Costa Ricans are actually a close knit people who are homebound until they get married or leave home for college. Many events like baptisms and weddings are prominent among native Costa Ricans because this is where they have the largest turnout of family and friends. Traditions are also gender based and many tourists learn about that when they visit the country. What makes Costa Rica different from other countries is their practice of a lukewarm approach to Catholicism that combines a strange ritual of parties and religious celebrations during the time mostly Catholic and Indian traditions.
Tourists would be lucky to catch natives engaged in rituals common to them. Most of the things that natives do that tourists are lucky to catch are mostly religious based since Costa Ricans are Catholic and it’s all church or family based when they celebrate special occasions. Even the most non-traditional tourist will get the feeling they’re right at home when they visit Costa Rica since much of the lifestyle there is all based on generous hospitality.
This is kind of like the American south where hospitality is the way of life and tourists who visit get the feeling like they’re at home with nice people. That’s the feeling tourists get when they’re at home with Costa Ricans who make you feel like you’re one of them. The traditions of family, and religion go hand in hand with many different kinds of people and the diversity of the cultures that partake in the spirit of family and religion. Music is also a huge thing in Costa Rican culture and most of it is based on ancient Mayan influence and a mix of Afro/Cuban/Caribbean bringing the east and west together to make what they call tambito and punto. Costa Ricans also pioneered their answer to the funk music movement of the 1970s identical to what the American genre that was popular among teens and young adults.
The food is a mix of Mexican, Spanish, Caribbean, and Southern American influences so many Americans who come to visit Costa Rica feel as if they’re right at home since the culture is so diverse in ethnicity even though the national language is Spanish so anyone who visits who’s pretty fluent in Spanish will be able to communicate and fit in with the people even as a visitor.
The food many tourists are encouraged to try is ‘Gallo Pinto’-Spanish for ‘Spotted Rooster’, but there’s no chicken in this dish. That consists of black beans and rice seasoned with cilantro, onions, garlic, salt, and a locally made condiment ‘Salsa Lizano’, and this dish is typically a traditional meal eaten for breakfast with eggs, meat and sour cream.
Another traditional Costa Rican cuisine is ‘Arroz con pollo’ (rice and chicken), the dish has bite sized chicken chunks mixed with rice and diced vegetables of carrots, peas, corn and garbanzo beans (known in America as chick peas). Which is typically made as a weekend meal is called ‘Olla de Carne’ which is a soup made up by boiling water, meat usually chicken, and whole to large pieces of vegetables and seasoned with spices.
Making this dish is time consuming since the bulk of the meal consists of preparing the vegetables. Experiencing a multitude of flavors in Costa Rican cooking will make a tourist leave there with the flavor of home on their mind.
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