Before Costa Rica became as developed as it is today, most of the country was agricultural. Some of the provinces, like San José and Alajuela, had relatively large cities, but the rest of the country was rural. Until about fifteen years ago, many of Costa Rica’s roads were unpaved, not all places had electricity, and lush vegetation took up much of the land. The rural countryside is called “el campo,” and the people who live there are called “campesinos.” These “campesinos” are an important part of Costa Rica’s national identity.

In Costa Rica, humility is probably the highest virtue. Pride and arrogance are looked down upon, especially in politicians, and soft-spokenness and quiet deference are considered great attributes. Describing someone as humble—“humilde”—is high praise. Costa Rica’s heroes, like Juan Santamaría, often came from the “campo” and are almost always described as humble, as Juan Santamaría always is. Costa Rica’s favorite presidents were all humble men as well, especially in retrospect.

In general, “campesinos” are idealized and described as being filled with a noble sense of humility. The Costa Rican national anthem, like most of the country’s other patriotic songs, praises field and other manual laborers, hard-working “campesinos” on whose backs the modern country now rests. The red stripes of the Costa Rican flag are often said to represent the red faces of agricultural workers, who did their work virtuously, without seeking undue praise or attention.

During the early 1900s, in a period of heightened cultural awareness, students of Costa Rican tradition attempted to unearth and preserve the traditional dances of the “campesinos,” promulgating the idea of a national Costa Rican dance form. A collection of several dances now comprises the Costa Rican dance repertoire. Although some argue that these “bailes típicos” are more a cultural afterthought than a legitimate tradition, the dances are interesting in that they celebrate the Costa Rican “campesino.” The women wear ruffled peasant blouses and long skirts, and the men wear work shirts and the canvas hats typical of traditional Costa Rican farm workers. All dance barefoot, and the men often twirl red bandannas—the very bandannas they presumably used to wipe the sweat from their brows as they toiled in the fields.

Even as Costa Rica marches confidently into the future, there is a strong national sense of its agricultural beginnings and a strong feeling of love for the hardworking “campesino humilde.”

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Costa Rica is one of the preferred destinations of ecologically minded visitors. A large percentage of the country’s overall land area is dedicated to national parks and wildlife preserves, and visitors can have eco-friendly adventures all across the country. But before “green” activities—and tourism—became quite as popular in Costa Rica as they are today, Costa Ricans took part in the kind of inadvertent recycling common when goods are scarce. Unfortunately, modern life has put an end to much of this necessity-fueled recycling.

Packaging materials—styrofoam, bubble wrap and cardboard inserts—were practically nonexistent in Costa Rica about twenty years ago. People wrapped all valuables in newspaper, which was a prized commodity. Gardeners, who cut the grass with razor-sharp machetes, wrapped their tools in newspaper bound with string. Everyone stored old newspapers at home, and people reused the same wrinkled sheets over and over again. In the areas around San José, men pulled wooden carts through the streets, collecting old newspapers or other clean papers that people might not need. These papers then made their way to the Central Market (Mercado Central), in San José, where vendors used them to wrap fish and pieces of meat or to protect their vegetables.

Glass was also valuable, and some of these cart-pulling men also collected bottles from the houses around San José. Few home-goods or decorating stores existed in Costa Rica at the time, and people collected pretty bottles to use as vases and decanters. Thermoses were expensive and hard to find, so workers often transported their milky coffee to work in repurposed Coca-Cola bottles. A small bottle-cutting industry also thrived in Costa Rica, and people could buy drinking glasses made from all colors and sizes of bottles that had been sliced in half and filed smooth.

At about this same time, disposable plastic bags and plastic food containers were a rarity in Costa Rica. No stores sold Ziploc bags or Rubbermaid containers. People reused plastic bread bags for their lunches. Some market vendors sold their products in plastic bags that had once held other items. Almost everyone had a drawerful of plastic bags that they had washed and reused numerous times. Some people owned the odd piece of Tupperware, which they cared for assiduously and used repeatedly. Everyone also rinsed out plastic yogurt and margarine containers, keeping them to use for food storage. People often encouraged one another to buy particular foods at the grocery store, solely because they came in sturdy containers that would withstand many uses. One particular ice cream company used such fine containers that when it went out of business, most people were more sorry about the disappearance of the containers than about the ice cream itself.

