soap, toilet paper, and toilet seats. They're pretty plain in terms of the whole toilet/sink situation. Bathrooms are almost always shared with other people, and I never saw them placed in a portion of the house where they can only be reached by walking through a bedroom. Showers in Costa Rica are definitely distinct from American ones. They are frequently tiled and sometimes are a bath tub/shower combo. Everywhere except in hotels though, you will need to deal with turning on the hot water. There will usually be a switch or something that looks kind of like a circuit breaker near the shower that you will need to switch on in order to have any vain hopes of warm water. In the case of my host home, I had to switch it on, then off, then on again to turn on the heater. However, only once in seven weeks (due to forces I didn't remotely understand) did I have water as warm as I wanted, and there was many an occasion where it was ice cold. Also beware of the fact that in some homes the water can be optionally rerouted to better fill the clothes washing machine, meaning your shower will turn off. Costa Ricans are very conscious of conserving water—whether it's to not have to pay water bills or for green-ness I'm not certain. When they shower they frequently turn the water on for a minute, turn it off to scrub/shampoo/whatever, then turn it back on to rinse.

My host home's dining room/living room

Living Rooms

Living areas in the Costa Rican homes I saw were pretty bare bones. Sofas, armchairs, and a stereo. Every once in a while a television. Usually this area was really small, and sometimes not used at all. In some homes it's where people sit and read, or entertain guests, or sit since it's usually the closest room to the front door—which is left open when it isn't raining for air circulation.

Kitchens

Compared to many American kitchens, Costa Rican kitchens are also bare bones. Not only are they substantially more compact than most American kitchens, they lack many of the same appliances. This is due to a combination of not wanting to spend the extra energy on running them with the fact that electronics are relatively much more expensive in Costa Rica, due to the fact that they're all imported. The kitchens I saw were usually the size of the average American laundry room. Not once did I see a dishwasher—all dishes were washed by hand with a sponge and solid dish soap from a tub sitting at the side of the sink. Many people have refrigerators, though the niece of my host mother didn't have one so she shared my host mother's. Another host home with a lot more people living in it that I visited had two refrigerators. The kitchens I saw there all had a stove and oven, though ovens are rarely used in typical Costa Rican cooking. Many places also use electric skillets that look like some sort of George Foreman creation, to minimize pans used. My host mother cooked almost everything on her "sartén." Accordingly, a lot of food is fried. Most people have a microwave, and I also saw toaster ovens, coffee makers, blenders, and toasters. However, many of these extra appliances are unplugged when not in use to save electricity.

Laundry Rooms

Some houses in Costa Rica have a designated room for laundry, and some don't. However, there is not a tumble dryer to be found. If there is a laundry room, it is—at most—a sink, maybe some counter space, and a washing machine. Sometimes it isn't a room, it's just the washing machine inside somewhere. In my host home it was on the back patio in a covered area. Laundry is usually done on the weekends when there is less to do otherwise and people don't have to go to work. All clothes are dried outside in the sun, almost always on clothes lines but sometimes on more improvised areas. I saw clothes hung on fences, out of windows, etc. 

The Best Packing Guide for Traveling, Living, or Studying Abroad in Costa Rica

First I should start with some things to not bring to Costa Rica. Namely, this list includes things that would be damaged by extreme humidity or heat, which are pretty much Costa Rica's middle names. So: leather shoes, clothes that can only be dry cleaned (besides humidity damage, I didn't see a dry cleaners outside of San Jose), precious books, your collection of rice paper, etc. Don't bother with chapstick or other remedies for dry skin; it's so warm, you won't get dry skin unless you have a disorder. And specifically for ladies: don't bring any Plan B-type things--they are considered an abortion in Costa Rica and are illegal to have and/or consume--or dangling purses--easier to steal. 

