After a while experiencing the wonders of moving to Costa Rica, agriculture has become kind of a hobby of mine. It is quite amazing to see how rich the soil is in this country, you can easily have all kinds of herbs and spices right on your backyard. When moving to Costa Rica, agriculture, food prices and even the culinary culture is a complete different world worth to learn and understand.
In Costa Rica, population increases depending on the location, in San Jose and some head cities of Alajuela and Heredia, they have some sort of street market every weekend called “La feria del agricultor”. Once you move here, you will see that Costa Rica food prices are actually quite cheap, and also, in Costa Rica, agriculture is one of the main economic activities.
At “La Feria” you can get the freshest products available: anything from a simple onion to different kinds of tomatoes and even home made cheese. In Costa Rica, food culture is wide and quite healthy; fruits are a big part of Costa Rican diets and legumes and vegetables are on the tables of every home, every day, is just how Costa Rica culture behaves.
The key to a successful trip to La Feria is getting there early, and I mean early as in the crack of dawn. That way you can be sure you will get the best of the best. Getting used to Costa Rica food is actually easy, and a lot better for an old guy like me and the fresher the products you buy are, the easier it is to get accustomed to some of the flavors. When moving to Costa Rica, culture may be a bit of a shock but is worth to learn it.
La feria del agriculture will take place near your home if you live in one the big towns. I have visited three so far: Plaza Viquez Feria, Zapote’s Feria and Guadalupe’s. The nicest one is Plaza Viquez’, but the easiest to visit is Zapote since it takes place on a big area and the vendors are better arranged. Many of the products can be found downtown as well as in the Costa Rica Coasts. Even on the Costa Rica volcano areas you will be able to find a big variety of products like cajetas, dulce de leche and grape fruits.
One good piece of advice is, if you are considering checking on real estate, agriculture, culture and even easy access to markets, such as La Feria should become part of your research. You need to make sure you will be able to find nice markets and butcher shops nearby, not always the best product are found in the supermarket. In Costa Rica, real estate agents are mostly savvy in the matter, don’t be afraid to ask.