I have friends that recently left Australia for a few months in South America. I’m jealous. Some of my favourite memories thus far are chowing down on ceviche on the coast in Peru, or eating empanadas on overnight bus rides. Food plays such a huge role in any trip to Latin America, which is why I almost wet my pants with excitement when I heard about the Latino Fiesta held in Johnston Street, Melbourne’s Latin district, this weekend. Not one to ever miss a paella opportunity, I spent most of the week counting down the days and went to bed especially early on Friday, so that I might be able to get a full weekend of filling my belly. I never claimed to not be a loser.

Melbourne’s Spanish and Latin American community isn’t massive, but isn’t exactly non existent either. Latino HQ is pretty much Johnston Street, which is home to tapas bars, Jamón shops, authentic Mexican restaurants and Spanish clubs. Once a year the street is shutdown for a weekend of Salsa classes, over-priced Sangria, tacos and Columbian BBQ’s. Heaven for this little cerdito.

The fiesta also has a significant amount of hand made crafts, Flamingo Dancers and Latino music for sale, though for me today, it’s all about la comida.

Rule of thumb for any street food festival is to do a reconnaissance lap, check out what’s going on. You don’t want to jump in too eagerly and fill up before you get to the good stuff. So away I went.

I saw Lechona (stuffed pig) at a Columbian store that had been cooking since 3am (it takes about 10 hours). There were Anticuchos (sort of like meat kebabs, anticuchos de Corazon – beef heart- being the most popular) grilling at one of the Peruvian stores. I passed an impressive amount of revelers waiting in line to be served Sangria at many of the bars that line the streets. I found my first stop of the day.

Sangria is summer punch served in Spain and Portugal. It usually consists of a inexpensive red wine fruit, spices and a sweetener like syrup or sugar. It’s also delicious and over indulgence, at least for me, often results in the mother of all hangovers. Still it’s a small price to pay and nothing that some aspirin and huevos rancheros can’t fix.

After the sangria party for one, I was on the move again, navigating past the nervous looking guys getting salsa lessons and found the empanada store. These delicious little parcels are like a South American samosa, dough with a meat, cheese or vegetable filling, and served with salsa. Stopping myself at one, I then made a beeline for the Taco stand.

Western versions of the Taco are wrong, god damnit. To start with, a taco isn’t served in a hard corn shell in Mexico, but rather come in a small soft tortilla. Secondly there’s no lettuce to be seen in an authentic taco, rather it’s topped with diced raw onion, tomatoes and an abundance of coriander. I was a served pork taco with a wedge of lemon on the side, and encouraged to squeeze it on liberally. My first bite is extraordinary; a fusion of delicious tastes and smells.

Keen readers of this website know that I’m a vegetarian who bends the rules a bit when travelling. I decided to adopt this rule today; instead of me travelling it was Latin American that came to see me. I welcomed it in all its carnivorous glory.

Getting full and a little sleepy I decided I had room for one more dish. I did another lap so I could way up my options. I was deciding between paella and quesadillas when I stumbled across Fideuà. The icing on my gluttonous cake.

Fideuà

Fideuà is from Valencia, Spain and is similar to paella except that it uses a thin noodle like vermicelli instead of rice. The Fideuà I chose came with an abundance of crustaceans and was served with aioli. It was exquisite. I’m not a man that goes around liberally declaring things to be exquisite, so I hope this goes some way to describing just how intensely tasty it was.
Being quite content with my finds for the day I waddled over to the tram stop to head home (the laundry isn’t going to wash itself). I left with a full belly and a happy heart, knowing that my sojourn into the culinary delights of Latin America and Spain cost me little more than a tram ticket and a few extra inches around the belly.

Don’t hang out in San Jose

Allegedly there are some nice areas and cool sights in San Jose. I wouldn’t know because I was too busy trying to fend off muggers, not step on heroin shooting junkies on the sidewalk, all while pretending not to look at the hookers literally earning their money in the alleys.

