desfile de boyeros

I had been aware of the Expo Sucre - Feria de Leche for about three weeks before I went - it was advertised around town and on the neighboring highways on the only banners displaying events that hadn't already passed. (The signs will probably stay up for the next six months....). No one I talked to seemed to be all that excited about it, but I figured that since I had nothing else to do, and was going to miss the BIG agricultural expo (I'm thinking it is kind of like a state fair, but they boast that its and international event....), that I might as well check it out.

I knew that Sucre was somewhere outside of Ciudad Quesada, got a taxi quote, and headed out for the last day of about two weeks worth of events. Advertized on the horario online and on posters in town, was the 10:00 Desfile de Boyeros - which I learned was basically an oxcart parade.

I was looking forward to seeing the oxcarts because they are a pretty famous part of Costa Rican history and culture and used to be the main way of transporting goods throughout the country. I figured that I'd get there a little before 10:00, watch the parade, see what else the "feria" had to offer, and head back home.

That day, Sunday, was the hottest that it had been in about a month and even the cab driver was complaining about the heat. He seemed surprised at my destination, but complied, answering my questions along the way before finally pulling off the road in the middle of nowhere into a near empty field. I paid the man, got up out of my pool of sweat, within seconds of the cab pulling away, began to wonder how the hell I was going to get home. No bus stops, no telephone, no stores. Awesome. Regardless, I figured that I would have plenty of time to worry about that later, and set off to check things out.

There were probably about 20-30 Jersey and Holstein cows in a low slung building standing underneath ribbons and signs displaying their lineage. The only people around were caring for the cows and I only saw three oxcarts and pairs of oxen, none of which were preparing to hitch up. In true Costa Rican fashion, the desfile was not going to start on time.

I sat in the barn for about an hour taking pictures of the cows and the Volcano as it was an unusually clear day.

I got a lot of curious looks, but was only approached by a group of kids that asked me which cows were mine.... I mean, why else would I be there? I went down the the food area (a stand selling churros and peanuts, one selling cotton candy and chips, and a large building with a kitchen) and decided to try sopa de mondongo - tripe soup as it was one of the only options. Not as gross as I expected, but certainly nothing I'd seek out again. The texture was kind of gross.....

I had just asked the waitress for suggestions on how to get back to Quesada when I heard rumbling.

Finally, two hours late, the oxcarts were moving. I paid and rushed to see them in all of their painted glory. The oxen were truly magnificent and powerful looking and didn't even seem to notice the carts loaded with children behind them. The looped the fairgrounds about 4 times before heading into the rodeo arena for judging. I ended up standing next to the owner of one of the teams and he kind of adopted me into his posse of extended family, giving me a beer and insisting that I sit with them.

I got my picture taken with the team and and learned a lot about the carts and animals. Apparently the oxen are way smarter than cows, at least as smart as horses, but it still takes nearly four years to perfectly train a team. Everything they did was all by voice command and motions with the driving stick. The driver, or boyero, never had to touch them.

As soon as the judging was finished, the other two teams left, but "mine" was unhitched and tied to the fence to relax while the festivities began. Someone drove an SUV into the ring blaring music and a huge picnic came out, right there in the arena. It was pretty fun, and I'm pretty sure I could have gotten a ride home from them, but didn't really want to stay around for as long as they appeared to be planning on. I walked about 2 miles before finding a bus stop and had been starting to wonder if I'd need to walk to whole 10k.... Overall, I'm glad that I went and experienced something new and random, but it was hardly what I'd been expecting.

Estoy enamorada de este ciudad....

Today's forecast for Ciudad Quesada: 30 degrees Celsius, 87% humidity, and of course, a chance of rain. It doesn't change much, except that some days are more humid (and usually a little cooler because the sun isn't out) and some days climb up into the mid 30s (like 95 F) when it is shining full force.

Most of the time, when it rains, it does so in short bursts and it usually is an aguacero, or down pour. The ground floods and everyone who doesn't have an umbrella gets soaked. Then, in about 15 mins, it lets up and the sun dries everything.

When it rains, it smells so wet and earthy and you can practically see the plants grow with each shower.

In general, Costa Rica reminds me of when I was in Kenya in that I am very aware of what I smell. It seems like it always smells like something in developing countries, and while Kenya usually smelled like burning garbage, Ciudad Quesada smells like diesel and wetness, with occasional wafts of raw meat and fruit and waves of cow and sugar cane when trucks pass through the agricultural center.

There is always music playing somewhere and you can continually hear vehicles downshifting to make it up the hills. Cars travel around town at about 10km an hour with huge canvas covered speakers strapped to their roofs, repeating advertisements and short bursts of music.

