Walked across the street to Mall San Pedro around noonish and we followed our noses to the food court. We eyed the prepared food from a few stalls and settled on La Hacienda because they had grilled meat options (bistec a la plancha con cebolla for Jon) along with stuffed plantains, which won me over (they looked like they had TWO kinds of cheese!). The lunch specials came with free soup (tomato with bits of boiled egg whites) and dessert (a tiny lidded container arroz con leche); Jon picked horchata for his “refresco natural.” My plantains were considered a side dish, so they came a la carte.
₡4400 CRC for everything— about $8 USD and just a quarter of what we spent yesterday. We had a different ambiance, different drinks (non-alcoholic), and a different quality of food, but probably more in line with the average lunch out over here.
We ordered right before a big lunch crowd came, reassuring us that we picked a good place from this food court (not all the eateries had such crowds). There were also American fast food chains that seemed pretty popular (Quiznos AND Subway, Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Mrs. Fields).
Mall San Pedro has lots of what you’d expect to find at any mall. Aside from a food court, there are several banks, a movie theater, clothing stores, a book store, shoe stores, and specialty shops too.
I took a picture of the aforementioned EXCESS store from Costa Rica to share along with a few other stores that recalled US brands. Most interesting to me was the book store, which sells international books (like Harry Potter in both English and Spanish. Btw, I cannot wait for the next Harry Potter book to come out this summer!). I’ll have to remember to read on my own and revisit the store. 