Expats in Costa Rica: This Bathroom Is Inhabited, Please

This is Pipa.

She’s a teeny tiny "house" gecko, and she lives in the bathroom at our cabina.

You can’t really tell from the photo, but she’s about as long as a toothpick, and as big around as 3 toothpicks put together.

Pipa was my nurse and companion today while Montezuma took his revenge.

Wave after wave of nausea caused me to retch helplessly into the sink.

Luckily, I could reach it from the seated position.

Pipa looked on sympathetically from the shower, her tiny reptile eyes warm with compassion.

“I’m so sorry, Pipa,” I said. “I didn’t mean to barge in here and trash the place.”

"No te preocupes, hermana," she said.  "Mierda sucede."

(Don't worry, sister.  Shit happens.)

  

Expats in Costa Rica: Eat, Pray, Love to Eat

June, 2015.

At last!

We are here in Costa Rica, land of the coffee, home of the gallo pinto!

Gallo pinto translates loosely to "spotted rooster," and is the national dish.  It's mostly beans and rice, and it's served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  (Not sure what the rooster has to do with it.)

I'm no stranger to rice and beans. As a single mom and vegetarian for many years, beans and rice was a staple in our home.  Just … not necessarily the tastiest one.  But, ok.  If this is what's for breakfast, I'll … adapt.   The research I'd done into Costa Rica said the food was bland, boring, and repetitive… so, ok, whatever.  If it's beans and rice for breakfast, I'll just … buckle down and eat it.

Husband and I were hungry and wandered into a tiny soda - a small, mom-and-pop restaurant where food is prepared from scratch.  There was no ham, bacon, or biscuits and gravy on the menu.  Everything was a variation of gallo pinto.  His came with eggs; mine with cheese - plus toast, plantains, and coffee.

Dude.

Gallo pinto is DELICIOUS!

HOW COME NOBODY SAID SO?!  Expat food bloggers???  I don't know why gallo pinto is so scrumptious, but now I'm on a mission to find out.*

The servings were huge but the price was not.  We got two full breakfasts, the best coffee I've ever had, and the satisfaction of doing business with real people instead of a corporation.  Total cost: less than 8 dollars, and that's with the tip.

You heard me.  LESS THAN 8 DOLLARS TOTAL, WITH THE TIP.

And we were full ALL DAY.

Cue the choir!  Let the church say, "Amen!"

And somebody please give me the secret of gallo pinto***!

*UPDATE: The secret is lard.  Beans and rice are prepared normally, and then sort of stir-fried in a light coating of lard, until the edges become a little bit crispy.  The Lard cooks in mysterious ways.

** UPDATED UPDATE: The secret is also Salsa Lizano, also known as my new favorite beverage.

Honeymoon in Costa Rica, or, We Live Here Now

January, 2015.

My first look at Costa Rica was through honeymoon-tinted sunglasses.

I was in love, and ready to fall in love with the country.

The road out of San Jose was curvy, shockingly green, and filled with mom-and-pop stores.

Notably absent: big box retailers and road rage.

Our destination was a 107-mile straight shot from the airport to the coast, a little jewel of a spot, and I was ready to plop my behind into the warm Caribbean water.

What I wasn't ready for was the 5-hour drive it took to get there.

Costa Rica does not have huge interstate highways.  

In fact, the roads are notorious for being in poor repair, and barely marked.

What IS this even?!

But the tradeoff?  More than made up for it.

We drove through a twisty mountain pass and a cloud forest that looked like it came straight out of the Jurassic.

We skimmed the sides of mountains, and looked out over lush valleys.

Everywhere we turned, something was fruiting or flowering or both.

Those tropical plants from the garden store were there, in their native habitat, and they were HUMONGUS.  I mean SERIOUSLY. Who knew that the variegated croton is actually a TREE?!

"This feels good.  I could live here," I said to Husband, as we inched along behind a truck carrying a load of coffee cherries.

"I could too," he said.  "This reminds me of home when I was a little boy."

And so it came to pass, two future expats in Costa Rica started asking questions and hatching ideas.

We had been in the country a grand total of 20 minutes.