The Farmers' Market! (and other Shopping Experiences Too)

Jaco, Costa Rica

We went on a little field trip this morning to the Jaco farmer's market and discovered why the produce selection at the grocery stores is slightly lacking. Because no one buys produce at the grocery store. We learned the whereabouts of the Friday market last week, but 24 hours too late to take advantage of it and have been looking forward to it all week. Kris and I decided to make it our morning walk, and we were so pleased with our initial haul and so sad that we had limited carrying capacity between the two of us that we came home, got the kids, and went back for round two. Thirteen bananas for 500 colones! PS... that's about 85 cents. A pineapple for 800. Watermelon, mangoes, mandarin oranges, cantaloupe, peppers, potatoes. tomatoes. And everything is so, so good. We bought our little mules some fresh orange juice at the market and then some coconut milkshakes on the way home, it was, after all, basically a 5K, hauling groceries half the way, in pretty direct equatorial sun. It was hot. But we have a fabulous selection of fruits and veggies for the week to supplement our usual diet of rice and beans.

Round 2

Shopping here has been its own learning experience. First there is the walking factor. When you have to carry all your groceries home, you don't buy extra. But there isn't a lot of extra to buy here either. Stores are small and do not feature nearly the variety of what we are used to at home. Where we are used to a huge selection of  different kinds of chips or cereal or bread, there are only a few options here. Where canned and bottled foods take up aisles and aisles at home, it seems rare here. You buy your beans dry. You buy your fruit fresh. Things that are packaged, are often in plastic pouches instead of bottles and jars and that goes not just for food, but also cleaning products. It makes for less waste, but a pouch of jam is hard to store neatly in the fridge.

There is no such thing as frozen fruit as far as I can tell. Meat is primarily fresh and purchased at a butchers counter not packed in styrofoam and plastic wrap and frozen. The butcher will pile what you want in a plastic bag, knot the top of the bag and send you walking home with a squishy and possibly drippy bag. But it tastes oh so good when you cook it. The brown eggs are cheaper than the white, they aren't refrigerated, and the yolks are so yellow they are nearly orange. And so is the butter, nearly orange that is, no idea what they are doing to it. If you want peanut butter, you have to go to the store the tourists shop and it's going to be expensive and its going to be Peter Pan. If you want dishwasher detergent you have to go to the next town. Seriously. So wash your dishes by hand and use the solid, chalky, paste dish soap that comes in a round tub.