So, I've seen a lot of random things that don't deserve whole posts to themselves. I'll put them here.
FIRES
In Costa Rica, many people still cook over an open fire. I know that seems so antiquated to us, but it's true. We saw it in Tortuguero and when I was in Uvita, a lady came up to the guy we were visiting and asked if he had any firewood that she could use for that evening. I can't imagine trying to cook my family's meals over an open fire. I mean, I enjoy it every once in a while if we go camping or something, but that's really a luxury because we're doing it for the fun of it, not for necessity.
MEAT
I know I mentioned that meat is very expensive here. There's a local grocery story called Mas por Menos (More for less) where we sometimes get groceries. On Wednesday's, Mas por Menos has a sale one meat. One of the teachers at the school took us over there one day and the line was really long of people waiting in line for the meat. That day it was chicken, but I saw some beef on the side, too. Also, if you want to purchase an already cooked chicken (like the rotisserie kinds you find in the grocery store in the U.S.), it'll cost you about $12.00. No lie. When I wanted one, I split it with another girl. Incidentally, I've lost 20 lbs since I've been here. I don't know if it's because of eating less meat or walking so much, but I'm glad it has happened.
ZONING
There is no zoning here. Or, if there is, no one abides by the laws. Walking down the street you'll see a house (a residence, anyway), a little store, another house, a cow, a business, a vegetable cart, then another store. All in a row with no spaces in between. I couldn't believe when I saw the cow up in the middle of it. It was funny.
SAN JOSE
One day we were walking down a center common area in San Jose. There were vendors all spread out in the middle. They had their wares laid out on blankets and were calling to passers-by. A lot of the products were things like socks, clothing, pirated DVD's (things that are still in the movie theater), etc. So, we're walking along and we hear a little commotion. It wasn't much, but then we saw way ahead of us two police officers on bicycles heading our direction. It was AMAZING to watch, in a matter of 10 seconds MAX, there was not one vendor still on the street. They simply disappeared. We were looking around trying to find them, but they obviously have mastered the art of picking up the illegal products and disappearing into the crowd. I've never seen anything like that before.
BANANAS
Did you know that it takes about 12 months for a bunch of bananas to be mature? I had no idea it took that long! They put these plastic bags over them to make them ripen quicker, but that only brings it down to about 9 months.
I read this out loud to Charlie. His comments:
ReplyDeleteCooking over an open fire really isn't hard to do (I have personally done that when my lights got turned off way back when and I had to cook for over a week that way). It can add flavor to your food. He remembers going to visit his grandparents and they would cook red beans over the fire. Says it was the best red beans.
Meat - I wonder why the meat is so expensive. Charlie suspects that it's all imported. They probably don't have cattle ranches etc. His daughter has said before that Hawaiian meat is very expensive as well.
San Jose - HILARIOUS! Charlie was nodding his head and said, "They scatter like quails."
Bananas - I knew that about those. You can get a banana tree and plant it here. There is a certain type that grows here in Louisiana but their only like about 5 inches long. Also, did you know that the banana tree will only make one crop and then it dies. The root will put out another tree which will provide another crop. The workers would simply cut the old tree down to make room for the new one.
I love reading about your experiences!