The Sea is a Salty One

The roots of an enormous tree near the turn for the nearest grocery store.  Yesterday was primarily given up to shopping for folks here still under quarantine for exposure to Covid. Thankfully I think the quarantine lifts late this week. Shopping here is quite a task. I was explaining it earlier to a Stateside friend. In the States it wasn't unusual to have to hit Aldis, Trader Joes and then Wegmans to fill your list at a good price. Here it can be more complex, here, like there, you can break down and buy everything, well, mostly everything, at one place. But like the States some items are only at certain stores and if you want the best price you have to divide up the list. Meats - This is one I will not cheap. There are much cheaper meat places, but only the heavenlies know for sure what's in their meats. I use only the USDA inspected places here, getting all my meat at either Auto Mercado (expensive place with foods from around the world), or over at the wholesale meat mark...

Yes, one of the customs I'm not wild about here is having my bread folded. Or my green onions. Or other long floppy food item. They do it, and I am not even sure why. Guess it is just another one of those cultural things I will never understand. The bread folding happened on the way out of town at the local big fruit stand. I'd gotten crackers, snacks, meat, cheese, etc you need when traveling and realized I forgot the bread. The bread here is just the best, and you can get it cheaply just about anywhere in Costa Rica. This almost three foot long delicious baguette, a pile of ripe tomatoes, a few big cucumbers and a large lemonade ran about three bucks. We left today for a three day vacation in Arenal. Arenal is one of my favorite places in this world. A smoking volcano arising on the edge of a lake. The resort we always go to just reopened after closing for COVID. We are up in one of the beautiful villas on the side of a dead volcano walking distance to the waterfalls. Just us...