Costa Rica Cost Of Living Update: Lunch on the sand—$2

There are a lot of mom & pop businesses in Costa Rica.  It’s one of the things I love about living here and I especially notice their hard work on the beaches.

A man walks past us yelling, “Pipa frio…pipa frio aqui.” We wave him over and he unloads his large Igloo cooler off his shoulder. He opens it up and takes out two cold coconuts. With one strike of his machete, he chops off the top and sticks a straw in. They cost one dollar each.

Rob and I dine on the refreshing milk and scrape the curd off the sides with our straw. It’s the most refreshing treat you can have while sitting in the hot sun. It’s sweet and the curd has a consistency of coconut cream pie. Gilligan’s Island comes to mind as I’m finishing it.

Soon an old woman walks up selling little bags of cashews for a dollar. We each buy one and enjoy the rest of our day watching children build sand castles and couples hold hands in the water.

Sometimes it can be challenging living here, especially when I go to the store longing for Half and Half to find it costs $5 a carton.  But then I have a day like this and I feel good that I contributed to the local economy.

Hey…I wonder if coconut milk tastes good in coffee?