At the movies (en Tres-D)

On Tuesday we treated ourselves to a day to the mall. It was our "anniversary" so we thought we would see a movie.

We arrived at the Paseo de las Flores at about 10:30am and a lot of the shops and food places were still shut, so we had a cup of tea and coffee and a very nice piece of chocolate cake each (a day off from healthy eating). After finishing these we had a little look in some of the shops before heading to the cinema at the end of the mall to buy our tickets. Many of the films here are shown in English but with Spanish subtitles, the exception to this is animated films which are most often dubbed into Spanish. We decided to see Coraline y la puerta secreta, in 3-D. This would be a challenge as it was dubbed, but we figured that at least we would be able to enjoy the 3-D. Because it was a 3-D film it was also a bit more expensive than the usual showings (3500 colones compared to 2200 colones). The coming attractions (all animations) were in 3-D, which was nice. The film itself was entertaining and the dialogue was nearly always easy enough for us to understand so following the story was never a problem. The 3-D was a nice extra and wasn't overdone.

After the film we had some lunch at the La Fabbrica Pizzeria (as we said, a day off from healthy eating), also at the mall. Zoë really enjoyed her pizza, while Colin thought his probably wasn't quite as good as that of our usual Italian restaurant (L'Antica Roma). Either way the pizzas were big and tasty.

On the way to the mall we noticed that all the bus stops have changed again in Central Heredia.... this time without advance warning in La Nacion. Perhaps this is what you miss out on when you don't have a TV!

Reggae Beats, Fishy Treats & Soaking Feet!

Reggae Beats, Fishy Treats

From the 1st to the 4th of February we visited Cahuita, on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. This was the first time we have been to that side of the country. Since it covers 4 days, this is a huge blog entry so you may want to go and get a drink and snack before sitting down to read!

Getting There & Back
We had several options for getting to Cahuita, including hiring a car or using one of the tourist shuttle services (Interbus or Fantasy Line). We chose to go by public transport as it was significantly cheaper. The bus from San José to Cahuita costs 3900 colones each way. We went to the Gran Terminal Caribe bus station in San José a few days in advance to purchase our tickets to Cahuita. On the way to Cahuita, you are given assigned seat numbers. The Gran Terminal Caribe bus station is conveniently located, for us anyway, just a few hundred metres from the Microbuses Rapidos Heredianos terminal, who run a Heredia-San José bus route via Santo Domingo & Tibas.

The journey from San José to Cahuita took 4 hours in total, including a 20 minute stop (the driver will tell you 10!) in Limón for a toilet break and an opportunity to buy something to eat. We had somewhat of a culture shock, as the majority of the passengers on the bus to Cahuita were English-speaking tourists and we haven’t really been around many tourists since we’ve been here. There were also a few Ticos, and a nun dressed in white. Clearly we thought that the chances of our bus being involved in an accident would be greatly diminished with a nun on board.

You cannot purchase the return ticket until you are in Cahuita, and the earliest you can buy it is the day before you want to travel. Seats are not assigned on the way back, and Cahuita is the last stop before San José so be prepared if you are travelling with someone to sit separately from them. However, the nice Chilean guy who Zoë sat next to offered to swap seats with Colin so that we could sit together. Personally we think the chileno just wanted to sit next to the skinny girl with the long, wavy dark hair that spoke perfect Spanish who Colin had sat next to! Because of the flooding (the province of Limón, in which Cahuita is located, had torrential rain during the time we were there) the journey back to San José took us 6 hours.

Just north of Cahuita is a police checkpoint. On the way back a policeman boarded the bus and checked everyone’s ID. Remember to carry your passport, or a photocopy of the ID page, with you at all times when travelling in Costa Rica (we carry photocopies).

Accommodation
We stayed at El Encanto Bed & Breakfast. This had been recommended to us by a couple of guys we met at Hotel Hojarascas the last time we visited Costa Rica (February/March 2008). We had one of the cabins in the beautiful gardens, which were inhabited by numerous colourful birds and lots of little green & black poison dart frogs.