Este. Verano. Caliente. Visite bar "El Techo" por la mejor musica y mujeres "sexy"....

The sidewalks are cracked, most buildings look like they could use some paint, and the houses all have tin roofs and bars over the windows. But there is a very non conventional beauty to this place, which has not been manicured to fit what tourists think a tropical paradise should look like. The buildings, although dulled with time and humidity, are all painted in pretty pastels. Even the trucks that pass through shipping brahman cattle to slaughter are colorful, with slats painted bright blue, yellow and green.

There is also always the impression that the jungle that was once here is still waiting in the wings to take over once again. Anything planted or growing here seems to thrive and every patch of exposed earth has flowers and foliage clamoring to take hold. Even the the cement sidewalks, drains, and walls have tiny little ferns poking out of every crack.

The people here are friendly and boisterous, acknowledging themselves that Ticos talk fast and frequently. People go out of their way to help all of the time, giving up their seats on the bus, holding customers children while they shop, and eagerly offering advice and directions to an often confused gringa. People hiss (Sssssssst!) to ask for silence, warn away dogs, and to get attention, especially that of pretty chiquitas. Trucks and busses signal to let the cars behind them know that its ok to pass and drivers beep all of the time. Not the angry, drawn out beeps of American cities, but quick chirps that let pedestrians know they are there and tell the cars in front of them that they can go.

And, even with all of my feminist ideals and background in sociology and gender studies, the machismo culture here is pretty good for a gal's confidence. Men, young and old alike, never hesitate to appreciate the beauty of women that pass them by. They beep, hiss, proclaim their love, whistle and make their car alarms go off. The Ticas, for their part, all know that they are beautiful, wear the tightest clothes possible and generally ignore the advances, strutting arrogantly past with no acknowledgment other than a small smile on playing at their lips.

The most popular saying here is Pura Vida, or pure life, and there is certainly something about being here that makes you feel more alive.

Esoy enamorada de este ciudad...

... I'm in love with San Carlos

Somewhere to live

I ate at Soda el Jardin again today and spoke more in length with the woman there, Edu. Apparently she and her sister, Ana, own the place and are taking english classes at a school in Ciudad Quesada. She said that if I come back, that I should come look her up because she lives alone in a four bedroom house and would love to have an "extranjera" (foreigner) living with her so that she could improve her language skills.

Why didn't I find this restaurant back when I was trying to find somewhere to live the first time around?

I told her about Longwood program and asked if she'd be interested in future students, as I probably wouldn't be back for at least a year.... or three. She said that she would be for sure, and gave me her phone number and address to pass on to Dr. Frank.

Look at me, the forerunner, paving the way for future student teachers in Costa Rica ;)

Yes, I took pictures of the appliances

I just think that they are so interesting.

The washing machine is outside, is filled by a hose, has to be manually drained, filled, and rinsed, and has a separate compartment for the spin dry. The working washing machine at my apartment complex has a broken spin drier and the one that has the spinner that works, doesn't have a washer. So, we use both.

The spin dry is very intense (when it is working right) and almost hypnotic. It makes the difference between clothes taking one day to dry or three.

The microwave is cool because it is in spanish and I included a picture of the kitchen just because.

The lace doily things were popular in Kenya too, not sure why....

Graduation

Paul told me today that Don Emelio (the owner of the school) had suggested that they come to Farmville for my graduation... Does that mean that I need to look into attending myself?

Fires in the cafeteria and the CIA

Today I was walking home from school (about 3 miles) and this car pulled over and an elderly lady asked me for directions to the hospital. Despite my being bewildered as to why she'd chosen me to ask, I was actually able to do so.... "por aca y a la derecha." I was pretty impressed that someone thought that I didn't look out of place and that I was able to not only give them directions in a city that I've only been in for about 5 weeks, but that I was able to do so in Spanish that didn't make them look at me twice.

I also found out that one of my students' family farm was a former secret CIA weapons air base for shipping weapons into Nicaragua during their civil war without the rest of the world knowing about it. Apparently they also had a fake radio station set up here in the city so that they could listen to Nicaraguan phone lines. The boy's grandpa now lives in Indiana because he was accused of bombing a meeting of Nicaraguan leaders on the Costa Rican side of the border to support la Contra. He was going to have to go to jail here, but the US shipped him out and set him up oversees. Interesting.

