Armed with my precious 501 Spanish Verbs bible and an arsenal of DayQuil and Sudafed, I kissed my mama goodbye, and 15 hours in the air plopped me seemingly abruptly in the personable town of Heredia, Costa Rica, where a dreary 40 degrees became a gorgeous 83, “Ticos” (slang for Costa Ricans) replaced “Seattlites,” and a drinking age of 18 has students and professors clanking cervezas in the local bars.

Lead by program director Max Savishinsky, each of the 25 UW students will be staying with Tico host families through mid-March while studying Spanish and examining Costa Rica’s unique position as the most highly developed country in Central America.

My host mama, Lilliam, is 59 but with an ageless spirit that makes her as much a sister or best friend as she is a mother figure. Yesterday, while memorizing pages of conjugations, she called from the kitchen “Mega?” and suggested I down an Imperial beer to ease my worries about the two-hour Spanish test I had to take the next morning.

She is infatuated with young Elvis, lived in Tacoma on an exchange program three years ago and spends her afternoons taking care of the house while listening to Savage Garden and watching Barney with her gorgeous saucer-eyed 8-month-old grandbaby Pamela.

Lilliam extends her concept of family to Pamela and her four married children, as well as to the international students that she hosts in her home, her Scottie dogs Yoko, Samantha and Jack and their seven puppies that she has endearingly named “los babies.” Her cozy, wood-walled house sits a mere “crabwalk” away from the local bars (as Max put it).

Each student has a unique living situation. Collin Fulton, one of the other students in the program, has a host family who provides a sharp contrast to my own — not only living with the mayor of Heredia, but with three college-aged English-speaking Ticos who, in having close connections with every club owner in the city, ensure that Collin parties with free entrance and discounts on drinks everywhere he goes. The youngest brother, 17-year-old Rolando, owns 17 Iron Maiden CDs.

Despite the regular presence of a maid, Mother Mayor also somehow manages to find time to cook a traditional Costa Rican breakfast and dinner for the four boys (typically some combination of rice, beans, tortillas, chicken, pork and vegetables).

As we round off the first of our nine weeks here in Heredia, we are looking forward to upcoming ventures: The famous two-week long Palmares festival, Montezuma, natural hot springs and zip lines in the jungles of Arenal, salsa dancing in San José, a visit to one of Costa Rica’s active volcanoes and weeklong stays in Nicaragua and on the Caribbean and Pacific coasts.

Tico Tips (lessons learned):

1. To create the illusion of a bangin’ booty, squeeze your junk into pocket-less spandex denim jeans and boost it up with a pair of heels. Note: This is probably a tip that should stay in Costa Rica.

2. “Look both ways before crossing the street” takes serious meaning in Costa Rica. Cars, buses, trucks and motorcycles scream down the streets, uninhibited by the few traffic signs, and make Costa Rica the country with the second-highest number of annual car fatalities in the world.

3. Six proof beer (at about $1.80) is cheaper than bottled water (at $3). Conclusion?

Cucaracha (cockroach) tally: Six

Reach reporter Megan Taylor at megantaylor@thedaily.washington.edu.