With increased trade and more foreign imports, Costa Ricans now have access to hundreds more products than were available in the 1980s. Sadly, this new access has created in Costa Rica a new sense of disposability. Companies no longer pack their products in durable containers, and nobody reuses containers or paper the way they once did. Convenience has given rise to more waste. However, perhaps Costa Rica’s new eco-friendly identity will push it closer to the mindset of its inadvertent recycling days.

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Costa Rica does not have a large indigenous population or a real pre-Columbian presence. Some people say that the Spanish conquistadores killed all the natives they encountered, which would account for the relative dearth of indigenous art and artifacts in the country today. Others believe that Costa Rica never had a large indigenous population and that its land was mostly used as a travel route for native peoples moving from areas around Mexico to South America. However, Costa Rica does boast a set of very important—and unexplained—artifacts from pre-Columbian times. These are the stone spheres that archaeologists and land developers have unearthed in the country’s Diquís Delta region.

The spheres are of various sizes, and there are over 300 of them. The smallest are pebble-sized, and the largest weigh several tons. All are made from the same type of stone, identified by geologists as a sort of igneous rock. Despite their size, the spheres were all apparently formed by hand, although whose hand has not been fully determined. The spheres are not all perfect in shape, although some come very close to being perfectly smooth and round. Oddly, there have been no stones found in an unfinished state.

The spheres first appeared in the 1940s, when employees of the United Fruit Company excavated land near the Pacific coast. Scientists believe that the stones were shaped between 600 and 1500 AD, using various stone-shaping methods—rough shaping by means of temperature change and finer shaping through picking and grinding. After their discovery, the spheres soon became status symbols, and wealthy families paid to have the spheres transported to their homes from their original sites.

Fans of the occult and astrological theorists have long speculated about these spheres. Because many of the stones seem to have been found in geometric patterns and special alignments, some astrologers argue that the spheres are the work of extraterrestrials or evidence of some paranormal communication system. Some have even linked the spheres to the lost city of Atlantis. These theories are entertaining but wholly unsubstantiated by science.

Visitors to Costa Rica can see these stones everywhere. Several stand in front of the Legislative Assembly (Asamblea Legislativa) building. Other official buildings and schools also prominently display these spheres. And some are still in the front yards of private residences, nestled among ferns and flowers.

See http://www.world-mysteries.com/sar_12.htm

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One of the most difficult consonants for new speakers of Spanish is the letter “r.” Many students of Spanish—especially native English speakers—believe their tongues are too straitlaced for the romantic undulation of the Latin “r.” However, English speakers may actually already have an innate sense of the pronunciation of the Spanish “r.”

As Spanish students know, there are two kinds of “r”s, the double and the single. The double “r,” made famous by a trilling Charo, is actually simpler to pronounce in Costa Rica than it is in some other Spanish-speaking countries. Costa Ricans do not dramatically roll these two “r”s the way some other Latin Americans do when they say words like “carro” or “perro.” Although all Costa Ricans are capable of creating the spectacular “r” roll, most pronounce the double “r” more modestly and conservatively.

An English speaker can approximate this modest Costa Rican double “r” by making a softened “j” sound. Simply pronounce an English “j,” but separate the tip of the tongue from the roof of the mouth to make a near-“z” sound. Then, allow the middle of the tongue to “hollow out” away from the roof of the mouth. The sound is like the whirring some children make when simulating motor or engine noises. Use this sound when saying a double “r.” With a little practice and timing, an English speaker can very closely replicate the Costa Rican double “r.”

The pronunciation of the single “r” sound, found in words like “para” or “flor,” is also within the grasp of an English speaker. To pronounce this single “r,” an English speaker should notice their tongue placement in pronouncing the English “d,” as in the word “bed.” The tip of the tongue firmly hits the roof of the mouth and stays there momentarily. By pronouncing this same “d” more lightly and quickly, and English speaker can very nearly recreate the “r” in Spanish. The sound is not a true “d,” but it begins as a “d” that quickly flicks away. Pronunciation, although slightly more difficult, is still the same in an “r” that precedes or follows another consonant, as in “Pedro” or “tarde.”

Using pronunciation skills they already have, English speakers can pronounce many Spanish words far more accurately and impressively than they might otherwise have believed.

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Guaro is a distilled liquor popular in several Central American countries, particularly Costa Rica. Made from sugar cane juice, guaro has a high alcohol content and a slightly sweet taste. Most people mix guaro with juice or soda, because its flavor can sometimes be harsh. In fact, guaro is often called “aguardiente,” a word that combines “agua” with “ardiente,” an adjective that means “burning.”

Like moonshine in the United States, guaro was once purely a product of homemade stills, a rural kitchen-sink alcohol. Guaro was a well-loved part of Costa Rican popular culture. One folksong warmly praises guaro as a wonderful by-product of Costa Rica’s beloved sugar cane. The song also alludes to guaro’s unpleasant side-effects, and it was these side-effects and the dangers of homemade distilleries that caused the Costa Rican government to take over guaro production.

Guaro is now bottled by Costa Rica’s National Liquor Factory (la Fábrica Nacional de Licores) under the name of Cacique. Homemade guaro production is severely frowned upon, and bottles of Cacique line the shelves of Costa Rican grocery stores and bars.

One odd fact about guaro is the similarity of pronunciation between “guaro” and “water.” Recently, a thirsty American tourist asked his waiter, in English, for a glass of water. The waiter, who did not speak English, thought that the tourist had asked for water. Pleased that a visitor would embrace his country’s own alcohol, the waiter returned from the kitchen with a glass of the clear alcoholic beverage. The tourist took a big gulp and had a hair-raising experience in thirst-quenching.

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For those just learning to speak Spanish, lessons in verb tenses are some of the most difficult. English speakers are already familiar with the simple present tense, the past tense and the past participle, and these three are used commonly in Costa Rica. However, many new Spanish speakers are surprised by two common Costa Rican verb usages—the near-nonexistence of the future tense and the prevalence of the subjunctive.

Many people take Spanish classes in preparation for their trips to Costa Rica. They have spent months learning how to conjugate the future tense of the most common verbs and come fully equipped to discuss any future activity in Spanish. To their great surprise, Costa Ricans almost never use the future tense. They never say, “Mañana iré” or “Ella podrá.” Instead, they use words that indicate a future time, like “mañana” or “la semana que viene” and add a verb in the infinitive. The English equivalent would be to say, “Tomorrow, I go…” or “Next week, you eat…” The Costa Rican use of the future involves no conjugation at all, and speaking in the future tense in Costa Rica turns out to be far easier than foreign visitors might have imagined.

However, the Costa Rican love for the subjunctive tense seems to make up for the simplicity of the future tense. Spanish speakers use the subjunctive tense far more often than English speakers seem to do. For the most part, English speakers seem to reserve the subjunctive tense for more formal speech: “It is important that I go.” In order that we not fail,” etc. In Costa Rica, people use the subjunctive tense for indirect commands: “Tell him to put it over there;” for making requests: “one that doesn’t have coconut;” or for wishes or hypothetical situations: “I hope it’s sunny tomorrow.”

In the subjunctive case, the verb often follows the word “que.” The conjugated verb is relatively straightforward and just requires some memorization.

Visitors hoping to arrive in Costa Rica with an impressive arsenal of Spanish might do best to brush up on the subjunctive and forget about the future tense.

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Getting around Costa Rica can sometimes be very difficult. Roads are often in disrepair, and their conditions worsen as heavy rains carve out potholes and landslides wash away hillside highways. Street signs have, until recently, been nonexistent over much of the country. Most difficult for visitors, however, is the way in which most Costa Ricans give directions.

