A few thousand colons in Costa Rica provides
a bounty of delicious fruits
By Saray Ramírez Vindas
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Delights from star fruit to guavas to the prickly guyabana and the delicate naranjilla are on the market now, and you can get your daily dose of vitamin C with little trouble.
In water, milk or cocktails, the fruits give up their delicious tastes.
The rainy season brings pure water to revitalize the earth and improve the environment. It also gives a boost for some fruits. And this is a good time to explore fruity options.
Costa Rica has a long list of delicious tropical varieties rich in vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, and C.
Blending fruits with water to make a refresco is common in Costa Rica homes. Water is preferred for its lower costs, but the daring can try milk and even cream for some of the fruit. Watch out for seeds if a blender is to be used.
A reporter went to the Mercado Central of San Jose Costa Riica with a few thousand colons to seek out fresh fruit. Another option is the ferias del agricultor, but many markets are just one day a week.
At the central market there were at least guayabas, maracuyas, carambolas, naranjillas and guanabanas.
Here is what they are:
The guayabas or guavas are 1,100 colons a kilo, about $1.93. The baseball-size green fruit has five small protrusions on the flower end. Some fruits have up to 500 seeds but they can be eaten. They are Mexican or Central American natives now found all over the world.
The carambola is the starfruit now grown locally and available in most North American supermarkets but not at 600 colons a kilo, or a bit more than $1. The whole fruit, including skin, can be eaten.
The maracuyá is the passion fruit or what is called grandilla here in Costa Rica. They are available for 850 colons a kilo, about $1.50. The fruit can be several colors, but most here are yellow. There are plenty of seeds. They can be eaten but some folks like to strain them for juice.
The naranjillas (1,500 colons per kilo) are like tiny oranges, with lots of seeds and a dark interior. They can be eaten out of hand, and the juice is green. Unripe fruits are sour but can be eaten with sprinklings of salt.
The guanabana is the soursop, a giant fruit that frequently is cut up to be sold. It runs 1,200 a kilo ($2.10) at the market. The creamy meat of the plant is eaten out of hand or juiced. The black seeds, about the size of those in a watermelon, are not eaten.
Each of these fruits can be the subject of its own monograph. But the wise shopper will try new fruits and in different ways. Some can end up in jam as well as drinks. Others can be reduced to a sweet syrup.
Some fruits have a reputation as a medicine or a cure. But that is a whole different article.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Costa Rica Cuisine
Cartago will show off complexities
of its cusine June 27
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
There is a lot more to the Provincia de Cartago Costa Rica than potatoes, and cooks of the communities will be out to prove this June 27.
The event is another of the culture ministry's efforts to capture the nation's traditions.
When most Costa Rican residents think of Cartago, the words chilly and potatoes leap to their minds. The province, centered around the Canton of Cartago is generally higher than communities in the Central Valley. Cartago itself at 1,435 meters is 274 meters (about 900 feet) higher than the bulk of San José.
That may be bad for sunbathing, but the weather is great for temperate vegetable crops, including the potato, carrot, onions and even the chayote. And these work their way into the area's traditional menus.
There are seven other cantons, La Unión, Jiménez, Turrialba, Oreamuno, Alvarado, El Guarco and Paraíso. Each has developed their own variations on food. After all, they have had plenty of time. Cartago was founded in the middle of the 16th century, and Spanish settled in the region due to the healthy climate. The city was the capital of Costa Rica until 1823.
The region is also known for its conservatism, so one can expect that the Spanish tradition will be a strong influence on the local foods.
The culture ministry's Centro de Investigación y Conservación del Patrimonio Cultural is putting on the contest in the Club Social de Cartago starting at 9 a.m.
The good part is that only a portion of the food contestants bring goes to the judges. The rest is offered to the public. Eventually the recipes will be compiled into a book as the centro has done with other sections of Costa Rica.
A similar event seven years ago in Costa Rica did have representative dishes of potatoes, including stuffed potatoes (papa rellena) and potato and cheese bread (pan de papa y queso).
But certainly there also will be pozol, that stick-to-the-ribs corn and pork soup or stew.
Contestants will compete in three areas, the main dish, dessert and drinks. There are money prizes for winners.
of its cusine June 27
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
There is a lot more to the Provincia de Cartago Costa Rica than potatoes, and cooks of the communities will be out to prove this June 27.
The event is another of the culture ministry's efforts to capture the nation's traditions.
When most Costa Rican residents think of Cartago, the words chilly and potatoes leap to their minds. The province, centered around the Canton of Cartago is generally higher than communities in the Central Valley. Cartago itself at 1,435 meters is 274 meters (about 900 feet) higher than the bulk of San José.
That may be bad for sunbathing, but the weather is great for temperate vegetable crops, including the potato, carrot, onions and even the chayote. And these work their way into the area's traditional menus.