Each morning we were woken by the sound of howler monkeys in the area. There was also a small swimming pool which due to the torrential rain we didn’t actually end up using (we arrived on Sunday afternoon, the rain started on Monday lunchtime and hadn’t stopped by the time we left late on Wednesday morning). We did however make good use of the covered terrace at the front of our cabin to sit outside in the torrential rain and watch the comings and goings of the wildlife and the hotel guests and staff. It may have been pouring with rain, but at least it was warm!
Cahuita itself is full of accommodation for tourists at all prices from basic cabinas to upscale hotels. We were happy with our mid-price choice.

Eating & Drinking

The small village of Cahuita is packed full of bars and restaurants catering to the tourists and also several more local, traditional sodas. It all seemed a little disproportionate really for such a small place. However, the upside is that the choice provides a lot of really good eating! In just a short visit we couldn’t possibly visit every one of them but here’s where we did go:

Reggae Bar, on the road leading out of the village along Playa Negra (Black Beach). We arrived on the Sunday afternoon while it was sunny and warm (the rain didn’t start until Monday) and went for a walk along the beach/beach road. We stopped off here for a drink. A very rough hewn bar with laid back staff and customers including surfers, Rastafarians and aging hippies from the USA who have probably been here a little too long. Like pretty much all the bars in Cahuita, this one was showing European football on its TV, and playing reggae music.

Restaurante Sobre Las Olas, on the road leading out of the village along Playa Negra, is the closest restaurant to El Encanto. Being on the coast, we wanted to ensure that we got our fill of seafood while we were in Cahuita. So, on the Sunday night we chose this restaurant because it was so close to the hotel and advertised seafood as its specialty. This is not a cheap restaurant. In fact it is by far the most expensive place we have eaten since we arrived in Costa Rica in early December. But the candlelit table on the Caribbean shore and the delicious food made it worth every colón. Colin had red snapper in a Caribbean sauce (coconutty and creamy), which he thought was the best meal he ate while we were in Cahuita. Zoë had a Caribbean-style seafood rice dish, which came with every conceivable type of seafood mixed in with the wonderfully flavoured rice. Quite an adventure to a relative newcomer to seafood! Colin also took advantage of a free sample of local cahuita white rum, it had quite a kick to it.

Pizz’ n’ Love is in the centre of the village. We ended up here because the Sunday night was the night of the Superbowl and we couldn’t watch it at El Encanto because the tube in the television in the communal area had blown that morning. We walked through the village looking to see if anywhere was showing it … we did think that we might have to go and ask at the house that serves as the laundry if we could go and watch their telly, but then we came across Pizz’ n’ Love who were showing the Superbowl on a big screen much to Colin’s (and the large number of Steelers and Cardinals fans who had gathered there) relief. It was a nice atmosphere, the drinks were good, the food looked good (we had already eaten though) and the host was very friendly and seemed to know everyone who passed by and stopped to watch from the roadside for a few minutes.

Coral Reef Restaurant in the centre of the village was our Monday night dinner stop. Delicious Rice and Beans (traditionally Caribbean with a hint of coconut) and corvina (sea bass). Zoë’s was in a creole sauce, and Colin’s in a Caribbean sauce (more spicy and less coconutty than the previous night). We also had postres (pudding) here, both of us opting for a banano flambeado con helado, which was very tasty.

Café del Parquecito is, as the name suggests, right by the little park in the village. We stopped here on Tuesday morning partly to get a break from the rain, and partly to try out the crepes here (“the best in town” – probably the only in town). The crepes were good and so were the hot chocolates we drank. It seemed to be the hangout for the German-speaking tourists – maybe the crepes reminded them of Europe.

