Out Christmas-ing and Winding Down

Hola!

Compared to the consumerist frenzy that is Christmas back home in the US, Christmas in Santa Barbara was rather low key.

Christmas Eve seems to be the day during which more things happen. On Christmas Eve, Ivannia´s mother came to spend the night. I made Garlic Shrimp served over pasta, a caesar salad, and guacamole for the family for lunch. And in the evening, Oky invited several friends over for a barbecue. The neighbors karoked loudly until 3AM. Christmas morning we ate tamales and gallo pinto (rice mixed with beans) that Ivannia´s mother made. And later that day we went for a long walk. Presents had been exchanged earlier during the week, from what I could tell. Gift giving isn´t the big deal that it is back home.

Christmas Parties for the kids is a big deal. Primary schools had parties for the kids. The soup kitchen where I worked, as well, threw a magnificent party for 200 people -- 170 kids and 30 adults. The event was five hours long! They had a professional clown who played games with the kids and handed out prizes. There were cimaronas, piñatas, presents and lots of delicious food (fried chicken, salad, rice, beans, potatoes, ice cream, cake, soda).

At one point the cimaronas showed up and played. Cimaronas is the name for the band and the tall dancing figures that I´ve mentionned previously. This band consisted of a drum, a snare drum, a trumpet, a tuba, cimbals, and two sets of cow bells (gotta love music that features cow bells). Typical Tica music is lively and very fast. The guys wearing the figures hopped and twirled. The kids jumped and danced. There were conga lines. The music creates so much energy. People kept dancing at frenzied pace for an entire hour!

Opening the piñatas was an organized affair. Piñatas are hollow, decorated, paper or papier mache containers filled with peanuts, candies and toys. Adults join hands to form a circle to keep intruders out of the circle when the piñata´s pop. They divided the kids into groups by age and gender. The littles kids could barely hold the stick, while the older boys swung at the piñatas like they were baseballs. Even the mothers had a chance to whack a piñata! When the piñata pops madness ensues as kids try to grab as much stuff as possible. For the boys, this includes grabbing candy from other boys.

At the end of the party, EACH KID received a box of goodies, a bag of fruit, AND a wrapped present with their name on it. And these were really nice presents. It was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun. And the kids had a great time.

The academic school year ends in December, and therefore, Christmas time is also a time for graduation parties. The son of Ivannia´s best friend graduated from primary school, and so I attended his graduation party. It was a party for all the kids in his class. There were about 30 kids and over 100 friends and family members. The dinner was catered. They had a DJ, and then a cimarona-type band showed up and played high energy traditional music for an hour. The music was excruciatingly loud (both the DJ and the band), so I spent the entire evening with my hands covering my ears so I could hear it. People danced and danced and danced. The band played music similar to the type played at the soup kitchen party. There were people dancing, convulsing and hopping, as well as several run-away conga lines and a mosh pit. It was marvelous chaos! I didn´t dance because the high-heeled shoes that Ivannia gave me to wear were too difficult to walk in, let alone dance in. Besides, I would looked even more riduculus than I already did dancing with my hands covering my ears!

Ticos certainly do know how to throw a party!

Today was my last day at the Institute. They gave me a beautiful daily planner, as well as a certificates for my volunteer work and for my Spanish studies. I also added a few comments to the wall where past students have written their farewells.

Yesterday was my last day at the soup kitchen. One of the ladies I worked with brought me some home made hot sauce since she knew I liked hot peppers. This stuff will strip paint off a wall it is so hot! She also gave me her watch. I made comment that I liked her watch and so she gave it to me. That was kind of her, but I felt bad because I don´t need her watch. Oh well.

Tomorrow I go to the beach. A car will take me to Playa Papagallo, which is located in the northern part of the Nicoya Peninsula, just south of Guanacaste. It´s the beach where the rich people go, apparently. Branjolina will be there (hopefully not at my hotel). They say this beach is gorgeous.

My stay here has been excellent. I´m so glad I came.

Cheers!

Volcanoes and Waterfalls

¡Hola!

It´s hot today. Hotter than it was last week. Actually, it is not as hot in Santa Barbara as I had expected. It gets hot during the day, but not very humid. Then at night, it gets cool. But that´s the climate where I am currently staying. Given the range of terrain here in Costa Rica, the climate could be more oppressive (or less so) in other parts.

Saturday I did a little sightseeing.

First we visited a coffee plantation. The Dokka Cafetal (coffee plantation). They sell coffee to Starbucks. Costa Rica is small, so it can´t compete with countries like Colombia or Brazil in the general coffee category. So they compete in the specialty or gourmet coffee category. Apparently the Ticos (Costa Ricans) won´t pick coffee, so the cafetals go to Nicaragua to recruit workers. And there is a shortage of coffee pickers.

