Mucha Fiesta (12/20/09)

Lila and I in our new aprons

Naomy: 13 year old hair stylist/makeup artist

Birthday festivites

English class party

Flour fight!

Well it’s officially summer break in Quebradas, meaning nooooooooooo work is to be done until about mid-January. But it’s actually been more fun and lively than I expected and given me an opportunity to spend time with people socially without thinking or talking at all about projects. Tuesday was our end of the year party with the youth group at FUDEBIOL. Everyone brought food (I made more latkes from the leftover potatoes) and we played musical chairs and piñata, which I learned has a twist in Costa Rica. In addition to candy, they put flour inside, so whoever ends up hitting it open gets covered in flour. And then all the other kids run and cover themselves in it too! I decided to keep my distance and just take pictures…

Thursday was my English class end of the year party, after our final exam on Monday, which went pretty well. Again, we all brought food and did a Yankee swap gift exchange, which they had never done and was pretty fun. Then a few of the of-age students took me out to the next door bar (yes, NEXT to the school) to have a beer for my birthday. Friday, to mark my quarter century, I got up early and met Jared and Morgan to catch the 7am bus from San Isidro to Dominical, where we spent the morning lounging on the beach. The highlight of the trip, as I’m pretty sure I’ve already told everyone I’ve spoken to, was the discovery of a new homemade ice cream shop run by a couple that just moved out there from Brooklyn. REAL chocolate and homemade cones – enough said.

Friday night I went out with four friends from Quebradas to their favorite Friday night bar, which has dancing and karaoke. I don’t know where I found it in me, but I sang the Titanic song after only one beer! Maybe I’ve just become that much of a lightweight…The nice thing about the way they do karaoke here is that people just stay seated at their table instead of standing in front of everyone, so you don’t always know who’s singing. Then again I was the only gringa at the bar and the only person that sang in English, so they probably made the connection. So it was a pretty fun birthday and it was also of course wonderful to receive many calls and emails from home making me feel special and loved.

This weekend may have been my most social so far within the community. Saturday I went to two graduations, high school in the morning and elementary school in the afternoon. They were pretty similar to what I recall of mine at home, but there were no robes or mortar boards, just sashes and all the kids dressed in their uniforms. Also nobody smiles for pictures here, which is kind of weird. Then Saturday night was the annual Christmas dinner at FUDEBIOL, a fancy event with 80 guests, a caterer and live music. The whole place was decorated with candlelight and the room where I teach classes was completely transformed with elegant round tables and centerpieces and stars painted on the windows and material hanging from the ceilings. It was really beautiful. I didn’t know that many people there, but it was nice to be part of the event (and to be comped the 10mil ticket) and the members of the Board of Directors seemed very happy with the turnout. Also, I wore a nice dress and a friend straightened my hair and did my makeup, and every single person I did know made the joke that they didn’t recognize me so – feminine. I guess I’ll take that as a compliment…

And today was the Christmas party for AQUA, the artisan group I have been working with. More delicious food and another gift exchange, but this time everyone had to bring a handmade piece of artwork. So I had to come up with something quick and with few resources. I found instructions on how.com for a pop bottle bracelet that seemed pretty easy, so I went to the school where we store the recycling and took 20 caps off the tops of beer cans and wove them together with some ribbon I had and it turned out all right. Everyone appreciated the effort since I was the only non-artisan at the party. I on the other hand received a very lovely and professionally sewn apron, which I can hopefully make use of now that I am sort of learning how to cook.

In the evening I was invited to two family posadas, one at 6 and one at 7. I guess it’s the equivalent of Christmas caroling in the US, but, as to be expected, much more religious. A group from the church picks a different family to visit every night for the nine nights leading up to Christmas, and they do a half hour performance which includes singing, discussing a theme from the Bible, praying, more singing, and then, of course, coffee and bread. So I sang, prayed and ate twice in a row tonight, which was more than enough, but it was fun to be a part of.

And tomorrow I begin my real vacation when I leave for San Jose to pick up Dan at the airport and we head north to Arenal. But I’m really glad I was around the community this week and got to participate in some traditional celebrations. It felt good to be invited and included into so many different families here who understand how hard it is to be away from my own family during the holidays and want to make me feel welcome. After just over six months in Quebradas, it is starting to feel something like home.

