The most important reason for me to be staying in Orosi right now, is to study Spanish, and get myself comfortable with the language. It is not easy, despite the study I had many years ago, because we did a lot of writing and reading, but not much speaking, listening or conversation. My teacher, Margoth, is really great at being able to assess my skills and has been a HUGE help in getting me more confident and able to understand some of what I am hearing. She lives here in Orosi, loves her teaching, and also loves to dance merengue and cumbria, a local folk type dance also done in the bars. She taught a class last week that I attended, and got an introduction, which was very fun. When in Cartago, I bought a CD of music for cumbria. Even when the lyriucs are sad,t he music is upbeat.
As we walked back through the park, there was a craft market happening, complete with live music. Here was this guy with leather sculptures that he shapes and then puts something on to harden them. They were quite lovely, and different than anything I have previously seen, and they made me wish I could show them all to Nancy. I hope she sees this.
Switching gears, yesterday (Saturday) I went with a woman from New Zealand to Cartago for an exploratory shopping trip. This is the Saturday fruit market, which was a very happening place. Inside was a market of small stalls which reminded me a lot of the old Reading Terminal Market in Phila. We bought fruit and tasted a couple of new things
Here are Linda and Thigs soaking in the hot pools. It wasn't REALLY hot, more like a pool at Valley View, around body temperature. Even with a light rain falling, it was really lovely and "muy tranquilo". "Tranquilo" is a word you hear a lot in Costa Rica - it seems to be a national cultural value, to be calm, peaceful.
I LOVE these trees, they are so beautiful, the bark has all these incredible colors - I tried to paint the colors, but, alas, I am nowhere near that good!
We walked through a lovely coffee plantation on a road bordered by Eucalyptus trees. Here is Linda, in a photo she wanted me to take. I was resistant, but now, I am glad I did.
A couple of days ago, we decided to take a trip to the local hot prings. A short walk from the road at the end of town, we crossed a bridge where it looked like we were in a jungle, but across the street, was a restaurant.
This is one of the 60 species of bananas grown in Costa Rica. I was infomred by Pablo (the botanist) that is is Musa sp., commmonly called a slyvestre. The small bananas here are very sweet - much nicer than the oneswe commonly get in the US. I am also really likiing the green platanos - they are a starchy vegetable that when fried lightly is quite tasty.
After we got to Nano's he needed to milk his cow. He has two cows, a horse he named after an old girlfriend (no comment) and some dogs and cats, including one kitten who was climbing up all of us. I tried to milk the cow, but I wasn't very good at it. Goats are easier. At this point, the camera battery quit, and my extras were in my room, so I got no more photos from this evening.
Here are the guys mugging for the cameras. Japer and Thigs are from Holland, Mike is from LA and Nano is in front.
I liked how this photo of Chandi under the falls came out.
Linda, Nano and Chandrika (from England) had enough foresight to wear swim suits under their clothing. The cascada was cool and refreshing. The dog in the foreground is one of the Montana Linda dogs, "Guapo" (handsome).
Here you can see the waterfall as we are approaching it. This is just before we really needed the line, but you can see it on the right if you look carefully.
Here we are walking up to the waterfall. The like got a little more intense after this - we needed to hold onto a line attached to the rocks, as it was slippery and narrow.
This past week, a group of us took the hike to Nano's farm and the waterfall adjacent to his property. This was along the way up to his house. Nano is a local guy who sometimes makes a little bit of money as a tour guide, showing his home as a traditional farm.
Last night, a few folks sat around talking in both Spanish and English. Here Linda from Ohio (the other person my age) and Pablo, a botanist from Nicaragua are with Nano, a local resident who has a house near a waterfall and hot spring (more on that later) are sharing beers and talk about farming, soil depletion, microclimates and biodiversity. Pablo is connected with a large research station where we are hoping have a tour next week.
Here are Chuck (American from Nebraska) and Claudia (from Quebec) in the park, standing in front of the largest cluster of bamboo I have ever seen. Chuck took the picture of me in the mist - three people from our tour of 8 had the same camera!
On the way back from the volcano trip, we went to visit a park that contained the ruins of a very old church.
Evenings in the hostel are often relaxed and fun. People come and go, but there are lots of locals who come to party and and visit with the students. Here Tico (Costa Rican) Adrian, LA boy Mike with the guitar and Kristen's brother whose name I forgot are swapping songs. One night, my Spanish teacher, Margot, gave a dance lesson for merengue and cumbia (a slower, more folk like version of the dance) at her home. I didn't take photos of that, but it was great fun!