Next we went to At 5000 feet, the short, flat walk from the parking lot was tiring. I can only imagine how I´m going to feel in Quito, Ecuador, which is over 9000 feet ASL. There wasn´t a cloud in the sky over the crater, which is very unusual. The view was crystal clear. The crater looked like a blue lake. There´s not much more to say about it.

Then we went to a private forest park call La Paz. La Paz has several waterfalls. We saw only one of them. It was spectacular! We had to walk deep into the forest to reach it. The river and the surrounding foliage was green, lush and beautiful. While at the park we also visited a butterfly garden, a hummingbird garden, a display of Tican snakes (in aquariums), and display of frogs. The frogs were so tiny, not even a half inch long. They are lethally poisonous, however. The hummingbirds where fascinating to watch. Their precision in flying is amazing. Hummingbirds are not cooperative photo subjects.

Afterwards, we drove to the Sarapiquí River where we took a boat ride. We saw a variety of wildlife along the way: monkeys, iguanas, bats, weird birds.

The whole day took about 12 hours. The terrain is beautiful. Green and lush. Lots of flowers and flowering trees and bushes. Mountains and valleys. We even drove through part of the rain forest.

The rest of the weekend I relaxed. Walked around the neighborhood and didn´t get lost.

Well, that´s it for now. I´m not feeling so inspired to write.
Cheers.

Super Emerson

Emerson stands, barely, 3 feet tall, has curly brown hair, brown eyes that laugh, and a killer smile, even with the missing front tooth. Emerson is a cutie, but at 7 years old, he's a wee bit young for me. When we first met, he was eating lunch at the soup kitchen. Whenever I looked his way, he'd hide behind the container of spoon on the table, and would peer at me among the spoons.

I guess I'm okay now, because yesterday Emerson was determined to help me with my chores. I had to peel a million hot boiled potatos in 5 minutes, and Emerson apparently decided I needed help. Too short to reach the pot, I'd hand him a potato, and would hand him additional unpeeled potatos as needed. When I got behind in serving the refrescos (drinks), Emerson would grab two at a time and take them to the waiting kids.

But the best was when Emerson decided he'd help clean up. He dried bowls and cups, but only the green cups. And only the green cups could go on the bottom shelf. He wiped down all the tables, interrupting my dishwashing to have me put more cleaning soap on his rag. Then he decided to sweep the floor. He moved the tables so he could be sure to reach the nooks and cranies. The tables are higher than Emerson is tall, so I didn't quite how he managed to move them. So I started calling him Super Emerson. That made him giggle. Such a delightful giggle. That innocent happy little kid giggle. Which made me laugh, which made him giggle more, and so on.

The kid's a more devoted sweeper than I. After he finished the dining area, he started pulling out the boxes and bags from under the shelves in the kitchen area clean under the shelves. We were going to be there all day sweeping given Emerson's needto do a deep spring cleaning. Finally his mother told him to stop. He does this at home, she said. That kitchen floor has never been so clean!

But today there was no Super Emerson to help me. He had to visit his aunt. I hope there will be more cleaning and giggling next week.

cheers.

beans, beans the musical fruit...

Hola,

Good thing I like beans and rice. Gallo de pinto (beans, rice and stuff) for breakfast. Rice, beans and something else for lunch. Some stuff served with beans and rice for dinner. Black beans and white rice. No fancy beans. Simple beans. And you know what? I haven´t been musical, either. THAT´s the amazing part.

Yesterday I was sick as a dog. Caught some head cold. I thought my head was going to explode. I stayed home and slept. Didn´t want to share my malady with the kids at the kitchen or the people at the Institute. Today I feel 1000 times better.

Today we served more kids at the soup kitchen. About 30 showed up. They are young kids, ages 2 years to 12 years. Cute as a button. And so polite. Some bring containers to take food for the evening. They are lucky to have this soup kitchen. And the food tastes really good!

Well, since I don´t have anything to say, I´ll end here.
Hasta luego.
cheers,
Stacey

rain, rain go away...

Hola,

It´s raining AGAIN. Just like it rained 30 minutes ago. And an hour before that. And two hours before that. And... Actually, this is no surprise. THEY said it rains a lot in Costa Rica. And that´s probably why everything is so green and lush.

This morning I started my routine for the next three weeks: Three hours of Spanish in the morning, and four hours of soup kitchen after that. Seems I know quite a bit of Spanish, except when I forget it. But that´s always the case in a language class.

