Flowers and Fruits

Day two in Costa Rica and it already feels like we've been here for a month. It's like the 22 of us have been friends forever. We all get along, and no matter who is in the small groups, its never short of a good time.

Day two meant orientation. Our program director, Alan Masters, talked to us about Costa Rica, the history, culture, and everything we can expect out of this program. We learned about the field trips we'll be taking (first to the Pacific coast and then to the Atlantic coast later in the program). After orientation, we were given our first assignment: to go into downtown San Jose and purchase a fruit we were assigned (I should be specific- we were given a picture of the fruit with no other knowledge and were expected to ask the vendors in the market about the fruits). We were given $3.000 colones (about $6.00 in US) to buy the fruit and lunch. So our first real adventure began - trying to navigate from the hotel to the market. My navigation skills are not exactly up to par, so needless to say I relied on those a little more skilled in that department to guide us to the market. 

We started at the little orange box in the top right corner, and ended at the little red circle labeled 1 on the middle left side of the map.

Once we made it to the market, I along with two others began our search for fruit vendors. We finally found one and I showed the vendor my fruit picture, as I had no idea what it was. He had the fruit, which turned out to be called cas, and I asked him some questions like what time of year it was grown and how it is used in cooking. I guess he enjoyed talking to me because he gave it to me for free! Lydia had a mango and Steve had a mandarine, which were found at the same vendor. He even gave us a mini mango to eat on our way out! 

A cas fruit, which is grown year-round and typically only used in juices. 

Once we finished at the market, we walked around town, grabbed some lunch at a place called the Crispy Churro, and then had to go back to the hotel for a lecture at 1:30. Our first lecture was about flowers, which was extremely interesting! We learned flower anatomy, which is a lot more interesting than it sounds. Our professors and TA's had flowers purchased from the market which we were using as aids in learning the anatomy of many types of flowering plants. 

Basic flower anatomy. 

We disected all of the flowers, and I have to say that was one of the most interesting lectures I've ever had. After this class, we had another lecture on fruits. This one was also really interesting, as many of the ones discussed in the lecture were foods I did not know were considered fruits, such as legumes, peanuts, and grains, to name a few. This lecture concluded with each of us sharing the fruits we bought at the market and what we had learned from the vendors. We then were given a little fruit-feast with numerous samples of all the fruits we had bought earlier that morning. 

Fruits from the market, including papaya, watermelon, bananas, peppers, strawberries, pineapple, coconut, sunflower seeds, starfruit, cantalope, manderines, avacado, cas, and numerous others I can't remember. 

So needless to say, three tables worth of fruit was demolished in about 30 minutes by 22 very hungry college students! They were all delicious.

Dinner followed the fruit tasting, which meant another long walk downtown to the restaurant. We mostly ate casado, which is a typical Costa Rican dish. It consists of white rice, beans, picadilla, salad, chicken and fried plantains. 

Day two in Costa Rica in summary: food, flowers, food, and more food. Can't wait for the rest of it!