Cha Cha Cha, serves cocina del mundo (food of the world) in Cahuita village. We ate here on Tuesday evening and were glad that we got there early as the small restaurant filled up quickly and the food took a while to arrive (it was just as well that Zoë had her natural de mora and Colin his Haitian Zombie cocktail to keep them occupied). We both had the catch of the day – shark fillet in a creole sauce. We were given a choice of how spicy we wanted the sauce – not very for Zoë, quite a lot for Colin. This was Zoë’s favourite meal here. While we waited for our food Colin spotted a strange shadow that seemed to be making its way along a telephone line which turned out to be a sloth. Zoë went to investigate despite the torrential rain, but the sloth was moving too fast (yes really!) and it was too dark to take a photograph. Still it was an interesting sight to see.

Soda Lili, at the bus station. We had quite a while to wait for our bus back to San Jose on Wednesday morning, so we had a nice cup of hot chocolate to raise our spirits at the small soda right next to the swimming pool (OK, it was the bus stop…. but we could probably have gone swimming if we had wanted!)

Activities
On the Monday we went on an organised tour which took us to the Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica, the Uatsi Waterfall and the Tsiru Úe, a family run “Chocolate House”.

Our driver for the day was Daubrin. He didn’t speak much English, and the 8 other tourists we were with didn’t speak Spanish so initially he seemed quite unfriendly and uncommunicative. But when he realised that we could speak some Spanish he brightened up a bit and turned out to be very friendly and helpful. Moral of the story: always try to speak at least a little of the language of the country you are travelling to.

We were picked up at El Encanto at 10.20 am, and driven to the Sloth Sanctuary. Our guide at the sanctuary was Jeffrey, the Las Vegas born and raised grandson of the sanctuary owners who had originally wanted to be an architect until he visited his grandparents in Costa Rica 4 years ago … and stayed. Jeffrey told us a lot about sloths with the help of a large mural, a video and sloth skeletons and then we went to meet some live ones. Each of the sloths at the sanctuary has its own story of how it got there … some were orphaned as babies or found abandoned, others sustained injuries as adults. Unfortunately, if the sloth is orphaned it doesn’t learn how to survive in the wild from its mother and it is therefore destined to a comfortable, but captive, life at the sanctuary. Injured sloths, once healed, are released into the “wild” of the sanctuary’s own private area of forest. Some of these sloths will move on to the real wild of their own accord. We met several adult sloths, one of which we were allowed to stroke, and many small baby sloths. Unfortunately, due to the time constraints of the tour we didn’t have time to go for a walk along the “sendero de los peresozos” (the path of the sloths) to look for sloths in the sanctuary’s forest.

At the Sanctuary we also learned that sloths, along with dolphins, are the only creatures that are permanently smiling .... :)

We were driven to the town of Bribrí, where we made a quick lunch stop, before heading to the Uatsi waterfall. This involved a drive into the Talamanca mountains, which ended sooner than Daubrin anticipated because one of the rivers on the way to the waterfall, which he usually crossed in his vehicle, was uncrossable in his people carrier. Thus our hike was further than anticipated and involved wading across 3 rivers before eventually getting to the river with the waterfall.


The whole experience was adventurous and entertaining (some of the folk on the tour were just not prepared for this) and the reward at the end, paddling/swimming in the pool at the bottom of the waterfall was for Zoë the surprise highlight of the tour. Colin didn’t go into the pool, and Daubrin offered to take him on a little hike to the top of the waterfall; Colin couldn’t think at that moment how to say “I don’t like heights” in Spanish but did manage to comprehend that it wasn't going to be too steep so he followed Daubrin and ended up going to places he would never have usually gone. The view was great, but a bit too high for comfort.

After the waterfall we visited Tsiru Úe. This family from the indigenous Bribrí tribe make chocolate from the cacao trees growing in their garden. They showed us the trees, the cacao fruit at different stages of growth (it takes 6 months to reach the stage where it can be used for chocolate), allowed us to try some of the fruit (very sweet and kind of like mango) and showed us how they processed the seeds into cocoa butter and chocolate before allowing us to try (and of course purchase) the results.