Living la Vida Sola

The big spenders

Local artisans examining their goods

The outdoor cocina típica

Ready for the pools

The Pérez Girls

So far, SO good. I have only broken one glass and slightly burned my pointer finger, and I have already prepared such fine dishes for myself as coconut whole wheat rice with steamed green beans and my classic chicken stir-fry. There are more bugs and a less functional pipe system in my new place, but the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. I love coming home to a quiet place where I can do what I want when I want without feeling awkward. And I’ve managed to keep myself busy enough that I haven’t had time to feel too lonely yet.

I’m in the midst of tying up a lot of projects before the end of the year. This included our second recycling campaign last weekend, which had a decent turnout and generated 11 mil from selling the material. I also went to my first professional Costa Rican soccer game at the stadium in San Isidro on Sunday, which was awesome. It was the Guerreros del Sur versus Saprissa, the most popular team from San José, and it ended in a tie, which knocked Saprissa out of the playoffs! Also, we had paid the extra colones for seats in the shade because it has been so hot lately, and turns out in mid-day that’s a really subjective term. So I got back to my community totally sweaty and gross and had to go straight to an assembly of a community group that had invited me to observe. So I figured I would just slip quietly in and sit in the back, but as soon as I sat down the president called my name and pointed me to a table in front of everyone that say “Invitados” and was completely empty. Apparently I was the only special guest who showed up, and my punishment was to have to sit up there the whole two hour meeting by myself. As if that weren’t enough, they then asked me to come up and say a few words before getting started. I had terribly sweat stains, but everyone was nice and smiled and clapped.

On Thursday, I did a trip with my Chicas Super-Poderosas group and two moms and a few of their siblings to a “water park” about 45 minutes away that has a few pools and slides, but they were SO excited and spent every second in the water even though it started to rain and obviously didn’t want to leave when it was time to go, but it was fun to see them having so much fun and getting out of the community and doing something different for a day.

Then this weekend was jam-packed and exhausting but great. The artisan expo we have been planning for was on Sunday, so all of Saturday was set aside for cooking. I offered to help with the tamales, figuring I would just stop by for a couple hours in the morning and be home for lunch. SIX hours later, I finally retreated with a sore back from standing and cleaning banana leaves to wrap the tamales. That is HARD work! But it ended up being a really fun experience because tamales over Christmas are a really big deal here, and every woman has her secret recipe (think matzah ball soup and Jewish grandmothers), and there were seven of us all working on a different task and lots of talk about how to make them just right.

Then I rushed home to greet Morgan, Jared, Chamisa, Adrienne and Nicole, who were all coming up to Quebradas for my housewarming/Chanukah/early birthday party. I had bought two kilos of potatoes at the feria but was very disappointed that I could not find apple sauce or real sour cream (they eat something called natilla which is kind of similar but not as good), nor did I have a menorah to light. But my ever-resourceful Peace Corps friends more than pulled through. Chamisa brought a bag of apples and made her mom’s homemade apple sauce, and Jared and Morgan brought me a handmade iron menorah that an artisan in their community crafted based on pictures they had printed from the Internet. It was a true Chanukah miracle.

Anyways we had a delicious feast and lit the candles and said the prayers and played charades, and as many of you know, these are the kinds of nights I love most wherever I am (especially because my team obviously dominated). Then we all hiked with our stuff up to Roger’s ranch, where we spent the night in the two upstairs bedrooms and were woken at 7:30 by the tamale ladies who were back to start preparing the olla de carne, picadillos and helote. My friends all stayed the morning and helped set up and ate and shopped, and I’m pretty sure they were the big spenders of the day. But more people started arriving in the afternoon and there was a moon-bounce and snow cones, which were big hits with the little kids and select adults, where I categorize myself now that I am nearly 25…It was a beautiful afternoon and lots of people bought food and not as many bought art but every single artisan sold at least something, and it was really cool to just see everyone’s work displayed and how talented people in the community are, and I hope that even the window-shoppers appreciated that.

Coming up this week are many more Christmas parties (I think I may have to watch a pig or two get killed) and preparing for my upcoming visitors!

Back to Quebradas

Where the magic happens...

The "living room"

A hammock with a view

Just like home

Me and some Junior Achievers

Recycle Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease

Vacation pics

A rice and bean-less gourmet meal

Playa Grande (BIG beach)

MONKEYS!

Potential Christmas card

The Thanksgiving crew

The Robin Russell treatment (12/3/09)

It all started when I showed up at her hotel in San José before she got there on the evening of the 25th and treated myself to ceviche, a glass of white wine, and strawberries and cream for dessert. And if you can believe it, it only got better from there!

