Fri Aug 11

Today’s breakfast was a bowl of cubed papaya, sliced pitaya (dragon fruit), some yogurt and dark honey drizzled over. This was the honey we bought from yesterday’s stop at the conservation center. It complemented the fruit nicely and added a caramelized richness. 

We ventured out just before noon. Today would be a bike day. We biked north, past Playa Negra and the town of Los Pargos, past Playa Callejones, past howler monkeys up in the trees, until we reached the town of Avellanes.

The road that goes through Avellanes is home to a nice collection of restaurants and shops. We pulled into La Esquina de Avellanes which is a gastronomical, cultural and commercial center. There’s a store selling local products (food, clothing, dog accessories, skin care), a tattoo parlor, a bar, a restaurant, and a space for events and classes. The posted schedule for the week advertised yoga, barre, antigravity, dance classes, movie nights, happy hours, and even a weekly night market on Fridays!

After browsing the store and buying a bottle of mango moringa kombucha ($7), we decided to have lunch at Taco Taco. We shared fish tacos and pastor tacos. They were delicious. So fresh and full of flavor. The fish was fried in a crunchy batter. The pork in the pastor was thick cut, tender and juicy, with good grill marks. 

La Esquina de Avellanes is a great example of how gentrification and tourist focused shops should be designed as to not take away from the authenticity and charm of the area. The way it is constructed and designed looks modern enough but still manages to feel natural, complementing its jungle environment. It promotes local products and people while at the same time organizing and bringing together the local community through different events. After lunch we continued on, our destination: JW Mariott! We are going horseback riding tomorrow and need to take out some more cash, so the Marriott is the closest ATM. 

We got there, parked our bikes and got our money out sin problema. We then decided why not check out the Manseta beach?  It is a public beach even though it is basically on Marriott property and looks like it is a private hotel beach with the pool and resort behind. 

Manseta beach is similar to the other beaches we’ve been to, except there are a ton more rocks in the water. Honestly it was the worst of the beaches we have visited because it was pretty much impossible to swim with the giant boulders everywhere in the shallow water. Even though the waves were small, the water was sandy and murky so you couldn’t see anything. 

Still, the water was refreshing. After a dip (and banging my knees against the rocks) we laid out to sunbathe. It really felt like we were guests at the resort- so strange that this is a public beach. Out of curiosity we looked up how much the nightly rates were and found them to be 800-900 dollars! Per night! The resort was nice but not that nice. And breakfast isn’t even included.

After a very relaxing afternoon at the beach, we packed up and biked back. It was getting late- 5:15pm. Sunset was at 5:30. Here, close to the equator, there isn’t much of a window for dawn or dusk, it’s simply light or dark. We cycled back, going as fast as we could. On our way back we stopped at Tutti Frutti. When we passed by before it looked like a very promising local shop for produce. And it was! It was the first Tico shop that had a good selection of fresh produce- and with good lighting! We bought yucca, chayote, tomatoes, garlic, onion, mango, avocado, and a bell pepper. I talked to the store clerk and a random Tico about the how to prepare the yucca and chayote. Time and again, the locals here prove to be so nice and friendly and welcoming to foreigners.

The local Tico man explained step by step how to best prepare the chayote. You have to slice the top off and rub the two parts together so that a white foam comes out. Do this until it doesn’t foam any more. He ended up just showing me right then and there, slicing it and rubbing the two sides. And yes, a strong white foam was produced! I think this is to remove some bitterness, I believe Italians do a similar thing with cucumber. He bagged up the chayote up for me and recommended that I dice and sauté it with some eggs. 

Note: Upon further research, apparently the white sap from the chayote can irritate your skin! I really appreciate the guy insisting on doing this for me.

We also asked if there was a place to buy fresh, local fish. Earlier this morning we had texted someone who supposedly drives a truck on Fridays and delivers fish to our area, but he had stopped responding to our messages. The store clerk said that they  sold some fish and meat, but when they get fish it usually sells out very quickly so he just had some tilapia left. He showed me the tilapia filets  and they looked beautiful so we bought two vacuum sealed frozen filets, for only $4. 

We said our goodbyes and continued on. We had a quick stop at La Esquina de Avellanes just to check out the night market. Many vendors were still setting up. There was guy selling beautiful handmade jewelry. Another vendor sold gorgeous cutting boards and other wooden kitchen utensils made from the tree of Nicoya (aka the Guanacaste Tree or Arbolito Solitario). There was even a little stage where someone was setting up for a concert. A woman was drinking a glass of chilled white wine at the bar. It looked like a great place to be on a Friday night, but we still had a long bike ride back. 

Originally we had planned on going to the community barbecue and bonfire at Playa Negra but it was getting too late. So we rode through the town of Los Pargos and this time we decided to try the slightly longer route via the main road instead of the private beach route with zero cars and zero lights. We were well aware that there are panthers, snakes, and tarantulas. So we took the main road, but even the main road was very dark at times. The street lights are spaced out pretty far so you have some stretches of road that are completely dark. Luckily the main road was also busy with cars and motorcycle traffic so we got some light from the headlights whenever one passed us by. So far the drivers here seem to be very respectful of us on the bikes and go around us slowly and with plenty of space. 

We biked and biked… by now it was dark out. I was getting a little nervous about running over a large snake in the road. There were some crabs out and when you first see them from afar they look like tarantulas. We really tried going as fast as we could while using our phones to light the way and trying to avoid potholes. When we almost reached  the town of Paraiso we went over a little bridge over the rio sequiillo . My bike tire got caught in a long rut-like pothole and I lost control of my bike a little. If I wasn’t holding my phone as a flashlight, I could have probably recovered better or at least used my brakes but instead I thudded into the metal guardrail bordering the bridge. I’m happy to report that I didn’t fall off and I didn’t drop my phone! I just got a little scraped up on my shin. 

A bit shaken, I got back on my bike and pedaled fast. I really wanted to get home. We biked through Paraiso which was actually coming alive! The town’s football pitch was hosting some sort of cookout/drink social. People were having barbecues and playing music. It was a great Friday night atmosphere. If we both weren’t so anxious about getting home we might have mingled with the locals a bit. But on we went, feeling good knowing that our Airbnb was only about a 10 minute ride away. The last part of our journey was a strenuous uphill bit, but we made it. I felt a wave of relief as we entered our well lit, gated property. It took us over an hour to get home, and about 40 minutes of it was completely in darkness. 

After a much needed shower, I made dinner. I served yesterday’s chicken broth rice with sautéed veggies (carrots, green beans, onion, bell pepper, hot pepper, tomato, garlic, and zucchini) and pan fried tilapia. The tilapia, even though it came frozen, was incredibly fresh. It didn’t smell fishy at all and the texture felt alive- bouncy and tight flesh. With the veggies, I made a little sauce out of smashed cooked tomatoes, garlic, and chicken bone broth that I had made earlier. 

Now this dinner was delicious. The tilapia was beautiful, firm yet flakey. The veggies were crisp tender and flavorful. One thing I’ve noticed is that the vegetables here seem to have more structural integrity and really hold up well to heat. 

One week without alcohol! And our first bean-free day.