Friday, December 09, 2005
TOMORROW IS SATURDAY!
Tomorrow is Saturday and that means Market Day. It will also be one month and one day since I arrived in Costa Rica. It will be my fifth Farmers Market. I wouldn’t miss it!
So far I haven’t developed much of a daily routine. Oh, I go to the beach at least once a day, but that may be early or late morning, late afternoon or earlyevening. I may walk for an hour or two. My dip in the sea may come before or after the walk. It’s more impulsive than anything else. You could say it’s as the spirits move me.
There’s always time for reading and writing, but I wouldn’t call that a routine either. Today I wrote right after getting out of bed. Actually started writing in my head as soon as I awoke, while still lying there listening to and looking at Mother Nature’s “Grand Opera.”
Most reading and writing happens after the sun goes down. That’s about 5:30 every day year round because Costa Rica is located soclose to the equator. The sun comes up about 12 hours later.
Today I had my coffee right away. Took a cold cup of it out of the frig. It was left over from a hot pot brewed yesterday. Cold coffee is something I learned to enjoy while living in Greece for four years. There it’s quite special. As my friend and former Athens College student Thanassis M. can tell you it’s made cold out of instant coffee. You shake it up to form a head on it that might lead you to believe it’s rootbeer. Here it’s just a plain looking cup of coffee, but the taste is superb hot or clod. If you like coffee, you’d love the stuff grown in Costa Rica.
There are two daily routines of a sort that you may find interesting and both are in the morning. On instructions from my landlady, I feed the dogs and the fish. It’s a beef bone to each of the three dogs owned by Sarah and her husband, Mel. Their names are Gigi, Rojo and Mamu, the pup. The idea is that they’ll stay around to guard the place and protect me. Mel’s son Noble lives a couple hundred yards away and feeds them at his place in the evening so I don’t have to worry about that.
The fish get six hands full of fish pellets, leaves from some bushes and peeled plantains if there are any ripe extras around. Oh, I should explain that these are tilapia and they live in a very small pond that Mel dug in a clearing about fifty yards from the house. I’m reminded of my childhood back in Palatine when I would go down to our pond which was ten times bigger than this one and through pieces of bread on the water to watch the fish, mostly bullheads, gobble them up. Mel and Sarah have given me permission to“harvest” some of these fish. I’m considering it. May serve some to my friends when they come to visit.
The only weekly routine is my trip to Puerto Viejo on Saturday. I leave by bike around eight in the morning and it takes me about 30 minutes if I push it. (I don’t literally push the bike, of course.) It’s important to get to the Farmers Market fairly early if you want to get the best quality produce. They also run out of some things in the first couple of hours.
The Farmers Market is held under a corrugated zinc roofed building that’s open on all sides. It’s not big--not quite as big as a basketball court. The vendors have their tables lined up around the perimeter facing toward the middle.
Sarah took me my first Saturday and gave me several bits of advice like which vendors have the best quality and most reasonable prices. According to her one of the grocery stores actually has some produce of better quality, She also warned me that there is one vendor who may not always be honest in weighing purchases and charging customers.
I was introduced to a few people there who sell specialty items. There’s Peter, the American ex-pat who owns a local botanic garden. He cultivates, harvests and makes his own ground pepper. It’s so good I intend to bring some back with me. One Tico (name for Costa Ricans) woman hand makes large corn tortillas that are out of this world. I always buy two! And there’s the “Quaker woman” who sells freshly made cheese, yogurt and granola. I’ve tried them all! Very taste!
The variety of vegetables is quite impressive. My shopping list often includes some of the following: green beans, beets with the tops left on, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, celery, cilantro, cucumbers, hearts of palm (none of that canned stuff), lettuce, onions, parsley, green and red peppers, potatoes (white as well as several types of the sweet kind), squash, tomatoes and zucchini.
Among the choices of fruits are apples, avocados, bananas, coconuts, grapefruit, lemons, several kinds of melon, oranges, papayas, pineapples, plantains, star fruit, and tangerines. I haven’t purchased much because some of these are available right outside the door of my house. More about that in another posting when I describe the meals I’ve prepared.
There’s also a table under a large banner announcing opposition to the exploration for oil off the Talamanca Coast. This I’m told is an ongoing battle against the oil industry which claims not only that there are great reserves waiting to be tapped, but also that the region would stand to realize huge economic benefits. The environmentalists and other interest groups are “up in arms” and well organized. Sarah, Mel and other individuals I met are very active. There are several signs of protest along the road. I’ve picked up some of the literature (all in Spanish) and a very provocative T-shirt. Can’t wait to share them with the Spanish classes back at RMHS.