It was my mom’s first time visiting since I’ve been down here, and she came to keep me company for Thanksgiving and to help me make my big move into my new apartment. So we started off our adventure in San José the day before and then made our way to Playa Tamarindo on Thanksgiving morning via tiny 12-person plane, which took about an hour instead of a 6-hour bus ride, Peace Corps style. Tamarindo is one of the more developed touristy areas in Costa Rica, located on the Pacific Coast of the Nicoya Peninsula in the province of Guanacaste. It used to be a total hippy town and still holds remnants of that with lots of tiny surfer hostels and hammocks everywhere, but there are also some fancy resorts and housing developments and LOTS of construction going on. I kind of thought I was going to resent the place after my more “authentic” Costa Rica experiences, but it is really beautiful and the development is not too obnoxious or gaudy and I have no complaints about the variety of food offerings beyond comida típica.

Anyways on Thursday afternoon, three volunteer friends who live in the area, John, Brianna and Brigitte, came and hung out at our lovely hotel pool and then the five of us shared a real turkey dinner, with gravy, cranberry sauce, green beans, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie for dessert. There was not going back for seconds since we were at a restaurant, but we all managed to stuff ourselves and have a great time. The next day we checked out a beautiful nearby beach called Conchal, because the sand is made entirely of white shells, and the water was super clear and blue. That night Brigitte and I got a little taste of Tamarindo nightlife and Monkey Bar, which had a live salsa band AND a dj playing reggae(ton), gringos AND local ticos, AND it was ladies night so we drank for free. Really fun, and I even managed to pull out a few of my salsa moves and not feel embarrassed for the first time because there were plenty of gringos there with even less rhythm.

The next morning we took a mangrove tour up an estuary off the ocean and saw lots of wildlife, including herons, crocodiles, land crabs (who knew?), lizards, flying fish, and monkeys! They were pretty fun. We spent the afternoon shopping in town and eating gelato and then had an adventurous swim out to a nearby island. My mom freaked out halfway through and thought we were going to get swept to sea and tried to hail a boat to come pick us up but to no avail. Fortunately, we all lived to laugh about it.

Feeling very relaxed and removed from rural Costa Rican life, it was finally time to head back to Quebradas for a little taste of something different. We got in Sunday evening and had dinner with the Tico family. It was Nazareth’s birthday so everyone was in good spirits and my mom brought them some fun gifts, including much Michael Jackson paraphernalia and Eclipse, the third book in the Twilight series, for Sylvia, so everyone went to bed happy.

The next morning began the big move. We rolled my suitcases down the hill about 200 meters to my new apartment, directly across from the soccer field with the river running just behind it. My mom was pleasantly surprised after I’d managed to lower her expectations significantly in terms of cleanliness and functionality of appliances. And of course she had brought me an entire suitcase of everything I could possibly need and more, so it was just a matter of cleaning and arranging. The only casualty of the long trip was the toaster oven, which sadly now only cooks but lost its ability to toast…

Anyways we spent two days scrubbing and sweeping and mopping and making multiple trips into town for 409 and electric tape and plastic dishes and managed to fit in English class, a hike up to FUDEBIOL for Junior Achievement class and a brief tour, and a meeting with the local artisan group at their ranch. And fortunately for everyone, Kenny Chesney cancelled his meeting with Sony so instead of rushing out on Tuesday evening my mom was able to stay two extra days. So we were able to really put the place together AND even snuck in another beach trip to Dominical for one last hurrah.

So it was very sad to say goodbye to her this afternoon, but she left me in great shape: a full fridge, lots of cleaning supplies, my perfect hammock perfectly hung, and even a few cooking tips. This is my first time ever living alone, but I think I am ready and felt pretty happy to come home tonight to my own place, just the way I left it. It is definitely going to be a lot of extra time and energy keeping the place clean and preparing food for myself, and unlike in NYC, I don’t have the option to just pick up some take-out next door if I don’t feel like cooking or call a cleaning service if things get really bad, but I was fully aware of that much at least when I joined the Peace Corps and I think I’ll manage just fine. If nothing else, I will return from my experience here an EXCELLENT sweepstress…

12/4
La Voz Quebradeña, segunda edición, was finally ready to distribute today. This time the cover and back cover and two inside pages are in color, so we are making progress poco a poco. Still can't figure out how to post PDF's on this blog but will email it to anyone who is intersted!