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!
No comments:
Post a Comment