I had a rather nice evening last night here in ole’ Uvita town. Natalie and I went out to dinner at Maracatú, the strange little dining establishment alongside the highway just 300ish meters north of the main intersection of Uvita. I call it “strange” for the fact that it’s so good. You would never guess that this little roadside, improvised looking little place would have much to offer. But after having sampled from either the menu, and/or the specials that are posted daily, Maracatú starts to take on the air of a refined dining establishment. The locals will all agree. Maracatú has been discovered and is regularly packed at lunch time with expats from Ojochal to Dominical. Nat had a chicken curry and I had the chicken curry sandwich. We split a blue cheese salad. It was divino. The prices at Maracatu run a little higher than standard “Soda” fare, but it’s still reasonable for the quality of the quisine. Her plate, which included a pate of ratatouille and something else cost $8.00 (4,000 colones). My sandwich came on the finest French bread roll that I’ve ever had in Costa Rica. Baked goods are not a strong suit in the Tico culture, so when I got served my sandwich on a baked-on-the-premises roll, I was delighted. The bread was crusty, but not so much that you destroy the sandwich taking a bite. The flavorful curried salad, (sort of like a tuna salad, only it was curried chicken, and it was warm) formed a thick pad between the bread halves. This came also with a small side salad. The bleu cheese salad was nicely presented, leafy arugula on a large plate and featured a circle of crumbled bleu cheese and crushed walnut around a wide circumpherence of the salad and a balsamic dressing. My sandwich was $5.50 and the salad was $4.00ish.

Afterwards we went to Hotel Tucan, which is really a DVD rental place with a hotel wrapped around it… just kidding, but we were going there to return a couple of movies and get another. When we entered, which at the Tucan is a bit misleading to say “entered” since it is more of a transition. The graveled ground of the parking lot continues into the main central area between the rooms. There are cement walkways on either side of the main area that features a number of hammocks and tables and various options for reading, conversing, and wireless Internet browsing. There is, of course a roof over head but there is a wonderful, kinda funky garden feel to this “lobby” area. The wireless Internet is available to the guests so there is usually some computing going on, keeping in touch via e-mail and chat, or perhaps referencing Uvita.biz for what to do during their visit to Uvita :o). Anyway, last night the Tucan (by the way, this is how Toucan is spelled in Spanish) had an unusual buzz to it. I’ve noticed as of late that the Tucan is enjoying a brisk business. They have a full menu there now, and when I had picked up my last movies, every table was full. Josh, the local mapmaker (“cartographer” he likes to say), and character, sat next to me as I perused the movie menu. He had a plate of some of the plumpest looking shrimp I’ve seen and he grunted extreme approval as the shrimp disappeared from the plate without much hesitation on Josh’s part. Well, the buzz was on due to a rather unique happening that our zone is blessed with; the presence of some pretty serious country and blue grass musicians in Dominical. When Nat and I walked into the central bar area, I immediately felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around to see the grinning bearded face of Good Times Charlie. A former resident of New Orleans, Charlie and Nancy are among the very few that live in Dominical proper. They have the delightful vacation rental “Casa de Piña” there. Charlie has been booking gigs for some 40 years, and has the personality for it. He regaled me tales of the troupe traveling the Amazon introducing the indigenous, riverside culture to blue grass and country. I would think that since he is married to Nancy, she has been his main client, but here in special guest appearance was Kim Carsons, who is a world famous guitarist and singer. Nancy is something special on violin/fiddle. Nancy has become a bit of a fixture around these parts since the New Orleans flood, which inures to our considerable benefit. And then there was a gentleman on guitar that had that blues touch that belied the better part of a life fingering the frets. I don't know much about him. I'll try to get some more info from Charlie him, but I guess he's a known guy in the music industry. Anyway, Charlie has been trying to get me to go to these happenings for years. I’m such a morning person, and enjoy the pre-dawn hour so much that I am not worth much socially in the evenings normally. So as often as I have intended to get to one of these things, which are happening with increasing regularity during the dry season in the Ojochal to Hatillo zone, I usually succumb to the pull of the quiet evening at home with Nat and an early to bed. So, I got the requisite “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you out this late (it being all of 8:00 PM) from Charlie. The jab was well deserved. It was good to see this eternally “up” man who is just one of the many fascinating characters that make up the expat community here in Costa Rica’s southern pacific zone. The music was amazing. These folks are not playing for money. They’ve got the contracts and tours back home and around the globe, so the music here is simply for the love of it. You can feel it as they play their favorites and respond to requests. It really is one of the side benefits to living in a part of the planet where such individuals find respite from the normal hubbub of life, and are driven by their passion for their chosen vocation to share with the local community and whatever visitors that are lucky enough to have had their vacation happen when and where these gals (and guy) happen to play.

Overall, a delightful evening.