Lunch - Victoria Cafeteria/Café Victoria

Yesterday, Saturday, Lance suggested we have lunch at Victoria Cafeteria which we had yet to try. As you can see from the map below, it is very close to where we live.

Victoria Cafeteria is in a charming wooden building with covered porches on two sides. Lots of flowers on the grounds and in and around the porches. It is located next to Coopevictoria, the huge coffee and sugar cane processing plant.

A couple of views of the Coopevictoria plant next door - that is some huge gear on display:

We can’t figure out what those four big “things” are in the background:

Lots of items to choose from the menu. For drinks, we both ordered mora with milk. They were really large.

Lance’s lunch choice was arroz con camarones/shrimp with rice. The rice was loaded with shrimp.

And for me, it was the casado Tico with cerdo (pork):

From left to right clockwise: pork with grilled onions, plantains, black beans, mixed salad, picadillo de papa and white rice in the centre. 

The portions are huge and neither of us could finish our rice and beans.

This restaurant is in a lovely setting, with quick service and friendly people. Highly recommend.

Click on images to enlarge.

Christmas in Costa Rica - 2020

This is our ninth Christmas spent in Costa Rica and our second Christmas at our house in Grecia. We our now experiencing the dry season with nice strong trade winds, mostly blue skies and nice warm temperatures in the afternoons. Nighttimes are cool (61F!) so easy sleeping.

Because of Covid-19, most public seasonal activities have been cancelled. The Grecia park has been reopened and decorated for the holidays, so people can enjoy that - following protocols of course. The park and the cathedral are the heart of Grecia and this is true of all Costa Rican towns.

The municipality has created a Santa convoy and they have been driving around the different neighbourhoods all week, throwing candy out to the kids. Today we ended up at the tail end of one of them while out and about.

We don’t put up a Christmas tree or decorations but every year we have our driftwood tree with lights (made by our friend Pete) and a little lighted polar bear (came with our house) outside. Some of our neighbours put on elaborate displays. 

It seems to be orchid flowering season, as least for some of my orchids. My epidendrum stamfordianum produced an amazing display this year.

And a couple of other different species have put out inflorescences (flower stalks) so I look forward to enjoying their flowers.

Mature coffee beans (aka red cherries) are presently being harvested through to about March. And the sugar cane is flowering now. The flowers are a beautiful pale pink mauve shade and the undulating, waving fields of sugar cane are beautiful.

Flor Maria, our housekeeper once every two weeks, created this gorgeous flower display for us this week. She used flowers that grow all around our house. She has a florist’s eye and this was a lovely surprise for us. 

To all my friends/readers of my blog - we wish you the very best for this holiday season. 2020 has been a tough year for so many. Please - wear your masks and wash your hands. Keep your distance. I believe that 2021 will be much better.

Here’s a little painting I did of a Christmas Brahman calf. Thanks to Beeche Brahmans, Costa Rica, for letting me use their photo as a reference.

(Click on photos to enlarge).

Sugar Cane Production, Costa Rica

Sugar cane is a vital part of Costa Rica’s economy and it seems that no part of it is wasted. It is made into granulated sugars (white, refined, white special, raw). The canes can be burned for heat, processed into agricultural mulch, and the stalks used in cardboard and rough paper. It is used in ethanol production. And let us not forget guaro - some say the national liquor drink of Costa Rica!

In the 2016 season, there were 7,074 sugar cane producers and 13 sugar mills around the country. Where we live now, we are surrounded by hectares of sugar cane fields. When the cane is flowering, the effect is beautiful - fields of white flowers.

Harvesting involves burning the fields before cutting to get rid of dry leaves and venomous snakes. This is important for the safety of the cane cutters. The cutting is done with machetes or cane knives and it looks to be very hard work.

The Cacique brand of guaro is produced near Grecia. Here’s an informative article on guaro: Tico Times.  Learn how sugar is processed in the mills from Sugarcane.Org.

We often find ourselves behind a tractor pulling cane trailers headed for the mills. There is a sugar cane mill not far from us and we stopped there one day to watch what was going on. I made a video of the mill, including photos of the cane fields and the Cacique factory.