Going to the Farmer’s Market

A couple of days ago, Maureen and I decided to walk down to the Farmer’s Market to see what we could buy.  Of course, I took the camera along.  While walking to the market, I decided that it would be a good idea to take some other photos so that you could see a different Jaco, not the tourist playground, but the town which is home for ordinary Costa Ricans.

The first photo above shows the women’s centre.  In a place where there is a lot of American money courtesy of a gazillion single for the moment men, there is bound to be a lot of issues for women, a place for them to get the help they need.  Near the centre we found the local soccer pitch.  We’ve seen the field in use a few previous times when we passed the location,  And this photo shows a free day care centre for local people.  The place is sponsored by an organisation of expat women, an organisation that Maureen has joined while we are in Jaco.

We finally made it to the farmer’s market which was located by the local hospital.  An interesting aside, all the taxis that we’ve seen so far have all been red, even in San Jose.

In the market we ended up buying some fresh fruit and a loaf of homemade whole wheat bread.  Now that was a real treasure.  I have the feeling we will visit this place every Friday that we are here if only for the bread.

There are at least three different police stations that I have seen here.  This one is focused on policing the highway.  A second one is found on the beach tucked between a few hotels and beach bars.

We finally found the local post office.  We heard about it, but these days of Internet communications, we don’t seem to use post offices much anymore.

Across the main street, not far from the hospital and the day care centre, is the local church.  Now this is a church with a difference – an open air church.

And this building is the home of the municipal offices.  Across the road, where I was standing when taking the photo was the town shop with the usual collection of materials and vehicles needed to meet the needs of the town.  In the photo you might notice the paddy wagon, the police vehicle in which bad guys are held until they can be dropped off at the local jail.

There are two ambulances at the Costa Rican Red Cross station on Jaco’s main street.  This ambulance driver was glad to have his photo taken, obviously proud of what he does.  So far, Jaco looks like it has all in place for the well-being of residents and visitors alike – a hospital, a few medical clinics, a dentist’s office, and even a place to take care of vision needs.

This is where we buy most of our groceries.  It is the second biggest grocery store in town.  This is a chain store sort of like Superstore in Canada.

And this is another grocery store (Mega Super), a smaller store that is closer to our villa.  So far we have found about five good sized grocery stores.

Of course, as to be expected in a tourist town, KFC, Quiznos Sub, Pizza Hut, and Subway are easy to find.  Surprisingly, there is no Macdonalds here in Jaco.  I guess they decided that a restaurant every few feet on main street and on most side streets wouldn’t make for enough customers to make the effort of competing worth the effort.

I hope you enjoyed a small tour of our town here in Costa Rica