Caribbean Style..ya got meh?

Not the greatest picture, but definitely one of the greatest meals I've ever ingested.

The center of the plate contains a spiny lobster tail and shrimps caught daily from the Caribbean ocean, topped with a freakishly good straight-from-the-womb-fresh coconut sauce.

The fish is served with my new favorite tropical food - fried breadfruit which is a fruit found growing on trees throughout the lush isle. Tastes like a mix between a more flavorful potato and yucca root, and fries up real crispy and clean. Coconut rice and a tomato, cucumber and onion salad rounded out the plate.

I can't remember a brighter tasting meal in recent memory. Seafood on the beach is always a winner. Cost about $16 at Grace's place, which also rents beach huts for $5.50 a night!

One of the endless amount of fresh coconuts found all over the island. Bite into 'em raw or make delicious milk from their shredded flesh.

Corn Island Style Pollo

Island local Enis in his kitchen. He offered to cook me some chicken the way he and his family eats it. I took the offer.

Here's a video of Enis cooking up his magical Corn Island Style Chicken. The chicken legs are marinated in salsa lizano, consume seasoning and garlic along with fresh basil and marjoram from his herb garden.

The Finished Product: Brown, crisp and juicy. We grubbed the chicken along with fried breadfruit, red beans and rice.

Vigoron - "Make You Strong"

This is a specialty of Granada, Nicaragua. Steamed cassava root is topped with chicharron (fried pork skins) and cabbage with a vinegar-based, pepper-infused dressing. The entire package is served in a banana leaf. It's a simple meal- but the combination of the salty, crispy pork with the refreshingly spicy cabbage salad satisfies. You can find Vigoron throughout Nicaragua, but the dish originated in Granada and to this day that's where they do it best. This dish costs about $2.25.

Desayuno Tipico

What we have here is desayuno tipico Nicaraguese - a typical Nicaraguan breakfast.

The bowl to the right contains gallo pinto (the national dish of both Nicaragua and Costa Rica), a stir-fried mixture of rice and black (or sometimes red) beans. Gallo pinto translates to 'spotted rooster', with the beans being the 'spots'.

The main plate contains scrambled eggs with green beans, sweet fried plantains (platinos in spanish), green fried plantains and fried (extremely salty!) cheese with tomatoes. Central Americans love to fry their food! They also love their carbs- beans, rice, tortillas, pan dulce, plantains and so on...

This breakfast is served with a spicy, vinegar-based dipping sauce for the platinos and a tall glass of limonata.

This meal set me back about 3 dollars on Isla de Ometempe.

This second plate is a typical Guatemalan breakfast. As with most all of Central America, the plantains, eggs and beans remain a key part of the meal.

In Guatemala the black beans are mashed up and fried- no 'Gallo Pinto' here. Rice is commonly replaced by bread or tortillas.