Pura Vida en Costa Rica: Getting to Know the Locals

Why I Created This Blog

¡Hola, Bienvenidos a todos!

I am in my fourth year of school majoring in Education and Spanish. I'm from Minnesota and am about to embark on a life changing experience, immersing myself in the language, culture, and pura vida of Costa Rica!

My ultimate goal of going to Costa Rica is to become fluent in speaking Spanish. But along the way, I am going to be visiting a very close friend from high school, experiencing Costa Rican Independence Day and Christmas, traveling to three countries and living on the beach. Oh, and I am taking classes in a university in the capital city, but it goes without debate, most of my learning will be experienced when I am not in a classroom but around the friendly Ticos (name Costa Rican's call themselves) and being out on adventures.

If you're reading this, I miss you, so do your best to let me know what you're up to! And I'll do my best filling you in on my adventures :)

Monday, January 9, 2012

Getting to Know the Locals

Getting to Know the Locals

When you come to Costa Rica, you can only hope to get a tour guide as good as Don Sergio! Here, he spotted some smoke and a fire burning outside of this local family's home and in the month of December in Costa Rica that can only mean one thing....tamal making!!!

We pulled the car over and Don Sergio got out and called inside, "Upe!" And asked if we could come in and watch the process. And here it is, the insider on a family spending time preparing the tamal for the month. They had some music, unexpected type of music, nightclub type coming from a radio as they were preparing them.

A typical tamal has masa, arroz, meat, and a few vegetables. This family looks like they were making it with rice, carrots, green beans, chicken, and cilantro. Yum!! There is also a type of salty tamal. Stay tuned for the posting where I pull on my hair net and make a large pan of those hand made. Literally-mushed-between-my-hands-hand-made!