Costa Rica hat painting at the World Travel Market

 

Colourful painting at the World Travel Market at ExCel, London. November 2024.

Costa Rica is in Central America. Rica means rich in Spanish, the noun coming after the adjective, the opposite to English grammar. But you can think of the country's name as a reminder of the language and grammar. (Similar to Puerto Rico meaning rich port, the island in the Caribbean.)

I was very pleased with my hat. A great introduction to Costa Rica and reminder of the country.

Ecuador - what would we see if we could go there?

Flag of Ecuador with the coat of arms.

 I have a couple of affluent honeymooners, mountain climbers or retired friends who have fulfilled their dreams of visiting the Galapagos islands. I read about the prison riots in Ecuador and the fighting between violent gangs and thought, that will not encourage the American tourists. What are those of stuck at home missing, but able to see by travelling on the internet? In London at the world travel market which was held every year when I went there before Covid-19 hit the travel industry, I used to be given pretty pictures of wildlife, especially on leaflets from the Ecuador tourist board. Or was that Costa Rica? South America is a bit of a mystery, a muddle, and it's time for me to sort it out for myself and you. One thing I am sure of, Ecuador means equator and Costa Rica means rich coast. Let's start with Ecuador, since that was in the news.

I asked a family member, what do you know about Ecuador. In Central America, he queried. No. South America.

On the equator, hot, so no wines, he said. Ecuador does have lots of alcoholic drinks you can buy on line. More about food and wine later. So, people who haven't been there don't know much and what they think they know might be wrong. So this post will be useful.

I shall look at the flag, the map, the capital, other cities, landmarks, museum, food, famous people, films (movies) and books. Finally, travelling there.Language. First the flag.

Ecuador and Costa Rica are both flags which incorporate a coat of arms, which is quite rare. Only about half a dozen out of about 150 countries features coats of arms on flags. The one on the Ecuador flag is educational as well as entertaining.

Ecuador's Flag

 

The flag's coat of arms shows the country's natural features. A condor (bird). A snow-capped volcano. Not as dormant as one might hope. I've seen pictures of it giving off what looks like smoke. The double-yellow, blue, and red, of the flag surround the coat of arms. 

Map

Ecuador

Capital

The capital is Quito. How will I remember? C for capital and Q for Quito are alliterative. Same sound. Don't quit Ecuador until you have seen Quito. You will adore it. The capital has more than 100 historic buildings, churches and cathedrals which are white on the outside and gold or gilded inside. 

Cities

Cuenca, like Quito, is a UNESCO world heritage site.

Quito Landmarks

The palace has many columns. The gold interior of the Iglesia de la Compania. The main Catholic cathedral where the man in charge years ago was murdered at the mass by poisoned wine.

Museums

The museum about the middle and the monument are my must see memorable places. Slightly outside Quito.

Food

What can you eat in Ecuador which you cannot eat in McDonalds at home? Grilled guinea pig.

Famous or Local People

You don't have to go to Ecuador to see something about the indigenous people. Here's a feathered mythological creature seen in an Israeli museum.

Who are the must meet, must photograph, must see or must know about people?

Countryside

Galapagos Islands. Penguins. Spectacled Bears. Hummingbirds. Blue-footed boobies.

Films

Language

The main international language has to be Spanish, like the whole of South America except for big Brazil. But you also have local languages.

A few words of Spanish:

Motto:  Dios, patria y libertad  (Spanish) Pro Deo, Patria et Libertate (Latin) "God, homeland and freedom"

Anthem: Salve, Oh Patria  (Spanish) (English: "Hail, Oh Homeland")

Shopping, Souvenirs, Exports

Panama hats. Coffee. Orchids and roses.

Useful Websites

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecuador

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal%C3%A1pagos_Islands

Official Tourist Board

https://vivecuador.com/html2/eng/home.htm

Pixabay

Tripadvisor

Wikicommons

Wikitravel

https://wikitravel.org/en/Ecuador

Wikivoyage

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Ecuador

https://www.google.com/travel/things-to-do?g2lb=4401769%2C4617195%2C2502548%2C2503781%2C4258168%2C4371334%2C4306835%2C4515404%2C4605861%2C4629143

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/08/ecuador-ten-quick-facts.html

I found a reference to the Ecuador embassy in London here

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ecuador

About the Author

British born, lived in Spain (winter home) and the USA, family has lived in or often visited the multi-racial USA, multi-language Singapore, Spain, and multi-language Switzerland, with long-term au pair girls from France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Wrote travel articles for numerous magazines and newspapers and spoke on radio and TV in the UK, USA and Australia.

More Useful Spanish words for coasts, countries, streets and squares

Spanish - English

calle - street

costa - coast

del - of the

dorada, dorado - golden, gilded

mayor - main

plaza - square

plaza mayor - main square

rica - rich (as in Costa Rica, the name given by Christopher Columbus)

 sol - sun (as in Costa de Sol)

Vallejo - valley

cuevas - caves

loco - mad

molino - windmill (like the French Moulin Rouge meaning red windmill) 

paz - peace

pollo - chicken

Santa - Saint

socorro - help

sombra - shadow

tradicional - traditional

virgen - virgin

English - Spanish

coast - costa

golden - dorado, dorada

main - mayor

main square - plaza mayor

of the - del

rich - rica

square - plaza

street - calle

sun - sol

valley - vallejo

chicken - pollo

help - socorro

mad - loco

peace - paz

saint - santa

shadow - combra

traditional - tradicional

virgin - virgen

windmill - molino

caves - cuevas

Useful Websites

Useful Websites

Berlitz

https://www.berlitz.co.uk

Earworms

https://www.earwormslearning.com//

duolingo

https://www.duolingo.com/

memrise

https://www.memrise.com/languages/learn-spanish

translate google

MONDLY

https://www.mondly.com/blog/2019/03/27/spanish-accents-how-to-type-pronounce-and-master-them-all/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language

WIKI WORDS

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_common_words_in_Spanish

About the AUTHOR

Angela Lansbury is an aspiring polyglot. She learned French (O level and A level) and Latin (O level) in school.

