Rice, Beans, and Other Things

It did not take us long to realize that buying groceries in Costa Rica was much more expensive than in the States.  We were surprised by this, and it caused us to quickly begin to alter our diet accordingly.  The first thing to go was milk.  It was a painful realization that liquid milk was outrageously pricey and that it didn't last very long if you did buy it.  All the people here use powdered milk and margarine, and sadly so do we.  Since one of our goals is to truly experience the areas we are able to visit in their "local" form we decided we could also eat like the locals.  This means a lot of rice and beans.   

Our wonderful and thoughtful neighbor, Alex,
surprised us with this bunch of bananas one day.
We started to make all sorts out of bananas.  Our
new favorite treats are banana muffins and
bananas with Nutella.   Yum!

Max enjoyed using the kitchen as an outlet for his creative
genius.  His new creation, egg pizza, was a big hit.

We don't eat out a lot, but when we do we usually take a picture.  Maggie, below is having a typical Costa Rican plate lunch called a casado.  It is served at all the restaurants.  Aaron thought he was getting a sandwich, like a Mexican sopa, but here sopa means soup.  His had all sorts of creatures in it including mussels, limpets, and this whole crab.  Surprise!

Max's specialty is eggs, they are about $4 dollars a dozen, but they are obviously natural because they are sold in the store brown, odd sized, and tainted with natural chicken "skid marks."  Almost as good as Maggie's eggs back home.  Also we've  had the opportunity to try many new fruits.  Maggie, middle right, tried this odd football sized fruit.  Alex said the fruit can get as large as 30 kilos and it is filled with a kind of chewy, a little stringy, marshmallow smelling gooey meat that actually tastes pretty good if you can get past the texture, sight, and smell.  

      

We got frozen lemonades at a restaurant one day and now we have come up with a new treat we like to call a Lemon Squeezy.  Just ice, fresh squeezed lemons, a little sugar and the blender and voila!  Happy kids!  One thing we really have enjoyed is that so much of the ingredients are raw and fresh.  We visited an Indigenous Indian village where we helped process cacao beans and then we drank some incredible hot chocolate from the nuts we ground and a little fresh ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Fresh, as in from the back yard that day.  It felt medicinal, it was so pure!

No matter where we went these two just wanted
arroz blanco con mantequilla, white rice with
butter.  Mantequilla became Jonah's first
Spanish word.

This was probably our fanciest meal in Costa Rica, which we now
affectionately call the land of the bland.  We happened to be in San
Jose and stopped at La Casa de Maize and ordered the family platter.
Absolutely delicious!  The array of meats, beans and rice, and for
some reason, cooked bananas is fancy typical.

At home, the kids were not that excited about
rice or beans.  They love protein!  Enough to
clean and cook the chicken.  Tessa liked to
make it dance.

When you buy a chicken it comes with all the pieces, even
the feet.  

Maggie was desperate for some additional options and had
been scouring the Friend magazine for recipes that had
ingredients we could find.  She was so excited when we
could made pretzels.

Any time we get a special treat, like shaved ice on the beach
it was a big deal.  

Aaron has taken on the effort of dinner and we are all so glad!  He makes a delicious mango salsa.

What is better than white rice with butter?
White rice, butter, and fries.  

 Out of necessity our kids tolerance has really really grown.  When we were at home, as much as we tried to demand that whatever dinner we made was the only option, subliminally they always knew there were other things, or at least there would be in the morning, but here it is not possible.  Consequently they are eating things they would never have touched before, rice, beans, and even skewers with spicy peanut sauce, like Max above.   We've come a long way, but we still have a ways to go, I ate his salad.

Parque Nacional Marino Ballena

Among all the less than pleasantries that come with parenting there are those sweet moments that keep us going, and bring fullness to our existence.  Moments when the efforts of our daily struggles seem to be working out.  Like when a kid finally takes their plate to the sink after dinner without being asked, when I get an expression of sincere "Thanks Mom," when they are kind to each other just because, or when their goofy antics make us laugh.  I savor those moments!  To me they are sweet mercies!  Like islands that lift and renew my energy.  This photo will always remind of one of those moments.  We decided to visit a nearby national park called Marino Ballena, named for a unique spit that emerges from the water during low tide that looks just like a whale tale from above.  We started at the very south border of the park and found ourselves on a nearly deserted beach.  The map at the ranger station revealed a picture of waterfalls that could be accessed at low tide so we set off in search of the fabled falls.  The kids rallied together as explorers marching down the beach in enlivened harmony.  I felt deep gratitude as I watched them all tromp together through this breathtaking part of the world.  For the moment, completely excited to be voyaging together.  A rare cherished memory of synergy.