Here is some farmland (finca) in the valley floor near Orosi. The primary crop here is coffee, but there are many other things grown here as well.
Costa Rica is abundant in water and waterfalls. This cascade we saw off a road was about a three hundred foot drop. The humidity here is present, but up here in the hill area, not at all opressive. It is even a little cool at night - I have been using wool blankets! And I have NOT needed moisturizer for days!
Here's what it looks like when the mist was present.
Up about an hour away, at close to 12,000 feet is the Volcan(o) Irazu. A group from the hostel went up one morning in a tour, and were fortunate that the clouds lifted for some time, so we could get a good view into the crater. Costa Rica has many volcanos, but only one that is active. This one is not active, but the water has that unique green color (yes, this photo is unenhanced!) because of the mixture between the volcanic ash and some trapped chemicals.
Here is the garden for the church looking at a small museum which houses some relices, and some antiquities. A pilgimage happens to this church each year, with people coming from as far a Nicaragua, to be blessed in the site of the black virgin.
In Orosi and the neighboring town Cartago, there are some large churches commemorating a miracle of a black virgen appearing, dissapearing and reappearing (well, I THINK that's the story - remember, my understading isn't that great yet!) Here is the chuirch in Orosi, which dates back to the 1750s.
This is something else in the ginger family - the first varigated one I have seen.
Every yeard has fruit trees - besides the limes, oranges, mangos and gyabanas, there are coconuts, pineapples, and papayas. athese are unripe papayas.
Halyconia - growing against a fence in someone's yard.
I almost missed this outrageous thing - it is water apple flower, which will turn into a lovely magenta colored fruit which has no relation to the apples we know, and tastes fairly bland. When cooked, it makes a pudding like consistency.
This is cacao - which has a white fleshy inside which is eaten as a fruit, and the seeds, which are roasted and ground while hot to make the lovely stuff we know as chocolate. The pods grow to about a foot in length - these are about half that size.
Since the flora and fauna are so prolific here, I wanted to include a few photos of some of the amazing things in people's gardens. Here is something in the ginger family.
Here is the back of the school where I am studying, with the hill above it.
Here is a street scene nearby. Orosi is a small town with most of the amenities, including TWO internet cafes, about 45 minutes by car north of San Jose. Very civilized. it reminds me a lot of Salida, as it is a gateway for a lot of tourist destinations, and is in a valley surrounded by hills.
I moved to a place where I could study Spanish langage, because it has been so difficult for me. Here is the view from Montana Linda lodge, it is the field and surrounding hill right next door.
On the road up to El Carmin, a low water crossing....
Some of the local wildflowers that the kids collected for me while the adults were on the phones with thier spouses.
Marisol, her son and Erica Marie with the cell phone.
The place where we made a cell phone call to the US. El mar (the ocean) is on the top of the picture
Here is the same little creek as earlier, when swollen with a rain. Rains come in many shapes and sizes here, from huge downpours to gentle drizzles. They can get more rain here in three hours than Colorado gets in two years!
Here is another view from El Carmin
Orchidesa - which everyone seems to have at least one of growing in their yards - this is at Maria Alicia's, right as you go through the fence.
Miguel, on the day we went on horseback to look at his land.
Damacio, my friend from New Mexico, who is building a house here, on his land with the to-die-for view.
Bryan and I being silly.
Her two youngest, Erica Marie and Leopoldo.
Marie Alicia Chinchilla, my hostess at her kitchen sink.
The creek right outside my bedroom, crossing the path down to the house right before you enter the gate. Torrential rains every day make this a river by Colorado standards.
Another view of the hilly farmland
the view of the hills in El Carmin from the porch
1) Cooking lessions for vegetarians
this one is for Linda, who asked specifically about smells and tastes!
Platanos are those large green bananas that are used for chips when fried in manteca, or the solid shortening made from date palm oil. Date palms are grown on the road outside of Parrita up to El Carmin. Some of the other things that grow here are sugar cane, which is sliced and chewed on to extract its sweet juice, coconut, avocado, tomatos, guyabana, lime, oranges which are green inside, pineapple, papaya, mango, peppers and those are only the trees or plants I have seen so far. The staple of the diet here is black beans and rice, which is eaten as the basis of every meal. Other things that are really plentiful are fish, cilantro, corn, chayotes - a type of squash - and every type of meat you can think of.
