Food

The typical food in Costa Rica is rice and beans. A la breakfast they are mixed, together with some onion, pepper and coriander, and called "gallo pinto". The painted rooster, as the literal translation is, is served with sour cream, scrambled eggs and fried plantains if you are lucky. A la lunch the rice and beans are instead served separate and called casado (meaning married, even if they now are divorced on the plate) with meat or fish, and hopefully those sweet, oil dripping plantains again.

Kiara is the one in our family who enjoyes this kind of food the most. She is a massive fan of the black beans which she picks out one by one, and when there is none left she continues with the rice (still the one by one method.) Junia and Alma are unfortunately not that easy to please any longer, and the standard kids menu (fries with fish sticks/ breaded chicken) is altered with plain scrambled eggs. Today they were out of fries where we ate lunch so Alma's mid day meal consisted of two bags of ketchup. 

We usually eat lunch out, and dinner time is 

a) too early b) too chaotic for most restaurants so then we eat at home. I remember Richard Tellstrom (meal reseacher) saying that the average Swedish family had 10 standard dishes they altered between. For families with children the number was down to five. During our last months here we have served 

1. "cheese soup" (broccoli soup with as many vegetables smuggled in as possible, in the mixer in order to make sure not one tiny piece of carrot is visible, and top with cheese)

2. scrambled eggs with a) carrot sticks (Alma), b) boiled carrot sticks (Kiara), c) avocado (Junia)

3. Pasta with tomato sauce (tried to sell it as ketchup sauce as Alma is an extreme rasist when it comes to her pasta - she wants it white.) 

With all that said, we have had some fantastic food this trip. And scrambled eggs, chips and ketchup means both protein, carbs and vegetables, right?

Tamarindo

The set-up of this trip was basically based upon where and when we found home exchanges (5 of them) and for the remaining weeks we booked airbnb. So far we have been really lucky with our home exchanges - amazing homes in brilliant places! 

The week in Domenical we spent in a mansion in the middle of the jungle, where we especially enjoyed the indoor/ outdoor pool, the fantastic view and the wildlife (toucans and monkeys especially). The small place Domenical was about 10 min drive away, a surfers place which was touristy in a good way - meaning great fish tacos and coconut pies, but still a dirt road and not too exploited. Definitely no resorts. We spent our days swimming in waterfalls, checking out the first marine national park in Central America (but no whale spotting season unfortunately) and playing in the pool. One day we also took the 1 hr drive to Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica's smallest and most popular national park. This park is like an open zoo with amazing beaches. The monkeys and raccoons are so used to humans that you sometimes need to chase them away as they approach your bag in search for food. And they are quick... Alma got devastated as her sandwich was left alone on a picnic table for a second, and was found in the top of a tree the next.

Yesterday we said goodbye to this corner of paradise and drove about 5 hours north, to Tamarindo - also known as Tamagringo. Here prices are in dolares instead of colones, and even if it is still a surf place (meaning laid back and great hamburgers) it is also the party and tourist Mekka of Costa Rica. Our home exchange apartment is in the middle of all this, and it was strange to fall asleep to the sound of music instead of the jungle noises last night. I quite like the change that it is possible to pop out and buy ice cream in the evening though. Today we bought two 2nd hand boogie boards so I am quite certain that we'll enjoy this week as well... Just need to find some silvertejp.

Our pool in Dominical

In Manuel Antonio

Alma eating a new sandwich - protecting it well 

Manuel Antonio

Climbing a waterfall

Saving a humming bird who landed in the pool

Dominical

After a fantastic week in Monteverde with beautiful hiking (not so much appreciated by Junia and Alma who required endless story telling and candy bribes in order to walk further than 10 minutes) we yesterday drove about 4 hours and 10 degrees warmer. This second home exchange is just as fantastic as the first, we have swopped our garden agoutis to toucans! 

Alma by the way tried the emergency room in Monteverde (the waiting time was maybe a 1/5 of the waiting time of what we are used to in the emergency room in Stockholm....) and is now on antibiotics due to a double ear infection, Kiara has a mild eye infection, Anna's stomache has checked out twice (but was ok one day in between) and Justus' stomache is ... as Justus' stomache. Junia is very well though!

When looking up from the pool in Dominical...

Evening show at our anfi theatre in Monteverde

Afternoon swim in Dominical

Happy hiker

A friend in our garden in Monteverde...

... where we had great view from the balcony. Here one of our 3 agoutis!

Monteverde garden

Bats in Dominical

Highway with leaf cutting ants

Pura vida!

I can't understand that it took me 15 years to come back to this fantastic country, but better late than never. The month here will be quite different than the 6 months I spent here last time, less barra libre and more playgrounds. After three days the jetlag is beginning to feel bearable (good thing that the girls are so easy to put to bed, they even ask for it, not so good that the whole family is awake at 4 at the latest.)

We spent the first night in an Italian owned airbnb close to the airport (where he had a pool with an inflatable unicorn - total happiness.) Then we drove the next morning the approx. 3 hours up to the cloud forest in Monteverde. Here we have an amazing home exchange, a fantasic huge house, with a former bar including dance floor and disco lamp, amfi theatre as well as outdoor hot tub. Not to forget, a lovely garden with so many birds, kolibris and also our possible new favourite animal, agouti (or beaver, as the girls call it.) When the whole family was relaxing in the hot tub today, we also got company from a little scorpion. He was quickly removed with a cyclope though. Outside of our backyard we have also spotted a tarantula, monkeys and an armadillo. Then the camera fingers were not up to Lucky Luke speed unfortunately. But right now, we just heard some noise outside the door, and it turned out that a coati had moved into our compost garbage.

