comida tipica

I have only recently started having major food cravings which I think is pretty good considering that I have now been here for 3 full months! While we do cook vegetarian due to lack of access and no refrigeration (except for a few special occasions that they bring in meat), it is not really what I would deem healthy vegetarian. Spices are limited and so are the options for what to make. Breakfast is always oatmeal, and lunch and dinner are either pasta with something or rice with something. And that something is either simply veggies, beans, chickpeas, lentils, or soy meat. While it is great that we have those grain options, people don’t like them that much so we end up just getting a carb and veggies which is not sufficient. The rule is that you have to cook with one protein a day, but I really think it should be two. While there are some stand-out chefs that really go outside the box and cook exceptional food for what we have (like cheese-less pizza, doughnuts, or chickpea salad), usually it is pretty basic. Furthermore, we use TONS of soy bean oil here which is super unhealthy. I am craving veggie sushi, falafel, real salad, blueberries, cheese, Thai, and anything cold. Mmmmmmm.

To balance the sometimes sub-par food, we end up buying lots of snacks. That would be ok if we could purchase them for reasonable prices. However, the nearest town, Tortuguero, is ridiculously overpriced. It’s like living in an airport; tons of tourists and everything is really expensive! They do bring in a lot of American brands which is nice to have something familiar, but I bought a bag of goldfish crackers for $5. Yep, $5. Crazy. Luckily I can still get decent chocolate or I would go nuts, but that costs about $6.

Every Monday we get a shipment of fruits and veggies delivered to the river mouth. These goods come all the way from San Jose by a guy who buys them there and delivers it to local hotels, etc. via boat down the canals. A group of 4 or 5 of us meet the boat down at the entrance to our trail (about a mile walk) with a wheelbarrow and haul it back. While it seems like a lot of food when you’re carrying it, the amount has to last all week. This equals about one pineapple or watermelon shared by all per day. Plus we get bananas but those run out by Thursday. Those who know my rates of fruit consumption understand how devastating that is for me. Luckily, because our base was someone’s home for 50 years, he did plant fruit trees. I am able to supplement my diet with fresh picked treats! We normally have a team that goes picking once a week. In season right now are water apples (similar to pears) and star fruit, but I am looking forward to avocados! Also, since we live on the coconut plantation, Candido, our only neighbor who is a machete master, cuts coconuts for us. Normally we just smash them against a cement step (which you usually loose the nutritious juice) but yesterday he brought me one he had hand sliced with a machete. It looked like an egg but you could just take the top out of it and drink the juice, then it was all ready for eating. Perfect. If only my machete skills were that good.