Living & Dining In Costa Rica's Mediterranean: Coyote Mountain (Cerro Coyote)
The area
is above the area called Tavlones, above the village of San Francisco, above the town of Piedades Sur, above the city of San Ramon, off the Inter-American Highway, in all about 37 miles
from the Juan Santa Maria International Airport. Lying at the southern
end of the Tillaran mountain chain--one of Costa Rica's 4 major mountainous spines--the Cerro Coyote preserve goes from about
3900 to about 4200 feet above sea level. Altitude is important in Costa Rica, for it determines your
climate. The lowlands are hot and generally humid, though sometimes dry. The
highest elevations are cool and fresh, often freezing at night. It snowed in a
mountain pass called Cerro de la muerte--mountain of death--last month, while
on the beaches you roast and swelter. At 4000' we have a perfect Mediterranean
climate, with gorgeous days, temperatures in the high seventies, no humidity to
speak of, and forceful cooling winds followed by cool, even crisp evenings and
perfect nighttime sleeping temperatures.
Here, it is perfect.
Tonight we had the challenge of cooking dinner, and succeeded. We had earlier found a liqour store in San Ramon and purchased three wines. One, a 1996 Concha y Toro Reserve Valle Central Chardonnay. It had obviously been sitting, upright, on the store shelf, without air conditioning, for some time . . . probably since 1996. We also found a bottle of Tio Pepe Fino Sherry, and a more recent bottling of C&T Chardonnay.
For the meal, our Louisiana background's came to the fore, and we could think of nothing better than renewing our Creole vows. So, we did a number on Jambalaya, making a Tico hearts of palm rice dish, which turned out quite favorably despite the lack of some supposedly essential ingredients. The freshness of Costa Rica's ingredients make a substantial difference in the culinary potential here, and this dish, while utilizing techniques honed up north, had ingredients like chorizo, hearts of palm, culantro, and a local pimiento, the local version of a bell pepper, which is mostly red, but kind of green as well.
Here's the recipe:
Tropical Jambalaya Serves 4
5 small, or 2 medium yellow onions, halved then sliced
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bell pepper (or pimiento) chopped
5 tablespoons safflower oil
1 cup white rice
6 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
4 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon
chopped culantro, fresh (substitute cilantro) 
3 whole cloves
1/3 pound fresh hearts of palm, cut into ¾ inch pieces
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 whole tomato, roughly chopped
½ Scotch Bonnet pepper, chopped
Salt to taste
1 3/4 cups water
About 6 pickled Tabasco peppers
1 tablespoon dry red wine
1 tablespoon dry white wine
In a large, thick-bottomed pot with a lid, heat the oil over medium heat and sauté the onion, garlic, bell pepper for about 8 minutes, or until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the rice and cook for about 5 minutes, thoroughly coating the rice with the oil. Add the remaining ingredients, mix thoroughly, and bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook just until the rice is done, about 30 minutes.
We went across
the dusty, bumpy tracks, dodging the occasional dark black icebergs of rocks,
to San Ramon and the weekly feria. This farmer's market counts among the
finest in Costa
Rica,
rivaling the never ending Mercado Central and Mercado Bourbon in the bustling
capital. On Friday afternoon and Saturday mornings, vendors come from
throughout the surrounding 
regions with their tropical fruits,
superlative vegetables, simple white cheeses, meats, and seafood.
4 rows of stalls present themselves, with the farmers' dusty Land Rovers and Toyota trucks parked nose to nose defining the aisles. Here, if one is passing though, one glimpses the satisfying and enticing bounty of this Central American paradise, with its volcanic soils and perfect climates. More than coffee is grown here, the market boasts.
If you are fortunate enough to be living here, as we are, then you can with aplomb comb through the piles of red, red tomatoes, avocadoes, carrots, radishes, the little bundles of freshly-picked thyme, rosemary, and oregano, the star fruit, limes, mangas, carambola, pejibaye, fresh hearts of palm, cashew, and long-stocked onions. The fish monger sells fresh tilapia and corvina, cuchecas and assorted other shellfish, alongside little pink shrimp, almost still squirming from their harvest at sea. Get some fresh flowers too, and stop by the liquor store or supermercado for some Chilean wine or Nicaraguan rum, and you are set.
Eating in Costa Rica has long been downgraded
by guidebook writers and travel-magazine pieces that celebrate the country's
biodiversity without realizing that this selfsame property makes for a great
agricultural abundance. One cannot blame those who only dine in proper Costa
Rican tourist restaurants, and ignore the ubiquitous Tico sodas, family
run diners that serve up generous helpings of home-cooked, country food. This
is where the true indigenous flavor of Costa Rica lurks, in the places that
charge you the least amount of money, and where you eat often outdoors on
little nailed-together stools. Knowing something about Creole cuisine, this is
where we have found it in glorious and appetizing proportions. 
Bright, complex sauces
and perfectly-cooked vegetables alongside simple preparations of fish. The use
of condiments like chili peppers and pickled vegetables and rice compliments
every meal. This is not haute cuisine, but it is honest, flavorful food that
the restaurants of San Jose or the tourist hotels so very often lack.
For the cook, Costa Rica is a godsent delight. It is the wealth of fruits and vegetables, in particular, that distinguish the culinary potential of Costa Rica--and doubtless of other Central American republics as well--though Costa Rica stands as a brilliant example of peaceful, democratic, and healthful living, while in some other places like Guatemala or Honduras this would be less than true. The Ticos' emphasis, since the late 1940s at least, on public health, safe water supplies, and education rather than an army and civil unrest have made for a place where you can have a cup of water and wash your produce without fear of the rapid onset of illness, and have a stimulating conversation too. Being the recipient of American largess during the fifties, sixties, and seventies did not hurt, either; however the Costa Ricans remain independent of spirit and very much enamored of their own country.
For more information on travel to Costa Rica, visit the Costa Rica Travel Review.