The rest of this post will just be in a handy list format, since more people are concerned with what to bring:

Clothing

Raincoat (don't you dare skip this, especially if you're going between April and October)

Sneakers you can get filthy

At least one pair of comfortable walking shoes

At least one pair of jeans (Costa Rican men don't really wear shorts, Costa Rican women wear pants more often but shorts aren't unusual)

Shower shoes (if you plan to frequently stay in hostels)

Toiletries 

[almost all toiletries are imported and thus very expensive in Costa Rica, so balance the weight of your bag with bringing as many of them as you can fit]

Toothpaste

Shampoo/conditioner

Bar soap (easier to transport than containers of body wash)

More sunscreen and bug spray than you think you can use

Makeup

Extra prescriptions

After-sun lotion (for when you inevitably get sunburned)

Tums and Immodium (seriously)

Bath towel (if you plan to stay in hostels)

Miscellaneous

Sturdy, collapsible umbrella

Books (to read on bus rides)

Backpack or duffel bag (for day/weekend trips)

Eye mask if you can't sleep when it's bright (sunrise is at about 5 AM all year)

Wallet with a zip pocket or a coin purse (many transactions involve just coins)

Small Spanish-English dictionary

A few ziplock bags to protect your electronics while out walking (rain is so good at destroying stuff)

Technology

Some kind of device to utilize the internet: tablet/laptop/smartphone

Plug adapter for 3-pronged device chargers to fit 2-prong plugs

Extra batteries if needed for cameras/razors/etc. (they're so expensive in CR)

Small flashlight

Camera (for posterity)

Typical Costa Rican food

What are meals like in Costa Rica? What is typical Costa Rican food? While there is certainly a great variety, the simplest answer can be illustrated by the song below. In this blog post I will describe common Costa Rican breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, then finally some differences between the American and Costa Rican preparation of some foods.

Seriously, it wouldn't be hard to get rice and beans for every meal for the duration of your stay

Breakfast

The only breakfast you will ever see in Costa Rica is gallo pinto and scrambled eggs. Maybe with toast, maybe with sausage, maybe with potatoes. Always with gallo pinto, and always with eggs. Gallo pinto is a dish made with white rice and black beans mixed together with cilantro. Some people love it, but after 7 weeks I was no longer a fan. Scrambled eggs are scrambled eggs and don't really vary from what I knew from America. They usually don't have cheese in them, but that's true of many American hotel breakfasts, too. As a beverage people drink coffee or some sort of fruit juice. Common choices of juice for breakfast are mango, papaya, blackberry, or cas (a small citrus-y fruit that only grows in Costa Rica)--though hotels that often cater to Americans will also have orange juice. 

Restaurants tend to have a bigger variety though. You can easily find omelettes, breakfast pastries (usually bread with ham, cheese, and/or fruit baked inside), or french toast served at sodas, the "typical food" restaurants. 

Lunch

I have read that Costa Ricans prefer that lunch be the largest meal of the day. In my experience it was approximately the same size as dinner, though perhaps a bit larger. If you're traveling and eating out all the time or cooking your own meals that doesn't matter.

The options for lunch are much more diverse, especially at restaurants. Throughout Costa Rica there are very many "sodas" that serve typical Costa Rican food. There are also lots of fried chicken restaurants (many general stores will even have a small counter that has some fried chicken for sale), pizza places, Asian restaurants, and more American fast food than you're used to seeing. The chains I saw were Taco Bell, Subway, Quiznos, McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and KFC. ALL of them are gigantic, two-story, and extremely nice. You will definitely have plenty of opportunities to quench American fast food cravings. However, the prices at these restaurants are a good bit higher than they are in the U.S. for most of the items. For example, soft serve ice cream at McDonald's is relatively very cheap, but it costs much more to get a soft drink. It is approximately the same price--if not cheaper--to eat a healthier meal elsewhere and try the local food. 

In my host home, I received a wide variety of meals, but again with the constant staple of white rice and black beans. I ate various soups, rotisserie-style meat, taquitos, and a great deal of "picadillo" (pica dilly). Picadillo is a dish of a vegetable cut into little pieces mixed in with ground beef. Vegetable options include potato, yucca, choyote, and other starchy tuber-like foods. Hot dogs and tuna are frequent protein options. Pasta is a fairly common dish, almost always with a tomato sauce. My favorite dishes were cannelloni (a big pasta tube stuffed with cheese and maybe other fillings and baked) and sopa Azteca (tomato-based sauce with rotisserie chicken, cheese, and pieces of tortilla chip).

Dinner

The options for dinner are the same in restaurants as there are for lunch. Something I didn't mention before was that near the coast fish and ceviche are very easy to find, though beware. On the Caribbean coast people have the habit of shipping frozen fish from the Pacific coast because it's still cheaper than buying from local producers, so your fish taco in Puerto Viejo may not be as fresh as you're hoping. Granted, the opposite coast is only 8 hours away by car. 