The taxi drivers also refused to take me anywhere cool because I didn’t want to pick up one of their prostitutes.

Do stay in Alajuela

Assuming you are flying in to SJO (Juan Santamaría International Airport) Alajuela is much closer than the actual city of San Jose. A taxi will run you around $25 to San Jose or just $3 to Alajuela.

There are plenty of small hostels / guesthouses in Alajuela and it’s very safe compared parts of San Jose. It’s not a bad launching pad for the sights and activities around the Poa volcano either.

Don’t take the Interbus shuttle

Nothing against them personally. I’ve heard nothing but good things but they run around $35-40 to the destinations I scoped out.

Do take a local bus

Most of the buses in Costa Rica are very nice and comfortable and they’re also considerably cheap. Last time I checked, it cost around $4 to go from San Jose to La Fortuna or $6 to go to Quepos. Both rides are around 4 hours so that’s not a bad deal for such a long distance.

This schedule should help but get there early to make sure it’s accurate.

Don’t reserve a hotel online

It’s true that Costa Rica is a major tourist destination, especially for backpackers, but it’s not as crowded as you would imagine. If you arrive late a hostel might be booked by the time you get there, but if you have the time, consider checking out the area for good deals.

Do just show up and look at a few rooms

I booked a private hostel room for three last year in Quepos which ran about $50. Not bad for three people, but when we took the bus to the beautiful Manuel Antonio beaches we found that there were plenty of hotels with amazing views of the Pacific Ocean for $25-50. These exact same places were listed online at a minimum of $100 per night.

Talk about slashing prices.

Don’t eat anywhere listed in the Lonely Planet

It’s not that the places listed in the guidebooks are bad by any means, but it appears they double or triple their prices once they get published. If it was listed as a budget restaurant in the Lonely Planet it ran around $10-15 for a standard meal. That’s around the same price as a standard meal where I live in Southern California–one of the most expensive areas in California I should add.

Do find the local soda

Soda’s are your typical Costa Rican eatery. Smaller than most restaurants, most soda’s only have a couple of tables and chairs outside. Many soda’s operate on the street corner with nothing more than a window for you to order your meal. They’re a step or two above food carts on the street.

The best meals I have had in Costa Rica cost around $3 from local sodas. The menu usually isn’t very large and will feature several comidas (typical meals) with your choice of meat. One night it’ll be fresh vegetables and rice, the next it’ll be french fries. It all depends on what they have on hand and what’s fresh.

Don’t party and drink your vacation away

I’ve met plenty of backpackers who sleep most of the day and party most of the night. That’s fine every now and then, but Costa Rica has a lot more to offer visitors than $1 Imperial beers and happening clubs.

Do get out and enjoy the scenery

There is too much to do in Costa Rica to list them all here. Consider white-water rafting, zip-lining through the rain forest, a beautiful hike, or even renting a surfboard and chilling on a beach.

Follow Jeff on Twitter or read more of his travel tales at Have Pack, Will Travel

The story of Alvaro Perez and the

cats and dogs of Progresso, Mexico

After a swim in the sea I walked back to my hotel in the lovely town of Progreso, Mexico, and the sun beat down mercilessly. I turned down a quiet street and passed a small shop with a man and a boy playing dominos, I stopped by to have a look at what he was selling. With that small decision I ended up having a wonderfully interesting afternoon chatting to possibly the sweetest person I’ve ever met. It reminded me why I loved travelling so much.

Alvaro was a local to Progreso but had been in the USA for the last 23 years, he recently brought his youngest son back with him to Mexico to live. Now back in Progreso Alvaro had started a travel and tour company, was a real estate consultant, and also had the shop we were sitting in where I was buying a few gifts for friends. I felt a little lazy after hearing all this! As we spoke more, it was his work for a particular group which caught my attention. Alvaro calls himself a ‘vigilante’ working for an organization dedicated to stray animals. The group was called the ‘Proteccion de Perros y Gatos’.

