Monday, November 19, 2007

gringo cameo: steve perlis


After a short, Imperial-infused night of rest in San Jose, I made my way to the bus station a little after five o’clock yesterday morning. Destination: Nosara. A walkable distance from my hotel in a less than pristine neighborhood, the station and surrounding barrio is frequented (inhabited?) by some characters.

San Jose’s homeless population is no joke. It’s a sad, eccentric group and membership is booming. One unlucky Tico—but don’t tell him I said so, he looked happy as a clam—was prepping for the day in what I can only assume is his morning routine. Razor in hand, I watched him taking down the stubble on his face. Sure, that’s the first time I’ve ever seen a homeless man shave, but here’s the real kicker. He reaches into his pocket, pulls out a crack-pipe and a lighter. Seconds later he lights and puffs, all without losing focus from his shave.

This is the kind of guy that can rub his belly and pat his head without missing a beat, and you know that if he had blond hair he’d be walking and chewing gum like a pro. I don’t mean to make light of a bad scene, but when you see that kind of expert multitasking you can’t help but be taken aback and, yeah, a little impressed.

I missed the direct bus to Nosara—which runs once a day at 5am NOT 6am as the airport, hotel manager, tourism office, and bus schedule will try to fool you into believing—but I found an easy enough workaround and made it here yesterday in time for a late lunch. So for now, I’m typing in a hammock and staring at the 200 feet of jungle that separates this balcony from the beach.

I’ve got books to read, waves to conquer, and a mustache to grow. My boss is a nice lady, but I don’t miss her yet. This is going to be a good week.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Sunset Shots

It's been a while since anyone updated the gringo lovin blog. We've been caught up getting jobs, surfing, and enjoying the Costa Rican lifestyle. We've spent the past week or so watching this sunset from the water via surfboard. The pictures are all from Playa Guiones (the same beach in the video house tour), which is just outside our place. The first set of pictures are from Sunday night 11/11.


The rest of Nosara generally shows up during sunset. You can vaguely see a fire in the middle of the surfers.
Spanish sat and pondered life for about half an hour while holding this pose. The next set of pictures are from Monday 11/12.
Over the weekend, after nights of Imperial and the sounds of a local cover band (Los Killer Penguinos) we encountered enormous bonfires on the beach surrounded by about 50 people. This is no bonfire, but a sunset fire just adds to the atmosphere. It also helps keep the bugs away.

At this point, the sun looks as if it is melting into the water. Not a bad way to end a strenuous day of surfing...


Monday, November 5, 2007

Rainy Season

Esta lloviendo como gatos y perros.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

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Friday, November 2, 2007

Eating Like A Tico

The staples of the tico diet are rice and beans (arroz y frijoles). A typical meal or casado usually consists of mixed rice and beans, meat (generally chicken or fish), a fried plantain, and an ensalada which can include any combination of fruits and vegetables. The national dish is gallo pinto. According to wikipedia, "The name gallo pinto means 'spotted rooster'. When the beans and rice are combined, the rice gets colored by the beans, and the mix results in a specked appearance. Nicaraguans traditionally prepare it with small red beans, while Costa Ricans usually use black beans. Beans are slowly cooked until the juice is almost consumed."

Having recently discovered our tico heritage, we are diving headlong into a steady diet of rice and beans. We generally drench our rice and beans in lizano salsa (pictured left of Spanish's meal). Lizano salsa is better known as cowabunga sauce due to the fact that it is pretty cowabunga. We stocked up on tico food at the local super mercado, which by the way was not local or super. We have heard that the best food is found by stopping local delivery trucks to pick up fresh fish, chicken, bread, fruits, and vegetables from various trucks. We aren't privy to the truck schedule, and it will be time consuming to stop each truck individually. Yet the lure of amazingly fresh local food is too tempting to ignore. Apparently the beer truck is off limits. Beer distribution is monopolized in Costa Rica, and the beer truck is accompanied by an armed guard to protect this cash business. Bummer.
The local liquor is guaro. "It is a clear liquor made from sugar cane, and therefore has a slightly sweeter taste than comparable liquors. Guaro is a popular alcoholic drink in Costa Rica, although in many places guaro can refer to almost any liquor. guaro is made by a distillation process of sugarcane juices, resulting in an alcohol that is clear in color and has a slightly sweet flavor.
Sometimes guaro is referred to as a "soft vodka" because it has a lower alcohol content than vodka. In Costa Rica, the goverment nationalized the manufacturing of Guaro in an effort to quell the clandestine production of liquor. The "Fabrica Nacional de Licores" (National Liquor Factory) was founded for this reason, and currently produces the only legal brand of Guaro, the Guaro Cacique." For our purposes guaro is Spanish for "cheap booze that mixes well."

Click COMIDA for more information regarding the tico diet.

Photo Diary Of Our Flight

We landed in Nosara a week ago, almost to the hour. To commemorate our week in the jungle, the gringo lovin' blog offers a look at that epic flight. Below we are walking out on the tarmac to hop on the "puddle jumper" leaving San Jose for Nosara. They have pretty stringent weight limits for such a small plane, and we paid mightily (in Costa Rican terms) for our overweight luggage.

We were flying lowing enough to have a consistent view of the Costa Rican landscape throughout the flight.We landed at the Punta Islita on the way to Nosara. The Punta Islita tarmac is gravel, and right on the beach. The above picture was taken from the plane! During this harrowing landing, it felt as if we were going to land on the beach. As the tarmac was one-way and this close to the beach, the takeoff was as nerve-racking as the landing. If the pilot didn't take off soon enough, we were headed directly into the drink.This picture was taken just before we landed in Nosara. The center "city" of Nosara is quite small. Notice the condition of the roads. If you want to get anywhere in Nosara during the rainy season, you have to accept a certain degree of muddiness.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Nosara House Tour

After days of searching for places to stay in Nosara (often in the back of pickup trucks while being pummeled by the rain) we finally found a place to stay. For the next two months, this place will be home. I hope you enjoy the tour.