First Month Mark and Foreign Finds

As I’m coming to the end of my first month in Costa Rica, my first intensive Spanish language class is wrapping up, I’m preparing for my second month and getting ready to start all my “elective” courses. Two new girls who moved into our home after having an unfortunate (unsanitary) experience in their old house have joined the two girls and I already living here, and yet another one is expected to arrive for the 12-week program on Sunday. That puts the household at three Ticos and six gringos, and one suspicious other who may or may not be a Romanian vampire living in the ceiling. It’s still a toss-up at this point based on recent evidence of lights turning on when they shouldn’t and pictures flying off walls with no visible provocation. But as I said, the cause remains to be determined (by others at least). It’s been a busy time.

Costa Rica has become an increasingly expensive country in recent years as the country has become relatively safer and better known as a hotspot for Western tourists. One of the things that makes it so expensive is the need for many imports to support this small country, especially with products that suit the tastes of increasing tourists.

Whether it’s becoming a common cultural phenomena like Wal-Mart and Cosco and other discount stores are in the US, Costa Rica also has its fair share of bargain bulk. My host family here doesn’t seem to be a huge fans of those kinds of stores (and for good reason in my opinion given that the quality is as at least as cheap as you pay), but a lot of my exchange student friends like to hit these places to stock up on processed snacks and other American necessities.

I recently went with some of them to one chain store call Pequeño Mondo, and although largely underwhelmed, had the trip made but this delightful discovery:

Heidi’s chocolate is a Romanian brand I discovered this summer while backpacking around, and they are all good things chocolate, coming from someone who lived in Switzerland for a year and definitely got obsessed with good chocolate. The brand actually started off with Swiss ingredients and Swiss style, but has developed its own name and taste in Romania. They have deliciously unique flavors like mint and lemon (amazing), and their more common flavors like cranberry have real bits of dried cranberry in it. They have a wide variety of dark chocolates, (my favorite), and even a friend who doesn’t like dark admitted to thoroughly enjoying this piece.

When I left Romania this summer, I searched every grocery store I went into in Europe to see if I could find more of the same brand. After being continuously disappointed (and having to then eat even more Swiss and Belgium chocolate in my despair, que pena), I am so happy to see this amazing brand in a cheap, weird, unexpected little store in Costa Rica. The prices that come with heavy imports may suck, but in this case, the taste is well worth it 🙂 To globalism!