Exploring San Rafael and Heredia

Monday, January 31 2011-01-31

                Costa Rica is 2 hours ahead of Spokane.  So needless to say, waking up at 5:30 this morning to eat breakfast at 6 here was a bit of a challenge.  This morning we had granola with yogurt.  The yogurt here isn’t the same as it is in the States.  It comes in what looks like a small milk jug, and is much more of a liquid than a solid.  When we were done eating, I took what was as close to a sunscreen shower as humanly possible.  Every inch of skin that was exposed had at least two layers on it.  There is no way the Costa Rican sun is going to win the battle against my pasty white skin. 

                After breakfast we caught the 7:00 bus to San Rafael, a small town about 10 minutes away from Whitworth South.  We were split into groups and given a list of places to find in the city.  My group mostly wandered around San Rafael and found interesting places to look at.  The church was by far my favorite place I saw all day.  Each city in Costa Rica, no matter how small, has a large church in the center.  This church had large statues inside, and enormous detailed stain glass windows.  I could have stayed in there for hours.  

The outside of the church in San Rafael

The inside of the church in San Rafael

Inside the church in San Rafael again

 

               

                An hour later we caught the bus again to go to the larger city of Heredia.  We were each given 10.000 colones (the currency here in Costa Rica) and split into our same groups and were given another list of places to find throughout the city.  500 colones are equal to $1.00.  Colones come in coin and paper form.  The coins are in values of 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 200 colones.  Bills come in 1.000, 2.000, 5.000, 10.000 and 20.000.  Apparently commas aren’t used in numbers here. 

                We started off in a large plaza in the center of Heredia, which of course, had another beautiful church.  The church was built in 1794, and again had sculptures and stain glass windows everywhere.  After seeing all of the detailed churches here, I have a feeling I am going to be disappointed when it comes time for me to go home and I walk into an American church.  We then walked around Heredia for another three hours or so.  During our journey, we visited a place called La Casa de la Cultura (the house of culture).  We had no idea how to get there, so we had to ask for directions.  I was really nervous about approaching someone on the street and asking them in Spanish how to get anywhere, but I decided to suck it up and just go for it.  The lady who I asked gave me very clear directions, and I was surprised at how easy the Spanish flowed out of my mouth when I spoke to her.  

 The outside of La Iglesia Arquidiócesis de San José

The inside of the church

                Inside La Casa de la Cultura, we asked a man who worked there how to get to La Iglesia de Los Angeles, which was down town.  He was the cutest old Tico man ever!  Costa Rican men call themselves Ticos, and women call themselves Ticas. He took out a piece of paper and drew us a map of all of the city blocks and land marks along the way so we would know we were on the right path.  People are so friendly here, it’s wonderful. 

                One thing I find very interesting about Costa Rica is that there are little to no street signs.  When people give you directions, they tell you to go 100 kilometers to the right, or two blocks to the left.  It’s a little disorienting at times, but I’m sure I will get used to it with time. 

                We finally found La Iglesia de Los Angeles, which was another beautiful church down town next to a plaza.  The ceiling was my favorite part of the church.  It was a beautiful dark red wood-something I’ve never seen before.  On our way to the church, my group and I stopped at a panadería (bread stand) and bought sweet bread.  Oh my goodness, it was the best bread I’ve ever tasted.  The inside was so soft that it melted in my mouth, and the outside was a crunchy and sticky sweet crust.  My mouth waters just thinking about it again!

La Iglesia de Los Angeles

Inside the church

  

My group in an amphitheater in Heredia (Derek, Aaron, Sarah, Rachel and me)

                We visited a few more places around town, and then headed to la UNA which is the national university (Universidad Nacional) in Heredia to meet our 27/7s.  Our 24/7s are like our RA’s, student life personnel, etc here in Costa Rica.  Their names are Lara, Emily, and Bean.  Our group was the first to return, so we won the Heredia “plunge” as we called it.  While we waited for other groups to return, we had a few colones left and decided to go buy a smoothie at a smoothie stand.  All of the stores in Costa Rica are right on the street, including grocery stores, shoe stores, food places and pharmacies.  We decided to get a fruit smoothie made from mango, guava (guabana) and milk (leche).  It was the best smoothie I have ever tasted!  I could live off of those smoothies and sweet bread for the rest of my life. 

               

                On the bus ride back to Whitworth South, I met a group of teenagers who spoke very broken English.  My friends Rachel, Kaitlyn, Bree and I talked to them for the entire bus ride.  Kaitlyn taught the boys some American slang, such as how to use the word “chill”. It was hilarious listening to her try to explain the different meanings for the word.  The teenagers loved it.  The bus can’t make it all the way up the mountain, so we all have about a ¾ mile hike to campus from the bus stop.  Our 24/7s tell us that we will have very strong calves by the end of the semester.  My calves are already strong thank you very much.  It’s quite a hike, let me tell you.  I’m not looking forward to doing that every day.

My group in front of an amphitheater in Heredia.  (Derek, Aaron, Sarah, Rachel, me)

Rachel and me in front of the amphitheater

 Hollie and me waiting to get on the bus in Heredia

                Sad news: I wore my Chacos all day and didn't even get the slightest Chaco tan on my feet.. 

          The rest of the day was spent relaxing after our busy morning.  We had some free time, and a few students decided to go for a walk around campus.  We had a training session about how to deal with culture shock and about living with host families.  The rest of the evening was pretty “chill”, and we ate dinner and have been relaxing ever since.  The wind is blowing SO hard right now, it kind of reminds me of home.. except the windows don’t shake quite as much at home when it gets windy.  It’s surprisingly cold on campus as well.  It was about 80 degrees in San Rafael and Heredia, but temperatures drop nearly 20 degrees on the mountain.  I always wear a sweatshirt and long pants while I’m on campus.  Classes start tomorrow morning.  I’m taking Spanish 302 from 9:00-12:00, then Spanish 419, which is a Latin American Studies class, from 2:00-4:00.  Five hours of class sounds a little exhausting, but I’m excited to start learning more Spanish!