Saturday Farmer's Market in Esparza Costa Rica

Most every town in Costa Rica offers an outdoor fresh fruit and veggie market on Saturday mornings.  I live nearest to the Saturday market in the town of Esparza, and so my boyfriend and I decided to check it out a couple weekends ago.

The Esparza Saturday Market is not too large.  There may have been about 20 fresh fruit and veggie stands offering local favorites like plantain, mangos, papaya, pineapple, yucca, culantro, and so on.  The prices at the market were generally in line with what I've seen at the local supermarkets.  So, in my opinion, you wouldn't go to a market if you are just looking for a price savings (unless, of course, you are a good negotiator and want to try to talk a vendor down).  Despite this, the Saturday Markets are still fun to visit.  You can soak up some culture, interact with locals (vendors and other shoppers), enjoy the outdoors in the morning when it's cooler, and you'll feel kind of like you're supporting the people that need it  most (instead of a supermarket chain).

One of the more unexpected sights at the Esparza Saturday Market is the middle-aged Quaker couple that come here to sell baked goods (see pic below -note that most Quakers are based in Monteverde, Costa Rica which is about 2 hours away).  If you are in the area on a Saturday morning (it's right next to the BCR Bank off Hwy 1), you must try this Quaker couple's pumpkin pie...it's addictive!  According to the wife, Ticos (as Costa Ricans are often called) aren't really big on pies though.  So, you'll also find cookies, cakes and other sweet goodies at this stand as well.

Even if you are just visiting Costa Rica for a few days, try to catch a outdoor Saturday market in your area.  It will give you an authentic taste of local life in Costa Rica:)

Vendor at Esparza Saturday Market

Fruit and Veggie Stands

Locals shopping at Esparza's Saturday Market

Quaker couple at Esparza Saturday Market Selling Baked Goods

Costa Rican Ceviche Recipe

Ceviche is a marinated seafood salad where raw seafood (usually a firm white fish or shrimp) is "cooked" (or pickled) by sitting in a citrus based juice (usually lime or lemon juice) for several hours.  If you've never eaten ceviche, the concept might sound strange to you.  But once you've tasted a good ceviche, there's no going back!  It is believed that ceviche originated in the coasts of Peru.  Today it is a common dish in just about every Latin American country, including here in Costa Rica.

It seems to me that just about every restaurant and soda in this country, in fact, offers some variation of a Costa Rican ceviche recipe.  Usually you'll get an incredibly fresh batch of ceviche but, be forewarned, there are places where you'll be a little disappointed.  In spite of this, I've become a Costa Rican ceviche addict!  My boyfriend recently made me his uncle's famous Costa Rican Ceviche recipe which is prepared as follows (also see pics below):

Ingredients for this Costa Rican Ceviche Recipe:
1/2 pound of raw corvina (white sea bass or other firm white fish) cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 cups lemon, lime or limon mandarina juice (squeeze enough juice to completely cover and "cook" the fish)
2 stalks of celery minced
1 chile dulce minced (a.k.a. pimientas or pimentones.  If not available where you are, you can use a red sweet pepper instead)
1small red onion (cut in half and then thinly sliced)
1 handful of fresh cilantro finely chopped
1/2 cup of ginger ale
salt and pepper to taste

Add the cubed fish to a large bowl.  Cover with lemon juice, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit in fridge for 1 hour.  Remove bowl from fridge and add all the remaining ingredients.  The ginger ale in this Costa Rican ceviche recipe is not a typical ingredient, but according to my boyfriend's uncle, it is the "secret" ingredient that will give your ceviche that little tangy bite you may sometimes taste in restaurant versions.  Once all the ingredients have been combined, cover the bowl again with the plastic wrap and refrigerate for another 6 to 8 hours (the longer, the better).

Costa Rican ceviche recipes are usually served with plain saltine crackers or boiled green plantain (as shown in final picture below).  In my opinion this healthy, light and tasty dish is best enjoyed with a ice cold beer on the side!


