Heredia, Homestay

Alice picked me up at Spanish School, thank goodness! You see, there are no addresses in Costa Rica. So the instructions were to walk 800 East and 75 north, next to computer store. I tried to find it on google maps, but couldn’t be sure. You see, 800 equals 800 meters and each block is theoretically 100 meters, but it is not an exact science because not all blocks are 100 meters.

At any rate, Alice is 69, a widow, and runs a house for students. The two students there, Elvis and Jesuso, attended local universities…computer science. There was a third, slightly disabled, who I was never introduced to. Mystery tenant.

We all conversed in mixed English and Spanish. For me, because I’m used to trying to communicate with people in other languages, the difference was I actually know a little Spanish so I’m struggling and they are struggling too. So much fun, but completely exhausting. 

Alice and I spoke, mixed English and Spanish, about the pills we took, some of which are the same! One night, Jesuso cracked open coconuts and we drank the coconut water. Such luxury!

Alice with her coconut




Jesuso machete-ing coconuts

The homestay was fun, challenging and utterly exhausting! The closest experience I’ve had is being on Camino and staying with a host. I’m not sure I could do it for an extended time period.