PlanetEye

Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

Eating Like a Local in… Costa Rica (Vol. 2)

Brendan

The Global Nomad

Driving through the towns and mountains of Costa Rica you are likely to be bombarded by mostly unrecognizable food options, first at stoplights, speed bumps or construction stops, and later as you inevitably pass scores of roadside stalls selling local products.

Some common (and delicious) options: sliced green mango (in season), dangled in little bags as cars slow down to pay the toll to exit San Jose. Toronja, candied grapefruit also sold in small clear bags, usually hanging above the counter of a country snack stop. Look for the dirty-looking dark orange ball. Cajeta, coconut cookies, and cocada, sweet coconut crackers.

One of my girlfriend Melanie’s favourites was queso palmito (see photo above), a fresh, young cheese sold in double-bagged, cream-coloured softball-sized balls. The cheese inside is wet and squeaky like cheese curd, and made up of one long ‘tape’ of cheese wrapped on itself to form a ball. Unravel it and you see where it gets its name—palmito is heart of palm, and like its namesake the cheese comes apart in long, stringy pieces.

Me, I love the unofficial snack of Central American chicken buses: plantain chips. The banana’s bigger, starchier cousin, sliced, fried crisp and doused in salt. They may look like banana chips, but they’re crunchier and not at all sweet. For some reason they taste better when cut lengthwise!

Buying from local stalls is also a great way to ensure your money goes directly into the hands of the people who produce the food. Not to mention you’ll never get it fresher.

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Saturday, January 26th, 2008

Partying Like a Local in… Costa Rica (Vol. 1)

Brendan

The Global Nomad

San Jose nightlife unfortunately has sometimes been associated with the seedier side of entertainment (prostitution is legal and closely regulated in Costa Rica).

This—for me at least—has created an uncomfortable situation where as a single male you no longer trust the motives of otherwise normal, friendly ticas (Costa Ricans) you might meet on a night on the town; I am sure the situation causes its own unique irritations for foreign women travellers as well. (If you are a male travelling alone and this is all news to you: beware! If an attractive young tica seems too friendly to be true there may be ulterior motives involved.)

An easy solution to this is to hang out where only other young ticos do. One of my favourite areas is a strip of bars close to the University, where the only other punters will be young university students out doing what students worldwide do best: drinking and having a good, cheap time. Go on a weekend during the school year and you’re guaranteed an endless selection of hopping venues with student friendly prices.

One important note—although most Costa Ricans have some English, and many are quite fluent, this is a great place to hone your Spanish ordering skills. It’s likely to be noisy, so know what you want, how to order it, and how much it costs before you get to the bar. No idea how much it’ll be? Choose a bill you know will be too much (say a 5000 colon bill; USD$20 at writing) and then count your change when you get it. Then you’ll know next time. And no, they don’t tip. Neither should you.

Take a taxi (or any bus from the stop in front of Chelles with San Pedro in the window), and get off at Parque San Pedro. Walk north on Jose Maria Munez and follow the thirsty looking students

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Thursday, January 24th, 2008

Eating Like a Local in… Costa Rica (Vol. 1)

Brendan

The Global Nomad

The Soda

Most travellers’ introduction to Costa Rica will be its much-maligned capital San Jose. For all its shortcomings, San Jose is actually quite a liveable city, with a decent nightlife and any service you could possibly need. It’s also home to easily the country’s best collection of international restaurants, with everything from sushi to Denny’s. For the purposes of this series, I plan to completely ignore every one of them.

I mean really, did you fly 5000 miles to eat at the same chain you have around the corner? While your secret answer may be yes (inside voice please), you certainly don’t need my help to find the local Pizza Hut.

Costa Rican food is world-renowned for its mediocrity, and so I think it makes sense to start not with the upscale and fancy, but with the heart and soul of Costa Rican food: the humble soda. The Costa Rican answer to a diner, sodas are ubiquitous, cheap and shockingly uniform in what they serve. Learn five or six standard dishes and you are guaranteed to be well fed pretty much anywhere in the country for under five bucks.

