I’ve decided that Castro’s is the best bar/club ever. Though mild amounts of tourists are to be expected, the majority of the patrons are locals. The music never fails to impress, and I have never left disappointed with my evening. On Friday, almost everyone in my program ended up dancing at Castro’s. I loved it. Our friend, Randall, came with his friend Leo. Leo is hilarious. You can tell he’s spent time with gringos, because every other English word he uses is “like.” He also loves football. He kept saying things along the lines of: You go to like the University of Florida? That is like so cool, like I love like Tim Tebow and like football games. I want to be like a running back. Like USC is like my favorite school.
On Saturday, I met up with Hillary Grey’s cousin, Sarah. Hillary had told me Sarah was studying abroad nearby, so I sent her a Facebook message when I first arrived in San Jose. We met at Bagelman’s (the cure for homesickness: poppy seed bagel, toasted with cream cheese). I had such a good time. Sarah goes to GWU and is studying international affairs. She is on a six-week program through GW, and from here, she is going straight to Buenos Aires for fall semester. It was cool to share our home stay horror stories and experiences (bathroom miscommunication story – huge hit with the gringos).
Later, Amy, Natalie and I went four houses down to visit David, another boy in our program. He lives with two other male students from the United States. They were having a 4th of July barbecue. After accidentally blowing up glass conveniently located inside the grill, they grilled hot dogs and pieces of meat. There were potatoes, onions, corn, papas tostadas and more. David’s host dad, Don Alfredo, was so generous. He and his wife own a pet store/veternarian office. Patri brings our dog, Mindi, there.
Don Alfredo and his wife have two or three kids (I’m not sure if one of them was a friend or one of theirs). They have a three-year-old son, Luis, nickname Luigi, who is absolutely adorable. He has bright blue eyes and blonde hair. He was running around the whole time throwing a ball with Amy and showing me his drawings. He drew about four payasos (clowns) and a porcupine. He showed me one picture he couldn’t explain. I asked him if it was una fantasma (a ghost), and he was so happy that I found the word for him. I guess I speak on a toddler level.
Tyson and Keith, David’s two roommates, were interesting. Tyson is from California and goes to school in Oregon. I didn’t even realize people lived in Oregon. Keith is 29 and has a crazy tattoo covering his entire left arm. I asked him what he’s doing here. I don’t think he really knew.
We spent the later part of the afternoon planning our fiesta with Juan Carlos and Patri. Juanca took it so seriously. He wrote out a list of everything we needed from the grocery store and estimated the costs. We went to Pali and Carrion, two different grocery stores, to buy all of the food and party supplies. At Pali, we were dancing down the aisles with our shopping cart. They were playing such good music! A group of employees laughed at us. Frankly, I think they’re the weird ones. Who wouldn’t dance to those Latin beats?
When we got home, we all went to get ready while Juan Carlos set up the grill outside. There was so much food: barbecue chicken, individual pieces of beef, pork shops, tortilla, tortilla chips, frijoles molidos, ensalada y mas. We invited neighbors and friends. Alira and Evan came, along with our neighbor Mitzi, her boyfriend, her brother, another neighbor and one of the boys who works for Juan Carlos. Patri had a few girlfriends over, including her sister, and Randall and Leo came later. A few families and close friends stopped by, too. Jose David and Marco were home for the weekend, but Karen and Billy even came to party with us.
It was such a fun night. We had all kinds of music, from reggae to salsa to rap to meringue. One of Patri’s friends had to go to the hospital, though. She and her husband walked behind Juanca’s car, and everyone just assumed they were going to talk or have a private moment. A minute later, she was knocked out, slamming onto the concrete. She was rushed into the living room. She didn’t wake up for way too long. She said she felt weak. I felt her pulse; it was racing. I thought maybe she had had a low blood sugar attack, so I insisted that she eat something with sugar immediately. Someone dumped five spoonfuls of sugar into warm milk (gross), but she refused to drink it. Finally, she and husband left for the emergency room.
I guess everyone but me knew that her husband is violent and most likely punched his wife. I was in absolute shock when someone told me, especially after I made a big fuss over her probable low blood sugar. Apparently, she had turned her cell phone off and her husband didn’t know where she was. He was home with the kids all day and came to the party, furious, to find her. No one says or does anything about this. I am still in shock. Everyone pretended that she just fainted for an unknown reason. He knocked her out and she hit the ground hard. I can’t believe it.
