03 October 2011

The third kind of food

     Since there's nowhere to buy food at False Bluff, going to Bluefields is the best bet for shopping.   The lettered Google Earth image in the "Bluefields" post locates the following:
 B
     Sidewalk markets are everywhere and the municipal market has quantities of produce and meat.   There is also a section of the municipal market where you can sit and have a meal.   Most food is inside, but just outside the far end of the building is a pier at which boats loaded with fresh food arrive frequently from early morning on:  shrimp, fish, oranges, bananas, pineapples, limes, lemons, etc.   The market also sells rice and beans and coconuts (and non-food items like pots and pans and bowls and buckets and charcoal).  
C
     On the corner just up from the market is the 'fruit lady.'   She offers one of the best deals around, usually made while you wait:  a bowl, with utensil provided, full of chunks of fruit, all wrapped in plastic if you're not going to dig in right away.  Her fruit bowls usually include watermelon, papaya, pineapple, cantaloupe, and banana; but also other fruits in season.  Can't get any fresher. 


G
     On the second corner up from the market is the 'pink' restaurant.   If it has a name I don't know what it is.  You can eat in or buy at the take-out window. 
H
     Just around the corner from the 'pink' restaurant is one of a multitude of places that sell pastries;  but this place seems to be the sole source of a delicious, fat, heart-shaped, ginger-flavored cookie that's about the size of my hand.   (That you can also buy miscellaneous pieces of hardware in this little shop is incidental.)
   I
     Across the street from the cookie shop is one of Bluefields' many grocery stores and the only one I've found that lets you do your own shopping.   At most stores you stand at a counter and ask a clerk to fetch each item on your list.   For those of us for whom it is still a challenge to ask in Spanish for 2 pounds of onions, 5 pounds of cheese, and pineapple, not kiwi, Tang, a store where you pluck your own goods off a shelf is a comfort.  (You can also buy Purina dog food there.)
L
     Though there are restaurants galore, one block stands out because there are so many, starting with the Tip-Top franchise on the corner.  Across the street and a bit up from Tip-Top are two Italian restaurants, one with pretty good pizza to go or eat in.