As I am coming to the end of my eighth week, I've realized my time here has absolutely flown by.
Last weekend, my host dad invited me and one of his old friends, Nena, to go watch a guy he knows "saca guaro", or make moonshine liquor. We had to drive a little while in some hills and then climb down to a little spot of land where he had, and I have always wanted to describe something as this, a lean-to set up along with his supplies for making the guaro. It's made from sugar cane sugar, which is a deep brown, and boils in a large barrel where the vapor then runs through a tube and passes through another barrel. A hose runs fresh mountain water into this second barrel, which cools the hot vapor passing through the tube. The tube then drips the cooled guaro into a little bucket or whatever container you want.
We grilled sausages and ate them with tortillas and pico de gallo, and the man making the guaro invited us back to his house where he gave me two out of print colones bills- one for 5 colones and another for 50. He also gave me 3 tomatoes. The guaro he makes probably runs around 60-70 proof or more, and is crystal clear pure but goes down like fire.
I have gone out a few times with a few friends I've made, including a casino, two karaokes, various bars, one of which is called "Longhorns" and is run by the US restaurant chain "Abuelo's" I think, and a club called Tragaldabas that will suck you dry of all money.
In the past few days, the 5 yr. old girl at Casa Luz has asked me to help her learn to count. She just started kindergarten a month or so ago, but asked me what "numbers" A, B, and C were, so obviously reading hasn't been part of her curriculum yet. She can now count to 10 without faltering, but gets caught up on the "dieciseis, diecisiet, dieciocho, diecinueve...." numbers, though she has just about solidified "once-catorce".
New travel plans are that I will leave here a week early to avoid that 90+ day problem and attend a family wedding, so this weekend I will accompany my host family on a whale tour type of thing near the Panama border. It's run by a friend of theirs who doesn't charge much because he does it for fun, and lost both his arms in an accident a long while ago. The Mexico v. Costa Rica game on Saturday almost tripped us up since it cannot be missed, but we'll find a way.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays I still help out the Casa Luz cook, in the kitchen. She is super strong and interesting, talks fast and teaches well but plays this god-awful, excuse the pun, religious music that a lot of the time sounds like an Evangelical talk show with crying woman calling in and talking about God and then the host saying something like, "You are a princess, repeat me you are a princess, God loves you and only does good things for you, ..." and then the woman sobs, "I am a princess of the angels". Last Monday, a Protestant youth group from Alabama came to give a skit about God. I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but how convincing is a whole skit in broken gringo-Spanish where literally every line is "God is powerful and just". This denies every basic critical thinking strategy of providing justification, evidence, a logical argument. If I were a teenage mother coming from a history of abuse or whatever, a 10 yr. old white kid saying "Dios es poderoso y grande" would not do the trick for me. But they were very nice and a woman asked me "Where did you learn to speak English?", which made me hopeful for the slightly improved quality of my Spanish.
I will try to put up pictures next week of this tour. Much love.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Africa Mia, Macho, y Tortillera
I have entered my 6th week here, and the past month and a half has flown by. I've started to notice changes in the little kids, like talking more or even looking bigger. Isaac likes to count, but he only really knows 6 numbers and doesn't pronounce "nueve" fully: uno, dos, tres, cuatro, ocho, mueve, ocho, mueve, ocho, ocho, MUEVE.
Last week, everyone at Casa Luz went on a field trip sponsored by the owner to a zoo called Africa Mia. It was four hours away by bus, and was really just a long stretch of dirt path with giraffes, warthogs, Indian bulls, and zebras amongst some other animals on either side. At the end of the path was a petting zoo where you could feed a deer carrots, pet a camel, and look at strange looking roosters that had large tufts of feathers on their heads. We stayed for about 90 minutes, which included us eating a lunch of arroz con pollo that we had toted on the bus, and I saw a sign saying that our tour had cost 65 dollars per adult and 25 per child. A ridiculous price to see My Africa, but hopefully it's funds to continue construction.
The real excitement was last Thursday on my way to a cooking class at Rancho Espanol when I felt someone tugging strongly at the back strap of my purse. I quickly turned around and saw that some teenage guy with sunglasses and waist-length blonde hair was laughing hysterically while succeeding in robbing me. Luckily, I was close enough to the school that I was able to run and tell them, and one of the workers chased after where I said the guy and his friend had gone and found them. "Macho" or "macha" means blondie more or less. Anyway, the people at the school called over about 20 men, who nearly all waited for the police to come while Macho kept trying to tell me that he didn't do it. Even if he had gotten away with my bag, I was carrying under 4 dollars in cash and a debit card. In any case, it was the first time I've been jumped, and I got lucky that everything turned out alright.
My vocabulary is improving, but probably more colloquially than anything else. My host brother and sister explained to me that "tortillera" means lesbian in slang here. My host sister, Johana, clapped her hands together as if making tortillas, and asked, "What else could two women make?", and I almost died laughing when it clicked. It always feels good when you laugh so hard you cry for the first time in a long time, but then I had to try and explain it in English to the other gentleman living with my host family. I'm not sure he got it.
