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.