Come to Costa Rica and you won’t have to look far for good food. Enjoy a cold, fresh coconut on the beach, cut open on the spot when you buy them from street vendors. You can drink the juice or eat the fruit flesh right out of the shell. Try pairing your pipa fria with Costa Rican ceviche, a traditional seafood dish served throughout Latin America in different variations. Costa Rica, like many other Central and South American countries, offers access to exotic fruits you won’t find back home: marañón (cashew fruit), passionfruit, pitaya (dragonfruit), and guanábana (soursop) to name a few. Pick some up at your local open-air market, a great place to practice your Spanish with the locals. Spend an afternoon talking to a new friend over world-famous Costa Rican coffee in a local café. When it’s dinner time, dig into a delectable casado plate to experience a traditional Costa Rican meal, preferably shared with your host family at your homestay.
Costa Rican culture has plenty of history, art, and culture to appreciate. Visit San José’s Gold Museum, home to the largest collection of pre-Colombian gold in the Americas, or the Jade Museum, to see the largest pre-Colombian jade collection. Watch local women perform traditional folkloric dance in their colorful costumes or get on the dance floor yourself at the nearest bar, party, or restaurant, where you’ll have plenty of company. Go out and see a show at one of the many theaters, where limited seating makes for an intimate experience. Discover Costa Rican cowboy culture at the annual Bonanza Cattle Show. Attend any of the country’s many monthly festivals with your new friends to see just how enthusiastically the locals celebrate life.
When you do an internship abroad in Costa Rica, you’ll develop your Spanish language skills, learn more about Latin American culture, and develop the professional skills you need to launch your career, all while living in a tropical paradise. What are you waiting for?
