Hasta Luego Costa Rica

We are packing up to leave this beautiful and wondrous country.  They call it the wild west here, and it kind of is, but without the guns and the shoot outs at high noon.  Also the water here is amazing and safe to drink.

Yesterday we went over to Nuevo Arenal to say goodbye to our friends at the gringo breakfast, our spanish teacher Ileana and Ahmad and his amazing Arenal General Store on the other side of the lake. 

Then we came back and made the rounds here before  heading to "the grande dame" Christina's house where our friend Deb cooked a wonderful farewell dinner for a group of us, topped off with a pound cake that had more than a pound of cream cheese and butter, and Luine's amazing brownies.  Forgot to take the camera and capture the group, so we definitely have to come back.

Although we have travelled to several spots in Costa Rica during our two months here, we love the Lake Arenal area the most.  The lake itself is only 32 sq miles or 75 sq kms, however, it boasts 4 separate eco-systems.  After 2 months we still drive around a bend in the road and both simultaneously say "wow".

The flora and fauna here are amazing.  We discover new things every day.  Nature, man and beast appear to live in sync, although we could do with fewer ants as they are (literally) a pain to deal with and I'm constantly having to tell Ken to avoid the anthills on our walks.

What we will miss the most here are the wonderful people.  Boths ticos and gringos are friendly, outgoing and extremely helpful. And so to our many friends in Costa Rica we say "Hasta Luego" (see you later) and not "Adios".  

Arenal General Store

One of the many interesting things about Costa Rica is the shopping.  There are very few chain stores (you have to drive to San Jose to find a Walmart), and the local store owners may provide a variety of services.  For instance, Jerry & Sarita's Pharmacia also serves as a coffee shop, a used book store, a realty service, and a place to pass some time with friends.

One of my favorite shops is the Arenal General Store owned by our Spanish teacher's husband, Ahmad.  It's only about the size of a narrow single car garage, but I often tell Ahmad he has everything in there, to which he responds "almost everything".

If you need a toaster oven, a coffee pot, a blender (every household needs one for fruit smoothies and margaritas) - Ahmad has it.

If you need a machete to trim the plant life along your driveway - Ahmad has it.  Do you need a birthday present, wrapping paper, a fly swatter, or some school supplies - Ahmad has it all.  A pair of crocs for walking through puddles in rainy season - Ahmad has them (although only in black).  Do you want to learn to play the guitar - Ahmad has several and can probably teach you to play as well.  A casserole dish to cook Ileana's plantain recipe (see previous blogs) - Ahmad has that too. 

 A pretty area rug, dishtowels, a flower vase, a new tooth brush - Ahmad has it.  A multi-charger for the car so you can charge your phone, tablet and other electronic paraphenelia - Ahmad has it.  And if Ahmad doesn't have something, he can certainly get it for you. 

 

We are in Ahmad's store twice a week after our Spanish lesson, and I'm sure I still haven't discovered all the "jewels" he has displayed in his little shop.

Try counting the number of items you can find in these pictures of the Arenal General Store.

The Hole in the Wall

One of the fun things about Costa Rica is discovering new places to eat.  It seems as though around every turn in the road (and there are many), someone has stuck a little family restaurant.  You never know what you are going to find inside. 

We drive by Equus several times a week on the way to Arenal and Ken kept saying "It looks like a hideout for the Hole in the Wall Gang", which you older readers will understand. However, it is the place for the best barbeque around.  Built directly into the

hill, while you're waiting for your order you can climb up the natural stone steps and explore the paths ascending the side of the mountain A couple of hundred meters up you come to a disco with 3 levels of dance floor and a bar built of wood and stone.  The wood pile out front supplies the brick and stone oven.  The chef climbs up the rocks to the top of the oven to cook your meal then hands it down to the waiter below. 

While they didn't exactly break the bank on the furnishings, the food is delicious and the cervasa (beer) is ice cold.

 Another favorite place is a little cafe just down the road.  It's basically the front patio of the family's home and may or may not be open when you pass by, but they make the best fried chicken and home made burgers.  Our favorite mid-day snack is the nachos mixtos (pictured here).  Hand made nachos with refried beans, pulled chicken and beef, a ton of cheese from the local dairy, fresh tomatos from the garden and big smiles from the family, all for under  $5 for the two of us.

Birth of a Cloud

Just sitting drinking a coffee, listening to the dozens of bird songs, the foghorn call of the cow next door, and admiring the view around 5:30 this morning.  As I watched the sun starting to sparkle on the lake and light up the hills,  I noticed the mist nestled down between the island and the other shore.  As I was watching it slowly lifted and gently floated up to join the clouds in the morning sky.  What a beautiful and wondrous country this is
.  

Ileana's platanos recipe - you must try it!

I was talking to our Spanish teacher, Ileana about the plantains served with many meals in Costa Rica, and complained that I had not had much luck cooking them myself.  Here's her recipe for a baked plantain dish that can be used as part of the main course, or even eaten as a desert depending on how sweet you make it.

Ileana's Recipe:

- Take ripe plantains and split in half lengthwise;  put cut side down in a lightly greased cake pan.

- Sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar (to taste) and add a few dots of butter.   (After some experimentation, I decided to melt the butter in the microwave, mix in the sugar and spoon over the plantain after liberally sprinkling them with cinnamon).

- Pour in a large glass of milk (don't cover the plaintain) - I use about a cup.

- Cover with shredded white cheese (the bagged pizza mix works well). 

- Bake in a 350 degree oven until the milk disappears.

This is definitely not a diet dish.  I make it every week or two when we have a "home" day and I'm roasting some kind of meat. Two plantains lasts us two to three meals, depending on what else I'm serving.  It's a wonder we haven't gained weight here.

Pura Vida!

Social butterflies!

We find it almost impossible not to have a busy social life in Costa Rica.  We did the chocolate plantation tour with the garden club group on Monday and then were invited back to check out the renovations on a Tico house down the street. 

Tuesday one of the ladies we drove to the tour invited us over to see the "dream home" she and her husband just built high on a hill.  It's all glass and local hardwood beams and is beautiful. 

Wednesday we met the neighbours (Jerry and Sarita), a gringo/tica couple who own a drugstore/bookstore/coffee shop in Tilaran, then went out to the gringo dinner on this side of the lake. 

Thursday we had gringo breakfast across the lake in Arenal, then our Spanish lesson, then drove to Sarita's drugstore where we ran into  two other couples we know and ended up spending most of the afternoon chatting before heading to game night at the local brewery (it was charades, and these people are brutally competitive, but a lot of fun). 

Friday we ran errands then went to "happy hour" at a local pub where we ran into more friends.  Two margaritas, two pina coladas, two bowls of chile (the "boca" which comes free at happy hour), a big bowl of papas frites and a few hours of good company cost us 5500 colones, or around $11 including tip.

Saturday was Jerry's birthday, so Sarita invited a group over for dinner (deep fried tortillas with bean paste, pulled chicken, guacamole, salsa, beer, cake & ice cream).

Sunday we went out on a 38 foot sailboat with a bunch of people and went down the lake to the volcano, where we stopped for a swim and a barbeque.  9500 colones ($18) got us a 5-6 hour boat ride and steak, chicken and pork with the required guacamole & tortillas. 

Here's a couple of pictures (I wish I had more but someone left the camera in a puddle of water so now it's sitting in a baggie of rice in the hopes that it'll dry out.  Oops.)

Ken saving us from certain destruction at the whim of the volcano gods.

Ken enjoying a refreshing dip after all his hard work.


Pura Vida!

Chocolate!!!

I can't believe it's been over a week since my last post.  We have been busy everyday with a full social schedule.  More about that later.  Last Monday we went on a chocolate plantation tour and took part in the making of chocolate from start to finish.  It's kind of disgusting what has to be done to produce such a delightful treat.

First they clean the seeds out of the chocolate pod, which looks a lot like a large papaya.  Each pod holds about 20-25 seeds, and it takes 75-100 seeds to make a proper chocolate bar (not the ones we get in the store, which they refer to as chocolate flavored candy).  Then they put the seeds in a tray with some bacteria to start the fermentation process.  The way they did this was to have us all suck the fruit off the seed (kind of like a skinless grape with a large cherry pit centre), then spit the seeds into the tray.  The seeds are stirred evey day for seven days while the bacteria and all matter of insects clean the remaining fruit off.

The seeds or beans are then transferred to a drying tray and left out in the sun to dry for a week or so.  This kills off most of the bacteria and stops the fermenting process. We peeled off the husk and ate a dry seed and they taste a little chocolatey.  It's kind of like chewing a coffee bean.

Once dry they put the beans in a large mortar bowl and pound them with a big pestle until the husks break off.  Even though Amanda (pictured here) is young and strong, she was surprised at how heavy he pestle is.

Notice the basket of pods in the lower left hand corner. 

The beans are then poured from bowl to bowl as the husks are blown away and the beans fall into the lower bowl.  Our friend Randy did the best job of this, probably because he's a Psychiatrist and was used to blowing out a lot of hot air - sorry Randy.

Finally the beans are roasted to develop the chocolate flavour and kill off any remaining bacteria.  Then they are ground, which is not an easy process.  Notice the Tica on the right trying not to laugh at Ken struggling to keep the grinder going.

You can eat the ground beans or nibs for a quick shot of energy, or mix into a chocolate drink.  "Cocao agua" is one of the Tico's traditional drinks.  We used a little hot water and milk. 

My favorite part was when they mixed the ground cocao (which still contains all the cocoa butter, unlike the cocoa we buy, so is rich and yummy) with a little milk and sugar into a thick paste and then ladelling it onto spoons and adding a variety of toppings.  My favorites were a shot of orange flavour, some cinnamon, and a raisin or two.  Heaven! 

After going around the table and filling my spoon three times I had to stop as my eyes were jumping in my head and I was starting to levitate.

Moving Day

After a month in our little jungle casita we have now moved up the hill to a larger, lake view house.  Due to the amount of rainfall we've had, we were starting to feel claustrophobic and the ants and biting flies were starting to take their toll on Ken's feet and legs. One of the gringos we breakfast with has been tracking the weather for six years (because that's what retired geezers do), and said July has had the most rainfall he's seen in one month. Although we miss being among the large variety of birds flitting around right outside our back door, the trade off is that we can now see the rain coming across the lake, sit outside under the large covered deck even when it is raining, see the lights of Arenal across the lake at night and the large cement patio is a deterrant to those pesky biting ants.  Here's our place - notice the papaya ripening on the tree outside our bedroom door

Patio doors from the living room and bedroom overlook the lake view and papaya tree.

We've decided to have an "at home" day and are enjoying the cool lake breezes from the lake - it's only about 22 C here.  We plan to do our Spanish homework and then go out to meet some gringos for 'happy hour' later this afternoon.  Salud!