The soup kitchen serves lunch to about 60 kids, Monday thru Friday. Today I made the beverage (some fruit concentrate, add water and stir), served the kids food (a stew/soup with vegetables and a meatball, and some rice), then cleaned the dishes. Since it had been raining on and off this morning, only a handful of kids showed up. You wouldn´t think that a little rain in a country where it rains all the time would keep hungry kids away from food. Maybe it prevents the people who bring the kids to eat from going to the soup kitchen. The soup/stew was actually good. I had some for lunch.

Yesterday Ivannia, the mother of my host family, took me, by bus, to San Jose to look around. It´s not too far from Santa Barbara. About one and a half hours with a change of buses in Heredia.

At the risk of insulting anyone who may read this, San Jose is not a beautiful city. It´s not attractive in any way. It´s functional: it has one of most things people would need. It´s crowded and noisey and grimey. But I wanted to go and Ivannia accommodated me. No wonder she looked at me like I was nuts when I said I wanted to go.

The best part of the visit was the salsa and merengue band that played in the park. They are called the XO´s ("eeks-ohs"), and are one the two famous salsa and merengue bands in Costa Rica. They play stardard, "old" latin music. Classics? However you describe it, it was good music. It was fun watching the older folks dance. There is something about good dance music that makes one forgot one´s aches and pains, and makes one feel young again. These old folks could boogey! Some of these abuelas (grandmothers) has some cool moves. Then it rained and everyone ran to get out of the rain.

The ride home from San Jose to Heredia was jarring. It looked like a bus from the outside, it was actually a bucking bronco. And you couldn´t blame the rough ride on the road. Even on the smooth newly paved sections the bus bounced. Maybe the bus company got a deal on slightly defective wheels. Wheels that were oval instead of round. And let´s not forget the transmission. Every time the driver had to change gears, it made a ghastly sound. And I think I could walk up hill faster than the bus could drive up hill. But we made to Heredia, slowly and painfully. The next bus seemed like a luxury coach, and it takes a lot to make the ride of a yellow school bus seem luxurious. Oh boy did I ever appreciate the tranquility of Santa Barbara when I got home.

On Saturday night Ivannia took me to a talent show at her church. The participants where church members. While they were mostly teenagers, there were a few adults who competed. Everyone was talented. It was a difficult choice to make. Afterward we had food from one of the many booths in the church courtyard. The church was holding a Christmas fair, and so there were booths with food, games, and stuff to buy. It was fun. The whole experience reminded me how similar people from different countries can be. The church fair and talent show could have taken place in any city in many a country. I could have been in Chittenango.

Saturday morning I stumbled upon a local parade. It was similar to the types of parades they parade in Spain on festival days. They had those tall pâpier maché dolls that guys carried on their shoulders. And when the music played, they spun around in circles, just like they do in Spain. Only the figures here in Santa Barbara were more comical and included a big fat black lady and a screaming ghost. And the band that accompanied them played more latin type music. And they had the short (person-sized) big-headed pâpier maché characters that would bob little kids on their heads.

By the way, I found out that AT&T calling cards don´t work in ALL cities around the world. None of public phones in Santa Barbara connect to AT&T. The closest phones that connect to ATT are in San Jose. Good thing I don´t need to call home often.

Well, that´s what´s new in Santa Barbara.
Daily updates might not be possible since I have to catch the bus to town to access the net.

cheers,
Stacey

¡Hola de Costa Rica!

Hola,

After 12 hours of travel, including a plane change in Chicago and one in Miami, I arrived in Costa Rica on Thursday, December 7, without a single problem. I hope my remaining 21 flight segments are so smooth!

Marco, the director of the Amistad Institute, and Horacio, one of his associates, met me at the airport and delivered me to my host family that night. It was too dark to see much on the ride from the airport. So I was pleasantly surprised when I left the house the next morning to go to the Institute. What a pleasant town!

Okay, so where am I exactly? I´m living and working in a town named Santa Barbara, in the province of Heredia, and located about 45 minutes outside of San Jose. This Santa Barbara looks NOTHING like Santa Barbara, CA, however, it is clean and charming. Many well-kempt, single family homes, painted all sorts of bright colors, with flowering trees and bushes everywhere. ¡Que lindo!

It´s tranquil here. It´s so different from Madrid, New York City, even Barcelona. The pace is much slower. The Ticos (how Costa Ricans refer to themselves) are pleasant, sociable, polite, friendly. When surrounded by such pleasant people, weather, scenery, why be cranky? But cranks don´t see the world that way. There must be cranky Ticos, but I haven´t met any in my one and a half days here.

My host family situation is the opposite of my host family situation in Madrid. Here, I´m living in a spacious house, in a large bedroom. The outside of the house is painted turquoise (adobe finish, ranch style) and has three bedrooms, at least two bathrooms, a living room, a family room, a kitched, a garage (with a car), a mudroom(for lack of a better description), and a backyard. It´s a lovely, lovely house.