There are seven other cantons, La Unión, Jiménez, Turrialba, Oreamuno, Alvarado, El Guarco and Paraíso. Each has developed their own variations on food. After all, they have had plenty of time. Cartago was founded in the middle of the 16th century, and Spanish settled in the region due to the healthy climate. The city was the capital of Costa Rica until 1823.
The region is also known for its conservatism, so one can expect that the Spanish tradition will be a strong influence on the local foods.
The culture ministry's Centro de Investigación y Conservación del Patrimonio Cultural is putting on the contest in the Club Social de Cartago starting at 9 a.m.
The good part is that only a portion of the food contestants bring goes to the judges. The rest is offered to the public. Eventually the recipes will be compiled into a book as the centro has done with other sections of Costa Rica.
A similar event seven years ago in Costa Rica did have representative dishes of potatoes, including stuffed potatoes (papa rellena) and potato and cheese bread (pan de papa y queso).
But certainly there also will be pozol, that stick-to-the-ribs corn and pork soup or stew.
Contestants will compete in three areas, the main dish, dessert and drinks. There are money prizes for winners.
Honduran President in Costa Rica
Honduran president in Costa Rica after arrest
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SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – A high-ranking official says that Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is in Costa Rica following his detention by soldiers in his homeland.
The official at the Costa Rica president's office was not authorized to be quoted by name.
He did not offer details on how Zelaya had arrived in this fellow Central American nation of Costa Rica, but he said Zelaya would probably seek political asylum.
Zelaya was detained by army troops early Sunday, shortly before he was to have held a controversial referendum on constitutional reform opposed by most of the rest of the Honduran government.
Diplomats from Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Costa Rica were seen gathered at a security base near the San Jose Costa Rica airport Sunday.
Buzz Up Send
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Delicious Digg Facebook Fark Newsvine Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print Sun Jun 28, 11:34 am ET
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – A high-ranking official says that Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is in Costa Rica following his detention by soldiers in his homeland.
The official at the Costa Rica president's office was not authorized to be quoted by name.
He did not offer details on how Zelaya had arrived in this fellow Central American nation of Costa Rica, but he said Zelaya would probably seek political asylum.
Zelaya was detained by army troops early Sunday, shortly before he was to have held a controversial referendum on constitutional reform opposed by most of the rest of the Honduran government.
Diplomats from Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Costa Rica were seen gathered at a security base near the San Jose Costa Rica airport Sunday.
Costa Rica Named Happiest Nation
London:
Costa Rica is very nearly paradise, not just for holiday-makers lounging on its beaches, but for its citizens who are extremely satisfied with their lot and also have a tiny carbon footprint.
The combination has earned Costa Rica first place in a new Happy Planet Index (HPI) published on Monday.
While leaders of the developed world attending G8 talks in Italy worry away at economic indicators like Gross Domestic Product (GDP), deflation and their implications for economic recovery, the second edition of the HPI lauds alternative standards that provide a new twist on the old adage that wealth does not buy happiness.
Costa Rica stands out for the highest levels of reported life satisfaction, a long life expectancy of 78.5 years and because 99 percent of the Costa Rica energy comes from renewable sources.
Latin American nations generally fare well, bagging nine out of 10 of the top spots and Sub-Saharan Africa performs very badly, with Zimbabwe taking bottom place. It scores 16.6 out of 100, compared with Costa Rica's HPI total of 76.1, according to an advance copy of the report.
Somewhere in between are the world's wealthiest economies.
The United States is placed 114th out of the 143 nations surveyed, with an HPI result of 30.7 and was found to be "greener and happier" 10 years ago than today--as were China and India, ranked respectively 20th and 35th, with scores of 57.1 and 53.
Economic growth
"Following the siren's song of economic growth has delivered only marginal benefits to the world's poorest while undermining the basis of their livelihoods," said Nic Marks of the New Economic Foundation, a London-based "think and do tank" that pursues "real economic well-being" and is the brains behind the HPI.
"What's more it hasn't notably improved the well-being of those who were already rich, or even provided economic stability."
The aim, Marks said, was "to break the spell" and work towards "a high well-being, low-carbon economy before our high-consuming lifestyles plunge us into the chaos of irreversible climate change."
To measure the efficiency with which countries convert the earth's finite resources into their citizens' well-being, the HPI takes three separate indicators--ecological footprint, life-satisfaction and life-expectancy--and then carries out complex calculations.
First published in 2006 as "a radical departure from our current obsession with GDP", the HPI's sums have been criticised for not taking sufficient account of issues such as political freedom, but the index has also found followers.
Within two days of the launch of the first HPI, it was downloaded and read in 185 countries worldwide.
