Bowl number 173

Marlen, Keylor and Ronaldo leave tomorrow. I’m gonna be sad when they leave It is a little stressful but a lot of fun having the house so full and alive all the time.It was a week of constant joking and tickling and A LOT of “Laula look. Look. Laula… Look. Look.” I remember really enjoying their visit last year. Marlen and her family are definitely one part of Costa Rica that I am going to miss a lot. Marlen has always been incredibly warm towards me and so have her kids, especially Keylor and Ronaldo because I have spent the most time with them by far. This morning we worked ‘til about 10:30 then it started raining so we had to go inside. I usually paint when it is raining because if the weather is descent I would always rather be outside than inside paining. I worked on the painting of a rooster that I am doing for Julio for a long time yesterday so I was burnt out on working on the rooster today. Instead I gave Keylor and Ronaldo tattoos on their arms. Keylor wanted a lion and Ronaldo wanted a snake. After that I showered, we all ate a late lunch and I waited for Eduardito to come play soccer. We had to play up at the top of the farm because we muddied up the front yard so badly the last time that we played. There is a little water spigot there that Eduardito wanted to make sure that we didn’t break so we made the goals crooked so that they would be far enough away from the spigot. Sure enough however, after almost an hour of playing, the ball landed right on top of the spigot and broke the tube above the handle. Eduardito and I stood there for a second as the water gushed out of the broken tube. We took turns sticking our fingers in the tube to stop the water while the other person looked for a stick or something that would do the job. Eventually we rigged up a temporary solution with a stick, the top part of the tube that broke off, and some rope. Eduardito was pretty upset because he was afraid Otoniel would be really angry. I kept assuring him that he might be annoyed but that it was an accident and not THAT big of a deal. We told Alicia and waited at the house for Otoniel to return from milking. Upon Alicia’s suggestion, we decided to let him drink his coffee and relax before telling him, but Alicia and I couldn’t help making little comments and laughing to break the tension. Eventually Otoniel said “Ok you guys did something.” Then a few minutes later, without us saying anything, he said he knew what we did. And he did. He just laughed at the whole situation, told us it was not very stable anyway and we went and fixed it. So sweet.

Bowl number 167

Sunday Marlen and her whole family came over to visit. Keylor and Ronaldo, her two youngest kids are on vacation so Marlen and them are staying here for a week to visit (just like last year!). When they arrived, Luis, Ruben, Ronaldo, Keylor and I all played Frisbee in the front yard in the rain for a long time. It was a lot of fun. None of them had ever played Frisbee before so it was a total mess. It had been raining all day so the ground was really soft and we ended up falling and sliding all over the place while everyone else stayed inside and watched through the window. The rest of the evening we spent visiting and eating until Celimo and the rest of the family left to go home. It is so much fun having the little house filled with people, all talking and laughing. That night we had: Alicia, Otoniel, Lilian and I, plus Geovanny, Julio and Marlen, plus Celimo and Marlen’s five children all sitting around one little living room.
Monday morning, I slept in until after 8:00!!. Actually I woke up at 6:00 or so to help chop up onions and cilantro for breakfast but then I went back to bed until everyone else got up. When Otonile the whole house was still either sleeping or in pajamas. Ronaldo and I slept on a foam pad in the living room, Geovanny and Lilian in the outside bedroom and Marlen and Keylor in “my” room. After a lazy breakfast I threw on some clothes and went with Otoniel to repair the chiquero (pig stable). We filled and cemented wholes in the floors and we replaced and patched parts of the fence. Before going to herd the cows back to the pasture next to the station, we sat down and ate the cookies and juice boxes that Alicia packed for us. Hahaha. I ended up being thankful for those cookies because as it turned out, our bull, Rayo, was not with the rest of the cows and we had to hike up to the very top of the mountain to get him. It was a beautiful hike and I got to see all of the upper part of the farm that no one uses anymore except for cow pastures. It was gorgeous. The views were the best you get because we were above everything, plus all of the pastures and trees looked really pretty in the misty, light rain. Once we went to the very last, highest pasture, we found him there with another herd of cows. Once we found him, we had to attempt to chorale him away from the other cows and through the gate three or four times. We had to run back and forth, leaping through knee-high grass with sticks yelling and waving our arms. We eventually coaxed him through the gate and headed home. As usual, the afternoon rains gave me a chance to nap for a while and have my afternoon cake and coffee in order to recharge enough to play a muddy game of soccer in the front yard with Eduardito and Ronaldo.