Veggies that will be added to the Costa Rican Ceviche



Slicing Corvina (white sea bass) into 1/2 inch cubes

Limones (limes that will be juiced in order to "cook" the corvina)

Ginger Ale (the "secret" ingredient in this Costa Rican ceviche)

The final product, served the next day with boiled green plantain slices on the side

FOR MORE COSTA RICAN RECIPES CHECK OUT:

Costa Rican Typical Foods, by Carmen de Musmani and Lupita de Weiler

Gallito Pinto: Traditional Recipes From Costa Rica, Zona Tropical Publications

Playa Flamingo Costa Rica

I had recently read a review of Playa Flamingo Costa Rica in Moon Costa Rica (Moon Handbooks).  The guidebook described this beach as "perhaps the most magnificent white-sand beach in the nation."  Tempted by this short description, I was able to convince my sister Lisa - who was in town for a week - to make the 3 hour trek with me from Miramar Puntarenas (where I currently live), to Playa Flamingo in order to see if the beach really lived up to this accolade.

We were not disappointed!  Playa Flamingo Costa Rica, while not the whitest sand beach I've ever seen, was certainly the whitest sand beach I've seen in this country thus far.  However, for me, the beauty of this beach extended beyond the sand, to the crystal blue warm waters and rugged headlands that cusped it from end-to-end so perfectly.  These headlands, atop the north and south sides of the beach, are populated by some of the most ornate mansions and luxury highrises I've seen anywhere in this country.  It is rumored that Playa Flamingo Costa Rica is among the beaches the stars (such as Mel Gibson, Brittany Spears, and Gisele Bundchen) make their way too whenever they are visiting the country.

Unfortunately, there were no star sightings for us on the day we visited. In fact, my sister and I practically had the beach to ourselves.  While the ocean was a little too rough for swimming (common for the winter/rainy months from what I've been told), we were still able to take a dip in the water and enjoyed walking up and down along the surf.  The beach is backed by a line of thick trees, and there is a small dirt road skirting it and allowing access to it.  In the few hours we spent lounging on Playa Flamingo Costa Rica, only about 5 cars passed on this road.  It was a weekday, though, so it could be busier on the weekends.

The small "downtown" area of Playa Flamingo was within walking distance from the beach.  We found this town area quiet and charming, and were glad it offered various dining options (from a cheap pizzaria where we ate, to more upscale venues).  We also asked the staff at the Flamingo Beach Resort & Spa (just across the street from the beach), if we could enter and see their facilities for ourselves.  From what we saw, I'd recommend a stay here if you will be visiting the Nicoya Peninsula beaches.  The resort has also gotten some pretty decent reviews on Tripadvisor.

The only drawback, which some may see as a plus, is that at night Playa Flamingo Costa Rica is quiet.  If you are in search of night life, you'll have to make the 30 minute drive to the surfing and resort town of Tamarindo.  Overall, my sister and I agreed, Playa Flamingo Costa Rica was the prettiest most impressive beach either of us has seen in this country so far.



The white sands of Playa Flamingo Costa Rica



Mansions and High Rises on Headlands Cusping Playa Flamingo

My sister, Lisa, enjoying the warm surf at Playa Flamingo Costa Rica

Me, at Playa Flamingo, with headland jutting into the ocean in the background

The small and charming "downtown" area of Playa Flamingo Costa Rica

A Stroll Through Tamarindo Costa Rica

While my sister Lisa was visiting me here in Costa Rica, we had the opportunity to tour the well-known beach town of Tamarindo Costa Rica.  This former fishing village has blossomed into the Nicoya Peninsula's most developed beach town.  In fact, Tamarindo Costa Rica is often referred to as the surfing capital of Costa Rica and is an excellent home base from which to surf more isolated surrounding beaches, such as Playa Avellanas, Play Negra, and Playa Grande, which is said to have Costa Rica's most accessible and consistent break and was described by surfing expert Mark Kelley as "maybe the best overall spot in the country" to surf from.

I'll have to admit that I was somewhat hesitant to visit Tamarindo Costa Rica, especially since one Costa Rica guidebook that I often refer to described the town in this way:

"Recent years have seen a growth in robberies against tourists.  Rental car break-ins are common.  Drugs and prostitution have also encroached, and hustlers can be a nuisance." (Moon Handbooks Costa Rica, by Christopher P. Baker).

Fortunately, my brave sister and I were not deterred.  We made our way to the laid back town of Tamarindo Costa Rica and had a most enjoyable afternoon strolling its main streets and walking around the beach area (see pics below).  Tamarindo is definitely a laid back surfing town (surf schools, surf camps and surf shops abound).  We saw many backpackers and tourists walking or riding bikes, and many young (and older) surf aficionados strolling with their boards both on and off the beach.  At no point in time were we personally ever offered drugs.  We did, however, see prostitutes in skimpy outfits waiting to be picked up on the side of the street when we were entering and leaving the main part of the town.  Despite that, we felt relatively safe (always vigilant, of course) and enjoyed the calm atmosphere of Tamarindo Costa Rica.  You can find loads of cheap accommodations, including hostels, and also some more upscale lodging options as well. Restaurants and shops line the main streets, so there's no shortage of food to eat or things to buy.  Overall, we enjoyed our visit to Tamarindo Costa Rica, especially the end of the trip when we got to take in the lovely sunset at Tamarindo Beach.

Surf Shops in Tamarindo Costa Rica

A Main Street in Downtown Tamarindo



One of the many venues offering surf lessons in Tamarindo

Tamarindo Beach Costa Rica

Sunset over Tamarindo Beach

Learn More About Surfing in Costa Rica:

Walmart Costa Rica

I had seen local Costa Rican news reports a couple months ago announcing that Walmart would be expanding their presence in Costa Rica.  Somewhat homesick for "U.S." products, I was excited to hear this news and immediately went about trying to find out where the stores were located.  To my surprise, Walmart Costa Rica was here, but was hiding behind locally known store names such as Maxi Bodega, Mas X Menos, Pali and Hipermas (according to a Walmart fact sheet dated 4/30/2011, they owned some 182 of these stores and had some 10,000+ employees countrywide).  However, upon entering these Walmart-owned stores, it quickly became obvious that Walmart Costa Rica was not quite, well, the Walmart I knew and loved back home in the U.S.

In the past month or so, however, Walmart Costa Rica decided to come out of hiding and has actually splashed the Walmart name and logo across several of its bigger stores here (see picture below).  TV advertising has picked up as Walmart Costa Rica began to advertise its "new" presence in the country and went about promoting its low price model.  Excited, I asked my boyfriend to take me to the store location in Escazu (which was previously a Hipermas) to see if this was the "real" thing.

Upon walking into the Walmart Costa Rica in Escazu this past Saturday, my first impression was that I was in an actual Walmart megastore. The store is huge (some 6,500 meters) and has all the familiar Walmart signs and layout.  Costa Ricans and expatriates were out in large numbers and the aisles were congested with shopping carts and these shoppers.  I had a chance to browse the entire store, and we came out spending about $200 U.S. dollars on food and miscellaneous household items.  My opinion is that the prices are not that low (compared to other Costa Rican stores, and not anywhere as low as Walmart prices in the U.S. - technology and appliances were especially high-priced).  Also, the variety was not anywhere where I'd have liked it to have been (for instance, there were only 2 kinds of hard cat food and 2 kinds of soft cat food available).  Since it's an hours drive from where I live in Miramar, Puntarenas to this Walmart on the western side of downtown San Jose, it's doubtful that I'll see a need to make a special trip back there again any time soon.  Still it's somewhat comforting to know that a piece of home is here if the mood ever strikes me again.

Walmart in Escazu Costa Rica

Inside Walmart Escazu