Favorite dishes from Tropicna

Each Thursday we eat at our friend's beach restaurant. My favorite is this rollo, a beautiful white fish rolled around shrimp and cheese and topped with an incredible garlic cheese sauce. I wait for the cholesterol levels to drop for the week and order it again.

Dave orders the camerones con tocina y quesa ( prawns, wrapped in bacon, stuffed with garlic and cheese)

Ellen is a shrimp expert and says this is the best ever! 

Folks have asked  about the cost of living here, well let's say that is hardly worth our while to cook!!! But I do once in awhile so I don't forget how!! Then we tend to go with salsa and salads, quesadillas and bojillos.

A very large omelette with spinach, ham, cheese, coffee and tortillas will be 350 pesos ( less than $3 Cdn) at Concha del Mar across the street or 450 pesos at El Quetzel on the other corner, the new fine dining French/Mexican establishment.

The big treat is pollo asado, cooked by many different vendors. You get a whole chicken, marinated in asado sauce then bbqued, a generous helping of rice, coleslaw and tortillas. This feeds at least four people and costs anywhere from 900-1000 pesos depending how many streets you go back from the main street, not bad for less than $8.

Fruit, vegetables and herbs are very inexpensive. For my salsa for six people:

large bunch of cilantro 2 pesos, 6 tomatoes 10 pesos, 1 large white onion  4 pesos and juice from 2 fresh limes 4 pesos. Grand total 20 pesos  or approx $1.60.

I don't often get to serve appies in BC for that price!! Throw in the fresh tortilla chips and it may break the bank , still under 2 bucks.

So in answer to your question about the cost of living, we can comfortably live on $10. a day for food. We splurge often and support the local chefs, then eat salads and bolijos  for a few days, fresh fruit for breakfast with boiled eggs, or granola with fruit and yogurt. Their yogurt is awesome!! Coffee from the local growers tops the morning.