Advertisement
Published: February 13th 2018
Edit Blog Post
Today we drove a measly 192 km....and it took us a whopping 4 hours. Back home, because of our long, flat multi-lane highways, that distance might take two hours max (and that’s assuming you respect the speed limit). Here, you can expect to go between 30 and 60km/hr on the majority of roads. Add to that roads that are mostly single lane, often hilly and sometimes unpaved. Although we’ve read comments about bad drivers, in truth we haven’t seen many (and certainly not more on average than back home). It’s just slow going - steep hills, sharp turns, towns popping up, people and dogs walking on the road, sluggish trucks and motos that you can’t always pass (because of all the reasons just noted). The key, really, is just to accept it. It’s slow because it has to be.
In exchange for your patience, however, you are rewarded with some of the most spectacular scenery on earth. Costa Rica is just breathtaking. Today we drove through mountains, lush forests and alongside the ocean. All of it gorgeous and the “wows” and “oh mon dieus” came fast and furious.
We arrived in Quepos, the town near the house we are
renting, and had lunch at a local “soda” (basically a small resto) and then hit the local super mercado for groceries for the next few days. I love going to a grocery store in a foreign country - it’s so interesting to see the different products and gives you a glimpse into the everyday lives of locals. In this grocery store, the length of one aisle had almost only varieties of rice and beans on one side which makes perfect sense because that combo is ubiquitous in Tico cuisine. They also had these MEGA 2.5 litre bottles of pop (soda for you non-Canadians) which seemed to be crazy huge, but just as many tiny varieties in cans or wee bottles. The range of sizes is fascinating. They also (ingeniously) had things like spaghetti sauce, ketchup, refried beans and mayo (to name but a few) in these soft bags, many of which had screw caps (check out the picture) instead of glass jars or cans like back home. I thought this was brilliant. Takes up less space, not as heavy as glass and unlike a can, is resealable. Take note, Canada!
They also had a variety of types of limes
- we usually only see one back home, offered a range of ripeness of bananas (like em greenish and firm? On the mushier side? They had ‘em all separated by bin) and every single avocado was ready to eat. Back home you usually have a pile of hard, green skinned, not yet ripe avocados in the store that you have to wait to soften up. Here you can buy an avocado and eat it right away. For reals. No buying it five days in advance. The store also kept the chocolate bars in the fridge - probably to avoid the heat/meltiness issue.
We then headed to what will be our home for the next few days and holy shizzle, is it ever gorgeous. Beautiful property, close to town and the house. Oh sweet bajeebus, the house. So. Much. Space. And a salt water plunge pool. And a huge deck. And a covered patio with hammocks. And most impressively - a resident wild iguana. She lives somewhere on the grounds and was sunning herself by the pool when we arrived.
Next up: Who knows...we’re winging it!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.152s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 11; qc: 33; dbt: 0.1202s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb