A “break” in the fun

With less than 3 weeks of fun to go before returning to Arizona, Gordie got a tough “break.” Technically, more like a tough fracture. Don’t expect a story about crashing while surfing Salsa Brava, or slamming knee-first into a tree on the canopy tour. No, as is often the case, most accidents happen at home. After 8 days in the Limon hospital and a couple of side trips to the hospital in San Jose, Gordie is now back home with 2 pins in his knee and crutches by his side getting ready to fly back to Arizona for Halloween. We’ll have to think of an appropriate costume. Hmmm.

Who says you can’t afford a vacation

I once saw Rocking J’s referred to as “the one and only pimp hammock hotel in Costa Rica.” Appropriate description, I think, for a very unique place. Hard to believe this internationally popular hostel just outside of downtown Puerto Viejo was swampland back in 2000 when Arizonan, John Korchmaros Placencia Dias, better known as J, first fell in love with it. Today, after years of hard work, the hammocks have been joined by tent camping, cabinas, and a great restaurant (@tE’s run by brother, Eric). On any given day you’ll find backpackers here from all corners of the globe as well as locals, like us, who come to enjoy the internet, food and drink. No visit to Puerto Viejo is complete without a stop at Rocking J’s, whether you’re looking for an affordable place to stay for the night -- $4 for camping or $5 for hammocks -- or just want to see the artwork and mosaics that have been created by previous guests.

Behind closed doors.

What can be worse after a relaxing dinner at home than a sink full of dirty dishes! No doubt this was the sentiment that led to the invention of the dishwasher, which has since become a commonplace appliance in American homes. Here, no. I have yet to see a dishwasher; not in a home, a business or even in a store that sells furniture and appliances. Instead I have discovered a more unique solution to the “out-of-sight, out-of-mind” problem of dirty dishes. A sink closed off from the kitchen. It’s very common in our area to see Tico-style homes with their sinks mounted behind shutters outside of the kitchen window. Although I don’t know the origin of this custom, several very practical reasons come to mind. Homes are typically much smaller here than in the US, so, mounting the sink outside gives you more floor space in the kitchen. Since the kitchen, and indeed the entire house, often utilizes an “outdoor living” concept – in other words, no glass or screening on the windows – having the sink outside the window lets you pitch your food scraps directly to the neighbor’s free-ranging chickens or the compost pile. And then, of course, if you have a sink full of dirty dishes and company is coming, you can close your shutters and they will never know what is hiding behind the closed doors.

The original “drip coffee maker”

For many of us, there is one man we can count on to keep us company each and every morning. “Mr. Coffee.” He’s loyal, reliable and requires very little attention. We feed him a paper filter and some ground coffee, plug him into the electric outlet and wait for him to deliver a fresh carafe of drip coffee. What would we ever do without him? Well, here in Costa Rica there is an alternative to the electric drip coffee maker. You might say it’s one of the original drip coffee makers and is still widely used. It consists of a simple stand with a round hole at the top into which you slip the cotton “sock.” You put some coffee grounds into the sock and pour in hot water. Fresh, hot coffee immediately starts seeping out the bottom into your cup. Want another cup? Add a little more coffee and a little more water. No electricity. No problem. Heat your water on a propane stove or over the open fire. Fast, easy and energy efficient. Move over “Mr. Coffee” there’s a new man in town.

Noni, no me

Anyone with an interest in pursuing a pharmaceutical-free lifestyle or just exploring the world of natural “wonder foods” has probably heard of Noni. Noni is most commonly available in the USA as a juice, and its proponents claim, among other things, that it provides a tremendous boost to the immune system. In Costa Rica the “Morinda Citrifolica” or Noni tree grows wild. It is a member of the coffee family and is easily recognized by its odd looking (and foul-smelling) fruit. The fruit goes from green to an almost translucent white when ripe. It is neither firm nor soft to the touch. For some reason it reminds me of a sea cucumber although I can’t ever remember actually touching one of those. Commercially available juice had additional ingredients added to the noni to mask the odor and improve the taste. But here, where it grows wild, you will find that people just drop the whole fruit into a blender and hold their nose or put the fruits in a glass jar to naturally ferment (see photo of fruits during the fermenting process). So far neither method looks appetizing to me. I have drawn the line. No noni, not for me.

Fresh beginnings.

I am a breakfast person. And there is nothing I love more for breakfast than fresh fruit. So I try to take advantage of the fresh, organic fruit selections available at our weekly farmers’ market, and am always ready to try something new. Shown in the photo are a few staples like pineapple and mango along with some “new” items we wanted to try. On the blue plate is chocolate bread. Homemade bread with ribbons of organic dark chocolate. This is now a standard for our Saturday morning breakfasts! The prickly fruit in the back is a durian. I have read that this is an immensely popular fruit in many Asian countries. But, the kindest thing I can say about the durian I tried is that once you smell it you will never forgot the aroma. To open it I had to roll it on the ground under my foot until it cracked enough to break open. Judging from the reactions of our breakfast guests the durian must be an acquired taste. We threw it across the street into the jungle to keep the smell away…and the dogs did not run after it. The dark colored fruit at the front of the photo is a sapodilla. I was told that the sapodilla tasted a bit like our melons. I have since read the taste described as a mix of brown sugar and root beer. It was definitely unique. I could probably acquire a taste for this one. The bark of the sapodilla tree contains a rubbery substance called “chicle” which used to be a primary ingredient in chewing gum. Perhaps chewing the bark would be more satisfying to me.