The Farmers Market is definitely a social event, like the agora in ancient Greece must have been. My first trip there with Sarah was an opportunity for her and her friends to say “adios” to each other. She and Mel were leaving the following Tuesday for four months in Samoa, New Zealand and Tasmania. I was introduced to more people than I can remember names. Subsequently, I am often greeted by people at the Framers Market with a smile, a wave and cheerful words in Spanish aswell as English. Some even call me by name. Everyone seems eager to exchange greetings and news if not gossip. It’s a very friendly meeting place!
My Saturday trip to Puerto Viejo always includes a stop at the bakery right across the street from the Farmers Market. I get a cup of their freshly brewed coffee. Black! There’s no need for cream or sugar. It’s so rich and smooth, without even a hint ofbitterness. Well sure I treat myself to a freshly baked pastry. To be honest with you, though, they don’t compare to the pastries in Austria, Greece,Germany, Italy, or several other places I’ve visited. Oh what I wouldn’t give for one of those delicious goodies my students who worked at Panera used to bring to class!
The post office is closed on Saturday, so I’ll make another trip to town some other day to check Sarah and Mel’s box hoping for personal correspondence from family and friends who don’t have e-mail and for the all important book bag. That’s the 35 pounds of books I sent in a specially marked bag with reduced postage ($1.00 a pound) by surface mail from Palatine to Puerto Viejo. I was told it would take from one to two months. So, it could arrive any day now, right?
A stop at the hardware store or any other place in town is best left for another day of the week. These places are much more crowded on Saturday morning. If you asked Adam S., my friend and upstairs tenant who is a department manager at Menard’s, he would no doubt say, “Just like here in the States, Art!” Also, when it comes to Spanish “No lo hablo muy bien.” So it’s better for me to go when the clerks can give me the special attention I need, if you get my meaning.
I’m usually heading back to Punta Uva, the specific area where my house is located, around 10 o’clock. Better not to be riding back under the mid day sun. If there’s something I need but can’t find at the market, I’ll stop at a store along the road about halfway home. I’ve gotten to know the people there and they are very friendly. That’s were I buy bottled, canned and other packaged goods--almost everything else I might need in the way of food and supplies. That includes assorted dry goods like beans, rice and pasta, as well as bug repellant, soap, toilet paper,milk, Pepsi, beer, wine and hard alcohol (in no particular order of importance).
So that’s my Saturday morning! There are slight variations due to weather. I’ve had to delay my trip there and back by several hours a time or two because of heavy (and I mean HEAVY) down pours. You could say the Farmers Market is a very special place and time of the week. It certainly is for me. And I am very happy tomorrow is Saturday!
So far I haven’t developed much of a daily routine. Oh, I go to the beach at least once a day, but that may be early or late morning, late afternoon or earlyevening. I may walk for an hour or two. My dip in the sea may come before or after the walk. It’s more impulsive than anything else. You could say it’s as the spirits move me.
There’s always time for reading and writing, but I wouldn’t call that a routine either. Today I wrote right after getting out of bed. Actually started writing in my head as soon as I awoke, while still lying there listening to and looking at Mother Nature’s “Grand Opera.”
Most reading and writing happens after the sun goes down. That’s about 5:30 every day year round because Costa Rica is located soclose to the equator. The sun comes up about 12 hours later.
Today I had my coffee right away. Took a cold cup of it out of the frig. It was left over from a hot pot brewed yesterday. Cold coffee is something I learned to enjoy while living in Greece for four years. There it’s quite special. As my friend and former Athens College student Thanassis M. can tell you it’s made cold out of instant coffee. You shake it up to form a head on it that might lead you to believe it’s rootbeer. Here it’s just a plain looking cup of coffee, but the taste is superb hot or clod. If you like coffee, you’d love the stuff grown in Costa Rica.
There are two daily routines of a sort that you may find interesting and both are in the morning. On instructions from my landlady, I feed the dogs and the fish. It’s a beef bone to each of the three dogs owned by Sarah and her husband, Mel. Their names are Gigi, Rojo and Mamu, the pup. The idea is that they’ll stay around to guard the place and protect me. Mel’s son Noble lives a couple hundred yards away and feeds them at his place in the evening so I don’t have to worry about that.
The fish get six hands full of fish pellets, leaves from some bushes and peeled plantains if there are any ripe extras around. Oh, I should explain that these are tilapia and they live in a very small pond that Mel dug in a clearing about fifty yards from the house. I’m reminded of my childhood back in Palatine when I would go down to our pond which was ten times bigger than this one and through pieces of bread on the water to watch the fish, mostly bullheads, gobble them up. Mel and Sarah have given me permission to“harvest” some of these fish. I’m considering it. May serve some to my friends when they come to visit.
The only weekly routine is my trip to Puerto Viejo on Saturday. I leave by bike around eight in the morning and it takes me about 30 minutes if I push it. (I don’t literally push the bike, of course.) It’s important to get to the Farmers Market fairly early if you want to get the best quality produce. They also run out of some things in the first couple of hours.
