Chocolate Covered Fruits

When I asked if chocolate was common in Costa Rica, I got a dumfounded look that screamed, “you must be joking.” I realize that this is not exactly the wording of the question, but it was one I had to ask to compensate for my lack of Spanish and my parents failure to truly understand the original question. Eventually we got there, but I thought that this reaction was noteworthy. They told me how of course they eat chocolate, in many ways in fact. It is not for a special occasion, rather a common staple for them. It is eaten for breakfast with milk, even as a sauce on my pancakes some mornings (an interesting addition that I am still trying to decide if I like). People it in the afternoon as a snack by itself or with something. Then after dinner, chocolate is almost always used. For instance, as I was asking these questions, I was eating flan that was nearly drowned in chocolate.

My family gets their fruits and vegetables from the supermarkets, mainly because they said they know it is clean there. There was also a discussion on whether or not it was better, but no consensus was reached that I could tell. They buy it once a week, so not really frequently, however, still considerably more often then what we do at my home in the United States where produce is bought on a “as needed” basis, not as a weekly commodity, which is interesting. Is this because it is cheaper? Tradition? Maybe they just like it more? I do not have a good answer, just lots of good questions.

So the farmers market! Whoa. It was so different than what I was used to. I am used to a bit more organized event that has a sense of flow. The only flow in this market was towards the giant piles of fruits, vegetables and other assorted goods that were so enticing and overwhelming. The feeling I had was taste everything, countered by my 8 year old palate wanting to get to the farthest away sugary cereal factory. I went with the former fortunately. Each booth was stacked high and wide with the fruit or vegetable for sale. It was not totally without organization, however, there was a lack of overdone presentation as I am more familiar with in the US. There were all sorts of things being sold, fruit, vegetables, meat, cheese, and trinkets, even underwear. The interactions were quick, with no bartering, which I was initially surprised at, but now that I can reflect, can you imagine how crazy it would be if there were to be bartering with that many people around? My favorite part (other than the really cheap prices), was the various carts that were pulled around full of produce. It was clear that there were many people who came here to do their shopping, not just a produce. You will see this in the US, but I think that this is more common here. Of course I might be suffering from a failure to grasp either end of the spectrum, but based on what I eat, I think there is a heavier emphasis on produce here.

So for some reason I am having some major technical difficulties. For some reason I accidentally posted half of a title and nothing more while simultaniously loosing the pictures from my iPod camera. So I have no pictures that can be uploaded for some reason.