Advertisement
Published: June 20th 2017
Geo: 9.98333, -84.1167
Oh boy! We enjoy farmer's markets and are looking forward to today's in Heredia. We learned that for the best selection you should be there around 6:30-ish (yeah, right) and for the best prices arrive late morning around 11:30. We only need a few things and know that compared to US prices (even US farmer markets prices) things here will seem ridiculously inexpensive to us.
I write a short grocery list in Espanol(!), we grab our net shopping bag and catch the bus. We're very pleased with ourselves to remember exactly where the market is and if we hadn't remembered it would have been super easy to find...just walk past the people who are walking up the hill with their overflowing bags. We get there about 8:45.
OMG! This market is HUGE!! It is about 5 city blocks and there are two aisles with offerings on both sides. This is a major street and it has been closed down for the entire morning. Unbelievable.
Some people have bags like ours, some people need something more.
Jeff and I discuss why you would buy your carrots from that guy rather than this guy? Maybe you know that guy's family? Maybe
you bought carrots from farmer A once and didn't like them and now buy from farmer B? Or have developed a relationship with someone? To us all the produce looks great and though the prices vary a little I don't think comparison shopping is even possible given the size of the venue. Below is a short a video of a
small part of the market.
We stay for a little over 2 hours, purchasing 3 heads of green leaf lettuce, 5 bananas, 4 oranges and 3 avocados. Cost? About $3.10 US, Yum! Back to the bus and home again to put away our goodies.
Hanging out at home, Jeff comes to tell me that the light in the master bath has burned out. We could call William, the handyman for our apartment, but really, its just a lightbulb. Problem is...that light is way up there! Jeff scouts around and find an extension ladder in the carport. Hmmm, the garage door is locked so there is no way to manuver the ladder into the house unless...
We very carefully bring the ladder in through the bedroom window. It is nearly impossible to get it into the bathroom but somehow, after several failed attempts, we do. The ladder is too wide to open, so Jeff braces it against the wall. Luckily he has found replace bulbs in the kitchen. Because the ladder is basically jammed into the bathroom he has to start climbing it by stretching up to the 3rd ladder step.
He gets way up there and is facing the wrong way...but success! He puts the burned out bulb in his shirt pocket, takes the good bulb out of his other shirt pocket and finishes the job. Now, down the ladder, jump from the second step (to miss the toilet) to the floor. How are we going to get this ginormous ladder out of here? It took us a lot of manuvering, back into the bedroom, out the window into the carport. Whew! That was way more work than it ever should have been!
Butch calls and he and Jeff finalize our plans for tonight. Time to get cleaned up for our night out. When Butch and Margarita arrive we visit for a bit inside, then grab our umbrellas and dash to their car.
Butch has a restaurant in mind. It is in San Rafael above Heredia. He and Margarita used to live in
Heredia about 15 years ago so they know their way through town. Traffic is horrendous and I'm happy I'm not at the wheel. Out of town, we srart to climb and soon we're lost. See! It isn't just us!! We're way lost and Butch takes a voice vote at each intersection on which way to go - that way it isn't just his fault we're lost. haha! Eventually we give up trying to find the restaurant he had in mind. Along the side of the road, there is a bar-type looking place. In Colorado you'd expect cowboy boots, beer and country music. Butch goes in to check it out. Margarita calls to him to bring out a menu, she isn't thrilled with the looks of the place. But the menu looks good so in we go. The place is lovely. Butch asks the owner, "Where is everyone?" "They are coming," he tells us, "there is live music tonight." The live music is guitarist singer. I like his music a lot.
We order. The food is very good, the service is good and the wine is wonderful.
Tomorrow Margarita and Butch are going into San Jose to meet their architect (remember
the empty lot we went to see?). We discuss a special type of plumbing that hasn't caught on in Costa Rica, but should. The piping can be set into the concrete and is virtually earthquake proof. For a bag of Costa Rican coffee be the first person to tell me what this is called!
We were bemoaning our failure to meet anyone this week - Tico or ex-pat and Butch suggests we rent a car to at least get out of town. We're going to think about that.
We get lost trying to get home. Golly, it's nice to know this happens to other people, too!
The four of us agree to keep in touch - maybe even do a house swap when theirs is completed.
It's been a long day filled with fun and friends.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.123s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 5; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0596s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Jack
non-member comment
You may be referring to PEX plumbing. We used it in our house in Clark too.