Each Friday afternoon and Saturday morning in Alajuela (and in many other towns around Costa Rica) the feria del agricultor, farmers’ market, takes place. Held on the edge of downtown, people come from all over to sell and buy fruits, vegetables, meat, cheese, baked goods, and miscellaneous wares. A roof covers the open-air market, sparing us all the hot sun. The area under the roof is expansive—maybe as large as half a football field.

Vendors are arranged in several rows. On one side are the stalls with t-shirts and watches, trinkets and homemade aprons. On the other side are the coolers of the cheese makers and butchers (complete with long rolls of sausage that Marie thought looked like fire hoses from across the market). In between are the produce sellers. If you walked the aisles, you would recognize the beautiful strawberries, black berries, pineapples, melons, lettuce, potatoes, onions, carrots. You, like us, might be amazed at the large variety of fruits and vegetables you do not recognize—guanyaba, pejibaye, tamarind, mamones, and many more.

The vendors are generous with samples; we tried to guess first—will it be sweet or tart or bitter? It was sort of odd to not know but interesting to taste so many new flavors. A few stands sold snacks like the delicious churros we bought to share (no sharing next time—we all want our own).

We did not see more than a handful of other non-Costa Ricans there, and we did not find many vendors who spoke much English. Yet we managed to fill our bag. Quite a delightful experience—a sensory binge we will return to soon.