Grocery Shopping in Guanacaste
First, let me state unequivocally that I hate to grocery shop. Thank God for my husband, Michael. He doesn’t mind shopping, but he does it at warp speed and often misses something, or doesn’t check labels, expiration dates, or prices.
That’s important stuff and shopping in a foreign land it’s decidedly so. Like it or not I am now grocery shopping. We do it together and it’s kind of fun, actually. Reading labels is especially challenging as neither he nor I speak (or read) Spanish fluently.
We’re learning, but we have a long… long… long way to go. We do our everyday marketing at little local stores called “mini supers” (mini-supermercados). We can get eggs, milk, some fresh produce, some can goods, rice, soap, wine, beer, chips, toilet paper and Hershey bars for Michael.
For major grocery shopping the stores are at least 20 miles away in opposite directions. Santa Cruz is farther away, but with better roads.
Tamarindo is over bumpy roads and cattle-crossing road blocks. These stores are Mega Super, Maxi Pali (owned by WalMart), Pali, Super Mercado, and Auto Mercado. Auto Mercado by far has the largest inventory and the most products I’m familiar with… American imports at luxury prices, but some things you just can’t do without.
Most towns have famers’ markets with what one would expect at any farmers’ market, but these are not just weekly, but all year long. The growing season is unending. My favorite kind of shopping here, is what I remember having when I was a kid growing up in Natick… the farmers’ market on wheels, motor driven, or bicycle peddled, and even horse-drawn.
These vendors have a bounty of consumerables. There is a German baker with his delicacies in his van. There is a pickup truck with watermelon, mangos, oranges, cantaloupes, pineapples, coconuts, and limons. (They’re green but they’re lemons. Who knew?)
There is a wagon with lettuce, and tomatoes, and potatoes, and carrots, and squash. Well, I’m sure you get the picture. So shopping here is pretty fun when you think about it. I really don’t mind it at all.
Written by VIP Member Paula Gilmour who was born and raised in Massachusetts and who has spent most of her life on Cape Cod. Paula is married to Michael and together they have three children. The family moved to Costa Rica in February 2013 after vacationing here for the past twelve years.
Paula and Michael’s daughter Jamie married a young Tico and together they are building a small boutique hotel and spa in the “sweet village of La Florida (the flowered) in Guanacaste. Paula’s articles will give us “little snippets of what life is like in Costa Rica and the trials and tribulations in a land where we don’t speak the language (but are learning), and are trying to construct a building, a business, and a new way of life.”
Grocery Shopping in Guanacaste
Article/Property ID Number 4334
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Andrew Makarik
to@welovecostarica.comAndrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.
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