Un Momento: En El Mercado

During our first full day in San Jose we broke up into small groups and walked to the center of San Jose to do a scavenger hunt.  The goal of the hunt was to learn some basic history of the area, and to get us practicing our spanish by buying things and asking people questions.  We walked to El Mercado Central - an indoor labyrinth of vendors selling all sorts of food, merchandise, and the lot.  Interestingly, most of the vendors were two stories, the second story being either the kitchen or the storage area.  En el Mercado, we took turns in our small groups going up to certain vendors and asking questions, or actually buying things.  Each group was assigned either “carbs,” “protein,” or “fruits and veggies” to find in el Mercado, and we had to buy enough for 18 people.  The buying was the most intimidating, as we had to ask for the food we wanted, the quantity of food, how much it cost, and actually give the correct currency, or colones, to the vendor.  Figuring out what to say was only half the battle.  You get really excited that you’ve figured out what to say, until you realize that you must then figure out what the vendor said back to you.  It also doesn’t help that in Spanish, the word for one thousand is “un mil”, which sounds a lot like a million.  Most purchases add up to a couple thousand colones, as $1 US is about equivalent to 500 colones. 

            Overall, it was a really exhilarating and humbling experience.  I went to buy guanabana, which is a type of milkey white (amazingly tasty) fruit, and I totally screwed up the pronunciation.  The vendor just laughed politely and smiled at me. We went up to los viejos (old men) on the streets and asked them our questions about Costa Rican history.  They were very helpful but there were many times in which I had no idea what they had said in response to my questions. 

            It’s also a really weird concept to think that it is impossible to blend in with the crowd.  It’s something I’ve never personally experienced before, seeing as how the only foreign countries I’ve visited have been eastern European, and I’m half eastern European myself.  In contrast, everyone here can immediately peg our group as outsiders.  Luckily, everyone has been very kind to us.  If you make any attempt to speak Spanish at all, however little, most ticos (Costa Ricans) seem impressed and appreciative, and will usually hold a polite conversation with you.  It felt so good the first time that I held a continuous conversation without having to think about my word choices while waiting in line at a store.  Even if the conversation only lasted 20 seconds or so, it was rather refreshing.