We love the rich history of Escazu and the Bruja (witch stories) that go along with it. Many of the foreigners who come to Costa Rica end up settling in Escazu as well, so we do a lot of our delivery business in this canton of the country.

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After the entrance fees are taken care of you walk into a grassy meadow area beside the cafeteria where they serve some great baked goods and pre made sandwiches. We would suggest getting a bottle of water or similar from here as the walk around the park is quite long if you look at each cage.

First you see the crocodiles and alligators, and then you get into the birds, monkeys, and other creatures. Take your time while you walk around, some of the animals are hiding in the trees or brush and may be hard to see. Near the monkey cages stand on the ledge and talk with them, they like to respond and interact with the zoo visitors. Sadly we saw one of the monkeys with a plastic water bottle that someone must have thrown into their cage, they were curious about it for sure.

Going to Zoo Ave Zoologico is a lot of fun and good value for the money spent on entrance. If you have kids or family down here with you in Costa Rica consider bringing them along with you, and turn it into a family adventure!

Below are some photos that were taken during the zoo experience. Have you ever been to this Zoo in Costa Rica? Let us know in the comments section below what you thought of it.

If you have been around Costa Rica for awhile, you will of course know of one of the oldest KFC locations, which is situated in the center of Escazu close to a 3 way stop intersection. Up the street there is an HSBC, so you will know you are in the area.

We notice how quickly and efficiently the KFC brand franchise is spreading here in the country, it fits in very well with the culture and community of Costa Rica. You can read more about the franchise here. Unfortunately the link is in Spanish only so we have translated what it says in English below (excuse the literal translation it was done by Google Translate).

“Founded in October 1969, the first restaurant opened in February 1970, located on Paseo Colón. Later also opened Second Avenue in B The California highway to San Pedro and Third Avenue.

After many years, the franchise owner in exchange for two times until today. Our target market are all those people looking for quality and taste, especially families with children and young adults. People who offer a wide variety of products and pricing options so they can choose their preference.

Our menu is made up of chicken pieces, nuggets, BBQ and Buffalo wings, strips, popcorn, sandwiches, mashed potatoes, potato salad and cabbage rolls type biscuits, corn cobs, chips, desserts, and constant innovation in products different where the main ingredient is chicken, this in order that the customer always has a different option, apart from our traditional and delicious taste.

We have options for children in our pack Chicky and family packages that include everything from chicken to the side dishes and drinks of your choice and individual combos large consumer looking to offer economic solutions, satisfaction and above all taste.

In addition, family orientation of the brand, has developed a strong work in the area of children, by Chicky, our personaje.Hoy, offer parties as birthdays, modern playgrounds and full of fun activities, presentations of the character.

Befitting the title of Colonel in the land “Goodwill Ambassador”, we have developed a program of social welfare activities for kids of Hospitals, nursing homes or low income.”

Every Christmas all of the employees of the businesses of the country get a Christmas bonus (Aguinaldo), which is exactly one months pay on top of their pay for December, so they have twice the money to spend on gifts and food for their families. Obviously the employees look forward to this, but it can be hard for employers to pay this.

This creates an absolute shopping frenzy in the country before everyone leaves for the beach.

From a tourist perspective, spending Christmas in Costa Rica is one of the favorite times of year. As foreigners usually get their vacation time during this time of year.

Social Media is so important everywhere that even here in Costa Rica there are job listings from top companies looking to add professional social media strategists to their company employee list.

With a mix of psychology, technology, and local news, we truly love all of the conversations that happen around us on our social media channels. We are starting to experiment with Friendfeed as well.

If you are interested in learning more about social media here in Costa Rica, you may want to consider taking a school program on it or just dive right in and read the Blogs and articles that you find interesting. On June 30th of 2011 there was even a national Social Media Day here in Costa Rica. Stemming from the creation by Mashable.com.

Get out and get involved and meet new people, through this you will find great opportunity in your community.

This year at Multi Plaza in Escazu, the entire parking lot was filled with cars and there was nowhere to park. This was what we call Black Friday Mania. All of the major news outlets in the country ran articles about this, including Tico Times, El Financiero, Monumental Radio, and Inside Costa Rica.

What you can gain from this past year as a retailer is the knowledge that next year it will be bigger and hopefully more organized. As Ticos adopt smart phones and the Internet penetrates the market deeper. You will notice online Black Friday sales and savings offers. Especially for food and product delivery services such as ours. We will be very prepared next year with savings of our own on the products that we supply from our partners.

In closing, we do want to mention that the term Black Friday has been used for over one hundred years, being brought to the mainstream in 1966 by the Police Department in Philadelphia using it in reference to the start of the Christmas shopping season. Then again it was highlighted in the New York Times in 1975. So there is some serious history involved with this time of year. It penetrates the core of society in many countries and has been leveraged well by businesses large and small to make massive sales to close out the financial year.

But you do have to be careful, some dogs can be aggressive, which comes form years of survival on the streets. Most are passive and looking to get affection, you just have to keep your wits about you when assessing the situation.

We strongly support the Mckee Project with regards to animal welfare, education, and adoption. The people there help immigrants get the information they need to bring their dogs into Costa Rica from abroad as well as find a local street dog from here in Costa Rica to bring home for your family.

This Christmas consider doing something like this, it is low cost compared to some other ways to get a pet for your kids, and makes a huge different in the community. Especially if everyone helps out and adopts one pet.

