By Jo Stuart

I was wondering at lunch the other day why water never became a god. My companions reminded me that some people paid homage to a rain god (mainly when they wanted rain), and there are sea gods in the person of Neptune and Oceanus, and Osiris is considered a river god and therefore a water god. But I was thinking in terms of plain old water – all we seem to have is the eleventh sign of the Zodiac, Aquarius, the Water Bearer. About the only notable time water was mentioned in the New Testament was when Jesus changed it into wine

Water is a necessary condition for life to even be possible. And it is primary, next to air, in keeping life going.. It is necessary to grow the crops we eat, to keep ourselves clean and sanitary. Too little of it and we get sick and die; too much of it and we die. In short, it can give life or destroy it. Seems a pretty powerful element to me to have been overlooked when the status of god was being given out. Perhaps because it comes in so many forms –but isn’t that one of the properties a god should have? And finally, when it comes to the concept that god is within us all, if that god were water, it certainly would be true. Whatever, I think water is the Rodney Dangerfield of elements.

However, since no one else seemed that interested in the subject, our talk turned to food. Early this week I had an early morning appointment at the Clinica Duran. I was out of there by 9:30, waiting for the bus and looking forward to breakfast. I have not developed a taste, and certainly not a craving for it, so I was surprised to feel like having some gallo pinto.

Across the street from the bus stop is a little soda, Soda Miriam – I mean little. I had noticed it on my other visits to the clinic and thought it looked rather inviting. With its white table clothed tables in front of each of the two large windows flanking the entryway. On impulse I crossed the street and entered. As soon as I walked in I had second thoughts. There were only five tables in the place. The white chairs, plastic as were the table cloths, were quite dirty. The people sitting at two of the tables were drinking only coffee (bad sign – no food). There was a counter with a steam table and a young woman behind it as well as very tall, solidly built young man nearby.

Since all eyes were upon me, I felt I must forge on. Fortunately in the steam table was gallo pinto – that mixture of rice and beans I thought I wanted. I ordered that. Being queried further, I added, a fried egg, café con leche. Y “nada mas.” I added firmly, and sat down at one of the tables in the window. I wanted to order as little as possible so what I knew I was going to leave, wouldn’t look so insulting. I pulled out my book and lost myself in “The Transit of Venus.”

Shortly my plate of gallo pinto arrived – a small mountain of it, and on a separate plate, a fried egg. The white looked like it had been deep fried and the yolk as if it had escaped cooking altogether. I asked if it could be done over easy and the tall fellow who was my waiter, dutifully took it away. It came back hard fried. He also brought a cup of watermelon chunks and my café con leche and some hot sauce. I cut up the egg and added it to my gallo pinto, sprinkled on some hot sauce and took a bite. It was exactly what I had imagined that I wanted. My coffee was hot and delicious, and the watermelon refreshing. I finished everything. I was even brought a glass of water. The only disturbing aspect was the tall young man who hovered, about three feet away, watching me eat. I am accustomed to this in stores, but not in restaurants.

My life has changed a bit since that breakfast. Having heard of the dangers of dehydration, I salute the ungod water by drinking a glass of water every morning, just to get the day started, and I think about having a plate of gallo pinto again, soon. I am even thinking of buying some black beans and making it myself, but it is a lot of work, and that whole breakfast cost only 750 colones ($1.65), and I didn’t have to wash the dishes.

Jo Stuart is the author of the popular book about life in Costa Rica entitled, “Butterfly in the City.” To order a copy of her wonderful book please contact her at: jostuart@amcostarica.com

By Jo Stuart

There have been times when I have been worried about something and have expressed my concern and then heard a Tico say to me, “tranquilo.”

“How can you be tranquilo in the face of—-and I can fill in the blanks of with any number of stresses I felt in my first few years here.

Well, evidently, Ticos have figured out a way because in a recent poll 51% said that they do not consider themselves stressed or nervous about anything. Only 7% said they are continuously stressed and 42% are worried about certain things.