I have also come to realize that there are some universals with little kids. They are all obsessed with cows, or vacas, above and beyond any other animal. I know this is often the case in the US, and definitely is here too. Everything at Africa Mia was "vaca". Also, they all try to say goodbye to their poop. The older little kids, about 2 or 3 years old, still sometimes need someone to accompany them to the bathroom to "echar caca". I took two in one day, and both looked for their poop when they finished, and calling "Adios caca". One girl didn't end up leaving anything behind, and let out a little gasp of surprise when she couldn't find any caca in the toilet.
My current project is organizing my trip out of the country for 72 hours in order to renew my legal stay. I can't be in Costa Rica for more than 90 consecutive days, and my trip here is about 8 days too long. The most recent ideas have been either to go to the beach of Boca del Torro in Panama, or take a 200 dollar, all inclusive tour for 3 days of Nicaragua. If anyone feels like coming down to Costa Rica at least for a long weekend to accompany me, let me know.
Hope all is well and good for all of you.
Last week, everyone at Casa Luz went on a field trip sponsored by the owner to a zoo called Africa Mia. It was four hours away by bus, and was really just a long stretch of dirt path with giraffes, warthogs, Indian bulls, and zebras amongst some other animals on either side. At the end of the path was a petting zoo where you could feed a deer carrots, pet a camel, and look at strange looking roosters that had large tufts of feathers on their heads. We stayed for about 90 minutes, which included us eating a lunch of arroz con pollo that we had toted on the bus, and I saw a sign saying that our tour had cost 65 dollars per adult and 25 per child. A ridiculous price to see My Africa, but hopefully it's funds to continue construction.
The real excitement was last Thursday on my way to a cooking class at Rancho Espanol when I felt someone tugging strongly at the back strap of my purse. I quickly turned around and saw that some teenage guy with sunglasses and waist-length blonde hair was laughing hysterically while succeeding in robbing me. Luckily, I was close enough to the school that I was able to run and tell them, and one of the workers chased after where I said the guy and his friend had gone and found them. "Macho" or "macha" means blondie more or less. Anyway, the people at the school called over about 20 men, who nearly all waited for the police to come while Macho kept trying to tell me that he didn't do it. Even if he had gotten away with my bag, I was carrying under 4 dollars in cash and a debit card. In any case, it was the first time I've been jumped, and I got lucky that everything turned out alright.
My vocabulary is improving, but probably more colloquially than anything else. My host brother and sister explained to me that "tortillera" means lesbian in slang here. My host sister, Johana, clapped her hands together as if making tortillas, and asked, "What else could two women make?", and I almost died laughing when it clicked. It always feels good when you laugh so hard you cry for the first time in a long time, but then I had to try and explain it in English to the other gentleman living with my host family. I'm not sure he got it.
I have also come to realize that there are some universals with little kids. They are all obsessed with cows, or vacas, above and beyond any other animal. I know this is often the case in the US, and definitely is here too. Everything at Africa Mia was "vaca". Also, they all try to say goodbye to their poop. The older little kids, about 2 or 3 years old, still sometimes need someone to accompany them to the bathroom to "echar caca". I took two in one day, and both looked for their poop when they finished, and calling "Adios caca". One girl didn't end up leaving anything behind, and let out a little gasp of surprise when she couldn't find any caca in the toilet.
My current project is organizing my trip out of the country for 72 hours in order to renew my legal stay. I can't be in Costa Rica for more than 90 consecutive days, and my trip here is about 8 days too long. The most recent ideas have been either to go to the beach of Boca del Torro in Panama, or take a 200 dollar, all inclusive tour for 3 days of Nicaragua. If anyone feels like coming down to Costa Rica at least for a long weekend to accompany me, let me know.
Hope all is well and good for all of you.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Algunas fotitas
Here are a few of the photos I have taken over the past month:
My house. The bars open like a garage door to the side. My room is the front on the right.
Casa Luz, where I work. To the right is the daycare, and through the main closed door behind brown bars is the main building with offices, living areas and bathrooms, the kitchen and eating area, and a little playground.
My house. The bars open like a garage door to the side. My room is the front on the right.
My host brother- farthest back- and two other men helping put up the roof of the rent house my family is building next door. All the progress was since Monday, as my host dad is in construction.
This is a bushel of fresh chamomile flowers at the farmer's market that happens every weekend in Alajuela.
My host mom at the farmer's market, buying produce.
Me, after the beach last weekend, and though you can't really tell there, my hair is starting to look a lot blonder.
Me with one of the little girls, Rachel, when we were celebrating the birthday of Don Eldon, the owner of Casa Luz. He and his wife are from Canada, but have a hotel in San Jose and founded Casa Luz when they realized the need for such a place for young women in need.
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