Food

As you might imagine, the fruit here is amazing and cheap. You can get fresh squeezed OJ on the side of the road for a buck. The mangoes are the size of cantaloupes and are very sweet. I also bought these:

I forgot what it is called in Spanish, but it's translated into "Suck Chinese". It's a type of lychee. You rip off the furry skin and inside is a giant grape-like fruit with a big pit inside. You suck the flesh until you only have the seed. My landlords provided me a pineapple, grown locally, and it was very sweet and great in smoothies.
I'm lucky in that I have a small kitchen. So I make breakfast and lunch at home. Cereal and bananas. Ham or turkey sandwiches for lunch.
Samara is unique in that it is quite cosmopolitan in its food choices, which are quite numerous. First are sodas, the Costa Rican take on the diner. Usually attached to someone's home, it's an open air spot usually serving "casados" which are some type of grilled meat, gallo pinto (a combination of rice and beans and spices, usually a salsa called Lazanos), plantains, and coleslaw. This usually comes with a drink and is the cheapest way to fill up. Gallo pinto, by the way, is served at pretty much every meal, including breakfast. The sodas will also have hamburgers and chicken and rice and some other choices.Most places serve fresh fruit smoothies. You can usually tell the chicken is fresh as there are often a few running around your feet as you eat their cousins.
Along the beach your choices to eat are international. The Italians have a great place called Gusto with the various courses. They also have funky lounge chairs and umbrellas, rope lights wrapped around the palm trees making it feel very resortish. Many places serve "Mexican" fare- tacos, burritos, quesadillas. There's a German bakery just outside of town, a couple organic vegan places. Finally, since most of the home stays do not include lunch, some of the industrious women sit outside the school at lunch with pot of stewed chicken, rice, beans with a drink for a few bucks. I haven't tried it yet, but my students seem to like it. Obviously, there is a lot of fresh fish around. However, it is lost on me. Well, at least until I go fishing...