Fishes and Friends

(This post was written last week...  we've been 4 days without internet and just got it back around 2pm today (Monday, January 13th)  I hope to get caught up on reading other's blogs and get caught up on my own.  I know, I know..  we're on Tico Time, but darn!  it's been frustrating feeling out of touch with the world.)



We knew that the fishing boats came in early, so this morning we headed to Coco Beach before 7:30 hoping to buy something "just off the boat".

Just as we arrived we saw a truck pull down onto the beach...  and nearby were a couple of guys, along with a stack of things like a large wash-tub thing, and other stuff.  I noticed that the blue wash-tub had what looked like the tail of a fish sticking out.

Bill & I hurried over to the truck as the guys were loading everything into the back.

We asked if we could buy fish...  I climbed up onto the back of the truck and looked into that tub.  You can see the blue tub as they are driving away...

That thing was FULL of fish.  I picked out 2 while Bill negotiated the price....

We think they are Red Snapper, but if anyone out there knows, please tell us.  The fish were gutted, but needed cleaned.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a fisher-person.  Not because I wouldn't like to be, but somehow the opportunity never got past taking my kids fishing for bluegills at the local lake.  So prepping these guys was a new experience...

Guess I should have put on some makeup...  but what the heck...  the fish didn't care.  This is one of the fish...  so you can tell they weren't exactly small.

I'm scraping off the scales....  I learned to work around the gills and whatever you call that dorsal-fin-like thing along the backbone...  Boy!  Those points are sharp!  We had a dull knife from the kitchen and Bill's Leatherman, which wasn't too sharp either, to work with.

After we got the first fish, the smaller one, into a manageable shape, I took it inside and kind of poached it...  I wanted to make ceviche, and even though I used lots of lime juice, I wanted to make sure any parasites were destroyed before eating it.

Bill finished up with the second fish...  which I'll bake soon.

We did have ceviche for dinner tonight...  forgot to take any photos...  and it really didn't marinate as long as I would have liked, but it was pretty good.

But...  the big news of the day....

When we lived in Ohio, we had great neighbors who lived just down the road. We got to know them as time went on and enjoyed them as both neighbors and friends.  We left in 2001, but would come back at least once a year to visit family and check on our property.  We'd always visit them and catch up. We saw them last in 2011...  they had sold their house and were moving the next week to Indiana...  but only as a home base...  they were ready to travel.  

Since then they have lived in Washington state, Arizona and just last year rented a house in England for a couple of months.  This year, unbeknownst to either them or us, we had both rented houses in Costa Rica.  It was through Ann's Facebook post that we figured out that we'd be living just a short distance from each other.

We've been here nearly 3 weeks, and they arrived a couple of days ago...  today we met at a restaurant in downtown Coco....

Steve and Ann

What a great time we had...  catching up on what all we've all done since we last saw each other.

Who'dve ever thought we'd both be in some place like Costa Rica at the same time?

And what a joy it is to see old friends again!

That's All For Today!