Ceviche, Fruit, Roses and an Armadillo

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Last week we joined our friends Diane and John for lunch at Casa Nosstra Bar & Grill in Grecia. I ordered ceviche with avocado - healthy and delicious and perfect for a hot day.

There are lots of recipes on line for ceviche so this would be easy to duplicate.

This is the largest mango tree I have ever seen and it’s loaded with mangos:

It is growing in front of the entrance to the Coopevictoria sugar cane and coffee processing plant, not far from where we live.

We had breakfast recently at the Victoria Cafeteria (next to the plant). Here’s my cafe mocha:

We too have a mango tree, although not as large but we will be enjoying plenty of mangos soon:

We also have roses:

Limes (not quite ripe):

Orchids:

And an avocado tree (obviously not ripe yet):

Finally, a mora bush (a type of blackberry):

We are early risers and up before the sun. About a week ago, Lance heard some rustling down in our garden. A flashlight revealed some sort of animal digging in a tire planter where I had lavender growing. Eventually the lavender was pushed out, roots and all, and we could see that it was an armadillo causing the damage.

The nine-banded armadillo is common and widespread in Costa Rica, in a variety of habitats, and is active by day or night. They eat fruit, invertebrates, carrion and whatever grows under lavender plants!

Here’s the video:

Lunch - Victoria Cafeteria, Grecia

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We ate lunch at Victoria Cafeteria back in 2022 and have eaten breakfast there several times since then. We recently returned again for another lunch (almuerzo).

First up - drinks. I had the herbal lemonade:

Lance ordered a cold cappuccino, which came loaded with whipping cream on top. I forgot to take a photo.

My choice - salmon with Asian sauce.

Lance opted for shrimp and corvina (a white fish).

As you can see, the portions are quite large and we asked for takeaway (para llevar) so we had two more meals for dinner the next day.

This restaurant is in one of the original wooden Costa Rican houses with a large wrap-around porch. It’s a lovely setting.

It is situated beside the CoopeVictoria sugar cane and coffee processing plant. This is a view of the entrance to the plant:

Here is a short video I made of recently harvested cane waiting to go into the plant:

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Off Topic

ARCR (Association of Residents of Costa Rica) has published its 2024 March/April issue of its El Residente magazine.

A PDF version of the magazine can be viewed HERE. It contains many articles and references which may be of general interest or to those planning a visit or move to Costa Rica.

Eyes on Costa Rica and Weather Records - February 2024

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During February, visits to this blog were received from the following 14 countries:

Each country is followed in brackets by the total number of visits received since records first started to be kept in November 2012.

From the time I started to keep track, the total number of countries and non-independent jurisdictions from which visits have been received remains at 136. Of this number, 13 are non-independent jurisdictions - e.g. Macau (a special administrative region (SAR) of China) from which 1 visit has been received.

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The following is a summary of weather for February in the area where we live:

More generally, in the area of the Central Valley where we now live, we have found temperatures to be comfortably mild year round. In contrast to the Pacific and Caribbean coasts, humidity has not been a factor governing our comfort level. So, there has been no need for air conditioning. Similarly, and although the situation can differ at altitudes higher than where we live, there has been no need for indoor heating. 

Information on current and recent weather conditions, climate change and more in Costa Rica and various parts of Costa Rica can be obtained from the website of IMN: Instituto Meteorológico Nacional de Costa Rica (Spanish) or National Institute of Meteorology (English). IMN also has a Facebook page which may be of interest.