Beach Bummin, Saving Lives

On Sunday March 20 my friend Gina and I decided to get out of Coco and go to a few other beaches south of here. Neither of us have a car, so her boyfriend let us use his for the day. Thanks Dennis!!! We hit the road and were off to what we thought was going to be a very uneventful and relaxing day... Were we ever wrong.

Our first stop was to a little beach town called Brasilito. The beach was nice, water was beautiful blue and the waves were huge. 

I really love this photo!

So the whole day we were talking about going to Playa Conchal. Neither of us had been there and everyone in Costa Rica always talks about it because its the beach that doesn't have sand... The beach is covered with shells. How awesome!!! So we found the beach after a few missed turns! It was breath taking. It is a smaller beach with beautiful water, a trillion shells and HUGE WAVES.

The first look at the beach

This is the 'sand'

What my towel was sitting on

Huge waves

Be careful out there...

Straight chillin

Important... Remember these trees

Shells on my feet

Gina chillin

And heres the dramatic part... Can I please have one drama free day, ever???

So we decided that we wanted to go to 2 more beaches before going home to Coco. On our way out of the Conchal parking lot I see this girl trying to walk and a older lady helping her and then also a tico helping her walk. I see a little blood and I said to Gina 'huh, that girl must have gotten hurt.' Thought nothing more of it until an older man said franticly 'can you please help us, we need to get her to the hospital fast. Can you please drive her? Our car is so far away and she needs attention fast.' We look at each other dumbfounded and I get all my stuff and get into the back seat. They load the girl into the car, I notice  her top of her swimming suit is ripped off, a cut on her side and a cut on her head. She is not well. She can barely talk, she is in shock and she needs help. The older lady gets in the back seat with me and we drive away.

Someone tells us that there is a hospital 7 kilometers that way... We start driving THAT WAY down a sandy road and the girl faints and has a seizure. What is happening??? I of course am swearing like a trucker and no one knows what to do. We keep on driving and then all of a sudden it ends, just ends. Gina tries to turn around and of course we get STUCK. Luckily 3 Ticos were walking down the road and get us un-stuck after about 10 minutes. The girl is getting worse. I have been asking her random questions trying to keep her calm. We find out through these questions that she is 18, got smashed into the trees, that I told you to remember, because the waves are so big, got to CR 2 days ago and is here with her best friend and her best friends parents. So the older couple aren't even her parents, she is scared to death. 

We finally get turned around and drive back to Conchal, the older man and the best friend are there. We tell them to get in the car and we will take them to their car. We are driving along, on the right path and then notice the road ends AGAIN. This time, the road is just washed up because the waves have been so huge. Its ok we can still drive on it. Gina is a great driver and drove us through the ocean!!! We get to their car, the dad and best friend get out and we follow them to the hospital. 

On the 15 minute ride to the hospital we are still talking, freaking and not dying. The girl says she needs to faint again and does and then has another seizure. GREAT. Are we there yet? Then she says 'it feels like my organs are coming out of my body and are on my back.' I say 'no its just your swimming suit that you feel on your back.' 

So we get to the so called hospital, its a clinic, with NO ONE working. Luckily Gina has a phone and calls and the doctor comes over from another clinic. He comes in the car and checks her out. His face does not look good. She needs serious help. They start moving her out of the car and this is when both Gina and I see the GASH for the first time. It is not just a little cut, it is awful. Its about 8 inches long, 2 inches wide and about 1.5 inches deep, so when she was saying her organs were coming out, THEY WERE REALLY COMING OUT. 

She got onto the bed and checked out by the doctor. Gina and I waited around to see what would happen. Luckily she was a little over weight and the tree just cut into mostly fat. Therefore she did not bleed a drop in the car and didn't do much damage to her insides. The doctor said he would be able to stitch it up there. 

We left. In shock. We decided to go to Tamarindo and get some food and a drink. We made it to Tamarindo where the waves were also HUGE. The surfers were amazing that day!!!

The coolest photo!!!

My $5 meal for the day... It was so yummy and cheap. I would love to eat there again!

Adios Tamarindo.

We made it safe and sound back to Coco. I will never forget this day. I had nightmares all nite thinking of the GASH. I will never forget that sight. I hope she is well. I am happy to say I helped save someones life. Scary ride, beautiful location.

Next post hopefully will be less dramatic. One drama free day please...

Until next time. xoxo.

Beans Beans the Magical Fruit...

So here in Costa Rica the national dish for lunch and dinner is called Casado and the national breakfast dish is called Gallo Pinto...  Casado has rice, beans, small salad, cheese, plantains and a chunk of meat(if you want it). Gallo Pinto has eggs, cheese, rice and beans mixed together, a chunk of meat(if you want it), fried plantains and tortillas. So both of these national dishes have BEANS.
You can get these dishes most anywhere, but the real places to eat them are called Soda's... Yum.

I have decided that I did NOT want to be a canned bean girl any more. Being a vegetarian most of my protein comes from beans, so I knew there was a better option!

 Beans in bag or raw beans are CHEAP. A 900 gram bag costs about $1.80 here. That will make about 3 different batches with each batch making 3 cups of cooked beans. Let me tell you again, ITS CHEAP. 

 They are way better for you and don't give you as much gas!!! So I did a little research and talked to some locals about making homemade beans. I have made 2 batches so far and they are amazing. I thought I would share my recipe with you all! Enjoy. Tell me when you make them and how they turned out!

Get what ever flavor of bean you want... Get out your measuring cup and measure the beans! 1 cup raw equals about 3 cups cooked. 

Measure the beans. I use a coffee cup.

Sort out the beans on a white surface, getting rid of any rotten or bad beans. This also helps see the rocks, get those out too.

Use the same measuring cup that you used for the beans and pour in 3 times the amount of  COLD water. Water must be cold. This is for the soaking. I used 1 cup beans, 3 cups water...  Put in large enough pot because they expand A LOT.

Soak beans for no less than 24 hours... 24 or more hours. You will need to be a planner!

Stir the beans every so often during the 24 hour period. 

Keep them covered and leave them out on your counter top.

After you have waited more than 24 hours for your beans to soak, you can start cooking!!!

Cut up some garlic, onions, jalapeños and whatever else you want.

Cook that mixture in olive oil, in the pot that you plan on cooking the beans in. Cook them until just soft. Use a very big soup pot. 

Time to rinse the beans!

Rinse them until the water runs clear... 

Add rinsed beans to pot. Mix in with the other goods.

Time to add liquid. I only add water because that is all I have. But you can add broth or wine too. Just make sure you have 3 times the amount of liquid again. So 1 cup beans, 3 cups liquid. 

Bring liquids up to a boil.

Reduce to a simmer. Stirring often.

Black Beans need to cook for 1.5 hours to 2 hours...

After the first hour add some spices. I use black pepper, cumin and cayenne pepper. Also add some fresh cilantro at this time if you have it. Stir in.

Keep cooking and stirring!!! Give a little taste, see if they need anything. Mine needed more cumin. So I added it.

These beans are officially done!!! You will know that they are done because most of the liquid is out. Leave some liquid in. 

Put on a plate and eat the goodness!!! Yum I want some right now!

Enjoy. I am still tackling my fear of rice. I have finally decided I like it, but only if other people make it. I am hoping to talk to my favorite Soda's chef and see if I can learn a trick or two about making better rice, well actually beans too! But I think that would involve way too much Spanish for my small vocabulary. I guess I will just have to continue to go there often!!!

Until next time. xoxo