More About the Author

Angela Lansbury and her family have lived in the UK and USA, Spain and Singapore. Angela is a member of Toastmasters International. You can join her at meetings including those of Harrovians and HOD in the UK, Singapore Online, Braddell Heights Advanced and Tampines Changkat Advanced, and Nee Soon South and Senja-Cashew.  

Learning Spanish from place names such as Costa Rica (and growing pineapple tops)

Problems
Spanish is handy, widely spoken, and a second language or first language of many people in the USA, tn there territory of the island of Puerto Rico, as well as central America (Costa Rica) and several countries in south America. Over in Europe, Spanish is spoken in Spain and popular islands such as Mayorco, Minorca and Tenerife. How do I remember place names? How do I pick up a few words of Spanish quickly?

Answers
Translate a few place names from Spanish into English. I learned one today. Costa Rica means rich coast. What could be easier!

Spanish - English
Costa - coast
Costa Rica - rich coast
Rica - rich

English - Spanish
coast - costa
rich - rica
rich coast - C o s t a  R i c a

It seems obvious, but only after you know it. My first guess was that Costa meant cost. No - coast.

Notice that in English the adjective is before the noun. But in Spanish the adjective comes after the noun.

One account says that Christopher Columbus named the area rich coast. With water on both sides, and a volcano in the middle, and green and red birds, and gold, the words rich and coast are apt.

I found another place name, Cocos Island. In Spanish Isla de cocos.  Coconuts Island.

Spanish - English
coco(s) - coconuts
isla(s) - island (s)

English - Spanish
coconut(s) - coco(s)
Island(s) - isla(s)

I was just writing the above when I looked down at the wast paper bin and decided to empty it. At the bottom was a label. I looked at it and it said Pineapple from Costa Rica.

My goodness, it travelled a long way. The label says that pineapple is called ananas in almost every language except for English.

Spanish - English
anana(s) - pineapple(s)

English - Spanish
Pineapple(s) - anana(s)

Wikipedia reminded me that pina is also pine, or pineapple, as in pina colada.

The piña colada (/ˌpiːnjə koʊˈlɑːdə, -nə-, -kə-/;^[1][2] Spanish: piña [ˈpiɲa], "pineapple," and colada [koˈlaða], "strained") is a sweet cocktail made with rum, coconut cream or coconut milk, and pineapple juice, usually served either blended or shaken with ice.

Spanish - English
pina - pine
colada - strained

English - Spanish
pine - pina
strained - colada

Apparently, if you cut the top off a pineapple, you can grow it.You suspend it over water so it grows roots. When you see the roots, you bury the roots in compost in a pot in a conservatory. Keep it watered and within a couple of years time you will probably have another pineapple.

Photo of pineapple by Angela Lansbury, copyright.

http://www.wikihow.com/Grow-a-Pineapple

You can pull out the top or cut it off.

The base you have cut off should be fixed by a horizontal cross of toothpicks and the underside should touch the water. 

(An alternative is to dry it and then bury it.)

What about Puerto Rico?

Wiki says:

Puerto Rico^[a] (Spanish for "Rich Port"),

Spanish - English

Puerto - port

rico - rich

Puerto Rico (literally rich port)

Notice the adjective after the noun in Spanish.

English Spanish

port - puerto

rich - rico (o matching a masculine noun)

Spanish - English

adios - goodbye 

LANGUAGE TIPS  Learning Tips

Spanish is widely spoken in the USA, Equitorial Guinea (on old maps Spanish Guinea), Andorra, Latin American countries such as Argentina, Chile and Guatemala. Cuban Spanish is more usual in Florida, Puerto Rican Spanish in New York.

(Brazil is the country which speaks Portuguese, but people who speak Portuguese can mostly understand Spanish.

To learn the Spanish language decide whether you want to speak Spanish as in Spain, Europe, or Spanish  as spoken in Mexico and South America.

Duo lingo.com - free internet teaching of Spanish

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language

https://www.thoughtco.com/varieties-of-spanish-3078185

https://www.thoughtco.com/ways-spanish-english-verb-tenses-differ-3079929

TRAVEL TIPS

Mexico

www.visitmexico.com (beta - meaning website in the planning and testing stage)

Puerto Rico 

Tourist information

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico

Spanish Tourist Board

6th Floor, 64 Noter Row

London W1K 7DE

Tel: +44 0207 3172011

6th floor, 64 North Row

London W1K 7DE   

www.spain.info/en_GB/

Costa Rica tourist information:

essentialcostarica.com

www.visitcostarica.com

Also see wikitravel and TripAdvisor.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages. I have several more posts on learning languages and visiting sights. Please share my posts.

Chocolate from Ecuador and Costa Rica

Useful Websites

About the Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker.