eating and costa rican cuisine

The food is usually rather tame as far as seasoning. In contrast to Mexican dishes, there are  no jalapeños or spicy peppers of any kind really. Salt and pepper seem to get the job done. Every now and then some place will get fancy and add some lime juice. I can't find anything spicy.

 The "salad dressing" is just some kind of juice. 

If you've read my earlier blog entries you'll know the typical Costa Rican dish is "casados".  That's basically their only trademark dish. Many places have chicken empanadas too.

Casados includes white rice, black beans, small "salad", choice of fish, beef, chicken or pork, and fried plantain. Looks exactly like this:

After being here a month now, I can't imagine eating the way I did back in Texas, even though I started indulging in soft drinks again here(fanta orange and fresca made with real sugar is just too good to resist!).

Looking back, the portions in America are just ridiculous. No one needs that much food! Unfortunately I always felt the need to finish everything that's on my place or I feel like I'm wasting it. 

It's interesting, even if I have a small portioned meal here, the satisfaction after finishing the plate is still the same. We're just conditioned to wanting more and bigger is better. The only thing we love more than food is a good bargain.

I've noticeably lost weight in month I've been here. The size 36 shorts are starting to become loose. My facial bones are starting to become noticeable again as well as my abs as the layers of fat disappear. I've gone back to having just one chin.

When I first got here went to the local gym and weighed 210 lbs, I'm going back tomorrow to work out again and will weigh myself again. I'm guessing and hoping I'm under 200 now. 

The energy for all this walking, biking, surfing, and blogging has to be a great calorie burner. I'm no longer just replacing the burned calories with Taco Bueno, Jack in the Box, Whataburger, any pizza buffet....even though I would kill to get a Taco Bueno here.

 Or a pizza buffet. OR RANCH DRESSING.

 Oh man I miss ranch dressing! I haven't seen a drop or bottle since I've been here! I'm sure they have it at the Auto Mercado(biggest supermarket) here just outside town but I'd bet it's an American brand and at least 10 dollars a bottle. Mayonesa(mayonaise) and mostaza(mustard) are plentiful thankfully as well as ketchup.

Another helpful thing for my diet is the lack of fried anything in Tamarindo. There are no fried chicken or fried fish restaurants here!! It's very strange, considering these are all over the place elsewhere in Costa Rica, especially fried chicken! Walk down the foot streets in San Jose and you will see soda after soda with fried chicken sitting under hot lamps. Everywhere here in Tamarindo sells pizza. You can't take two steps without walking past a pizza restaurant. Other than that it's casados, the Costa Rican lunch dish, white rice, black beans, small "salad", and choice of pescado, pollo, bistecca, or chuleta. There's also a couple of Mexican restaurants and few nacho/burrito places. Two Asian food places I know of. Organic food, fruits, and sushi is popular too.

If I had the money to invest in a fried food restaurant here I would, and probably become the richest man in Tamarindo. 

Tonight I went to dinner with two Canadians, one from Quebec and one from Vancouver. 

I find it funny two fellow countrymen have trouble communicating. The guy from Quebec speaks French and doesn't know much English. 

Smoothie places are everywhere, and one in particular "Mandarina" makes the best smoothies I've ever had. Fresh everything, all kinds of fruits, cut straight from the fruit and blended right after you order it. So refreshing on a hot day after a surf session. 

They also have huge coconuts for only 500 colones. The top is chopped off and a straw put in. Perfect, nature's own little beverage. 

The town sometimes runs out of strawberries. I have yet to see any grapes anywhere here.

There was rain most of the day. I rented a bike and went grocery shopping. I bought more than planned so the trip back going uphill on a bike with 3 bags of groceries hung on the handlebars was an interesting test of balance.

The packages of ham and cheese got caught in the spokes and fell out of the grocery bag into the mud. Luckily the packages didn't tear. Just a little smushed. 

I was hoping nobody saw it happen but of course the lone person I encountered on my trek home comes walking out of a gate nearby. 

The water was off in the city for most of the day, and even after it was turned back on my apartment complex had to wait for the tank to fill back up to get any pressure. 

That meant no way to wash dirt and mud off your hands, clothes, all over my legs, and somehow my arms. 

It seems there is always at least one utility down at all times. The electricity goes out at times, the internet at others, today the water, sometimes the phone. That's just Costa Rica. 

The power lines are just strung through the trees. Sadly many monkeys get electrocuted crossing on them. Sometimes a mother will drop her baby and keep going rather than risk going to the ground to retrieve it.

I met some of the lucky ones that made it to the Jaguar Rescue Center, an animal rehabilitation center in Puerto Viejo. My visit there was a special trip. I hope to make a blog on it soon. 

I'm going to go make a sandwich.