Among those things that worry those who do worry, high on the list is walking alone on streets that are considered dangerous (20%).
The two next big worries, both at 16%, are money worries and concern that their wife or children might get sick. (Obviously, this poll, which was reported in the daily newspaper the Nacion was done of men only.) From then on any of the stresses of everyday life affected less than 10% of the people, with fear of earthquakes and school exams affecting less than five percent of those who responded. So, ‘Don’t worry, be happy,’ certainly applies to Ticos. And, I am happy to say that in recent years that pretty much applies to me.

The one thing I AM going to worry about when the time comes, is renewing my residency. My friend, Sandy, has been trying to do that.
She is one of the most even-tempered people I know and her comment, after her second visit was, “Immigration sucks.” She arrived early for her 2 p.m. appointment, and after waiting three hours as she watched Immigration officials try to cram 40 people into appointments before closing time at 4 p.m., she had to make another appointment. I guess when my time comes it will be a good opportunity for me to finally finish Remembrance of Things Past.

Meanwhile, life goes on. Or it doesn’t. Last Saturday I attended a memorial gathering to mark a year since my friend Bill White left this planet. The memorial was held at the Artists Colony, which Bill established. Bill was a great music lover so music was very much a part of the occasion. A choral group of twenty singers from Ciudad Colon sang a medley of folk songs from many countries. Bill would have loved them, as did we, his many friends who had gathered there.
The night before there was a concert at the local church, which I did not attend, but heard was packed with people remembering Bill and enjoying a program presented by members of the National Symphony.

In contrast, during the week, my friends, James and Alexis, gave a lunch (read feast) to celebrate James’ birthday. The food was Moroccan, the company international. One of the guests commented to me afterward, “I am always surprised anew at the interesting people one meets in Costa Rica.”

Life is interesting, but tenuous, at best. Perhaps the wisest thing we can do while we are here is to not worry and be happy. Easy for me to say. I’m in Costa Rica.

Jo Stuart is the author of the popular book about life in Costa Rica entitled, “Butterfly in the City.” To order a copy of her wonderful book please contact her at: jostuart@amcostarica.com

by Jo Stuart

The truth is, most of us live very narrow lives. With all the choices out there we tend to make the same ones over and over, never expanding our experiences. (Note: I have Freud’s habit of generalizing from observations of myself. You are free to say, as my friend Betty justifiably can, “That’s not my problem, kiddo.”).

I was becoming aware of this at the Saturday Feria where I saw dozens of fruits and vegetables that are totally strange to me. But instead of trying something new, I continue to pick out the same ones over and over – tomatoes, celery, strawberries, carrots, grapefruit, pineapple, etc. Occasionally I will buy some spinach, which is not like the spinach one gets in the States. And I have bought zapallitos. They are like the good old familiar zucchini, and maybe even better. But that is about the extent of it. I don’t even know the names of all those other foods, nor how to prepare them.

It is not just the food that we buy and prepare that we tend to stick to the tried and true. Thank about the restaurants. How often, when you go out to eat, do you go to the same restaurant and order the same dish? And there are so many new ones opening in San Jose and its environs it would be easy to expand one’s repitoire. Speaking of its enviorns, I thought, when I moved to Costa Rica over ten years ago, that it would be a wonderful ‘jumping off’ place. A home base from which I would visit all the countries I have never been to. Other than trips back to the States, to Panama and Nicaragua, I have been nowhere. I have rarely explored other parts of this country except when friends come to visit.

And how many new friends have you made recently? I am not being accusative. Actually, these questions are directed at myself. The reason my thoughts have gone in this direction is something I was reading. It was about falling in love. There is a chemical that the body secretes, a chemical called phenylethylamine (PEA), that surges through the nerve cells and affects both our thoughts and our feelings. This chemical makes us feel euphoric, rejuvenated, optimistic and energized – able to leap over tall buildings. All of our senses are heightened. PEA is so pleasurable it is addicting. I knew and wrote about this many years ago, but what I didn’t know was that the same chemical (PEA) is secreted when we experience new thrills. And how can we experience new thrills or fall in love if we don’t try new things and meet new people? Once in a while two people who have known each other for years suddenly fall in love, but it is rare.