In Costa Rican homes however, dinner frequently consists of leftovers from lunch plus tortillas and more rice and beans. Usually another vegetable is prepared also. If it isn't leftovers, dinner is often some sort of piece of meat over rice and beans, like a pork chop or steak. The meat I was served most often was pork, and many people eat tuna all the time (I don't personally like it). Again there was also a good deal of pasta. 

Desserts & Beverages

It could definitely be said that Costa Ricans have a sizable sweet tooth. Ice cream is immensely popular. Almost every fast food restaurant has a separate register or two directly by the street entrance for people to more easily get desserts. These counters almost exclusively sell ice cream. Most tiny convenience stores sell ice cream bars and sandwiches, and there are men who walk around with carts selling it.

In my host home there was usually no ice cream, though. Cookies were very popular, usually sugar cookies with cream in the center like an Oreo. Important note: the Oreos do not taste good, I wouldn't bother buying them. They are manufactured in Nicaragua so there is a big difference in the taste of the ingredients. You can't even find double-stuffed ones anyway. Also common is "pan dulce" (sweet bread) and rice pudding, served warm. 

Since staying in Costa Rica, I have fully converted to the cult of Mexican Coke. I don't know about all of Latin and South America, but in Costa Rica the Coke is produced in Mexico, so it has real sugar in it instead of corn syrup. The price is approximately the same if not a bit lower (you pay between $1.20 and $2.00 for a 600mL plastic bottle), but it tastes so much better and is only 10 more calories per serving than its American counterpart. Coke is pretty much ubiquitous in Costa Rica, though some restaurants only sell Pepsi products. There aren't really vending machines, but there are general stores and supermarkets everywhere that sell it. Most restaurants sell beverages in plastic bottles, not as fountain drinks. Glasses of water (agua en vaso) is usually free, but it isn't safe to drink outside of the Central Valley. 

Other common beverages are tea (usually te frio) and fruit-flavored sodas. Fanta (orange & grape) is fairly common, but the most common ones are strange flavors that I wasn't brave enough to try, like Apple and Mango. 

General Differences

I have plenty of interesting stories about differences between certain foods as they're prepared in Costa Rica versus American, but I'll summarize a few that are probably most interesting...

In general, Costa Rican food is very plain. They rarely cook with salt, and never with pepper. Hot sauce is always available at restaurants, but most Ticos don't use it even though the food is not spicy at all. 

Pizza is pretty decent there, though the best pizza I had was prepared by Italian ex-pats. It's always thin crust, except at Pizza Hut. The most common toppings for pizzas are mozzarella cheese and ham (not pepperoni, even though they're both pork). The ham is like deli sliced ham you would use on a sandwich. It isn't bad, honestly, but it's a bit weird at first. 

Spaghetti! Topped with soy ham (vegetarian
restaurant) and some cheese that isn't Italian

Tomato-based sauces do taste a bit odd, as you might find them in ketchup or spaghetti. For whatever reason they just taste a bit sweeter and less robust. Spaghetti also frequently has margarine in the sauce, and is sometimes topped with ham. 

Burgers are not bad, but usually really greasy in Costa Rica--and again frequently topped with ham. Other common toppings include mayo, raw onion, and crushed potato chips.

Spanish in Costa Rica

The most common thing you hear is that Spanish in Costa Rica is very formal, but what does that even mean? Here I'll give a quick run-down of Spanish do's and don'ts in Costa Rica, as well as some common phrases and their use.

Formality & Manners

The formal "you." Normally in Spanish you use "usted" to say "you" to: someone you haven't met before, people in a position of authority (e.g. teacher, police officer), or someone older than you. Once you establish a rapport, many Spanish speakers will tell you to use "tú" with them.

In Costa Rica, always use "usted" to address someone and you'll never be wrong. People will almost always use it with you; my host family even used "usted" to address the dog. The only time I heard someone use "tú" with me in Costa Rica was from one professor and every once in a while from my host mother when she was telling me to eat more. You as a student should definitely never use "tú" to an adult, and most young people use "usted" amongst themselves except for close friends. You'll occasionally see "tú" in advertisements.