After a successful fiesta, all I wanted to do was sleep in, but no! I am in Costa Rica, and Patri and Juanca invited us to go with them to Zarcero for the day. No time for rest, verdad? We woke up at 6 a.m. and left around 7 a.m. to head into the mountains. An hour and a half later, we arrived in Zarcero. Patri grew up here and immediately assumed the role of tour guide. She took us to the center of town, where there are huge sculpted bushes. The gardener who created all of the shapes lives right there! There were plants shaped into birds, faces, dinosaurs and even a bull. We took a million pictures. A beautiful church overlooks the whole garden; we peeked in for a minute, but a Sunday morning service was underway.
Patri and Juanca are slowly building their retirement home in Pueblo Nuevo, a little town on the outskirts of Zarcero. It’s in a beautiful location and conveniently right next door to the house where Patri grew up, where her mother still lives. We stopped there and walked around. There are cows, horses, goats, fields of plants, a view of the mountains (and sometimes Volcan Arenal) and crisp air. It was breathtaking.
I guess the whole reason that Patri and Juanca wanted to go to Zarcero yesterday was to see all the action that surrounds Cuatro por Cuatro, a 4-wheeling and jeep competition that they have once a year. Every other person that we met in town was Patri’s cousin or niece or nephew. We met her mother, cooking all kinds of food for the celebration of the big race. I ate something called lomo, which is like an individually sized piece of meat that tastes like brisket with a soft tortilla (no silverware). After we watched the race kick off, we hopped onto the back of a tractor. I was under the impression that we were going up into the mountains to watch the 4-wheelers race by, but apparently, Patri just felt like taking a ride. We literally drive through the clouds; I could feel the chilly mist on my face and see the condensed air. It was absolutely fantastic. Our journey came to an abrupt halt when we found almost 10 jeeps backed up, a few of which were stuck in the mud. There is an expression for this race that everyone was using all day, which says that for every five cars that finish the race, 5 have to turn around and come back. If one car gets stuck, everyone gets stuck.
We went on a walk to see all the cars and explore, but of course it started to rain. Patri didn’t tell us anything about what we would be doing in Zarcero, so we were all inappropriately dressed for the climate and subsequent events. When I asked Patri in the morning what activities we would be doing, she said we would be doing everything and to pack a lot. Uh, okay? I wore shorts and sneakers. Luckily, I brought a sweatshirt. Poor Natalie and Amy wore flip flops and had fun getting stuck in the mud, that only got more muddy as it rained harder and harder. We were the laughing stock of every person up there. One of the men who worked for the race, as a helper at certain checkpoints along the muddy trails, offered the back seat of his yellow jeep for us to sit down while it poured rain. We climbed in. I thought we were just going to wait for the rain to let up, but then Patri left to walk back to the tractor all the way at the end of the pile up! I guess in the middle of all of the confusion we made it seem like we wanted to get a ride home with this guy instead of on the tractor. It took us about 10 minutes to realize this was a bad idea. We were going to have to wait for all of the cars ahead of us to be towed out, not to mention we didn’t know anyone we were with. When we told the guy that we wanted to go back and find Patri, he got on his radio and sent out a message that LAS TRES GRINGAS (begin laughter) were coming back. Notify Patri that her three gringas are coming back and not to leave without them.
And so begins our adventure, retracing our steps in the pouring rain. The only gringa wearing sneakers (me) was the only gringa who fell in the mud and got completely covered in brown muck. Everyone else was wearing rain jackets and thick rubber boots. One woman even asked me why we were stupid enough to wear shorts. It was hilarious. I was trying to keep my balance, move quickly and protect my small wallet and digital camera the whole way.
We finally made it, soaked through our sweaters and caked in el barro. We were freezing the whole way down, but I’m glad we went back to Patri. We didn’t want to get stuck or lost.
We went to Patri’s mom’s house to clean up. The shower there made me so grateful for my home stay here in San Jose. It wasn’t ice cold, but it wasn’t warm either. Natalie, Amy and I scrubbed the mud off and struggled to clean up. Patri graciously lent us the three most hysterical shirts ever: colored polos from our neighbor’s old job at a video game store. We could not stop laughing at our situation.