On the other hand, there is another group of chemicals that takes over under different circumstances. They are powerful pain relieveers and the calm and reassure us. They are the endorphins that are secreted when we experience intimacy, empathy, dependability and oft-shared experiences. The are responsible for the good feelings that come from stability, friendship and familiarity. They, as it turns out, are even more addictive than PEA. So there must be a reason why tend to choose the familiar, hang on to our friends and go back to that restaurant and have that favorite dish: why we crave comfort food and miss our family and we eschew the possibility of another heartbreak and more heartburn.

It does make me wonder, though, about one of my favorite fairy tales. Was “The Princess and the Pea” a sort of conundrum? Was the Princess upset because she was getting PEA with every new mattress when what she really wanted was endorphins?

Jo Stuart is the author of the popular book about life in Costa Rica entitled, “Butterfly in the City.” To order a copy of her wonderful book please contact her at: jostuart@amcostarica.com

by Jo Stuart

When setting off to accomplish something in San Jose, I find it a good idea to have a plan B at the ready, and when depending upon buses, having a Plan C in the wings is not a bad idea.

This week I had a 7:00 a.m. appointment with my doctor at Hospital Mexico. I got there on time, but through a mix-up (probably a breakdown in communication), I didn’t see Dr. Ugalde until nearly ten a.m. but he is a sweet man and since he had some student interns in his office, I smiled when I told him I was annoyed. He apologized for the delay. I took the opportunity to give him my book “Butterfly in the City” and he was so pleased, I couldn’t be annoyed anymore.

I had had only a cup of coffee and my hot lemonade for breakfast so by the time I left I was really hungry. I decided I would take a taxi to the MasXMenos on the autopista and kill two birds with one stone, or rather feed this bird twice with one visit. Cate and Bill had told me that MasXMenos had really good gallo pinto, and it is a supermarket, so I would have breakfast and then shop. That was my plan. Only the biusa that I took from the Hospital didn’t stop across from the MasXMenos (they used to.) So, quickly, I decided I would breakfast at Quiznos on Paseo Colon and shop later. The biusa doesn’t stop there anymore either.

Shifting to Plan C I decided, if one MasXMenos has good gallo pinto perhaps the one downtown does, too. Lately I have been inundated with advice about the foods that are good for aging bones and lagging energy. There must be some reason I see so many older women in San Jose walking tall and straight and I have decided it must be the daily intake of rice and beans. No other food that I can think of is as universal here, although fruits and vegetables help. I got on another bus at the Church de la Merced – where the biusa does stop – and went to the Caja.

During my ride I took notice of the buildings along the way. My friend Dos has been commenting to me about the newly painted, brightly colored buildings of late. She wants me to find out why people are painting them such bright colors. The only recent paint job I noticed on my route was the Teatro Melico Salazar’s new yellow façade. It is quite beautiful. I had asked a friendly Tico architect why the new colors and he said it was “the Mexican influence.” I wasn’t sure if he was kidding.

I had a four block walk to the store and on the way I passed The News Café, a Kentucky Fried Chicken, Spoons, a hotel restaurant, four pizza places, several sodas, two panaderias and one paint store. It crossed my mind that maybe there has been a big sale on blue, orange and lime paints. I was tempted by the different fare in the various restaurants but rejected going to Plan D; afraid if I did I would forget to shop.

The MasXMenos on Avenida Central has a complete cafeteria now. I stuck to gallo pinto and a couple of fried platanos, which I love but seldom eat. For a mountain of rice and beans, two pieces of platanos and 12 ounces of Cas juice, the cost was 605 colones (under $1.20)

On my way home I realized I should have gone into that paint store and asked them about the new décor of San Jose. (That is, instead of dropping into that corner shoe store.) But since I didn’t, I am putting out the call. If anyone has another answer besides the Mexican influence, please let me know so Dos can go on to some other fascinating cultural question.

Jo Stuart is the author of the popular book about life in Costa Rica entitled, “Butterfly in the City.” To order a copy of her wonderful book please contact her at: jostuart@amcostarica.com