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Writer's picturePatricia Hebenstreit

Day 6: Farmer's market and Waterfall's

Updated: Jan 11, 2023


Today was mostly a transportation day. We started by loading the bus toward our next hotel. Along the way we did make a couple of stops. Our first stop was to the local farmers market. Man was this the highlight of my day. The market was HUGE way bigger than I have seen in America. The market stretched three city blocks with both sides of the street filled with farmers selling their product. It was amazing to see how many people appreciate the farming community and go to the local market to support their neighbors. During the visit our tour guide gave each of us 2,000 colones. Which is about 3 USD. While here we were able to choose something that we wanted to try. While many people stayed within their comfort zone and got foods you can find locally, I was spontaneous. I got something called solanaceous. Which is from the same family as the tomato. Which turned out to be a flop because this fruit needs to be prepared and I have no way of doing so. However, I did get some blueberries, blackberries, cocoa powder, and a pepper spice. All of which I am excited to try back in the states.

Once we loaded our busses, we were headed back toward our next hotel. Our tour guide said our first hotel was about 1,500 meters from sea level but our next hotel would fall between 2,500 and 2,600 meters above sea level. Sergio, even got us some Costa Rican cookies and chips to try, oh they were so good Along our drive we got to see yuca, caoti, and the central valley. Yuca is a cassava plant, coati are monkey like creatures that are part of the raccoon family, and the central valley is the low lands that fall between the two main mountain ranges of Costa Rica: Heredia and Talamanca. Our tour guide likes to provide us with a lot of knowledge about the area that we are in. Sergio, our guide, said the mountain ranges have an active volcano. This volcano is about 12,000 feet high in the mountain range.

They also have a highway that connects all the way from Alaska through CR to Argentina.

Our next stop lead us to some waterfalls. While here we had lunch and we were able to see a few animals they had in captivity such as monkeys, jaguars, and some more cattle. We saw a total of 5 water falls and walked 22 flights of stairs. I even tried a chocolate covered coffee bean which was interesting. I also tried sugar cane cheese, which was not a fan favorite here.

Finally we make it to the hotel, which we come to find is more like a small campground with little cabins. Our guide warned us about the caimen, which are like smaller versions of alligators. Which was probably a good thing, because we did end up seeing a caimen while walking. Not only this, I was surprised to see a small orange gecko in my bathroom, which provided me a little bit of a shock. This campground also lacked wifi and signal, which is why this post is late. Any how, I was able to find some place with enough signal to make a couple phone calls to family.

At dinner, I tried a starapple for the first time, which was interesting. The outside was a dark green color, the inside was a pale purple, the texture was like the inside of an aloe leaf, and lacked much flavor. This is something that was fun to try, but I don't think I'll be eating again.

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