Living jungle camp style by the beach, Playa Camaronal, Costa Rica

In August/September 2010 I spent 3 weeks living in a basher bed 30 metres behind the beach at the Playa Cameronal marine national park in Costa Rica.  I was working here for my final phase, a turtle conservation environmental project, as a project manager with Raleigh International.

This project was not only focused on supporting the rangers in their efforts to protect turtles, but also to experience living very simply, away from the usual luxuries of life, in hammocks or basher beds, building furniture and a communal area, kitchen etc and cooking with the famous ‘Raleigh rations’ and fresh food we could get hold of.

So, what was a typical day like at Playa Cameronal?  Well we designated 2 people each day to be on ‘camp duty’.  Whilst the rest of the team went to work in the morning, camp duty would be responsible for preparing all meals that day as well as cleaning up, ensuring enough water was available and making ‘home improvements’ to the camp.

Every morning we started our day with porridge – the best breakfast my mum always says to kick start your day!  Then for lunch and dinner we devised a menu using our dry ingredients and adding the fresh food we could buy.  We were lucky that where we were once a week a big fruit and veg van came and so we bought some healthy fresh additions!  I was amazed that at the end of the phase everyone in the group commented on how good the food had been and that they had not been expecting it!

So here’s a peak at some of the tasty meals we were able to cook in the camp:

In addition to this we got creative with the sweet additions and made several ‘cakes and ‘energy bombs’ to keep us going!  These were very popular, take a look…

If you would like to replicate one of our very simple yet tasty camp cakes (highly recommended!) then click here for the classic brinky cake recipe or for the simple energy bomb mix!

Next time you’re camping, get creative with your food.  If you can get hold of plantain it is a tasty addition to any meal!