In the end we found the jagged cliff face to be impassable for all of our little legs, but we found some creatures hidden in tide pools among these giant rocks, anemones, snails, urchins, and lots and lots of black rock crabs.  We also found a little alcove with some black sand, perfect for a sand war. 

Sand wars always start like this, all fun and games,

and end like this.

Once the joy and excitement of our exploring adventure wore
off, someone had a hard time with the walking.  Such a
beautiful places for a meltdown.

On our way back we found an estuary to play in.  These areas where fresh water flows into the salt water quickly became a sought after oasis.  The Pacific in this area is incredibly warm.  To the point that it doesn't feel refreshing.  The rivers, on the other hand, are cool and invigorating, and, my personal favorite, not salty.  Maggie and Max had fun jumping over the river, a little group of islands called Los Tres Hermanas can be seen in the background.

One of us is serious about sun protection.

There was a great little pool where the river met the beach
that we took full advantage of.  

Today's school lesson, buoyancy.

Only Aaron was able to help Tessa move on from meltdown.
He is magical.  Meanwhile the others loved tromping through
the pools at the edge of the beach and the rocks where the
sea water had been heated to bathtub temperature.

The day was still young so we went to the most popular area of the park where the spit is.  The tide was up by this time, but we found another estuary where we could build sand castles by the fresh water and in the shade.  Perfect!

(Perspective)
Max, "Today wasn't very interesting.  We packed up and drove to a natural reserve.  We payed $12 for parking and went to a beach.  We went along the beach and found a stream.  The current was fast, but it was cool so we cooled off.  After that we climbed some huge rocks and threw sand at each other.  Then we couldn't find a waterfall so we went to a different beach."  

Animal Explorers - Sierpe

Maggie, "Today I woke up earlier than usual...we had to hike up the mountain to the car.  (We feared the car would not make it up the hill due to the rain)  I was kinda grouchy by the time we reached the car, but I kept it to myself.  Then we started the LONG drive to the mangrove tour place.  We got settled and we were the only ones on the tour other than the guides.  We saw so many amazing things like squirrel and capuchin monkeys, an alligator, iguanas, and so much more!"

Jonah was eager to get his hands on the guide's
binoculars.  It didn't matter to him whether he
was looking in the right end.  Actually, we
couldn't convince him to turn them around.

Rather than taking us to the mangroves, we
motored up and down a couple of rivers.  The
kids scoured the creature identifier fold outs.

They pulled the boat over to a guava tree
on the side of the river and pick some for
us to try and for them to take home.  Yum (-ish)

They also grabbed a few coconuts.  They
popped one open with a machete for us
to share. 

A small caiman hiding beneath some palms.

An intrepid explorer braving the blinding
sun, and roasting heat.  We all sweat almost
constantly, but so do the Costa Ricans.

We saw some beautiful herons (right) and macaws (left.)  It was so exciting to see these gorgeous birds in the wild.  Macaws are so neat because you almost always see them in pairs.  They can live 40 to 50 years for and they mate for life.  The story goes that if one dies then it's mate will follow within a couple months.  

This Capuchin did not seem happy to see us.  After a little while it couldn't make up it's mind. 

Tessa, "One of my favorite things was the monkey hissing and then tilting his head upside down, looking at us funny, then him hissing again and then repeating it"

Look closely, very closely, there are two
small boas sitting on a branch together about
half way between the top and Maggie's head.
The guides must know that these are here all the
time because I don't see how they could have
spotted them from the river.  

Max, "The first thing we saw was a lizzard, lazying on a branch.  It was more than a foot long.  Some highlights were a Capuchin monkey that was in the wild and dangerous, it growled and bared it's teeth, some snakes that looked like they hadn't moved in weeks, a caiman that is like a crocodile but half the size, and when coming back a giant full size crocodile that moved into the water and disappeared in spectacular camouflage.  This was an interesting experiment."