We will stay here one week, and the Swedish summer climate together with some hiking, fantastic cakes and fresh fruit shakes makes us very sure that this is the best way to spend November!

Lovely air Edelweiss - Kiara even got a bassinet! And she is the first of our daughters who also managed to sleep in one!

First batido

Our balcony...

... Our disco...

... Hot tub...

... and backyard neighbour 

Summing up

We are now approaching the end of our vacation, and will be home on Friday with a few more kilos, mosquito bites and experiences - where hopefully two new bathrooms awaits us. 

In Vieques, the laid back island 1,5h by ferry from the mainland PR, we were spoiled with amazing beaches and a great playground. There are wild horses all over the island, and roosters roam around, but they are not so good with the clock. Hence there was kikerikiing both at 1, 3 and 5 in the morning (Alma: is it morning now?) I wasn't too concerned as I have another little Kikerikiing who makes noices with even higher frequency, so the roosters were filtered out. The most famous thing in Vieques however, is the biobay. Here some microorganisms create flourecent light by the movement of the water, and when kayaking in the dark it is then like loads of fireflies in the water. Our girls were very happy and excited in the beginning of the tour, not so in the end... Unique experience none the less!

A major difference here compared to the daily life in Sweden (apart from the weather) is how often we have conversations with strangers. The puerto ricans are absolutely lovely (I have never in my life got so many phone numbers from random women before), and as there are so many american tourists here, and they also usually are very open and talkative, we've had quite a few good conversations in English as well. When talking with an American now it is a bit like there is a big, orange elephant hovering around, and it is very very difficult not to let the T-word slip out. One woman said that she was now so ashamed of being American when she travelled, so she considered printing a t-shirt "I didn't vote for him". New business oportunity? Another woman claimed that all presidents in their history had been womanizers and had mistresses, the only difference was that Trump said things out loud.

 "There was no sex scandal with Obama though?" I said.

"No, but many people believe that he is gay, and that Michelle is a transexual. It's all over the internet..." No further comments.

Our last week in the capital has been spent at the beach, the old city, and as today, in the rainforest in absolutely pouring rain. Some parts of the road had litterally turned into waterfalls, but with unlimited amounts of candy portioned out in regular intervals, the girls did not complain.

Vieques

Swimming

Not many mammals on this island unfortunately, but lots if cool iguanas

It is difficult to say who likes to build damms the most

It smelled like pee. Old city wall, San Juan

El morro, which the dutch didn't managed to conquer from the Spanish in 1625. Most of them died on these fields (the remainder turned around and plundered and set fire on San Juan.)

From west to east

Time is flying and we like this country more and more every day. There is something about latinos... Incredibly friendly people, warm and generous. 

After a week with fantastic beaches, waterfall hikes and hanging in the pool (Alma referred to the swimming pool as the small pool and the sea as the big pool) in Rincon it was time to move on to Ponce, the pearl of the south. I will miss falling asleep to the sound of the waves for a very long time still though.

Ponce has some really cool colonial architecture - some buildings had a very good face lift, others just had a broken facade left and were clearly going to be almost impossible to restore. Fascinating none the less. In Ponce we managed to slow down on the tempo in a very non-Justus-and-Anna-on-vacation-way. Like hanging three hours on a small farmer's market and sitting on a chair by the side walk a whole afternoon. Having three small children and about 30 degrees with a blazing sun of course contributes to this behaviour...

We did not just hang by the side walk to discuss politics with the strangers sitting next to us, but also to watch the oldest carnaval in the southern hemisphere!!! I must say that the costumes were more breathtaking in the Canarias, but here the loudspeakers were bigger.

A few words about the food as well... It is good. Today Kiara had lobster for the first time in her almost 6 months old life. She liked it. Her older sisters didn't. As Alma's most common comment to food is "äckligt. Jag vill ha blodpudding med poratisbullar och lingonsylt (standardmåndagsmaten på dagis)" and she sits still for approx. 47 sec, Kiara's windmill arms already have made both plates and cutlery fly, Junia and Alma in average turns one glass/bottle over per meal we have mainly had dinner at home. But the lunches out have been great! It has either been super healthy, organic yoga-ishy - or (in 9 out of 10 times) rather greasy, egg and oil based. Fantastic fresh fruit juices anyhow and I have tried a few new fruits.

Today we took the ferry over to the little island Vieques where we will spend the next four nights. Wild horses roam around here, otherwise we've mainly seen massive iguanas and a pet baby boa when it comes to fauna.

Puerto Rico - finalmente

We are in Puerto Rico! One year later than first planned due to the not so suitable zika - pregnancy match, but when waiting for something good... 

The trip went fantastic, even if Justus couldn't really exhale until we had landed due to our previous Esta history. No 0/O confusion this time, so we could use the original tickets, the girls slept part of the flight and I even managed to see 3 - THREE - movies! Even liked Norwegian's food.

We have now settled in our beach apartment in Rincon, on the west side of this lovely island. This is a laid back surfers place, even if Alma and Junia find the waves a little too big so they prefer the pool (even if they've done some body boarding). 

View from our window

Today we spent the day on the boat and in the water with the family we are home exchanging with, and went to some beautiful cayos, mangrove islands with small channels and shallow turquoise waters. Fantastic! It was not only a beautiful experience nature wise, but also a quite unique cultural experience. These Sunday gathering at these cayos with boats, jetskis and cayaks had certain simularities with Swedish raggar gatherings. I have never in my life seen so massive loudspeakers, and the reggeton volume was on club level. Then people were floating around with coctails in one hand, and some kind on floating device in the other... Relaxed! 

So far we can only say that we have found our favourite place in the US...

Breakfast cereal - we use it as dessert.