Monday the school had an assembly for Juan Santamaria Day (basically this guy came down from the US in the late 1800s and tried to take over Costa Rica and the rest of of Central America to make everyone slaves. The Costa Ricans went to fight the army with their normal citizens and Juan Santamaria managed to burn the building that the other troops were staying in down with a torch and helped turn the tide) which took about an hour and involved lots of readings, skits and singing. It culminated with some of the high school students symbolically burning posters of societal flaws (prostitution, divorce, murder etc) in a big stock pot on the floor of the cafeteria. At one point, the flames were at least three feet high and the younger kids went wild!

One of the third graders' mothers came in earlier that morning and threatened to take her out of the school because she didn't like the grade that her daughter had gotten (93) on the project that she had clearly done the majority of. She was mad that the teacher had indicated that in the future, the oral component of the presentation would be better if the student had actually written it.

Cultural Differences in Parenting

~ Luara's neighbors (a five year old girl and 9 year old boy - cousins) hang out at their house all of the time and stayed with us at the party until at least 10 pm. They had a great time eating and drinking orange Fanta. Their parents certainly didn't seem to mind.

~ One of the girls that was there with a baby was giving him steak to gum and suck on. He was 7 months old and was going to town on it. He also drank soda out of a cup. It all made me a little nervous.

~ The older neighbor, Gustabo (9), was home alone all day Saturday. He seemed fine and enjoyed bringing other kids over to hang out with the gringas, but I'm not sure what he would have done in an emergency.

Vamos al Discoteca!

One thing that I distinctly remember from my middle and high school spanish classes was how the young people in the text book scenarios always seemed to be talking about or going to the "discoteca."

We all always thought that this was so cheesy and that either the books were outdated or the authors were dreaming about their youth in the 70s.

However, this weekend I learned that there really are "discotecas" in spanish speaking countries and that young people do in fact go to them.

My friend Laura, from St.Lawrence (who works at the school), hosted a party Friday night with her boyfriend Carlos. He works as a guide for a canopy tour company (zipline) in La Fortuna, where they live. I was the only person that came from Ciudad Quesada, and incidentally only knew one person there. It's been a while since I'd done anything like that, but it reminded me how much that type of scenario can actually be.

Everyone else there worked with Carlos and was in their twenties or thirties. Apparently there aren't many women in the zipline business because out of the 20 people that were there at one point, there were only five women. Laura and myself, the solitary female zipline guide, and two of the guys wives who were there with their babies.

We had grilled steak and salchicharon with tortillas and popcorn and there were plenty of Pilsen, Imperials and Bavarias around. Apparently the movie Jackass ("Yakass" if you speak spanish) is still pretty popular and shotgunning (or "turbo" as they call it) is a new concept. There was quite a bit of that before everyone decided that we were going to the Discoteca.

I couldn't believe my ears. Vamos al discoteca? Es la verdad? Apparently they really exist....

The one we went to was upstairs in a big warehouse style building. There was probably an even mix of ticos and gringos, La Fortuna being a big tourist town, and lots of pumping spanish music and dancing. I had a great time dancing, although the ratio of 7 guys to one girl (Laura and I were the only girls that went) was a little intimidating at times. I was surrounded!

All in all a good time.

Teaching Full Time

Que Raro!

~ Somebody was selling parakeets on the bus today.

~ When I was at Laura's house in La Fortuna, a little boy came to the door selling bread his mom had made. It had some kind of pineapple cheese filling and was really good. I don't think that he sold much however, because he hung around us and played with Laura's neighbor for about 2 hours.

~ I saw someone riding a motorized scooter in a full cycling outfit. His road bike was strapped to the back.

~ One of the guys at the farmers market was really convinced that I needed a rabbit. I resisted, but found out what the brown stuff I've seen in bottles on the side of the road is - miel de abeja - honey. I thought it was guaro (moonshine). Even the honey here tastes tropical.

Domingo - Puerto Viejo River Cruise

Sabado - Andar Caballos y Volcan!

Saturday we returned to La Fortuna to go one one of the best trail rides I've ever been on - certainly had the best horse component. We went with Don Tobias, which was through some hotel, but looked like it was the best option around. We would be riding for around 3 hours and would get to go as close to the lava flows as is allowed.

We booked it through Annie's Tours (I'd spoken to her on a bus stop over the week before) and she was really great. There were even handwritten signs in Hebrew saying how awesome she was (which J enjoyed). We hung out in La Fortuna for a few hours before our ride and had some Dos Pinos ice cream. Their slogan is .... siempre, algo mejor (....always, something better), and I can't really argue. Never been disappointed.

When we got to Don Tobias, things looked promising. There was an actual barn and all of the horses looked healthy. We got horses that were to our ability levels and rode on some of the hilliest terrain I've ever been on. We basically rode up the volcano to a lookout point where a pretty popular hotel used to be... until an eruption in 2000 killed some of the guests!

