Heredia: The last week of my Costa Rica tour

I left Monteverde on an Interbus to San Joaquin Flores, Heredia. I received a great "Costa Rican Massage" on the bus ride.

A previous bus driver had described the benefits of riding a bus in their country and said he gave great Costa Rican massages. The roads around Costa Rica are not always of the highest quality. Coming down the mountain was extremely rocky and filled with huge bumps and ruts. Therefore I received a bum massage as I jiggled and bounced along the way. Ha, ha! 

I am staying with Elsa in an upper apartment that has my own bathroom! It’s the little things that often make life great. She lives in San Joaquin Flores which is a 10-minute walk from CPI. She is the cook at CPI. Elsa lives next to many of her extended family members. Her two daughters, two granddaughters, two brothers, an uncle, and their families live in the surrounding houses. My apartment has a great view of the mountains surrounding the area. 

The noise level is quite high here, and the noises are different from the sounds of nature in Monteverde. The airport is near, so we get the noise from planes taking off and landing. Trains go through the area and toot their horns. Cars, trucks, and motorcycles zoom by and make all sorts of noises. They do not have the regulations we do in the U.S., so the noises are louder and the emissions are definitely not as clean. Finally, people live really close here, so I can hear many voices and televisions as well as birds chirping. 

On Monday, eight of us went on a tour of downtown Heredia with a guide from CPI. First we took a 20-minute bus ride to the downtown. From there we walked to the market.

The market is filled with aisles and aisles of fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, cheese, dried beans, clothing, and all sorts of goods. The fruits stood out to me, with such a wide variety and beautiful colors.

There were guanabanas, Mamon China (rabutan), and star fruit. Many I had never seen before.

All of us shared a cheese and cornmeal pancake called chorreadas.

They were delicious. We ate it plain right off the stove. Apparently, they are even better with sour cream and bacon or sausage.  

Then we walked inside an old Catholic church, Parroquia Inmaculada Concepción de Heredia. It was built in 1797 and is still in use today. The stained-glass windows have such vibrant colors, even though they are over two hundred years old. Italian artists were commissioned to create them. Next we went through the presidential building used by Alfredo González Flores, who was president from 1914-1917. During that election, there was not a clear winner. It was basically a three-way tie. Cabinet members selected Flores out of the three as they believed he would be most easily manipulated. He was not.

As the oldest of 18 children, he knew how to make decisions and not be swayed by others. Since he was not married when he first took office, his mother became the First Lady. Flores understood education was critically important and created the Heredia Teacher’s College. He made many positive changes for the country. However, many of the rich and powerful people did not like him as he was changing the status quo. They formed a coup to overthrow him in 1917.  His picture is on the 5 mil colones bill.

To top off the adventure, we stopped at an ice cream shop with many original flavors. I had trouble deciding between flavors such as tequila, blueberry, or unicorn, but I finally decided upon Bailey’s with chocolate. It was awesome, but actually quite strong.