It was while we were visiting Tsiru Úe that the torrential rain, which would last until we left Cahuita, began. We were pleased that we hadn’t booked the tour for the Tuesday as we think that the waterfall trip would have been too dangerous and unpredictable with that amount of rainfall in such a short time.

On Tuesday we went for a walk in Cahuita National Park. We did postpone the start of the walk for a couple of hours in case the rain stopped, but when it didn’t we just resigned ourselves to getting very wet. We were only in Cahuita for a limited time and didn’t want to spend that time sitting watching the rain. We followed the trail through the park from the Kelly Creek Ranger Station (at Cahuita) to the Puerto Vargas Ranger Station. A distance of 8 km, plus an extra couple of kilometres to get transport back to Cahuita.


On the trail we walked along Caribbean beaches with waves crashing to the shore and through jungle where we saw abundant wildlife including blue fiddler crabs, a troup of capuchin monkeys and two bocaracás (bright yellow venomous snakes which apparently aren’t often seen in the park). Although we didn’t go swimming in the Caribbean (it looked just a little too rough for us) we may as well have as we were absolutely soaked, but we did often paddle along the edges. We had decided to make absolutely no attempt to stay dry as it would have been impossible and instead enjoyed the feeling of wearing shorts and t-shirts in warm rain. This just does not happen in Aberdeen!

At the end of the walk we reached the multipurpose Bar Boca Chica where they have a swimming pool free to use for their customers (somewhat ironic on this particular day), served food and drink, braided hair, sold souvenirs and offered a taxi service. Colin had a warming coffee while we dried out a little under their thatched shelters (we do think that they should add Hot Chocolate to their menu, especially for soaking days like this one!) before we hired the barman to drive us back to Cahuita in his “taxi”. The barman/taxi driver spoke good English learnt whilst he worked for a couple of years in Glasgow about 20 years ago. His Glaswegian impression was also spot on, including obscenities (“for **** sake gies a fag, pal”).

Conclusion
Despite the torrential rain, which we later found had caused lots of flooding in the province, we enjoyed our trip to the Caribbean as much as we had hoped. It was very strange to be among so many English-speaking people, both tourists and locals. We had read the odd bad report about Cahuita, but everyone we met was very friendly and we didn’t experience any problems. All-in-all, Cahuita was the relaxed, quiet getaway we wanted.

Coffee Time

This week we have had the opportunity to be tourists whilst on our Costa Rican adventure. Zoë's parents arrived on Monday (or at least they were supposed to arrive on Monday, but it turned out to be about 1.30am on Tuesday morning, delayed due to snow at Newark Airport) which means that we've had a busy week visiting various tourist attractions. And Colin has had to drive on Costa Rican roads for the first time.

On Tuesday, we visited the Doka Estate, a coffee plantation and wet mill about 10 km north of Alajuela. On a previous visit to Costa Rica we went on the tour at Cafe Britt, which is very local to us (about a 45 minute walk), so we thought we'd see what a different coffee place was like. Coffee has been grown on the Doka Estate since 1919, and run by the Vargas family since 1940. This give the coffee it's name: Tres Generaciones/Three Generations.

As we arrived about midday we decided to have lunch before the tour; tour and lunch combined cost $26 each. This gave Zoë's parents an early opportunity to sample a traditional casado and fresco. The tour was due to start at 1.30pm, but our guide (Carlos) came to get us about 12.45 to tell us that he would start the tour early (at 1pm) and that we could spend the next 15 minutes, if we wished, in their new (not yet open to the public) butterfly garden. This was still in the process of getting its finishing touches, but looks like it will be really nice once completed. Already there were many butterflies to watch around the new plantings.

