Costa Rica Cost of Living Update: Beef Casado at a local Soda (rice, plantains, salad, beef, and beans) — Six Dollars

“This is gross,” I say while opening a Zip Loc bag.

“Why are you messing with that? It’s a germinating mango seed. Did you touch it?” my husband asks.

“No,” I reply, while clearly holding the evidence in my hand. It would seem I have the same half-witted mind of a thief who falls asleep at the crime scene.

“Give me that. It likes carbon dioxide for development!” Rob proceeds to blow into the pouch. I hope that if I’m ever in need of resuscitation, he’s as ambitious with me as he is with this freezer grade sandwich bag.

“Please, leave this alone,” he scolds.

“What about this one?” I ask, holding up another bag filled with gooey mush.

Rob glances before sadly turning away. “That one didn’t make it.”

There is no resuscitation.

I used to think gardening was an amicable hobby, with responsible folks wearing knee pads and suede gloves planting petunias around their mailboxes. They look happy and well adjusted. They take their families to Disneyworld on vacation. They may even buy two boxes of Thin Mint cookies from the Girl Scout troop stationed in front of the Jiffy Lube.

But not Rob. He is not a well-adjusted gardener. He doesn’t plant anything around our mailbox. Okay, we don’t have a mailbox, so instead, he decides to recreate the gardens of Versailles using banana peels and a leaky hose. (more…)