In Patri’s mother’s bedroom, where we changed and cleaned up, there was a huge Jesus nailed to a cross. There was also another Jesus mounted on the wall, looking down towards the bed with rosary beads in hand. She had a brown apron-like dress that looked like a nun outfit hanging from the closet, with a cross over the chest, of course, but on the polished tile floor beneath it was a pair of skull and crossbone slide-in sneakers. What an oxymoron, verdad? I took a picture; I thought it was funny.
We went back to the fiesta, where we once again stuck out. It was so embarrassing: three gringas wearing hideous t-shirts, messy and exhausted from our muddy experience. I ate another lomo for lunch (my choices were limited). I was absolutely freezing from my mountain adventure. Juan Charlie (his new nickname) bought a raffle ticket and won! Our prize was a box of Oreo cookie knock-off galletas. We didn’t stay long, but Marco met up with us. Marco and Jose David go to their homes on the weekends and live with us during the week for school and work. After the fiesta, we went to a nearby finca so Juanca could talk with the owner. Juanca is trying to sell him the car we went in. It’s a big SUV; I can’t remember the name right now, but I like it. When Juanca opened the backseat to show him how spacious it was, the three of us told him that las tres gringas come free with purchase.
I fell asleep on the short drive across Zarcero. We were supposed to stop by Patri’s cousin’s house for coffee, but coffee turned into a five hour family get-together. Their house is gorgeous. The ceiling was made of wooden beams, designed in an architectural pattern. There were huge glass window panes overlooking the mountains and all of Zarcero. You could tell the family was slightly upper class; their kitchen appliances and bedrooms were relatively upscale. I met all of Marco and Jose David’s extended family. Jose David has two sisters. One has a two-month-old baby, and one has a four-month-old baby. They were adorable. Oh, how I love those babies. Yesterday was the birthday of someone’s niece, so the whole family was there. The little girl, Mariel, was running around with a fancy up-do and white princess dress. I loved watching the family life. The men gathered around the television to watch a soccer match. The children ran around and played. The mothers tended to the babies and gathered in the kitchen to cook dinner and gossip. Marco was the perfect uncle; Natalie, Amy and I all fell a little bit in love with him, watching him play with Mariel and Josue (two and a half – crazy hyper/cute). Here, families are incredibly close. Everyone’s family is loud and big and generous. I love it, I love it, I love it.
Amy, Natalie and I took a nap on the couches in the living room. When we woke up, we ate a delicious dinner of frijoles molidas, galletas tortillas y arroz con vegetales y carne. By the time we left, it was 7:30 p.m. On the drive home, Patri told us about a terrible car accident she had just months after having Karen. A trailer full of cows rounded a corner in the mountains too fast and hit Patri. She woke up in a hospital five days later. All of the muscle in her left arm was destroyed, and she hovered between life and death for days (at least that’s what I think she said).
I am so glad I went to Zarcero. I like seeing actual pueblos y lugares sin turismo. Me encanta la cultura. We had so much fun with Juan Carlos and Patri. We laughed all day; I can’t even begin to remember how many jokes we play on each other. I hope I didn’t forget anything about yesterday. I think it was the best day I’ve had in Costa Rica so far.
This morning, it was back to work. I was so confused when I turned around at my desk to find the whole office coming into my room (I’m in a room with Marilyn, Luis y Cesar). Don Jorge y Don Ronald held a meeting to discuss problems with behavior and dress code. From what I understood, people have been coming in too late and taking too long for lunch. Even though Fridays are casual, jeans are not allowed. One of the new people who recently started working here is not only working on finances but is also in charge of human resources. He had a lot to say. They discussed the rules for using Skype and MSN Messenger (very popular here) at work and emphasized a need to renew the professionalism in the office. I liked being included in a meeting; usually, Marilyn and Luis leave for their editorial meetings y lecturas. I was shocked to hear reprimands. Everything is usually so relaxed here.
I went to lunch with Eric, the director of my program. I like him. He’s lived here for 10 years and is dating one of our other directors, Karol. We talked about our families and our lives. I gave him some feedback on the Costa Rica program. We went to News Café, an expensive restaurant in the middle of the city. We had a good time.
I hope I didn’t forget anything about this weekend. I love it here!
Pura Vida,
Lauren
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