Gallo Pinto is rice and beans mixed together, usually served with a tortilla but not always. Different people will cook Gallo Pinto differently, so you have to ask for the way you like it if you have specific taste. Some people will fry the rice and beans and give the Gallo Pinto a toasted taste and texture. Adding in onions and other leafy herbs/greens is also done on occasion for a twist to this traditional dish.

Plates of Casado are very popular amongst the working glass people of Costa Rica. As there is a lot of food on the plate and tons of energy packed in to get through the work day. Casado consists of rice, beans, plantains, salad, and a wheat based tortilla. Sometimes a Casado will have beef meat, pork, or chicken. You can always ask the restaurant or cook to add extras onto your dishes, it will cost extra but you might as well enjoy the food that you are eating.

In the outer cantones of Costa Rica people eat really unique things. Such as spider soup, turtle soup, different types of fruits and plants that they acquire from the jungle. When one of our staff members first moved to Escazu they had a cleaning assistant for yard maintenance, and one day this person found a huge tarantula spider and he brought it home for his family to make a traditional soup. Though this may be perceived as an odd thing to do, here in Costa Rica this is normal. Apparently the spiders kind of taste like chicken, much like the folklore of north america where alligators supposedly taste like chicken.

As the people of Costa Rica evolve and adopt a more north american style of living, the traditions of the country are becoming replaced by modern fast food restaurants such as Pizza Hut, and Subway. This is fueled even more by the wide adoption of Visa and Mastercard users. Many of the Government owned banks offer credit cards to basically anyone who wants one. People who are not careful can rack up the balances quickly and be forced to go back to the traditional ways of eating and hunting.

We think that a mix of tradition and new eating techniques is the best. You can find great restaurants around every corner in Costa Rica, you just have to have an open mind and take some feedback from the locals.

In Escazu you can check out Henrys Beach Cafe, it is always packed with people and the food and drinks are a decent price. On every Saturday in Escazu there is also a farmers market and general outdoor market. Just behind the main church in the center of the city. You can rent dirt bikes and go into the mountains behind Escazu as well, there are beautiful and amazing views up there and the air is fresh and crisp.

Escazu is traditionally the most densely packed area for immigrants out of the country as it is fairly safe and very central to the SJO international airport.

In Santa Ana you have fun things to do like going to Paintball or eating some of the best sushi in the country at Sushi Kai. The owner of Sushi Kai is from Hawaii and all his staff are either local Tico people or Japanese. In fact the head Sushi chef is from Japan and makes some of the best nigiri and rolls we have ever tasted. Santa Ana is a bit more spread and in the valley between mountains so be prepared for long trips from point A to B as the main road arteries get packed during rush hour.

Now we look at things to do in San Jose. San Jose is obviously the largest city of Costa Rica. There is definitely a mix of poverty and wealth here. You can do the normal tourist things like go to the bar, or you can check out the amazing architecture downtown and the main streets which are lined with markets and stores. Make sure to take a camera and be prepared to snap beautiful pictures of stuff that you would not expect to see again. The shapes, sizes, colors, and personalities of the people who walk the streets of San Jose are amazing.

Costa Rica is full of rich cultural heritage and exportation businesses. The name of the country literally means Rich Coast in a direct translation to English, so you get the idea how amazing it is here. Everywhere you go there is a mix of traditional historical past and new modern technology. You won’t go a day without seeing a cowboy riding a horse and talking on his iPhone 4. It’s truly amazing to see this.

The currency of Costa Rica is called the Colone, and it is relatively close to 500 Colones for 1 US Dollar. Though it does fluctuate, those are the basic exchange rates that most everyone goes by.

If you are a smart shopper you can make your money go a long way here by shopping at local farmers markets in Escazu, which is one of the densest places in Costa Rica for Expats and foreign residents. Every Saturday there is a market north of the center of town beside the Catholic Church. Of course you have to watch your pockets for people who will rob you, but if you dress like the locals do and be respectful, you can minimize the changes of this happening.

The most tourist dense provinces of Costa Rica are Guanacaste and San Jose. But people who visit here and end up staying for a long time, like San Ramon in Alajuela province a lot. The people there are very friendly and help one another out. You will notice when the locals ride the bus in San Ramon that the women and children get to sit in the seats and the men will stand up and be courteous of their needs.

Doing research and understanding what to expect in Costa Rica is important, you can visit the tourism Costa Rica main Government website for more information and links. Also, do not forget to check the local weather patterns before going surfing or to the beach for the day. Rain and thunder storms can come out of no where and catch you by surprise.

If you are in need of a map to find your way around the Costa Rican provinces, you can download really good ones here to use as an Application on your smart phone. Gone are the days or carrying around a physical map, unless you need to.The really cool part about this map is it is a locally saved version of your smart phone so you do not need to have connection with the Wifi or data network in Costa Rica, which will save you money.

Sports play a huge role in the culture of the cantones of the country. La Liga and Saprissa futbol (soccer) teams go head to head often and it brings out all of the people in the country to the local bars to watch the games. Escazu also has a soccer team called the Brujas, though they do not usually win as much as the other two teams I mentioned before. The word Bruja means witch in Spanish. This is a huge part of the culture of Escazu as many people believe that witches once roamed the mountains that make up the city.

We are slowing building the content on delivery.cr to ensure that we cover all of the main topics that make up Costa Rica. While you are exploring Costa Rica as a resident or tourist, if you need delivery services you can count on us to provide the best quality products fast and at a reasonable price.

Now go out and enjoy the information that you just learned and see why so many people love to call Costa Rica and all of the provinces and cantones home. Pura Vida!