breakfast: cookies and coffee
lunch at Miss Miriam’s (Tortuguero, Costa Rica): Gallo pinto; coconut rice; salad with cabbage, cucumber, tomato, and vinegar; fried plantains; homemade hot sauce. Shy of the vegetarian place we later visit, my highest confidence of a vegan gallo pinto (90%). I specified all kinds of dairy (thankfully someone was there who knew the Spanish word for margarine and butter, which I had forgotten) plus all kinds of meat including meat fat, and she seemed to understand completely. Plus, this was my first gallo pinto with coconut milk (a twist on the Caribbean coast), which made it especially tasty.
more cookies (throughout day)
papaya daiquiri with rum and lime at Buddha Bar (Tortuguero)
dinner on porch: avocado half with Lizano salsa; store-bought toast (interesting… like large vegan croutons) with canned refried black beans, avocado, fresh lime, and salsa; spiced plantain chips; Imperial cervesa with lime
sadly, tonight’s late night cockroach adventures were not vegan. After an extended chase that resulted in me carrying one outside atop a 6-foot-long board (part of the bed), a hotel employee who the stunt came in to help, and his solution involved taking off his flip-flop and killing one.