Although downtown streets all have names and numbers, few Costa Ricans ever actually use these names or numbers in giving directions. Businesses rarely use these street designations in advertising their own locations. Instead, most people give directions using landmarks. They describe a location by giving its distance, in meters from a particular landmark. Thus, a restaurant might be 200 meters east of the Children’s Hospital or 40 meters south of the Cathedral. One hundred meters is approximately one city block.

These kinds of landmark directions are relatively straightforward, if one is familiar with the landmark. However, Costa Ricans often use landmarks that no longer exist. A main downtown bus station is the “Coca-Cola,” which is no longer a bottling company and has no current relevance to soft drinks at all. In fact, “la Coca-Cola” looks very much like an ordinary city bus terminal. “La Luz” is a landmark in the Los Yoses neighborhood, and it refers to a little grocery store that once stood on the corner there. Several businesses have since occupied that particular corner, and none is now called “La Luz.” However, the landmark still exists in the minds of Costa Ricans. “El Higuerón” is an important San Pedro landmark, even though the large tree to which it refers has since been pruned so drastically that it now resembles a small potted plant. Taxi drivers talk about distances from “El Coco,” which is the old name for the Juan Santamaría international airport.

Sometimes, Costa Ricans give directions that suggest movement in themselves. A store’s location might be “heading toward Limón” or “on the way to the intersection with the highway.”

In general, Costa Rican directions contain within them a sense of the country’s geographic history and a feeling of the movement that travel engenders.

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Of all the new fruits Costa Rican travelers encounter, mamones and granadillas often tend to be the most exotic and unfamiliar. Although Asian and Latin American countries now routinely export these fruits all over the world, they are still lesser known and, perhaps, more inscrutable than other fruits. Mamones and granadillas are similar to one another, in that they have a semi-hard outer shell that breaks open to reveal a pulpy and very tasty fruit. There are two varieties of mamones—mamón chino and the ordinary mamón.

In Asia, the mamón chino is known as a “rambutan.” It is similar to the Asian lychee. Mamones chinos grow in clusters and are about the size of large grapes. Each fruit has bright red skin that is covered in long spines. Although the fruit looks prickly, the spines are soft. To eat a mamón chino, you crack the side of the fruit with your thumbnail and peel away the outer spiny shell. The shell usually comes away in two pieces, revealing the soft, white fruit inside. Most people just slurp the fruit out from one half of the shell. The fruit is sweet, tender and very refreshing. In its center is a large inedible seed. June is the season for mamón chino, and, in season, the streets of San José are often littered with the shells of mamones chinos.

An ordinary mamón grows in much the same way that the mamón chino does, although it is slightly smaller in size. Its skin is light green and completely smooth. Some people call the fruit a “Spanish lime,” because of its lime-like appearance. The skin of a mamón  is also slightly hard and must be cracked open in the way a mamón chino is. The fruit of the mamón is an orangish pink and somewhat tangier than the fruit of the mamón chino. It, too, has an inedible seed. Its season begins in June and lasts longer than the mamón chino season.

Granadillas are about the size and shape of pears, and they are usually a mottled greenish orange. Their skin is very similar to that of mamones, in that it is slightly hard and shell-like. A granadilla should be cracked open near the stem end. This stem end can be removed, leaving a sort of cup filled with a mass of pulpy seeds. Costa Rican schoolchildren laugh about the mucus-like consistency of the seeds before slurping down the entire mass in one gulp. Others delicately pull small bits of seeds from within the “cup.” Some even scoop out the pulp with a spoon. The seeds of the fruit are edible and make a crunchy counterpart to the soft sweetness of the surrounding pulp. Granadilla is also called “passion fruit,” and it is available year-round.

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Juan Santamaría is Costa Rica’s most important hero, although the reason for his fame is the subject of some debate. In the mid-1800s, Costa Rica nearly fell under the control of American forces led by William Walker. Because Costa Rica did not have an army, the country’s defense rested in the hands of farmers and other civilians, who fought off the Americans with various tools and farm implements. Juan Santamaría, a young boy from the province of Alajuela, joined Costa Rica’s makeshift defense team.

