By Paul Suplee, MBA, CEC, PC-3

Apparently, I left a nice tip at the Rum Bar on one of our first nights in Dominical, Costa Rica. Sometimes the conversion from US dollars to colones gets muddled, but I felt it wasn’t a huge tip, although I do know it was decent. I tend to leave notable tips, having spent so many years in the industry.

Regardless, the owner walked over to our table with eight shots of this red drink and said “for you, my friends. Chili Water.”

We looked at each other, wondering what it was. We shrugged our shoulders, raised our glasses, the bar owner said “Pura Vida!” and we proceeded to throw back our heads, delighted in our indoctrination into a Costa tradition, the Chiliguaro. A classic shot that we would see quite a few more times last week from gracious hosts, Chiliguaro is the traditional salute.

I am not sure how I have never had this before. Perhaps it’s just a “thing” down south. I am probably returning up north later in the year on a business trip, so I will have to test this theory. We shall see. But to make a long story short, it is pretty much a Bloody Mary shot. Yeah, I can live with that.

Enamored by the taste of this beverage, and still having no interest to really cook anything from scratch on vacation, we walked to the supermercado the following morning and browsed the shelves, amassing the cheater ingredients that would at least send us in the right direction. I made a gallon of the stuff and placed it in the refrigerator to stay chilled until we needed it. I am not ashamed to say that it paled in comparison to the Rum Bar’s Chiliguaro, but it would suffice for our inaugural batch.

We were incredibly fortunate, as we stayed at a friend’s boutique hotel, a 4-unit building quaintly located on nine acres of lush Costa Rican jungle and gardens, complete with its own waterfall, toucans, capybara, Panamanian white-faced monkeys and howler monkeys. With the amount of rain (it is the rainy season, or their winter down there), the venomous snakes have also come out of the hills, and our hosts killed one two days before we arrived (I managed to not share that with my travel buddies until we were down there).

We saw another on the road out front that had been dispatched by a fast-moving car. No one likes these snakes. They’re not good for “keeping the mice out of the house.” Their venom is so strong, that without an antidote, you won’t be breathing 30 minutes after being bitten.

Needless to say, our host told all of us to make sure the ground wasn’t moving as we hiked through the jungle. So, for all of the amazing wildlife that we were able to see, the snake was not quite as welcome a sight.

Everything about the trip was about hospitality. Our friends at the hotel keep one unit for themselves and rent the other three out. We rented the latter, and as they were staying elsewhere in town, we had this amazing sanctuary to ourselves. It was quite the experience. Fifty yards into the jungle, and just around a hill that hid its sound and magnitude, was the waterfall, or cascada. I love waterfalls, having spent the first sixteen vacations of my life in the Skyline Drive in the Appalachian Mountains. Waterfall hikes were always our favorite.

On our first hike, I remember walking back not expecting much, or at least not knowing what we would find. But, when we came around the corner and saw the magnitude of it, it stopped us in our tracks. The breeze coming off of the waterfall was staggering, making this little section of the jungle 20 degrees cooler than the backyard we had just walked through. The rainy season had effectively channeled a massive amount of water down the cascada solely for our enjoyment.

We walked over the moss-covered rocks and stepped into the cool water, enjoying the breeze and sights. It was wondrous. Alas, neither one of us thought about bug spray, so the mosquitoes made quick work of our visit and we turned around and backed out of the jungle, going back to the unit for some fresh coffee.

As the day wore on, we saw the beach, the mountains and the pool. And the chiliguaro came back out. Yes, I could get used to this place.

Pura Vida.

Chiliguaro on-the-fly

Makes about 1 gallon

1 bottle (750 ml) Cacique

Juice of 2 limes

1 Tbsp. Tajin seasoning

1 Tbsp. Hot sauce

1 bunch Cilantro leaves and stems, washed

1 white onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 Qt. Tomato juice (spicy if you can find it)

2 Tbsp. Sazon Completa or similar seasoning from the Latin section

1. Combine everything in a pitcher and mix well.

2. Let it sit in the icebox for at least three hours or overnight to let the mixture steep.

3. Strain and place back in icebox until ready to serve.

4. You are done. This is a cheater recipe, based on our trip. If you want to be a little more elaborate, or ‘Gucci’ as I put it, do the whole mess from scratch. There are plenty of recipes out there.

5. When ready to drink, amass friends and line up the shot glasses. Pura Vida!

—Paul Suplee is a Professor of Culinary Arts
at Wor-Wic Community College and owner of boxcar40.
Visit him at www.boxcar40.com.