Among those who have taken up the idea are David Cameron, leader of Britain's opposition Conservative political party, and the European Commission has launched a programme "Beyond GDP" in pursuit of ways to measure progress better adapted to our age.
Anyone can calculate their own HPI though the Happy Planet Index website. www.happyplanetindex.org
Costa Rica is very nearly paradise, not just for holiday-makers lounging on its beaches, but for its citizens who are extremely satisfied with their lot and also have a tiny carbon footprint.
The combination has earned Costa Rica first place in a new Happy Planet Index (HPI) published on Monday.
While leaders of the developed world attending G8 talks in Italy worry away at economic indicators like Gross Domestic Product (GDP), deflation and their implications for economic recovery, the second edition of the HPI lauds alternative standards that provide a new twist on the old adage that wealth does not buy happiness.
Costa Rica stands out for the highest levels of reported life satisfaction, a long life expectancy of 78.5 years and because 99 percent of the Costa Rica energy comes from renewable sources.
Latin American nations generally fare well, bagging nine out of 10 of the top spots and Sub-Saharan Africa performs very badly, with Zimbabwe taking bottom place. It scores 16.6 out of 100, compared with Costa Rica's HPI total of 76.1, according to an advance copy of the report.
Somewhere in between are the world's wealthiest economies.
The United States is placed 114th out of the 143 nations surveyed, with an HPI result of 30.7 and was found to be "greener and happier" 10 years ago than today--as were China and India, ranked respectively 20th and 35th, with scores of 57.1 and 53.
Economic growth
"Following the siren's song of economic growth has delivered only marginal benefits to the world's poorest while undermining the basis of their livelihoods," said Nic Marks of the New Economic Foundation, a London-based "think and do tank" that pursues "real economic well-being" and is the brains behind the HPI.
"What's more it hasn't notably improved the well-being of those who were already rich, or even provided economic stability."
The aim, Marks said, was "to break the spell" and work towards "a high well-being, low-carbon economy before our high-consuming lifestyles plunge us into the chaos of irreversible climate change."
To measure the efficiency with which countries convert the earth's finite resources into their citizens' well-being, the HPI takes three separate indicators--ecological footprint, life-satisfaction and life-expectancy--and then carries out complex calculations.
First published in 2006 as "a radical departure from our current obsession with GDP", the HPI's sums have been criticised for not taking sufficient account of issues such as political freedom, but the index has also found followers.
Within two days of the launch of the first HPI, it was downloaded and read in 185 countries worldwide.
Among those who have taken up the idea are David Cameron, leader of Britain's opposition Conservative political party, and the European Commission has launched a programme "Beyond GDP" in pursuit of ways to measure progress better adapted to our age.
Anyone can calculate their own HPI though the Happy Planet Index website. www.happyplanetindex.org
Costa Rica Soccer Player
Seattle Sounders FC has signed Costa Rica international defender Leonardo Gonzalez.
The 6-foot-1 left back will join up with the Sounders after CONCACAF Gold Cup action.
"It's nice to have to have a naturally left-footed player," said Seattle head coach Sigi Schmid in a statement after signing Goonzales from Costa Rica. "He can play left back, play center back in a pinch and he can also play wide and run the whole line for us. He is an attacking left fullback with good size and athleticism. He's very willing to get forward out of a defensive position and does a good job defensively." Gonzalez is one of the most capable defender from Costa Rica.
Gonzalez has 59 caps with Costa Rica, including three in the 2006 World Cup.
The 6-foot-1 left back will join up with the Sounders after CONCACAF Gold Cup action.
"It's nice to have to have a naturally left-footed player," said Seattle head coach Sigi Schmid in a statement after signing Goonzales from Costa Rica. "He can play left back, play center back in a pinch and he can also play wide and run the whole line for us. He is an attacking left fullback with good size and athleticism. He's very willing to get forward out of a defensive position and does a good job defensively." Gonzalez is one of the most capable defender from Costa Rica.
Gonzalez has 59 caps with Costa Rica, including three in the 2006 World Cup.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Costa Rica Real Estate
COSTA RICA REAL ESTATE FOR SALE
Costa Rican real estate prices have been rising for years, and as more foreign buyers look at investing in Costa Rica's very small country - just 32,000 square miles, with a total population of just 3.9 million. Prices in some areas are booming - and not uncommon to see prices double in a few years due to the location principle. Costa Rica has it all, from ocean views and beach front, white sandy beaches, to mountain views and huge estates. Ecolology is on the rise, so many properties border on ecozones. Another reason why people are buying and moving to Costa Rica, the cost of living in Costa Rica is inexpensive - and you can comfortably live on 1500-$2000 a month. However, if you are thinking of buying - a Costa Rica real estate agent or broker does not need a real estate license - anyone in Costa Rica can be a realtor. Just use common sense when searching for a agent or broker.