I learned how to make a mixture of tomatoes, onion, garlic and peppers cooked with eggs into a type of stewed tomato dish that is astonishingly good. I also got to try and got a rough recipe for some sweet fried corn pancakes that are great. Then there is the coffe, which is seriously delicious black with sugar.
Everything here is seasoned with salt, sugar and more salt and more sugar, and manteca is used liberally to fry just about everything. Since people are cooking mostly on stovetops - no ovens - and the American foods I have attempted to offer have been met with polite expressions of "que rica" or how rich! but not really eaten. A suprise was that these Costariccense I am staying with have not had guacamole! that the combination was novel to them, and they liked it. Everyone has a liquidora or blender, which is used for fruits and other foods. Papayas are really yummy here with lime and a small amount of water and a pinch of sugar...
1) The Hair of the Dog, or Why I won't drink Guaro again
Last night, which I decided would be my last night in El Carmin at least for a while, since I was feeling the need to explore, and the need for some quiet time,
my host family of Marie Alicia and her brother, Pancho, decided we should be partying me with a good sendoff. He bought some guaro, which is the local liquor which might be a common name for any hard liquor, because it comes in bottles labeled rum, vodka, or gin. We started with a half liter, and then Bryan, who was not drinking, wenet out for another liter. We were dancing to local campesino, or cowboy, music and some meringue. This old guy who introduced himself to me as I have 62 years old, but did not give me his name turns out to be a great dancer, and we are all dancing, and drinking, and they are singing. Bryan and I are doing meringue and the muchacho is very good. I am more blotto than I can remember in a long time, and i went really slowly, with my drinks mostly fruit juice. Finally, about 1 AM, we all go to sleep, mucho borracho /very drunk.
The next morning, I am not fast enough to get myself to my taxi driver Herman, who does not wait for me, and I have to get someone else to take me into Parrita. I am exhausted, and feel like my stomach has been set in a twist. My lovely family attempts to give me MORE guaro at the bar, which I make noisy protests against. Finally, I am in Parrita, having missed the bus to San Jose for the day, and will stay overnight in the little hotel which is $13 night, and a little funky, but at least doesn't have bugs. Tomorrow, I will go on to Zarcero, where I hope to find some Crestone buddies, Stephan and Danna. If not, I will explore a little, and then probably come back for a week or two to San Jose for some intensive Spanish langauage classes in a school with homestays. Will have more later, and hopefully will find somewhere I can put some of these photos up on.
I am here in Parrita again, this time to buy a small refrigerator for the family I am staying with. She refuses to take any money for feeding me, allowing me access to everything, giving me a room, and helping me with everything I need, introducing me to everyone, and she doesn't have one. This is a thank you gift.
Refrigerators are more expensive than they are in the US; but considering what I would have paid to stay in a hotel, eat in a restaurant, and have my laundry done, this is certainly appropriate cost wise. And I know it is something they will all appreciate and be able to use. I asked her sister if it would cause a problem, or would she be happy for it,(because I don´t know the societal norms)and the sister said she would love it. Damacio (the man I know from New Mexico)is taking it back up to Parrita in his truck for me.
It rains like all get out, for a few hours each day or evening, and yesterday afternoon the women took refuge by making ceviche with a large fish that came from the river. (Limes, peppers, cilantro and fish) I helped, watched and learned.
I have met just about the whole family who all live within walking distance, except for one son working in the US. The 22 year old Bryan, who is absolutely adorable, and has the raging hormones of someone his age, wants to marry me. Keep in mind there is still a huge communication problem, as I speak SO little Spanish, and it is alternately very frustrating for me, and very humorous. I think they like me. I certainly like them.
From what I have seen so far - people here are honest, sweet and generous. I am eating new foods - yesterday I had a strawberry sized thing with soft prickly spikes, and contains something like a lychee inside it. I had yucca pancakes, which are like starchy potatoes, and have tasted almost everything that comes my way, including the juice of a cactus like thing that is supposed to help you lose weight. I am developing a taste for the rich black, heavily sweetened coffe that everyone drinks all the time. The water here is clean - one can drink, brush teeth, and not get sick.
The second day I was there, I got to start looking at property. Seems everyone here and their mother has a lot or a finca, farm, to sell. The most interesting one I looked at was 16 hectares, which works out to about 25 acres, I think, of mixed land pasture, old growth trees and going down to a river. Also had electric and road access. We went on horseback through the fields and woods to look over the property. