Groceries: how shopping & packaging is different

Grocery stores here are much more like I remember from childhood. There are no big box stores. Well - one Walmart in San Jose, that's it. The grocery store is small and incomplete by today's expectations.

Each store I've noticed has about 2-1/2 isles of groceries and 2-1/2 isles of cleaners, paper items and miscellaneous "stuff"(flip flops, small section of plumbing items, etc.) Once you are finished at the grocery store, you still need to go to the butcher, fruit/veggie stand and bread store. Then you are finished with your grocery shopping.

Things are packaged smaller like they were 20 years ago. Not a lot of super size anything. But I've also noticed things are packaged in a much more environmentally friendly way. Many items are packaged in a "bag" instead of a plastic bottle. Like Mayo (which always comes Lime flavored and is used as dressing on salad), ketchup, vegetable oil and some jams. Even powdered laundry soap is in a bag instead of a box.

Other interesting things are packaging for Glad Cling Wrap - you can buy just the wrap and refill your box you already have. Eggs are sold 18 at a time instead of a dozen and kept at room temperature, not cold. Milk is sold in shelf stable boxes.

The butcher is actually working in the back when I go in to buy meat. Since all meat is very expensive compared to what we're used to, we stretch it out and eat some vegetarian meals. Everything is behind a case and some is kept in a deep freezer (it's all the "parts" I wouldn't buy).

The fruit stand is a favorite for the boys and I've learned if I bring them, we get an additional something for free. Some past items have been a coconut opened with a straw, a few grapes or a banana for each of them.

We don't really go to the bakery since we're a gluten free family, but they have several different types of bread, pastries and cheesecake. (Yum!)

Going Back "Home"

Today we all got up early and packed up for our trips. We're going "home" and the Grandparents are going back to San Jose. They'll catch a flight tomorrow and head home. We all said our good-byes and wished them a safe trip home.

It's a four hour Interbus ride back to our house. The Interbus is a great way to get around longer distances in Costa Rica without having the stress of driving yourself and the expense of renting a car. They are typically a large van holding about a dozen people. You pay in advance and they pick up and drop off at hotels. It's a nice way to meet other travelers, find out what other people are seeing/doing and compare notes (so to speak).

All our Interbus trips so far have included a 20 minute break after about 2 hours of riding. Sometimes we switch buses to get to our final destination. It is the same place we have always stopped. There is a gift shop, restaurant, cafe, restrooms and birds (both in a small zoo and flying around freely).

Imagine our surprise when we arrived and saw Grandma and Grandpa sitting in the cafe! We got to visit with them for 10 more minutes and say good-bye again. The boys were so excited to see them too.

We made it back home around 1:00 and settled back in. Now it's time for us to switch gears from being tourists in Costa Rica to "living" here. We'll take the next week or so to figure out what exactly that's going to look like.

Moteverde - The Cloud Forest

We only had one full day in Monteverde, so we packed in a lot. Started the day with the El Trapiche Tour where we got to see sugar cane, coffee and chocolate plants. We learned all about each from growing and harvesting to how the process each to make what we buy in the store. It was interesting and everyone learned a lot. We even saw some of the equipment for how they processed the harvest 70 years ago compared to now. There was even a "sugar-shine" set up - so I got to try some 120 proof sugar cane moonshine. :-)

Next we went to the Frog Pond and Butterfly Exhibit. I was surprised that this was a guided tour, but quickly figured out why -  without the guide, there is no way one could find the frogs! They hide so well! He had a flashlight and we could find them when he was telling us where to look. There were over 30 kinds of frogs, many poisonous. What was surprising to learn is that most of the world's frogs are nocturnal! Apparently our pass was good to come back tonight to see them out and active and not sleeping but we already had tickets for a night hike, otherwise we would have come back!

We asked our guide where a good place to eat was. He recommended Tico y Rico as his cousin runs the restaurant. He gave us cards worth a free fruit juice, so off we went to find it. The food was good and reasonably priced. It was late enough, we were calling it lunch and dinner together.

Back at the hotel, we left John and Jacob with the grandparents and Mommy and Daddy went off for a night hike at Ficus Trails to see what creatures would be out. We didn't see any sloths or scorpions, but the guide really did look hard for them. Our guide did show us a very large cutter ant mound (approx 10m x 10m) and we saw several highways where the ants were bringing in leaves and berries. In the woods he found several birds (don't remember what kind), an owl and one viper snake. We went by a pond and saw several frogs crocking away. At the end of the tour, he walked along the road and he found/showed us several tarantula spiders. The females live in holes and he'd take a stick and coax them out thinking they may have dinner. I believe he said they were blind and went by feel. 

Tomorrow we go home and the Grandparents go back to San Jose for their trip back home.

Hot Springs and a Boat Ride

Today we hung out all morning at our Hotel. They have several hot springs and swimming pools. Each hot spring was a different temperature and many had several together: one hot, one cooler and one that felt cold. It reminded me of hot tubbing in Michigan in the winter when we would sit in the hot tub until we were almost cooked and then ran into the snow. Only here you get into the cold spring.

After lunch (and a massage for the gals) we were on our way to Monteverde. Monteverde is in a cloud forest and where we were (Arenal volcano) is near a rain forest. The elevation is very different. Arenal area is about 3,200 feet above sea level and Monteverde is about 4,500).

Even though these two areas are close geographically, you need to travel all the way around or across Lake Arenal to get from one to the other because the terrain is so rough, no roads have been put in.

We took a bus a short distance to the lake and hopped in a boat for a ride across the lake. Beautiful country side and great views of Arenal volcano. Because the volcano is still "hot" (but not active) there are clouds around the top almost all the time. Yesterday we had a good view of the top in the late afternoon but today it looks like the clouds will hang around all day.

After the boat, we boarded another bus for a ride up, up, up! Switchbacks, narrow and very bumpy roads. Our driver had to go slow. The mountains are steep and I had to feel a little sorry for the cows and horses since I'm used to seeing them on flatter ground. I'm sure they actually manage just fine.

It rained on the way over and we saw a rainbow from end to end! It took about 4 hours in all to get from one hotel to the other. By the time we arrived, it was getting dark (remember that happens here around 6:00pm). Since we have acclimated to temps in the 90's with a few days over 100, up here, on the top of a mountain, at our hotel it was windy and felt very COLD like it could start snowing at any minute - even though it was probably only around 60.

We settled in for the night listening to the wind howl as we snuggled into our warm bed.

A visit to the Mountains

Today we left EARLY for a 4 hour ride up to the Arenal Volcano area. We quickly checked into our Hotel and grabbed a shuttle to the rain forest for our Sky Tram/Trek/Walk.

We started at 2:00 with a guided hike in the rain forest. Our guide was very knowledgeable and we learned a lot about the different plant life and animals. We even saw two "baby" tarantulas - they were about the size of quarter each. While on the hike, we went over two hanging bridges, a look out point where we could see Lake Arenal and ended at a butterfly garden. This took about 2.5 hours. (The kids move slow some times) and Jacob did get tired of walking and grandpa obliged by carrying him on his back for about half the hike.

Next we all got into a gondola for a trip up above the rain forest. You could hear all kinds of animals: crickets, monkeys, cicadas, birds and who knows what else.

As the sun was setting, Daddy and Grandpa T went for a zip line ride (8 zips total) down the mountain and Mommy and the boys took the gondola back down. The view was breathtaking. The brochure stated fastest zip line took you to speeds of about 50 mph and the highest was 656 ft off the ground and the longest was 1440 feet. They worked hard to get everyone down off the mountain before it was completely dark.

We all loaded into a bus (including the employees) and the driver took everyone home.

Making Chocolate

Just down the street from our casa is The Beach Chocolate Factory.  It's really a class by Henrik - he's a chocolate expert. We went to his house at 3:00 and we started by looking at a chocolate plant, learning about its history and origin. Chocolate literally means bitter water. Old world cultures made the chocolate into a cold (bitter) drink. It gave them energy and had many health benefits.

Henrik started roasting the beans before we arrived so when we walked into his house, it smelled wonderful. First we had to shell the beans. After we did most of them by hand, he showed us how it's typically done in bulk.

Next we went back outside to grind the chocolate into a paste. If I remember correctly, it's about 60% coca butter and 40% chocolate, so it came out wet and paste like (I would have thought it'd be a dry powder).

Back inside, he divided the paste into bowls for everyone. 1 part paste, 1 part sugar (raw form) and 1 part powdered milk. As we mixed by hand, he added a little vanilla and some condensed milk.

This made unrefined chocolate to eat. (YUM!) As we rolled our chocolate into single serve balls, we could also choose to add: coconut, almond slivers, sea salt, or roasted red peppers.

The whole class too about an hour and a half and we each brought home our baggie of home made goodies. What delicious fun! I have a feeling we'll be trying this again at home.

Flamingo Beach

We ate breafast right away today and took the golf cart to the next town over to play at Flamingo Beach.

The sand is lighter here and the waves were fun! We saw about 3 dolphins/porpoise/? out there and lots of black pelicans. They dive bomb into the water to catch something and then swim for a while before getting out to fly again.