Some people say it's because Costa Ricans highly value manners. I feel more that it just has to do with the way people tend to speak and there isn't really a reason besides tradition, like why only Spaniards really use the "vosotros" conjugation.

Finally, an extra random note: when Costa Ricans answer the phone they say something along the lines of "Alo" usually followed by "Buenas" or "Muy buenas."

Small talk. A point of speaking in Costa Rica that definitely is due to manners is the well-practiced art of small-talk. Costa Ricans love to chat, however briefly, about most anything. They'll frequently ask you where you're from in the U.S., how you like Costa Rica, how long you've been there, what you're studying there, and when you plan to return. Unfortunately if you're shy they tend to just assume you can't speak Spanish well, so do what you can to come up with some answer.

Goodbyes. In Costa Rica people that I encountered tended to have very drawn-out farewells, especially if you were actually leaving for any decent amount of time. Most often people will say "Que Dios le acompañe," (God be with you) and/or "que le vaya bien" (Basically meaning "Hope it goes well"). Usually the best response to these is just "gracias," to each instance of these you hear (can be numerous). A good response is also "fue un placer" (it was a pleasure), especially if you recently met someone. There is also a whole set of goodbyes for passing strangers, interestingly enough. Most often people will call "Adios" (goodbye) to others who walk by. Also common is to say "Buenas" (a combo greeting of "buenos días" + "buenas tardes" + "buenas noches"), especially when two people pass each other while walking.

Service & Public Transport. In Costa Rica you will use a great deal of public transport since few people have cars—even if they do, people typically don't use them to conserve gas. When you take a bus the price will often be posted on a sheet of paper taped to the front windshield. Ideally you'll have your change already counted, but absolutely have money ready when you step on. If you're paying for the person(s) behind you, such as if you're traveling in a group, then you can tell the bus driver "para los dos/tres/etc)" when you step on so he can give you correct change. The buses have sensors near the door that count the number of people that enter, which is then compared to the amount of money the bus driver has at the end of the day. If you stand in the doorway counting money out you artificially raise the count and the bus driver will probably yell at you. However, also be good about counting your change. It isn't common, but I have been (accidentally?) ripped off by a few bus drivers who gave me the wrong coins or forgot to give me an entire bill back. Some people count their change before they walk away from the bus driver, and others walk back up to the front to correct it. Never tip a bus driver.

With taxis there are actually a lot of things you need to keep in mind to not get ripped off, but some things are acceptable in terms of manners. Firstly, it's ok to ask whether the meter ("maría") is on. Cab drivers like to "forget" to turn it on and then charge you an arbitrary, exorbitant price when you leave. Also don't feel bad about counting your change before walking away from the cab because many actually will try to short you small change (e.g. give you two 25 colónes coins instead of two 100 coins). You rarely tip a taxi driver, and many will refuse one anyway.

In restaurants the tip is already included in your bill. In many places the service charge (tip) is included in the price of the food, but at many bars they add it when they calculate your bill (typically 10%). Obviously tips are accepted—some places will leave a jar out—but it is not expected or necessary, because people in food service in Costa Rica aren't expecting to make almost all of their paycheck from tips like they do in the U.S.

So: when do you tip in Costa Rica? Almost never. The only time when a tip is expected is when a bellhop helps you carry luggage to your hotel room, at which point I've heard it's anticipated at at least $1 a bag. I've never personally used a bellhop so I can't confirm this myself.

Accent

The accent in Costa Rica is very neutral and plain, perhaps like the Midwestern accent of the U.S. Nobody rolls their Rs; this applies to single R words like "Costa Rica" and even double R words like "carro." The Rs that would normally be rolled sound a lot like what an American accent sounds like anyway. Some people even find it funny when you roll your R, because it sounds weird to them.

Some people have  slight lisp, but typically Costa Rican Spanish is very well-enunciated. The biggest thing I noticed (my listening experience is primarily Mexican Spanish) is that it is spoken very quickly. Almost everyone slows it down when they address you, but it makes it difficult to understand what two people are saying between themselves.

Slang & Common Phrases in Costa Rica

Most of us learn the Castillian Spanish words in class, so it's important to take the time to study the local terminology.