Costa Rica Real Estate
Homes for rent and sale in Costa Rica. Find vacation or investment property in Jaco, Guanacaste, Escazu, Golfito, San Jose and every other major city in Costa Rica.
Costa Rica Real Estate
Find your property in the largest Costa Rica real estate database with more than 10,000 listed properties. Listings are daily posted by realtors and owners and a lot of them with mapping.
Costa Rican real estate prices have been rising for years, and as more foreign buyers look at investing in Costa Rica's very small country - just 32,000 square miles, with a total population of just 3.9 million. Prices in some areas are booming - and not uncommon to see prices double in a few years due to the location principle. Costa Rica has it all, from ocean views and beach front, white sandy beaches, to mountain views and huge estates. Ecolology is on the rise, so many properties border on ecozones. Another reason why people are buying and moving to Costa Rica, the cost of living in Costa Rica is inexpensive - and you can comfortably live on 1500-$2000 a month. However, if you are thinking of buying - a Costa Rica real estate agent or broker does not need a real estate license - anyone in Costa Rica can be a realtor. Just use common sense when searching for a agent or broker.
Costa Rica Real Estate
Homes for rent and sale in Costa Rica. Find vacation or investment property in Jaco, Guanacaste, Escazu, Golfito, San Jose and every other major city in Costa Rica.
Costa Rica Real Estate
Find your property in the largest Costa Rica real estate database with more than 10,000 listed properties. Listings are daily posted by realtors and owners and a lot of them with mapping.
Costa Rica Health Services
COSTA RICA HEALTH AND FITNESS
You are unlikely to encounter any serious diseases in Costa Rica. Sanitary standards are high and the health system is excellent. During the past two wet seasons there have been several outbreaks of the mosquito-borne disease dengue but so far there have been no reported cases of the more serious hemorrhaging dengue. No vaccinations are required to enter Costa Rica as epidemic diseases have been all but eradicated throughout the country. However, if you are a blood donator in the U.S., you may have a problem donating if you have traveled in some areas of Costa Rica as a World Wide health precaution.
Several private hospitals and clients in San Jose offer emergency medical services to foreigners are reasonable prices. In most rural and urban areas, in case of medical emergency, the local red cross has ambulances ready to transport patients to hospital. These ambulance do not charge for their service. The 911 telephone emergency system has been operating for a while and works fine in case of emergency. One can rent a cell phone for their vacation at reasonable rates just to be safe.
Costa Rica is well known throughout the world for high quality, low cost health care and increasing and effective procedures like cosmetic plastic surgery or life saving operations like bypass and heart transplants, Its health care system--with well-equipped modern clinics and hospitals, and medical personnel trained in the finest international teaching centers--provides excellent medical service to citizens and foreigners alike.
Fitness has also been on the uprise. Numerous health centers, spas and gyms are opening up that offer personal trainers and beauty products. Most of the major hotels now have gyms. And they are getting known for their Wellness, Alternative Medicine and Recovery Clinics
Medical Tourism Costa Rica
Provides affordable high quality medical & dental care in Costa Rica. Proximity to USA & Canada, low crime rate & high medical standards make Costa Rica an ideal medical tourism destination.
You are unlikely to encounter any serious diseases in Costa Rica. Sanitary standards are high and the health system is excellent. During the past two wet seasons there have been several outbreaks of the mosquito-borne disease dengue but so far there have been no reported cases of the more serious hemorrhaging dengue. No vaccinations are required to enter Costa Rica as epidemic diseases have been all but eradicated throughout the country. However, if you are a blood donator in the U.S., you may have a problem donating if you have traveled in some areas of Costa Rica as a World Wide health precaution.
Several private hospitals and clients in San Jose offer emergency medical services to foreigners are reasonable prices. In most rural and urban areas, in case of medical emergency, the local red cross has ambulances ready to transport patients to hospital. These ambulance do not charge for their service. The 911 telephone emergency system has been operating for a while and works fine in case of emergency. One can rent a cell phone for their vacation at reasonable rates just to be safe.
Costa Rica is well known throughout the world for high quality, low cost health care and increasing and effective procedures like cosmetic plastic surgery or life saving operations like bypass and heart transplants, Its health care system--with well-equipped modern clinics and hospitals, and medical personnel trained in the finest international teaching centers--provides excellent medical service to citizens and foreigners alike.
Fitness has also been on the uprise. Numerous health centers, spas and gyms are opening up that offer personal trainers and beauty products. Most of the major hotels now have gyms. And they are getting known for their Wellness, Alternative Medicine and Recovery Clinics
Medical Tourism Costa Rica
Provides affordable high quality medical & dental care in Costa Rica. Proximity to USA & Canada, low crime rate & high medical standards make Costa Rica an ideal medical tourism destination.
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