La comida

Every time I come home from a camp my Dad always asks "How was the food?" so I thought I'd answer that question a few months early.

Rice,beans and bananas are staples here. I eat rice and beans for breakfast, it's actually quite good. Actually, I like it so much that one of the worst thing about having no power in the morning is that I have to have bread for breakfast! They call it "gallo pinto" and add coriander, red capsicum and onion. Often it is served with scrambled eggs, and sometimes fruit or fried green bananas.

The other two meals are generally rice and vegetable mixes, sometimes with beans on the side. Sometimes the beans are blended and cooked with onion and some spices. With evening meals meat is often added to the rice and vegetable mix or served as a side dish. But eating a whole steak like I would in Australia is unheard of. "Arroz con pollo" is a typical dish for birthday parties, it's basically rice, vegetable and chicken. Tortillas are regular, eaten most meals. Green salads aren't an everyday affair, but several times a week. Locals eat lettuce with mayonnaise and tomatoe sauce, but I prefer Lizano a salad dressing used to flavour rice. Costa Ricans love Carbohydrates, so along with the rice is potatoes, bread, or spaghetti.

Beverages are great because the fruit is so plentiful (thought they don't seem to eat it too regularly). People regularly blend pineapple, watermelon, bananas, black berries, strawberries and something called 'cas' with either milk or water. When Costa Rican's aren't drinking juice, they drink coffee, which is grown in town. Needless to say my constant water drinking is surprising everyone.

Dairy is expensive here and not very common, my family typically drink milk 2-3 times a week. Cheese is this white stuff which is pretty awful. Ice cream is a once a month special thing.

I miss Vegemite, but apart from that, I've managed to adapt quite easily to this new diet.