Maní … peanut (not cacahuate)

Salchicha … Hot dog

Salchichón … Sausage

Miel … syrup

Miel de abeja ... honey

Papas … potatoes (not papas)

Paño … towel (not toalla)

Anteojos … glasses (not gafas)

Carro … car (not coche)

Bulto … backpack (not mochila)

Medias … socks (not calcetines)

Mae … dude (usage notes below)

Macho/Macha ... blondie (frequently used to address Americans)

Gato/Gata ... light-eyed person (frequently used to address Americans)

Adios … common salutation in passing

Buenas … good morning/good afternoon/good evening all in one, usually in passing

Vale la pena … it's worth it

No vale la pena … it's not worth it

Que Dios le acompañe … God be with you

Que le vaya bien … Hope it goes well

¿Cómo le va? … How's it going?

¿Cómo le fue? … How did it go?

Lengua de gata ... "cat tongue;" unable to eat really hot food

Using "mae" correctly. Mae is like "dude" in English, but not nearly so generally used. For example, it isn't weird if I say "dude" to a friend. It's a little outdated maybe, but it's really commonly understood and there aren't really rules about proper manners when saying "dude" besides don't say it in formal settings, since it's slang. "Mae" is a bit more restricted, though the meaning is pretty much the same. One rule is that girls don't really say it; it would be seen as slightly crude and/or disrespectful to the other person. Another is that you only say it to friends; if you only say it to an acquaintance or stranger it may be interpreted as disrespectful and potentially as a provocation for a problem. Third, you shouldn't ever say it in formal situations because it's slang. 

Travel #6: Playa Santa Teresa

The last little vacation I took in Costa Rica was to Playa Santa Teresa in the Puntarenas province. We were going to go to one in Guanacaste so that we could see all 7 provinces, but went to Santa Teresa instead on a personal recommendation from my boyfriend's host mother. It wasn't quite what we expected, but it was definitely a beautiful beach and a cute little town.

Traveling to Santa Teresa is pretty similar to traveling to Puerto Viejo, just on the opposite coast. You take a bus from Terminal San Carlos in San Jose (AKA Terminal Coca-Cola) that leaves at 6 AM and 2 PM. Get there a bit early, because you have to wait in line next to the bus to ensure your spot. There isn't a ticket booth, you just pay $15 to the bus driver. This includes the price of the hour-long ferry ride that takes you from Puntarenas to the Nicoya Peninsula where Playa Santa Teresa is. In total it was about a 5-hour trip.

When you get to the ferry station on the bus, the bus driver will hand you a ticket to get on the ferry, and make sure you have the ticket you got at first to re-enter the bus once you get off the ferry. You can take your stuff or leave it—nobody will be able to access the bus while the ferry is in motion so it's safe to leave some things on your seat. There's a little counter on the ferry with all kinds of snacks and beverages, and restrooms. It was really neat to see all the tiny islands that dot the coast, and to see the Nicoya Peninsula—part of a small essay I wrote about the high life expectancy in Costa Rica, since many people in this peninsula live to be over 100.

Super Ronny's, where the San Jose bus comes and goes

Santa Teresa is a very small town, near to Códoba and Montezuma. There's an ATM, a few grocery stores and restaurants, two board rental shops (only the one run by the Australian takes cards), two car rental agencies, and many hostels and hotels. A lot of these hostels also have kitchens (either in the room or one public kitchen for guest use), so you can do as I did and just bring food to cook to save money. Groceries can get expensive—I've found it barely costs more to feed 4 than to feed 2, just because of the way things are packaged—but it's no more than half of what it would cost to eat out. In general people are pretty cool about not thieving from communal fridges, but be wary of things like canned beverages that are easy to walk off with and feign ownership of.

Eventual success!

Our hotel was a little bit of a let-down; I would not recommend it. We stayed at the Red Frog Villas, up a ridiculously steep hill/mountain so that it technically has ocean views. If you had a big group it would be fine because you could stay in the main section of the hotel, but for smaller parties you're in a cabina that lacks toilet paper and proper linens yet has cable. In the end it was fine, once I got over my offense at some of the omissions. We did run out of gas for our stove right as we began cooking dinner, but we just watched Futurama in Spanish and waited for the receptionist to return with a new tank.

Walking path to the beach

To go to the beach there are a few unpaved walking paths between the road and the beach, but of the few I tried I felt the best one was the one next to the bus stop. So, how is the beach in Santa Teresa? Rocky!  Since Costa Rica has several volcanoes and many mountains, there's a great deal of rock around, including at this beach. For whatever reason some areas are also covered in crushed shells that kind of hurt to walk on but won't cut your feet. But, it was so beautiful and the weather was great, especially for the rainy season.

The surf in Playa Santa Teresa is excellent for surfers, but unfortunately not much else. The waves are extremely powerful and break very close to the beach, with a strong rip current as well. You can be standing in water that goes halfway to your knees and then suddenly be up to your waist when a wave breaks (assuming it didn't knock you over first). So accordingly, strong waves like this are great for surfing once you battle past the breaking waves. Unfortunately, it isn't so good for casual swimming or boogie/body boarding since you're getting pummeled by the time you get far enough out. My boyfriend and I rented body boards from the Australian and we could barely use them because we'd get flipped over trying to drag the board out to deep-enough water.

In the end though, we made the best of it and it was a very wonderful vacation that I was lucky enough to have with my boyfriend. We found where a small river drains into the sea and puttered around in a little

brackish pool, enjoying the cool water and skipping rocks. The beach was so beautiful, and though we couldn't fully utilize the waves it was fun to watch surfers try.

Travel #5: Sarapiquí Valley

This past weekend I went south to the rainforest in the Puntarenas province, near the Pacific coast. For those of you who know me personally, I'm sure you'd agree that I'm not exactly super athletic, but even so this was probably my favorite weekend here in Costa Rica.

For our first morning in the Tirimbina Lodge, everyone in the group shoveled down their daily serving of gallo pinto—it's pretty much a food group here—and went to a demonstration of how the indigenous Costa Ricans refined cacao (cocoa) into chocolate. We got to try the cacao at many different stages of the preparation process, but honestly the milk chocolate was still my favorite. Pure cacao has a really strong taste, making fancier chocolate with a higher cacao percentage quite bitter. The name "cacao" is a derivative of "caca agua," meaning poop water (as in the watery poop you get if you eat a seed like the Spaniards did). It isn't until the seed has been fermented, roasted, and shelled that it's worth eating. I wrote more about the origin and processing of cacao in a separate blog post here.

Later that day we moved to another hotel, the Hacienda Pozo Azul "tent suites." I'm not Trip Advisor, but if for whatever reason you find yourself in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, I would make a point to stop there. Our institute directors kept saying that we were staying in a "camp" and mentioned "tents," so we were all dreading a damp evening sleeping on the ground in the rainforest, but the name is definitely misleading. Each tent is 10-feet high and as large as many hotel rooms are in Costa Rica, with wifi, electricity, a patio, and an attached private bathroom. This hotel, instead of a star rating, boasts its 5-leaf rating. In Costa Rica hotels talk more about their eco-friendliness through the leaf rating than they do a star rating, and I will write a separate blog post about that soon.

First my group went white-water rafting on the Sarapiquí River for about an hour and a half. I've been rafting a few times in the U.S., but this was a very special trip. There were some rapids that were class 3, some class 2, some class 1 (6 is the maximum, at which point they're potentially deadly even for professionals), and some that perhaps didn't qualify as anything. What I really liked about rafting there was that the rapids were very frequent. I've gone rafting before and there were just two or three rapids, which pretty calm water in between. I guess all the rocks from the mountains create a lot of turbulence in the water, which makes for awesome rafting. I never felt scared of falling out or getting hurt though, my worst injury was a blister from paddling (which was actually terrifying, fearing I'd get a flesh-eating bacteria infection).

More cute, less scary when I realized it wasn't a rat

The digs were awesome, but the seal between the tent and the attached bathroom isn't perfect. Accordingly,

that night I got a visit from a flying squirrel in my room! I'm not certain which of us was more scared, but eventually I got him back out the way he came…

The next day, since we didn't want to spend a whole day trusting ropes and cables, some of us chose to go horseback riding over rappelling. I don't know whether the horses here are a different breed or what but they all seemed much smaller than American horses, almost as if they had been crossed with donkeys a long time ago. The guides led us over a bridge we passed under while rafting the day before, through creeks, fields,

and forest paths. Despite the sweltering heat, I enjoyed this episode of horseback riding more than I have in the past. The rainforest is just such a beautiful place to tour and the horses were very well trained,  so they only had rope harnesses wrapped around their heads—no bits.