Mexico, like many other countries, has a multitude of unregistered dogs and cats that wander the streets, eat garbage, dodge cars and get ‘friendly’ with one another. The scenes of unwanted puppies or dead dogs by the side of the road is constant in many countries – one thing that always bothered me when travelling, making me wish I could adopt them all and take them home with me.. Here was a man whose love for animals had led him to become part of a group fixing these issues in his home town. I was inspired and wanted to know more.

Progreso is not far from the state capital of Merida and a few hours from Cancun. Though small it is quite popular with locals and tourists, and one of its claims to fame is having the longest industrial pier in the world. It fades off into the distance as you look out to sea and is quite a sight.

While Merida, like other big cities in Mexico, already has a large registered organization set up to capture, house, de-sex and control the animal populations, smaller places like Progreso do not have anything. Peoples mentality to animals differs from say, Australia, where you can be fined for not cleaning up after your dog – let alone have unregistered animals wondering around. Currently the local municipal government for Progreso are in charge and they pick up strays, but often just drop them away from town, which doesn’t solve much.

Alvaro told me that his organization aims to convince the local government, as well as individual pet owners, to take more responsibility for cats and dogs.

The group is formally constructed with a president, vice-president, treasurer and secretary, some of them Mexicans like Alvaro and others American and Canadian that call Progreso home. When cruise ships dock at the pier they ask for donations from tourists and as the group saves more and more money they are preparing to get the organization up and running.

Alvaro Perez

The organization plans to open a building in town dedicated to housing stray animals, and to get veterinary students to donate their time and skills to de-sex or provide any medical attention needed for sick animals. These services would also be open to the general public and their pets, hopefully for free. Their group are always in touch with the Merida organisation and this communication is mutually benifical when it comes to gathering data and swapping ideas.

The more I spoke to Alvaro the more passionate he became and I wished I wasn’t just stopping by for a few days before moving on.

What the group also want to do is educate the public, have mandatory registration for animals, and have laws passed to fine people for lost animals or ones not de-sexed. As it stands the government does not want any new legislation as they say the people are too poor to deal with fines.

Currently the group need to get permits, more donations and more willing people to take part. Public market appearances and raffles are planned for the future to attain more exposure.

As the afternoon heat refused to go away, I bought a bookmark and bracelet from Alvaros shop, donated some money for the dogs and cats cause, and we chatted some more. It was sad to leave as I had made a lovely friend, learnt a lot and become thoroughly inspired. It only strengthened my love of Mexico and I resolved to return soon and find out how he was going with all his ventures, particularly the dogs and cats. An unsuspecting Sunday had turned into one of the favourite highlights of my adventures and it gave me a spring in my step as I thought about the next place I was to go and who I’d meet there.

Alvaro and the group are out to make a difference, it is free to join them and they need more help.

If you are travelling through that side of Mexico, stop by Progreso – it has great seafood and a street fiesta every Sunday. Get in touch with Alvaro for some tours, he has a wealth of knowledge and will inspire you. He may even give you a honey sweet as a treat. (I can’t get enough of them now).

Alternatively if you cannot make it there but are interested in giving their organization more exposure or donating in any way, the contact details are:

Proteccion de Perros y Gatos a.c.

Jose Alvaro Perez, vigilante

Cel: 999 994 8525

Apartado Postal No. 30, 97320 Progreso, Yucatin, MEXICO

For information regarding Alvaro’s tour company and real estate venture you can email him or call using the number listed above.

About the Author

Milli Vukovic is a freelance photographer currently in Croatia, but is just as likely to be in Morocco this time next  week. Backpacking around the world in search of the weird and wonderful, Milli is always on the look out for a the perfect shot, an amazing beach and the worlds best laksa. You can follow Milli on twitter or read her travel blog.

Milli@sanchezjalapeno.com

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