plain and subtly simple yet peacefully delightful

It was several weeks back
during our “Semana Santa,”
a week where majority of Costa Ricans have off,
desert San Jose and play throughout the country. 
As mentioned before, I did not desert San Jose,
I appreciably stayed in this city  
and enjoyed every minute of it.

On Monday,
Laura, my Costa Rican mother as I call her,
invited myself and another roommate to share lunch with her and her family.
This meant we got to venture to the city of Heredia.
The main cities surrounding San Jose are that of Alajuela and Heredia.
Two very beautiful
Yet pleasantly different cities.

This exploration was my first into this little town.
There is one way in
and one way out.
Usually this path is greeted by that of a lot of traffic,
but luckily on this day,
the traffic was that of minimal congestion.
We hopped on the bus not too far from home,
spent no more than 45 minutes
and wala.
There we were
getting off at the center of town.

This city, 
is definitely what you call a little town. 
Just a quick right and there we where, 
walking along the central cathedral and park. 

On the benches to the right, 
old men were chatting away playing some game, 
that I wish I knew the name of. 
They were rolling balls from across the courtyard 
trying to hit little random objects.
Some small. 
Others big. 
And many I just didn’t understand. 
We watched on for a while 
and continued about. 

Inside the cathedral. 
Plain and subtly simple yet peacefully delightful. 
This place of worship, 
matched that of this town. 
This town, 
was just that. 
Plain and subtly simple yet peacefully delightful. 

We walked though the central park where a little girl stood on my left side 
very still with kernels of corn resting on both feet as she patiently waited 
for the pigeons to come eat off her feet. 
Before this could happen, 
her mother realized the situation  
and called her away. 
Either way, 
the pigeons were fed. 
Just not through the little girls intentions. 

We made a sharp right. 
And in front of us was a beautiful historical building. 
That was simply now the cities post office. 
And had once been the center of town where all the government officials housed their daily tasks. 
This too, 
was plain and subtly simple yet peacefully delightful. 

We stopped for a coffee, 
as I typically like to do in every new place I visit. 
You know, 
I’ve been told a time or two that you cannot judge a book buy it’s cover 
But, is it okay if I judge a place by its coffee? 
Right now, 
I would say yes. 
Simply because I am living in a country 
that well, 
just loves their coffee. 
And you can find it just about anywhere. 

Onwards we went. 
Into the Central Market. 
This day, 
I found that every city has it’s own market, 
the size 
resembling that of it’s town. 

We wandered about, 
getting our fruits and vegetables for the week, 
other random supplies. 
Ropes for the new hammock. 
Bags of plantains for dessert.  
Who else knows. 

And so we continued about, 
walking through this little downtown area.  
And within just blocks, 
we were already there, 
already at the destination of intention, 
at Laura’s parents house. 

This beautiful house just outside the downtown borders. 
It smelt like home, 
absolutely refreshing. 
Remolding had just been done 
so all was so new and clean. 

What a beautiful lunch we indulged in. 
Home cooking. 
A mother’s cooking. 
How do I miss that feeling. 
Fresh mango juice. 
Fresh mint lemonade.  
Vegetarian Costa Rican lasagna made just for me. 
Costa Rican lasagna made for the others. 
And plantain pie for dessert. 
Delightfully perfect. 
Plantain pie. 

Do you know about plantain pie? 
I just found out 
several months back. 
It’s a layer of boiled, mashed plantains. 
A layer of black refined beans with the magic ingredient of Lazano sauce.  
Topped with cheese 
All compressed together through the heat of the oven. 
Man, 
is it delicious! 

And so lunch was done. 
Just before finishing, 
the rain started 
and it continued 
and it continued 
and so  
we waited 
and waited 
and waited. 

This afternoon, 
sitting on Laura’s parents couch, 
digesting the incredible local meal I had just eaten, 
I waited out the rain. 
While waiting out this rain, 
a new definition connected in my head. 
I understood the meaning of “pura vida.” 
There is no hurry. 
There is no rush. 
If we have to wait out the rain, 
then we wait out the rain. 

And life, 
well, 
life 
life will resume once the rain stops. 
So eventually, 
it resumed.  
We walked back to the center of town, 
caught the bus, 
and in moments were home. 
Back to our comfortable little home in San José. 

And so here you have it. 
A simple reflection, 
on a subtly simple yet peacefully delightful day.


As always, 
thank you so much for sharing my journey with me! 
Please share this journey with others 
and many others! 
Blessings my friends. Blessings.