The undisputed king of all sodas is Chelles, a San Jose institution for generations. So well known is this 24-hour diner that all buses passing its corner list it alongside other major city landmarks to define their routes. Fine dining it isn’t, but like all great greasy spoons it fills both an essential culinary niche (late night, post-bar snacking and hangover breakfasts prominent among them) and provides a window into a fascinating cross-section of the city which it serves.

And what better way to observe the people of another culture than to rub elbows with them at their most unaffected, over a cup of Costa Rican coffee?

• Posted in  Eating
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Friday, January 18th, 2008

Stop One: Costa Rica

Brendan

The Global Nomad

An eco-tourist’s dream, Costa Rica has become synonymous with all an unspoiled tropical paradise can be. Rarely does reality measure up to hype, but Costa Rica certainly comes close.

The country’s quiet history as a backwater free of colonial excesses has today become a boon, and Costa Rica has cashed in on its purity. And not without merit: blessed with beaches and biodiversity to spare, this is a verdant land of misty volcanoes, roaring rivers and screeching jungles teeming with exotic fauna. Throw in the friendly, educated ticos (as Costa Ricans are known) and you can see why down here they call it “Pura Vida”—pure life.

• Posted in  Destination Overview, Overview
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Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

Do Yourself a Solid Packing Job

Brendan

The Global Nomad

Before you leave home, keep in mind the three key factors to consider when packing for long-term travel: weight, volume and number (you could also add value, but that will mostly impact you when you lose or break something.) Keep these three under control and you won’t be cursing your backpack by the end of week one.

Before you commit to carrying any item in your bag for months on end, ask yourself: how much does it weigh? How much of my limited space will it take? How many of these do I really need? While I am hardly the poster child for minimalist packing (my guitar alone has been to at least 40 countries), it’s good to know where your biggest hogs are in each category.

In the weight category, I find there are two things in my bag that are the real killers: paper and liquid. By paper, I usually mean books, and although as a guide I carried reams of documents and notes, in the end it was books that felt like an anvil in my bag. Guidebooks are useful, but make sure you aren’t carrying more than you really need. If you are only going to Peru and Ecuador, don’t carry the whole South American guide. Remember, you can always buy along the way. Even better, trade—many traveller’s hubs have book exchanges, and for recreational reading it has often led to my discovery of great books I might not otherwise have chosen.

Liquid is easier to reduce, yet many people underestimate how much extra water can weigh. I’ll never forget the friend who stayed with me in Tokyo as her first stop on a round-the-world trip. By the time we made it to the apartment she was ready to light her pack on fire; when she opened it she was carrying full-size bottles of shampoo and conditioner! Buy or transfer to small containers and refill along the way.

Solid alternatives can extend the life and reduce the weight of key stuff in your bag. My favourites are solid shampoo/conditioner pucks made by British natural cosmetics company Lush, and those natural crystal deodorant sticks. Both last practically forever, take up minimal space, and weigh less than liquid alternatives. [Caveat: I find the crystal works fine unless you are at super hot, sweaty places—try it first to see if it works for you.]

• Posted in  Packing
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Tuesday, January 1st, 2008

Introducing the PlanetEye Global Nomad

Brendan

The Global Nomad

Welcome to the PlanetEye Global Nomad! Through this space I aim to enlighten, entertain and basically get your travel juices flowing. What I hope to pass on are insider tips, tricks and insights, some gleaned from years of travel and leading tours as a guide, others fresh discoveries, but always with the goal of helping the reader learn or experience a little more of a place than they might not otherwise.

Check in whenever you need a shot of life on the road, or follow along on my year-long, ’round the world journey. To learn a little more about who the heck I am, check out my profile. So without further ado…

• Posted in  Adventure
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