Nomadic Narrative

Costa Rica is another fledgling superpower ready to exert influence on the international scene — the culinary scene, that is. Late Saturday night, my next door neighbor told me about Costa Rica’s attempt to cook the world’s largest Gallo Pinto taking place the following day. Gallo Pinto is a typical Costa Rican (and Nicaraguan) dish made with rice, beans, cilantro and a few other ingredients. It’s usually accompanied by scrambled eggs and the flavorful Lizano sauce. It sounds like a simple dish, but people tend to argue over which recipe tastes better: adding the beans to the rice or the rice to the beans. Though I’ve made it twice, I have yet to form an opinion.

I got on the Internet and looked up information about the festival. La Nación published an article and announced that the festival would begin at 9 a.m. Even though days seem to get going earlier here in Costa Rica, my friends, even the Costa Rican ones, thought that 9 a.m. was too early. We figured that following tico time, we could get there an hour or so late and find plenty Gallo Pinto — it was to be the world’s largest after all! Well, after wandering the busy streets, to our dismay we stumbled upon the last Gallo Pinto remnants:

Despite our hunger, we enjoyed wandering around the national Gallo Pinto festival. The photo below is not the entrance to the beer garden, which I initially thought.

Lizano had several colorful props with the slogan: Sabor a la Tica, which translates as Tico flavor (Tico is short for Costa Rican).

Popular across borders, kids jumped and crawled all over inflatable games.

At a typical Costa Rican festival, how could you not stumble upon one of the national symbols — a carreta. I’m posing as the boyero in the photo — the person who makes sure the ox and the carreta are headed in the right direction. I’m getting there. I just loaded up the beans so that we can cook more Gallo Pinto!