Costa Rica

I went to Costa Rica last September.  The country pleasantly surprised me.  It would seem like a third-world country from a distance, but the economy is actually fairly strong and infrastructure solid.  It’s great for Costa Ricans, bad for tourists wanting a cheap holiday.  The food in Costa Rica is amazing however.  There is so much fresh fruit and wonderful flavors to savor.  I ate Comdia Typico for breakfast almost every morning.  Comida Typico is a meal consisting of gallo pinto (white rice mxed with red beans), fried eggs, natilla (Costa Rican sour cream), sweet fried plantains, coffee (what Costa Rica is known for!) and fresh juice- usually fresh strawberry made daily.  It was a huge meal, but the whole time I was in this beautiful land, I felt really good and healthy with what I ate.  It also helped that we were walking through the cloud forest, swimming in the ocean or sightseeing a live volcano to work off the calories.  The country itself is lush and green everywhere.  There are rolling mountains with many coffee plantations and cattle farms (I had never seen a country with so many cows) that seem to go on forever with amazing valleys and friendly locals.  Then there is the cloud forest, a rain forest so high up that it is literally in the clouds.  I had the most amazing meal just outside the forest in a small village we stopped by.  It is a traditional dish called Cusado.  Cusado is rice and beans with fish or meat, fried plantains, a mild white cheese similar to a harder mozzarella, soft corn tortillas and a lettuce salad with avocado.  The dish itself doesn’t sound particularly unique, but it was the quality of the ingredients that made the dinner so memorable.  I chose meat with my Cusado, not tough like I had thought it might be, very tender especially since the meat only comes one way- well done and still it was fabulous.  The beans were flavored with onion and chilies, which added a slight heat to them, but what really stood out was the freshness of the vegetables used in the salad.  The avocado was perfectly ripe.  It’s hard to find good avocados, not too soft and mushy yet not too firm and under-ripe with an avocado flavor that you don’t come across very often.  I had the feeling that it had ripened on the plant verses in a bag on a truck.  The tomatoes in the salad were juicy and sweet, like candy and the cucumber fragrant- the slices beading with the natural water that is made in a cucumber.  Lastly the corn tortillas were freshly made, warm and soft giving the dish a real homemade feel.  Costa Rica is a great place to eat as I can tell you and many people have told me.  I am getting hungry just thinking about it now; the Thai food I will probably eat tonight suddenly doesn’t sound as appealing compared to my memory of Costa Rica.

Keep eating!!