Bowl number 150

AAAAhhh 150!! Lucas left this morning at 3:20am. Julio and his wife Tye went to San Jose this morning to see get a visa and they offered to take Lucas with them but they had to get there at 6:00am. Poor Lucas got about an hour of sleep but at least he didn’t have to worry about the bus arriving late or there being long lines and missing his flight. I saw my parents off this morning after breakfast. They are off to Arenal and then the Osa Peninsula before returning here for a few days. They explained their trip to me and it sounds amazing. I am going to miss everyone but I have found over the years that I am a creature of habit and it feels good getting back on my loose schedule of wake-up, feed the pigs, breakfast, work, lunch, nap, random afternoon activity, spend time with family, shower, dinner, more hang out time, sleep, repeat.
As I was leaving the lodge this morning I ran into Marco, one of the people that lives up the street in this area called Finca la Bella. He has been working at the eco-lodge for the last few months. He is one of the people that Alex works with and one of the people that we always play soccer with. He asked me about my project that I am doing and invited me to see what he is doing at his house and farm. He has been trying to make his farm as sustainable and organic as possible. He has started an organization with his family (which I cannot remember the name of off the top of my head) but is basically to promote organic and sustainable practices and living. We decided on meeting at 4:30 so that was my random afternoon activity for the day. I spent about an hour there talking with him, seeing his farm and taking pictures. It is a beautiful place and he has a lot of really great things started and a lot that he would like to put into practice. It would be great to put together a little profile of his organization, him and his farm that we could put online or something. All he really needs to realize his plans is help from volunteers and I am sure there are plenty of people that would like to live in Costa Rica for a few months working on a beautiful sustainable organic farm. It is just a matter of telling people about it. Money is always a need but a lot of what he wants to do wouldn’t require that much money it is more a matter of not being able to do it himself because he has to spend his time working for wages.
After I got back from Marco’s I was going to go down to the lodge to use the internet for a little while but I got into a heated conversation all about the farm and stuff. It was pretty funny. Both of us were all worked up and poor Lilliam was in the middle trying to watch TV. We ended up talking about Otoniel’s whole history working here. By the time we finished it was probably 7:00. So I decided to forget about going to the station tonight and took a shower instead and am now about to eat bowl number 151.

Tilapia, Imperial and the World Cup

Tuesday we went to do the zip-line. I am glad we decided to do it. I had done it last year with the study abroad program. I think I enjoyed it even more this time though. It was a lot less waiting because the group was smaller than the one we were in last year, plus I got to share the experience with my parents and Lucas, who both enjoyed it a lot. After the zip-line we called went to Lelo’s for lunch. It was great because we got there just in time to watch the Spain vs Paraguay game there. My parents got to see Lelo’s pace which is really pretty, they got to meet Lelo, his wife and their daughter’s new puppy, and they got to eat the tilapia I had told them so much about. After taking our time picking our tilapia off the bone and watching the game, we all went to our respective homes and rested. We were going to play soccer in the afternoon but I wasn’t feeling very well. My Family had everyone over for dinner since it would be the last night that Lucas and parents would be there. It was a little awkward spending that much time over the house because my family I think felt weird about talking much amongst themselves because my parents wouldn’t understand and We(Lucas, my parents and I felt weird about talking amongst ourselves because my Costa Rican family wouldn’t understand. My parents did get to meet Julio (Otoniel and Alicia’s oldes son, my “brother”) though before dinner, which was nice and they got to meet Rita (Geovanny’s girlfriend) after dinner. After dinner we put on “Quien Quiere Ser un Millionario” and ate dessert that Lilian made. That broke the ice a little because it is something that we do a lot. Everyone was able to relax and interact and get all excited about seeing the first person win the grand prize.

Batidos (Milkshakes)

The next day my dad met Liliam and I at the eco-lodge at 5:30 to go and feed the pigs. There was only one small bag of food because all of the groups were gone the day before so we let dad carry it. I think he enjoyed it. He helped clean the pens and give them the food and everything. After breakfast I met my parents at the lodge and took them up the trail to my house to show them around the farm and stuff. After that, we picked up Lucas at Eduardito’s and we all went on a quick car tour of Bajo San Luis. I showed them the church, the soccer plaza and took them by Lelo’s. Elvira was there so I asked if we could come by some time to eat.
We all went home for lunch and then met up again at the eco-lodge to decide what to do next. We decided to take a hike around one of the trails that makes a loop around the campus. About five minutes into the hike we heard some noise like little branches falling. Eduardito told us to stop, that it was monkeys. We looked up and sure enough, in the trees right above us there were several monkeys. As we followed them around the tree-tops we realized there was a whole band of them. We watched them for a while. They would stop and look at us also. It was fun. There was even one that had a little baby on its back. The second half of the hike we got poured on but it we had all brought ponchos since it pretty much always rains in the afternoons. Dad, Lucas, Eduardito and I all went up to the Cheese Factory to get milkshakes. After waking up early, the hike in the rain, and a milkshake, I was so tired. I rested the rest of the afternoon. At 7:00 I walked down to the lodge to meet my parents. Geovanny was doing a dance lesson and my parents decided to go to see what it was like. My dad won’t dance however and my mom would have liked to but she twisted her knee some how horse back riding. It ended up being really goofy because the group was really just about four girls that had done the lessons before so it was really just Geovanny dancing with all of them. It was still fun though. Lucas, Eduardito and I just played around and practiced the moves we had learned and my parents got a kick out of watching for a little while. I’m hoping maybe one of the days that they are here in July Geovanny will have an actual lesson and my parents can learn a few moves.