Beach Days and the Everyday

We don't want anyone to think that our life is without hardship or trials.  Although there have been several times, I will admit, in the past few months that I have looked at my family, the time we are able to spend together, and our surroundings and marveled at the blessed magnificence of it all.   However, our day to days are also full of the common complaints.  

"Today was disappointing."  "I was really bored."  "Not much interesting happened."  "I was so mad."    "Mom is making me write in my journal."

Have been common phrases that have prevailed enough for the kids to put them in writing.  

One place that was always a hit for everyone was Playa Hermosa.
We spent a lot of time digging holes, boogie boarding, and playing
in the waves.  We were scared that this boy was getting an awful
sunburn, but turns out he was just hot and sweaty.  Very hot!

Jump the hole, always a classic.

We rented a surfboard for only $10 one day.  Aaron makes a
fantastic surf instructor.  

Eli, ever the cautious one, would stand at the
edge of the waves in watchful contemplation.

We found a new fruit to try.  I can't remember or
pronounce the name of this delightful treat, but it
tasted a lot like kiwi and strawberries mixed together
with the texture of a peeled grape all wrapped around
an almond shaped pit.  You would pry at the firm hairy
outside and pop it open to enjoy.

Tessa, "Today we did our school work then went to the beach and I watched Dad, Maggie, and Max boogie board.  Then I did it.  I went on a huge wave and went like this (insert crazy wave scribble) I tried a new hairy fruit.  I felt epic the whole time."  November 3, 2015

We decided to purchase a van for our time in Costa Rica because car rentals here are insane!  This is primarily due to the excessive mandatory insurance.  After spending a fair amount of time on the road with Costa Ricans, as much as I don't like hefty insurance overages,  I've decided this is probably a really good idea.  The drivers here are laughably insane.  We decided on this beauty of a twelve passenger van.  Pro, everyone could sit without having to touch each other.  Con, we had habitual troubles with the radiator.  Pro, we could fit us and all our stuff inside.  Con, it did not have four wheel drive.  Which meant we spent about six days in the month of November stranded.  

The van did manage to slowly climb us up to the mountain valley that held the thriving agricultural community of San Isidro de General.  It was only supposed to take us about 45 minutes to get there but our poor van could not make it up the hill without taking several cool down breaks.  Consequently we made it in an hour and fifteen.

Max, "We went to our church.  It was a branch. (the name for a small congregation) but it was more like a twig.  There was about 50 people.  But they were very kind."

Tessa, "Today we went to church.  There were not many people in the branch.  But it was a very nice one to be in.  We got a wafer, oreo, and some chocolate with nuts.  I liked that part a lot!  They did a race for the prayer.  I liked it."

Maggie, "I got to Sunday School with some difficulty.  I couldn't understand a thing they said, really.  Then at the end we got Snickers for some reason.  Then in young women someone helped me translate and understand.  I had a lot of fun."  

The people at church were incredibly warm and friendly.  We learned that they actually have about 740 people that belong to the branch but not many of them come.  Those that do are exceptional.  I joined the kids for primary.  What an experience.  The first week there were about fifteen kids including our four.  They divided classes into one junior and one senior.  Eli, Jonah, and I went to the junior class where they enjoyed drinks, and treats.  Then they drew lots of pictures and cut out papers.  I kept wondering when the gospel instruction would be happening.  After some time they brought out classic gospel art pictures of scriptures stories like Joseph of Egypt, Moses, Daniel, ect.  I was mortified when they handed these to the kids to cut up.  There were no pictures on the walls, and we were cutting up the prophets!  The preserver in me was scrambling to discretely put Eli's cut pieces in my bag so we could at least use it as a puzzle later.  After class we joined the other kids for group instruction and singing time.  We couldn't understand much of what was being said, but they did give us a song book so we could read the new words to the tunes we already knew.  All the songs were played on a cd player.  The other thing that I took me by surprise was that the child to say the prayer was determined by a foot race.  When it was prayer time anyone who wanted to scrambled as fast as they could to the front.  Whoever got there first got to say the prayer, leaving the other competitors to amble back to their seats.  Because we couldn't really understand what was being said it always surprised me when kids suddenly started running to the front.  