The family consists of Mother Ivannia, Father Ivan, Daughter Oky, a mellow maltese dog named Punkey, and a friendly black and white cat named Whoosie the Cat, or Gato. Okay, so I forgot the cat´s name. He/she doesn´t come when called, anyway. Ivannia is a stay-at-home mom who doesn´t stay at home much. She´s very active at Oky´s school, and at her church. Ivan is an electronics salesman who works 12 hours a day, 7 days a week! Oky is 15 years old and cute as a button! She´s sweet. And all but two of her friends are boys. Her boy-harem protects her. They also hang out at Oky´s house so Ivannia can keep an eye out. You don´t mess with Ivannia. Ivannia is 5´2", normal thin, sociable, but very serious about certain things.

Much to my surprise, I´ve spoken little English since I´ve been here. I suspect the people with whom I live and work could speak English, but since, in theory, I speak Spanish, we´re speaking in Spanish. What I´m saying must be somewhat understandable as the conversation does progress. I´m just tickled pink that after only three months of study in Spain, I´m living using Spanish! Who knew?

Next week I start doing whatever it is that I will be doing. In the mornings I will study three hours of Spanish, then I will assist in the soup kitchen center across the street for four hours, then I can take additional cultural classes like dancing, cooking and fruit. Yes, fruit class. I´m definitely taking this one. Just what do they teach us in fruit class? As long as it includes fruit eating, I´ll be happy.

The Amistad Institute is the host organization in Costa Rica. In the States, I signed up with an organization called ELIabroad.org, who has relationships in various countries around the world. In Costa Rica, ELI works with the Amistad Institute, which is based in Santa Barbara. The Institute has relationships with various agencies in the area, and depending on what you can do or want to do, they will arrange the appropriate volunteer placement. In addition, the Institute teaches Spanish to foreigners, so many hours are devoted to helping you learn or develop your spanish. Lastly, the Institute wants to teach about Costa Rican culture and society.

The Institute is located on a beautiful piece of land that overlooks a gorgeous river. Part of the area reminds me of Wissahicken Park in Philadelphia, however the river at the Institute is bigger and has more water. They created a beautiful garden in one part. There is a bunch of huge bamboo growing by the river. And there is also a good view of the town of either Heredia or San Jose. It´s so tranquil there. A small paradise.

This morning I decided to take the bus to ¨downtown¨ Santa Barbara, all by myself! Yesterday, Avram, one of the associates at the Institute showed me how to do this. He took me on a tour of the center that lasted all of 10 minutes. There are actually quite a few stores. And an internet cafe from which I am writing this blog.

And such has been my adventure thus far.

cheers,
Stacey

Packing Obsessions

I HATE packing!!!

After schlepping my heavy a**ed bags up and down train station steps in Europe last trip, I am DRIVEN to reduce the amount of stuff I will take with me this trip. I bought new bags: a rolling duffle bag and a small sized hiker's backpack. I've already packed my bags, and each day I review what I've packed and remove more stuff. Forget about variety. Forget about dancing. Forget about dressing up. What makes this trip challenging is the range of climates and temperatures for which I must be prepared: hot rainy weather, the beach, glaciers. Right now I'm debating what books to take with me. Sending stuff to myself is not an option this time. Packing is hell. Argh!!!!

Cheers,
Stacey

Getting started (again)...

Hola!

Welcome to my new blog. Since I won't be taking my computer with me this time, I needed a blog site that I could access from internet cafes. This time around, my blogging will be words, not photos, unless I can figure out how to upload photos at internet cafes. Also, this website allows YOU to post comments, so feel free to weigh in.

In a few days, my adventure continues. To summarize, this time around I will do volunteer work and travel in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, and Argentina, then I will explore Australia and New Zealand for a total of two months. My estimated return date is June.

On December 7, I fly to Costa Rica where I will work as a volunteer for three weeks in Heredia (as city outside San Jose) at the Barrio Jesús Soup Kitchen. Here's what I might be doing:

• Help by doing office tasks.
• Help to clean the place.
• Help in the kitchen.
• Draw pictures, play games and perform several activities for kids. Like singing, exercising, etc. Draw pictures, play games and perform several activities for kids (singing, exercising, etc.).
• Talk to the children about my country and culture. Please prepare charts, pictures, etc.
• Help the teachers to take care of the little children.
• Teach basic English to the students after their normal school’s schedule.
• Help to serve lunch.

While in Costa Rica I will live with a family. And I'll continue studying Spanish.

Okay, this post isn't so interesting. I just wanted to get it set up.

cheers,
Stacey