Tortillas in the dark

My parents arrived here shortly after my last post. Lucas and I went to wait for them at the eco-lodge around three o’clock Saturday afternoon and they did not arrive until after 7:30. By about 6:00 I was getting pretty worried since it was dark and I had not even heard from them. They finally made it though. The last three or four days I spent trying to give the best three day taste of San Luis as I could. The first night my mom was not feeling well and my dad was exhausted from the drive so we moved them into their cabinas and my dad made a brief appearance at my house and had a bite to eat. Their first morning here, we all (Lucas, my parents, Otoniel, Alicia, Liliam and I) went to Finca Las Brisas, a horseback/farm tour that Marlen (Otoniel and Alicia’s oldest daughter, my older “sister”) and their children run. It was hilarious having Lucas, my parents and my Costa Rica family all in one taxi bus. The Horseback ride was a lot of fun and really pretty. Afterwards, Marlen made us lunch and Celimo (Marlen’s husband) gave us a tour of the farm and showed us where he made sugarcane juice and guaro (common Costa Rican liquor made from sugarcane, corn and pineapple). He let us all juice some sugarcane that he chopped with the trapiche and explained the process of making the guaro then gave everyone as much of either as we wanted. After we left the farm, we walked up the street to Alicia’s parents house, where we visited for a while with her family that was there and had afternoon coffee, cake and cheese. After that, we walked to Marlen’s house where we stayed until almost 9:00, visiting more with Marlen’s family with the family (they have five kids from 5 to 16 years old). We played with the kids, talked learned how to make tortillas and had dinner in the dark. The lights went out not too long after we got there but they have a wood-burning stove so we lit candles and made the best of it. By the time we got back everyone was pooped. It was a long day but I was really glad Lucas and my parents got to see so much of my family and really experience what is like to spend a lot of time with them.

Patacones!

I made breakfast this morning then made patacones (double-fried plantain chips) this afternoon all by myself. I am determined to be able to come back and cook Costa Rican food for my roommates. Lucas and I also learned how to make cheese empanadas with Lilian the other day and about a week ago Marina, one of the ladies who works in the kitchen, taught me how to make tortillas. Speaking of things Lucas and I have done, I have been doing a horrible job of keeping up with my blog the past week or so. So here is a big jumble of what I can remember off the top of my head: One day Eduardito took Lucas and I on this crazy hike though the mountains to a waterfall. You could hardly call it a trail. Eduardito was in front, clearing the way with a machete as we hiked up the river. It was really beautiful. We were walking along huge, fallen trees, climbing on all fours up rocks I the river and scrambling up and sliding down steep inclines. The waterfall itself was not very big but very peaceful and elegant looking.
Lucas and I also went to one of Geovanny’s dance lessons at the eco-lodge. We even convinced Lilian and Eduardito to come (not something they would normally agree to) I had a lot of fun and Lucas was a great sport. The truth is, it is pretty frustrating because there is a lot to learn all at one time. The first time I did it I wanted to quit because my head hurt from trying to remember it all. I was surprised at how much I did actually remember on my own though from the six or so dance lessons I have “helped” Geovanny teach. I danced half with Eduardito and half with Lucas. Eduardito had a blast which was so funny because about a month ago I couldn’t physically force him into one of the lessons. Since then, the four of us have practiced our moves several times in the living room. That was even more fun.
Lilian, Eduardito and I have also played a mini game of soccer in the front yard and have spent a lot of time just joking around the house with everyone. Aaand I almost forgot. Lucas and I spent one morning in Santa Elena “town”. There isn’t a ton of stuff to do there but we walked around for a while just so he could get to know it. On our way back home we stopped at the cheese factory and got some delicious ice cream.
That is about all the major stuff I can think of. It has been great having Lucas here. There are a million things that he won’t get to do and plans that won’t work out the way I wanted, but it is so neat that he is here and that he knows at least some of the people and places that I love so much and that I tend to talk about a lot. I am really happy that my family here treats him so naturally. I was a little afraid they would act less open around him but they act more or less the same. It is a lot of fun to get to share that.