The Costa Rican contingent fought fiercely, according to legend, and William Walker’s gang took refuge in a large house in Guanacaste—La Casona. As the Costa Ricans lay siege to La Casona, it became apparent that the only way to defeat the Americans would be to burn down the building itself. The leader of the Costa Rican fighters asked his forces to line up facing him. Then, the leader asked for a volunteer to step forward and take up the torch that would burn down La Casona. Juan Santamaría bravely stepped forward and seized the flaming torch, asking only that his mother be taken care of, in the event of his death. Juan Santamaría then set fire to La Casona and defeated the American forces, collapsing to his death moments later, from a bullet wound.

All across Costa Rica, Juan Santamaría is celebrated. Several statues depict him with his flaming torch. One of the most well-known stands in front of the Asamblea Legislativa, Costa Rica’s congressional building, and the other is in Alajuela, Juan Santamaría’s home. Costa Rica’s main airport is named after Juan Santamaría, and April 11 is a national holiday commemorating the day of Juan Santamaría’s death.

However, there is another side to the Juan Santamaría story. Costa Ricans never take themselves—or their national heroes—too seriously. Every Costa Rican schoolchild learns, in the classroom, the story of Juan Santamaría’s heroism. Outside the classroom, those same children laugh about a less heroic Juan Santamaría. In this other account, Juan Santamaría was more foolish than brave. He joined the Costa Rican fighters without fully understanding the conflict. When the Costa Rican forces lined up to face their leader and one brave soul was asked to step forward, the foolish Juan Santamaría stayed standing where he was. His more wily fellows each took a step backward, leaving Juan Santamaría a step ahead of them. He became the unwitting volunteer who had to take up the torch. All across the country, this other Juan Santamaría is the subject of many jokes.

Juan Santamaría’s name is a source of joy for all Costa Ricans—joy for a national hero and joy for a national myth gleefully subverted.

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In the 1970s and early 1980s, Costa Rican presidential elections were spirited, colorful affairs, far more entertaining than the more serious elections held in other countries. With the passage of time, however, Costa Rican elections have become more straightforward and similar to elections elsewhere.

Different Costa Rican political parties have always had their own signature colors, which every Costa Rican immediately recognizes. Years ago, political parties distributed cloth flags to all of their supporters. Costa Ricans proudly announced their party affiliation by hanging their flags everywhere. Around election time, people attached flags to their car antennas and windows, to the rooftops of their houses, and, using several broomsticks as makeshift flagpoles, to the tops of mango and lemon trees in their yards. At election time, the country was festooned with green-and-white and red-and-blue striped flags.

Costa Ricans also assigned each presidential candidate a signature horn honk, which simulated the candidate’s name. Monge’s honk was one long and one short beep in mimicry of him name, while Carazo’s was three beeps with an accent on the middle beep. Supporters of each candidate rode up and down the streets, honking for their candidates, flags whipping colorfully behind them. When supporters of the same candidate encountered one another on the street, they honked in cheerful greeting. Opponents tried to out-honk one another, and the streets were lively with these car-horn debates.

The elections themselves were particularly interesting. The presidential ballot consisted of one single sheet of rough paper. Printed horizontally across the paper were photographs of each candidate and an empty box under each photograph. Voters arrived at their polling places and dipped their thumbs into indelible purple ink. Then, to cast their votes, they pressed their inked thumbs under the photograph of the candidate of their choice. Each vote consisted of one thumbprint.

The ink served two purposes. Because it couldn’t be rinsed off for several days, it kept people from voting twice. It was also handy for voters who wanted others to know they had done their civic duty. People walked up and down the street, giving one another purple thumbs-ups and cheering. Others piled into the backs of pickup trucks, shouting, waving flags and showing everyone their purple thumbs.

The election process may now be more streamlined, and elections are no longer determined by thumb-printed pages pushed through the slots of ballot boxes. However, elections were certainly more fun in the past.

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