The Farmers Market is held under a corrugated zinc roofed building that’s open on all sides. It’s not big--not quite as big as a basketball court. The vendors have their tables lined up around the perimeter facing toward the middle.
Sarah took me my first Saturday and gave me several bits of advice like which vendors have the best quality and most reasonable prices. According to her one of the grocery stores actually has some produce of better quality, She also warned me that there is one vendor who may not always be honest in weighing purchases and charging customers.
I was introduced to a few people there who sell specialty items. There’s Peter, the American ex-pat who owns a local botanic garden. He cultivates, harvests and makes his own ground pepper. It’s so good I intend to bring some back with me. One Tico (name for Costa Ricans) woman hand makes large corn tortillas that are out of this world. I always buy two! And there’s the “Quaker woman” who sells freshly made cheese, yogurt and granola. I’ve tried them all! Very taste!
The variety of vegetables is quite impressive. My shopping list often includes some of the following: green beans, beets with the tops left on, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, celery, cilantro, cucumbers, hearts of palm (none of that canned stuff), lettuce, onions, parsley, green and red peppers, potatoes (white as well as several types of the sweet kind), squash, tomatoes and zucchini.
Among the choices of fruits are apples, avocados, bananas, coconuts, grapefruit, lemons, several kinds of melon, oranges, papayas, pineapples, plantains, star fruit, and tangerines. I haven’t purchased much because some of these are available right outside the door of my house. More about that in another posting when I describe the meals I’ve prepared.
There’s also a table under a large banner announcing opposition to the exploration for oil off the Talamanca Coast. This I’m told is an ongoing battle against the oil industry which claims not only that there are great reserves waiting to be tapped, but also that the region would stand to realize huge economic benefits. The environmentalists and other interest groups are “up in arms” and well organized. Sarah, Mel and other individuals I met are very active. There are several signs of protest along the road. I’ve picked up some of the literature (all in Spanish) and a very provocative T-shirt. Can’t wait to share them with the Spanish classes back at RMHS.
The Farmers Market is definitely a social event, like the agora in ancient Greece must have been. My first trip there with Sarah was an opportunity for her and her friends to say “adios” to each other. She and Mel were leaving the following Tuesday for four months in Samoa, New Zealand and Tasmania. I was introduced to more people than I can remember names. Subsequently, I am often greeted by people at the Framers Market with a smile, a wave and cheerful words in Spanish aswell as English. Some even call me by name. Everyone seems eager to exchange greetings and news if not gossip. It’s a very friendly meeting place!
My Saturday trip to Puerto Viejo always includes a stop at the bakery right across the street from the Farmers Market. I get a cup of their freshly brewed coffee. Black! There’s no need for cream or sugar. It’s so rich and smooth, without even a hint ofbitterness. Well sure I treat myself to a freshly baked pastry. To be honest with you, though, they don’t compare to the pastries in Austria, Greece,Germany, Italy, or several other places I’ve visited. Oh what I wouldn’t give for one of those delicious goodies my students who worked at Panera used to bring to class!
The post office is closed on Saturday, so I’ll make another trip to town some other day to check Sarah and Mel’s box hoping for personal correspondence from family and friends who don’t have e-mail and for the all important book bag. That’s the 35 pounds of books I sent in a specially marked bag with reduced postage ($1.00 a pound) by surface mail from Palatine to Puerto Viejo. I was told it would take from one to two months. So, it could arrive any day now, right?
A stop at the hardware store or any other place in town is best left for another day of the week. These places are much more crowded on Saturday morning. If you asked Adam S., my friend and upstairs tenant who is a department manager at Menard’s, he would no doubt say, “Just like here in the States, Art!” Also, when it comes to Spanish “No lo hablo muy bien.” So it’s better for me to go when the clerks can give me the special attention I need, if you get my meaning.
I’m usually heading back to Punta Uva, the specific area where my house is located, around 10 o’clock. Better not to be riding back under the mid day sun. If there’s something I need but can’t find at the market, I’ll stop at a store along the road about halfway home. I’ve gotten to know the people there and they are very friendly. That’s were I buy bottled, canned and other packaged goods--almost everything else I might need in the way of food and supplies. That includes assorted dry goods like beans, rice and pasta, as well as bug repellant, soap, toilet paper,milk, Pepsi, beer, wine and hard alcohol (in no particular order of importance).
So that’s my Saturday morning! There are slight variations due to weather. I’ve had to delay my trip there and back by several hours a time or two because of heavy (and I mean HEAVY) down pours. You could say the Farmers Market is a very special place and time of the week. It certainly is for me. And I am very happy tomorrow is Saturday!
# posted by Art Peekel @ 12:11 PM 