My horse, who apparently liked to gallop (the guide, Marvin kept wanting me to take off with him), was named Chingo.

It took me about two days to realize why the word was familiar.... Chingar means to f*ck. It also means to annoy, but either way, interesting.

On the ride, we saw sloths (two and three toed), howler and spider monkeys, parakeets, and parrots, rode through horse and cattle pastures, and got to wade into a lake to cool our horses down. Our group only had 5 people in it, but towards the top, we joined another that probably had about 12 and two dogs following along. It was kind of fun to be in such a big group.

Finally! Saw ALL of Arenal... It only took 5 visits to La Fortuna to get about a minute with no clouds... Now I just have to go back at night and see the lava :)

Viernes - La Fortuna and Ecocentro

Friday Cindie, J and I went to La Fortuna to see what it had to offer as everything in Ciudad Quesada was closed for good Friday.

We walked around town a bit, and then went to the Ecocentro Dano, which was a refuge of sorts and butterfly farm.

It had been an actual farm only 12 years ago! It was amazing how quickly everything had grown and all of the animals had returned to the area. They had build little pools for the frogs and had a mesh frog house of sorts too, but if you looked carefully, there were frogs and butterflies everywhere!

Some of the butterflies really looked like monarchs, as did their caterpillars. I think they are cousins.

There was actually a mother sloth and her baby in a tree next to the path from the visitors center to the the parking lot. The baby was very active, but my pictures just look like a blob, so I won't bother posting them.

Here are some frogs, frog eggs, and a cool lizard that I scared into the water (I thought that it was a Jesus Cristo, but then I saw other basilisks at the river and they looked very different. Either way, I have seen these in pet stores as water dragons).

Cindie and J Jueves

Round Two at La Marina

Proud as a peacock - just wandering around. I was a little scared. When Adam was there with me, it was rotating on the roof like a satellite.

Parrots used in breeding program to increase numbers in the wild.

Cindie doing her best to get the pigs' attention for my picture. They were not her favorite.

This is why everyone thinks that lions live in the jungle... they look pretty content, don't they?

It's hard to tell, but this monkey is carrying a banana with his tail!

The pregnant Danta (Tapir) was no where the be seen, but this massive iguana did make use of it's water trough.

REASONS WHY THE REST OF TUESDAY WAS AWESOME

~ I went to my friendly neighborhood cobbler's to order shoes. I was expecting them to just make the ones I liked in my size, but apparently you can get any style you want. I just chose one that he already makes from the window. He traced my feet and measured the circumference of my big toe and the height of my arch. It will take a little over a week and mis sandalias son fabrica personalizada! Did I mention that they only cost 12.000 colones? (24 dollars for handmade leather sandals)

~ Next I walked up to one of the talabartarias in town (the smallest that I had already chosen as my favorite) to inquire about getting some dog collars made. Verny, the leatherworker, invited me into his work shop and walked me through the entire process from hide to finished product. He showed me all of the different types of cuero (leather), the tools and processes used, and let me choose a pattern and font to decorate los collares at no extra charge. While much of his work involves saddles and other tack, his favorite thing to do is to hand tool belts. He can basically freehand etch leather like he is drawing on it. His work is beautiful.

~ My landlady, Ana, invited me in for cafe con su familia. I got to meet her daughter, Yindi, who is home from college, and eat special Semana Santa tamales y empanadas de pina. Randomly enough, her daughter is studying to to become a high school english teacher.

~ The weekly fruit market in the city center got moved to Weds and Thursday instead of its regular Jueves y Viernes because of Semana Santa (Easter Week). I went because I never pass up an opportunity there and ended up talking to this man about choosing guavas (guyabas) and starfruit (carambola). We chatted for a bit, and in the end, he charged me 50 colones for 3 guavas and a starfruit the size of a nerf football.... thats like less than 15 cents.

~ Another man there exclaimed "Jesus Cristo - Que lindo" when I walked by his stall. Basically that means Jesus Christ, what beauty! What can I say, I'm popular with the Ticos. If I don't watch out, this Machismo culture will give me a big head.

~ Most importantly, I spoke Spanish ALL DAY, tried new things and hung out with random people!

Lastly, and also quite important, I met two new critters that share my apartment complex. This toad was in the kitchen (maybe he'll eat the roaches - he's big enough) and this gecko was hanging out by my window eating bugs attracted to the light (maybe he'll move into the bathroom and eat the colony of ants that live behind the mirror).

Living with geckos makes me really happy.