The coffee tour itself was very interesting and informative, and very different to that of Cafe Britt. Where Cafe Britt use actors to bring the history of coffee production in Costa Rica to life, this tour is more focused on providing us with information. And lots of it. There were also a lot less people than when we did the Cafe Britt tour - the tour started with just the 4 of us, and two other people joined us later. This made it feel much more personal. We were shown plants at different stages of growth, the structure of the coffee fruit (which we learned belongs to the cherry family), we went into the plantation and looked at ripe, underripe and overripe fruits and visited the wet mill where the beans are sorted, peeled and then dried.

Finally we visited the roasting area and shown the different types of Coffee that the estate produces. We then, of course, had the opportunity to sample and purchase the different roasts. All the way through the tour Carlos shared his enthusiasm and knowledge about the Doka estate and its processes, and answered every question posed to him.

Despite the wonderful tour, all the tasting, and two months in Costa Rica, Zoë still doesn't like coffee!

Not Rice and Beans

Since the terremoto last Thursday things have, thankfully, been a lot quieter here. We have still experienced the odd temblor but nothing too bad. This last week has seen us consume some good food which has proven to be a nice change from the rice & beans, or omelettes that we seem to have been living on a lot (but not all) of the time.

On Friday we took the bus down to the neighbouring city of Alajuela, primarily to check out that the bus went past the airport and the location of where we are hiring a car for next week's visit of Zoë's parents. We took advantage of our trip to Alajuela to have lunch in a fine Tex-Mex eatery that we discovered on our previous trip here. It is called Jalapeños and although it is small and looks more like a fast-food location than a restaurant, the quality of the food is excellent. Zoë had a Quesadilla (to help satisfy the withdrawal symptoms of lack of cheese she has been having since arriving in Costa Rica - cheese here is VERY expensive compared to the UK) and Colin tried a Chalupa for the first time.

On Sunday we went down to the centre of Heredia to see if we could find a bar/restaurant that might show the Steelers playoff game (to help satisfy the withdrawal symptoms of the lack of American football Colin has been having since arriving in Costa Rica). We ended up in a nice place near the Palacio de los Deportes which did have a TV showing sports, but unfortunately at this time it was showing the Man Utd Chelsea game and not NFL (one of the few times Colin was sad to see football on the telly). The bar/restaurant was called "El Cholo" and the owner is obviously a big FC Barcelona fan as there were flags and pictures of players and "El Camp Nou" stadium all over the walls. Despite the lack of any American football we stayed to have something to eat and drink. We went for a Plato Especial which was a fine mixture of different Spanish style tapas and they were delicious (and a lot cheaper than you would pay in La Tasca in the UK).

On Monday we met with our two Spanish teachers, Wes and Rafa, to have dinner with them and their friend Fred. Fred is originally from Oregon in the U.S. but had studied at the University of Aberdeen for a year in the 1980s. Fred had (mostly) fond memories of his time in Aberdeen and remembered various drinking establishments, some of which are still in existence. Less fondly remembered was the biting wind and freezing cold days of winter. He still has a penchant for the group Runrig developed in his time at Aberdeen. Wes cooked a delicious two course meal for us - Pad Thai with Pork (originally it was to be with chicken, but the chicken was deemed off :-) ) followed by arroz con leche (yummm).

On Tuesday we had.... omelette.

¡Feliz Navidad!

Christmas arrived in Costa Rica before we did. Certainly by the time we arrived here on December 2nd, there were already distinct signs that Christmas was already here. We are not sure what gave it away: maybe it was the giant inflatable snowmen, or the illuminated candy canes in peoples gardens, or the fairy lights strung around houses and in the trees, or the pop-pop of fireworks going off every night, or the giant plastic portales (nativity scenes). Whatever it was that gave it away, it was clear that Christmas here lasts at least the entire month of December; probably helped along in good measure by the aguinaldo (an extra month’s salary paid to all workers in December).

With the exception of the giant plastic portales, much of the above is often seen in the UK. But for us, celebrating Christmas outside of the UK for the first time, it all seems a little surreal because of one important additional factor: it’s hot and sunny!

Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) is usually the time for a family get together, exchanging of gifts and, for many Catholics, attendance at Misa de Gallo (Christmas Eve mass, traditionally at midnight but now often earlier). We were invited to share a meal with our friends, Peter & Victoria, and their daughter, Caty. We have to admit that in spite of all the decorations, the feeling of Christmas didn’t actually hit us until we were welcomed into their home last night.

To start with Colin was treated to a lovely mulled wine, warm and very Christmassy. The main course was pretty traditional (in UK terms; this and the mulled wine were probably influenced by Peter!) in that it was roast chicken with various vegetables. It was also very tasty and did make a nice change from rice and beans for us. (Zoë would like to point out that we aren’t JUST eating rice & beans … sometimes we have beans & rice, and maybe even a salad too ;) )

After a break to let our main course digest, during which we sang some villancicos (Christmas songs/Carols) in Spanish, and then English, it was time for pudding (postre). Imported apples are a special treat at Christmas time here, and every year Victoria makes a Christmas apple pie. This was served last night much to the delight of Colin, who reckons you can’t get a better postre than apple pie and ice cream.

Following the meal, as midnight approached, it was time to open presents. Zoë thinks this is fantastically civilised; she has forgotten how many times she has asked to open “just one present” on Christmas Eve, and always been denied.

Children here traditionally receive their gifts from niño Jesús (a.k.a. el Niño), but with traditions all over the world now becoming mixed up it is unsurprising that dear old Santa Claus is now a popular figure here. In order not to lose the niño Jesús tradition, it is often said that Santa Claus is his messenger.

Although we had a fantastic time and really delicious meal on Christmas Eve, we wanted to try something that in Costa Rica is very much associated with Christmas: tamales. Apparently, Costa Rican tamales are different from Mexican ones. But since we have never had Mexican tamales we can’t comment on this. Basically, a Costa Rican tamal is a mixture of corn dough with vegetables and meat, wrapped in plantain or banana leaves and then boiled. Tamales here usually come as a pair tied together with string (called una piña de tamales)

This video will give you the general idea: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2j-hRcmfUdY

(We do wonder why the dog in this video is so quiet. Our experience of dogs in Costa Rica suggests they like to bark. A lot. Perhaps this one has eaten too many tamales already?)

And this page has a great description and recipe if you're feeling adventurous: http://www.cocori.com/library/crinfo/tamal.htm

We clearly didn’t make our tamales from scratch (too much work and not enough experience!) so instead purchased readymade ones from the supermarket and had them for lunch today (December 25th).

Verdict: quite tasty, but like post-Christmas Turkey we wouldn’t want to have them every day!

Manos Abiertas

Today, after Spanish school, we had a very tasty and very cheap lunch at a most unexpected location. We have previously visited the Monteverde Heladeria for ice-cream (as one would expect), but today we went in to get a quick sandwich. We only expected to get a small sandwich for the price, but ended up getting the equivalent of a foot long subway, a drink (fresco) AND an ice-cream cone for pudding. Total cost for 2 of these meals was 2400 colones (less than £3).

Later, we went to Manos Abiertas with some folk from the Taoist Tai Chi Society of Costa Rica. We were invited to visit along with a choir group from Heredia. Manos Abiertas is a home for profoundly disabled people which is run by nuns. Last year the Society collected toys for the home and this year the donation was something very practical – nappies for adults. The choir group sang various Christmas songs (in Spanish of course) to entertain the residents (and nuns and nurses who worked there). It was a good experience, with many of the residents showing a lot of enthusiasm for the singing.

Zoë’s Spanish Phrase of the day

Detrás del cerco ladra un perro chico que se considera grande.

This comes from Colin’s “First Spanish Reader”. We think this nicely sums up part of Costa Rican life as we have already encountered many of these in our short time here!

Yummy Yuca

We started our Spanish classes yesterday with ISSCR. This is a little school which is run out the spacious garage of Doña Ligia’s house near Pollo Cervecero in Heredia. The tutors, Wes & Rafa, previously worked at another language school in Heredia, but didn’t like the fact that at that school the business seemed more important than the students, so they set up on their own. Their teaching style is very informal and mostly conversational – the grammar points are covered as they come up in conversation. The lessons are 4 hours each day and, for these first two days at least, have flown by. We are their only students for this week and next with the exception of a German woman named Frauke who comes once a week (on Tuesday). We essentially have one-to-one tuition with Colin working mostly with Rafa, and Zoë mostly with Wes.

Wes is a keen chef, and so the conversation often turns to food and cooking. Rafa is giving Colin a lot of information about Costa Rica in general, and as such today we were all discussing fruits and vegetables that are available here. And so it turned out after class we had the urge to go to the mercado central in Heredia to buy yuca before getting the bus home.

In Scotland yucca is a popular houseplant. We are not sure if yucca and yuca are the same plant; sources on the web are very conflicted! Anyway, in Costa Rica, yuca root is eaten as a staple vegetable, much like potatoes – boiled, mashed, fried etc etc.

Wes described how to prepare the root (in Spanish, of course!). The skin is poisonous so has to be removed, which is very easy when you know how. After you’ve cut the root into chunks a couple of inches wide, cut through the skin lengthways (between the cut ends) and ease it away from the chunk of yuca in one piece. We decided to boil then mash the root with some butter and milk, and ate it with some left over pollo asado from yesterday and ensalada. Verdict: very tasty!

Please Note: This is a stock photograph (borrowed from Wikipedia!). We did not eat all this yuca!

Las Aves Locas

This morning we were awoken at 6.15 am by a loud banging sound that appeared to be coming from inside our home. This was particularly unusual, as we have been awake before 6 am every morning that we have been here so far…

After wondering what the noise was for a few seconds, we thought we ought to go investigate. So we got out of bed and put on our house shoes (having first shaken them out to remove any critters that may have made their home there in the night!) and cautiously went to investigate. Checked the upstairs – nothing. Checked downstairs – nothing. Yet still the banging went on. Loud. And in the house. At this point, we were somewhat what nervous and wondering what to do. We started back up the stairs and came eye to beady eye with the culprit. As he looked us in the eyes he made as if to try the window once again …

In the years that they lived in this house, our friends, Peter & Victoria, had never had an attempt at forced entry. And here we were, 5 days into our stay coming face to face with a BIRD trying to enter the house!! We think it was attracted to the rather beautiful stained glass window and was actually pecking at it because it thought it could get something tasty to eat. It flew off shortly afterwards, and all was silent again. Well, as silent as it ever is in Costa Rica.

Sunday is market day in San Rafael, the town closest to our home in Costa Rica. So, after we got over our rude awakening, we paid the feria a brief visit this morning to take a look. There were a lot of people out to get their fruit and veg for the week, and many of these people were trailing "granny trolleys" behind them so that they could wheel their purchases home. We only saw one that was of the traditional style that we are accustomed to - red tartan. Both the prices and quality seemed pretty good, so we plan to make this our weekly fruit and veg shop ourselves - although it is yet to be decided whether a granny trolley will be required. On this occasion we only bought a pineapple (piña), cost 300 colones (about 40p).

Please note: This the actual pineapple and not a stock photograph.

In the afternoon we went into Heredia to see a festival that was on in and around the main park in the centre of town (parque central). The festival consisted of various shows, dancing and singing, all performed by the students of Universidad Nacional (UNA). UNA has its main campus in Heredia city, and also has several other campuses around the country. Students from all campuses had come to take part. Here are some of the highlights of what we saw…

Baile Folclórico: Así es Nicoya, Campus Nicoya

We saw a very similar performance when we were here last time, in March this year, though we don’t know if they were the same people. Our understanding is that in this dance the men and women take it in turns to hurl insults at each other … we are not entirely sure why. However, there was always much appreciative whistling from the crowd after each one was thrown! (If anyone can translate the one in the video for us, we would be most appreciative).

This little group, from Campus Pérez Zeledón put on a section of the Christmas story for us. Somewhat of a challenge for our Spanish, and even more so for our ears during the parts where they sang carols. Angel Gabriel couldn’t sing for toffee, but he did put everything he had into it….

More traditional dancing, this time from the Liberia Campus. We were told they had been up since 3 am in order to get there to dance for us.

And finally, we simply couldn’t leave out the group UNÁnime. We probably shouldn’t say too much about this because some things are beyond explanation.

Rice & Beans

We headed into Heredia after Tai Chi class this morning to buy a few bits that we needed, and to get something eat. We were planning to go Vishnu/Mango Verde, a vegetarian place we really like, but passed a soda on the way that took our fancy.

A soda is a small diner that serves traditional Costa Rican food (comida típica). They vary in size, starting from a kiosk with a few bar stools at the counter, through a small room in the front of house with a couple of tables up to something like the larger one we were in today – which probably had about 10 tables (as well as several bar stools).

We had the most typical of soda meals, a casado. From Wikipedia, whose writer phrased it more clearly than we could: “A Casado is a typical Costa Rican meal consisting of rice, beans, fried plantain bananas, salad, a tortilla, and an entree of choice that may include chicken, beef, pork, and others.”

Today ours had rice, beans, plantain, a couple of slices beetroot & tomato (salad!), chips and fish. Along with a natural each, the total cost for the two of us was 3800 colones (just under £5 at todays miserable exchange rate of 771.5 CRC to a GBP).

Zoë’s Spanish Phrase of the Day:
Acabo de ver un hombre que iba por la calle en uniciclo.

Suggested usage: When you are enjoying a quiet casado and out of the corner of your eye you see a man on a unicycle amongst all the traffic on the road. Of course, your husband doesn’t believe you. But I did see a man on unicycle going down the street. Honest.

Please note that I am not sure of the grammar for this phrase, so if I am wrong, please correct me!

Power Walking

Today we decided to go to Mall Paseo de Los Flores as Colin wanted to get a surge protector with battery backup for our precious computers and the delightful Rana, as we believe the power here can be temperamental, and we knew that we would be able to get a good one there. Plus, we like malls.

To save us a little money, and because it was a nice morning, warm but with light drizzle here and there to cool us down, we decided to walk. After plotting the path on Google Earth, it turns out that this is a distance of about 2.67 miles (4.3km). It is nice to have the time to be able to walk somewhere as a form of transport. The surge protector (sistema de alimentación ininterrumpida) was no problem to purchase even with Colin’s language difficulties at the checkout.

While at the mall we enjoyed a couple of naturales. These are drinks made either with water or milk, fruit, ice and a little sugar (if necessary) all blended together. Much yummier than the ever present Coca Cola. We also noticed a little stall, which was not there on our last trip to this country, catering to the Costa Rican love of rice pudding (arroz con leche) by serving it in a positive myriad of variations. What appealed to us, however, was the name of the stall: Rice ‘n’ Smile. If we ever try it, we’ll be sure to update you.

We caught the bus back, partly because of the purchases we were carrying (which in addition to the sistema de alimentación ininterrumpida included two almohadas and a sartén) and partly because the sun was out now making it a lot hotter and putting us at greater risk of sunburn. We took two buses actually: the Ruta 400 to Heredia which cost 295 colones, and then the Ruta 434 to San Rafael which cost 190 colones. The cost of the two buses together equates to about £0.45 each. Is it possible to go anywhere on the bus in the UK for 45p?