There was a large Catholic church and a park in the very center
of town.  We visited it one week and found this sculpture of a
farmer and his wife plowing the ground with their brahma cattle.
I loved the woman with her big rubber boots and her hands to the
plow.  An excellent tribute to the agrarian roots that made this
valley thrive.

The car overheating was not the only problem.  We should have had four wheel drive to get up and down the road to our house, but we'd been told we would probably be okay without it and we couldn't find a SUV in Costa Rica that would fit our family.  Unfortunately it absolutely downpoured and the road that led to our house was rutted out and very steep.  One morning this lead to our van slipping into a ditch on the downhill side of the cliff.  Aaron called the road side assistance we purchased when we arrived in Costa Rica, but they informed us that tow trucks don't exist in this part of Costa Rica and we were on our own.  Max recorded the experience well.

"Today we went nowhere.  Instead when Dad accidentally got the car stuck on the mile long mudville of a road, me and Maggie watched as Mom and Dad tried to fish it out.  When we got our main road block, a 500 pound rock out of the way, we could successfully get our car out."

This was only possible with the help of a local who took pity on us, or just needed to get the road open again so he could drive by.  He and Aaron pushed the van away from the cliff in order to slide it back onto the road as I backed it down the mountain.  It left body imprints on the side of the van from them pushing on the side of the van, but it worked!  In total Aaron spent 4 hours digging and pushing the van to freedom, and 3 days stranded at our house before we could get up the mountain again.  The only saving grace was that our neighbor, who was having a party that weekend, and fearing that his friends also couldn't get up or down the mountain, blew away a huge chunk of the mountain side and used the rocks that fell to grade the road with a heavy duty tractor.  It was quite a spectacle and not a permit to be had.  If this were the USA, there would have been a team of engineers, and construction workers, and a sign saying  that this road project cost $20 million dollars and brings Washington jobs.  Here they just use dynamite and ingenuity.   We were sure to thank him for his generosity.  We were getting low on groceries.

Above you can see our coolant boiled out all over the road.  This was only one of the car troubles we had.  Aaron had taken the car to San Jose to be fixed and during the four hour drive the transmission completely seized up.  Luckily he was able to get a tow truck this time.  I was grateful that we had not all gone, or all of us would have been riding on the back of a tow truck.  Apparently passengers on the back of the tow truck is perfectly normal.    

Aaron insisted that the dealership give us a loaner car while they fixed ours.  This was great except it ended up leaking oil.  We noticed a pool of oil under the car just before we were leaving for church.  We were giving our friends Alex and Rosa a ride to San Isidro to visit their new grand baby.  Alex went to check the oil levels before we left and when he pulled the dipstick out the rest of the housing came out along with it.  We prayed that in the morning we would be able to make it out of our driveway, up the steep hill and down the 5 km of dirt road to a machine shop conveniently located at the bottom of a series of rough dirt roads.  (We felt this was well placed as the day before we saw a van with a split axel trying to limp down the hill to the shop as well.  The roads are not kind to vehicles here.)  We also prayed that once we made it their he would be able to fix the van as it was only a day before we needed to leave our place.  You may call it what you like, but for us it was a miracle!  Prayer works!  Early the next morning Aaron made it to the shop and the man was able to understand Aaron's meager Spanish and increasingly skillful charades enough to fix the van right then.  He worked on it for an two and a half hours.  At the end he charged $15 in labor and $28 in oil, and we were once again on our way.  

While Aaron was gone on car detail, the kids and
I tried to keep ourselves occupied stranded at
home.  This was a little game we called, Freezing
Rain of Refreshment.

Max, disappointed with the amount of education the boys were
ingesting, took matters into his own hands.  Here he is teaching
them out verbs, nouns, and sentence structure. 

At the end of a long day of school and beach time, the boys
zone out while Tessa texts.  The kids treasure texting with
everyone who would care to swap messages with them.

The main street in Dominical.  It is a major surfing hub on the
Pacific side, so I was surprised when I found dirt roads.

Max loved to relieve boredom by creating in
the kitchen.  His egg sandwiches were a big hit!

Jonah quote, "I'm boiling and hot!" heard at least five times a day.