We hide terror so well

With barely enough time to wipe the sweat off and reapply sunscreen, the whole group left to go do a 9-platform canopy zipline tour. Our group was approximately 20 people, so there was an interesting build-up of terror for everyone as we watched our companions zip off (literally, the wires make that noise) one by one. For whatever reason the instructions for activities that are even slightly scary never seem quite detailed enough to be soothing.  

When you zipline your hips are all wrapped up in a thousand straps and cords and carabineers, like an uneven, heavy diaper. You have one carabineer on a pulley on one wire that just helps you keep vertical balance, and another on a pulley on a second wire that supports your weight (this is my favorite pulley). To go, you just jump! The lines are always angled downwards, so gravity does the work.

That being the case, the first line was truly terrifying. My stomach promptly dropped as I left the terra firma—that I had never truly appreciated—to a very small metal platform mysteriously held to the trunk of a surreally massive tree. It was this day that I literally became a tree-hugger. The platforms were no longer scary after the third one, so it was good that there were 9: I actually had time to remember to look around me. I was reluctant to clutch a camera instead of a safety device, but here is a video of my boyfriend on one of the lines!

Ziplining in Costa Rica is definitely a must-do. As cliché as it is to do a zipline in the rainforest (though technically it may have just been the tropical humid forest), it's cliché for a reason: because it's really awesome.

Cocoa-sta Rica (Cocoa in Costa Rica)

Cacao tree

Fun fact: "cacao" and "cocoa" are exactly the same thing. Cacao is just the Spanish name for cocoa. Last weekend, I watched a demonstration of how this native Costa Rican plant was utilized by the indigenous population into chocolate products. Since fancy chocolate uses the original name and I just feel like I'm talking about Swiss Miss when I say "cocoa," I'll refer to it as cacao…

Cacao grows on a strange, bent tree with tiny pink flowers that turn into a hard, yellow, gourd-esque fruit. Cacao isn't the fruit, but rather the white seeds inside. The indigenous people believed that cacao was a gift from the gods. They believed it would be disrespectful to bust it open with an axe or the ground, so accordingly they used their foreheads or elbows to bash it. Originally, people found that sucking on the seeds had a slight mood-elevating, energizing effect (there is some caffeine present naturally). After they had sucked on it they would just toss it on the ground, contributing to the spread of the plant through Central America. They never ate the seeds because the inside is extremely bitter and even eating one seed will give you serious diarrhea. This is actually why it has the name it does. The Spaniards found out these side effects the hard way, so they gave it a name derived from "caca agua," literally "poop water" but meaning more like "watery poop."

Below is a video of my boyfriend bravely volunteering to eat a roasted seed. It won't destroy your stomach, but it still tastes awful.

Roasted seed

Through the habit of tossing the sucked-on seeds onto the ground, people discovered the benefits of fermentation. The saliva provided the anaerobic bacteria and water necessary to start the process, and left alone in the equatorial heat the seeds ferment quickly and have a very pleasant aroma. The lower social classes were expressly forbidden from utilizing this process, because cacao was considered sacred. The upper-class folk (kings, shamans, etc.) refined the seeds beyond fermentation. The seeds were then dried in the sun, roasted over a fire, and shelled. The insides of the shelled seeds are edible, but still way too bitter for me to handle more than a lick.

The insides were then put in a large, curved standing bowl—usually made out of volcanic rock. With a smooth stone heated in a fire, they spent 6-7 hours grinding the shelled seeds into a fine, dark-brown powder. The Spaniards brought mechanical grinders from Europe that really accelerated the process. This
powder can be refined into cocoa butter, or in different ways into chocolate. We tasted it at this stage with some raw sugar and cinnamon mixed in, and it was really good but still quite bitter.

The indigenous used this powder to make a chocolate beverage by mixing the powder with either hot or cold water (the Spaniards preferred milk). To flavor it, they would mix in some of the following: vanilla, nutmeg, black pepper, or chili powder. The indigenous favorite was vanilla and chili powder, and many students in my group liked it well enough. I went with vanilla, nutmeg, and some corn starch (to thicken it) myself, and it was definitely delicious.

From here, the refining of cacao was developed to make chocolate bars in the 19th century. Cacao has been cultivated at a modest scale in Costa Rica, but they technically don't make chocolate, because it isn't refined into bars here. According to one of my professors it is fairly low quality in global terms.