I met a new friend last week.

Ronny works for an IT services company here in Costa Rica, and we met over lunch near his offices in San Carlos for a chat.

The 2 hour drive from Escazú is a joy. Huge vistas of green and curving mountain roads that make you wish you were in an open top sports car.

I was within half a mile of the restaurant when the road stopped. So I stopped. The destination blinked at me on the map. For a moment the US Gary surfaced – had to be the wrong place? Who would put a restaurant in the middle of a field?

And then Pura Vida Gary kicked in.

Smiling, I took to the gravel in the general direction of my destination.  I figured worst case, the cliff I drove off would probably end in an amazing rain forest valley. Which had never been discovered before. And I’d spend the rest of my long life living off fresh pineapples and having my brow wiped by monkeys. I know. I have issues with my imagination.

And then there was a restaurant.

Las Hortensias (Eco Granja Sostenible Don Lolo) is such a nice place to sit, chat and eat. A small steakhouse perched (in a field) above San Carlos, it has a welcoming patron and staff. They bought a large stretch of land and started an organic farm with a couple of rental cabins (if you want to stay a while). Serving delicious self-produced cheeses and meats, it’s a recommended stop if you are in this part of the world. Ronnys’ seafood looked equally appetising and the fresh fruit juices are refreshing after a days exploring.

We talked about family, business, and life in Costa Rica. Ronny had a stint in the US, but after one morning in Miami airport where a delayed flight had messed up all his connecting international flights, he realised that life doesn’t have to be a rat race. So he came back to Costa Rica and started a family.

Coffee Country

When Ronny asked if I liked coffee, I confessed that I did, but could take it or leave it. I don’t have a very addictive personality but appreciate that it’s a natural and required start to some peoples mornings.

Costa Rica is a small country, but is one of the best coffee producers globally. Known as the golden bean, coffee is a big part of Costa Rican life. Tico’s view it the same way the English view tea, and the Tarrazu region located high in the Talamanca Mountains produces Starbucks most expensive coffee, the Finca Palmilera.

If you are visiting and want to get some local coffee, I’ve heard you should look for the following on the label;

• “Producto centroamericano cosechado en Costa Rica” (Central American product harvested in Costa Rica) or “Hecho en Costa Rica” (Made in Costa Rica) means it’s grown here.
• “Organico” – yep. Organic.
• “Calidad de Exportacion” (Export Quality) means it’s the best beans.
• “100% Cafe Puro” (100% Pure Coffee) means the beans haven’t been cut with rubbish like sugar cane. Who want’s coffee that’s been messed with!
• “Cosechado bajo sombra” (Shade Grown) beans apparently take their time ripening, and some believe this is a more flavourful product.

There are many blends available, and as I was heading to Arenal that weekend I considered picking up some “volcanic blend”. Some beans are grown on the mineral rich hills surrounding the local volcanoes apparently!

As Ronny and I were wrapping up our meal together, we pondered a very valid question.

Why in a country that makes some of the best coffee in the world, does the line outside the new Starbucks in Escuzu go out the door?

People always amaze me.

LTPV!

Gary