Expat Writers

My Weekly Produce Fix

      by Margie Davis

There is a fun and healthy reason to go to town on Sunday mornings. A feria, or farmers' market, is held in the village (el pueblo) of Santa Ana. Two blocks are open only to foot traffic that walks by makeshift tables. Most booths are covered by a wooden or fabric awning to keep the sun from baking the workers. The tomato vendors have gotten smart - they use a red awning that makes their tomatoes look ripe to the point of bursting. You get the tomatoes home and you find that sometimes they are a pale pink.

I think the feria starts about 5:30 AM, but since I've never arrived that early, I don't know for sure. It goes until noon, or until the vendors sell out. I usually get there between 8 and 10. I look forward to leisurely walking among local shoppers to find the best quality and prices for my weekly fix of fresh fruits and vegetables. The prices are low, cheaper than in the supermarkets, and there is a great selection.

This week I bought a head of broccoli, a head of lettuce, two tomatoes, three onions, three red peppers, a hand of bananas, and a zucchini. The price? Only 1320 colones, or $2.60. Just a couple of days earlier I had bought two pineapples for $1.00, three cantaloupes for $1.00, a kilo (2.2 pounds) of strawberries for $2.00, and a mango for 50 cents. I love the fruit in Costa Rica and I eat a lot of it.

Besides produce, you can buy fresh meat and fish. I have purchased fresh dorado and marlin, and it has tasted delicious. The prices were as attractive as the produce prices.

Some weeks I like to buy something new, something I can't name or pronounce. I have taken home manzana de agua jelly, which translates to water apple jelly. The water apple is a red, pear-shaped fruit with white flesh and a pit. The jelly is a sweet, liquidy pink pulp that I have been spreading over peanut butter for a snack. Another week I bought tamarindo. When I got it home, I had to do a Google search to find a tamarindo recipe. This fruit is boiled then mashed and added to water to make a flavorful drink. I've got my eye on a green thing for my next trip: it's a vegetable about the size of a large apple. I think you steam it, and it tastes like zucchini.

Over the months that I've been visiting the feria, I've become a regular customer of certain vendors. I look forward to the banana guy smiling at me and knocking off 25 colones (a nickel) from my purchase. And I know which booth to go to for the best and cheapest broccoli. When I ask, "A como?" which is slang for "How much?" I sometimes miss the amount the vendors say because they fire it at me so fast. Spoken numbers are a challenge to understand, so sometimes I have to ask them to repeat the amount two or three times, or just give them a big quinientos (500 colones) coin and wait for change. Once I just held out my handful of change and let the vendor pick out the coins.

Part of the feria experience is parking my car as close as I can get to the feria without becoming part of the traffic problem, then tipping a street guard, called a watchee man, to watch my car for me. I give him 100 colones, or 20 cents, for the short time I'm parked there.

When I get my goodie bag home, I enjoy the satisfaction of having a well-stocked fridge. And the following Sunday I go again.

Margie Davis - Retirement Advisor for Women in Costa Rica retire2cr@yahoo.com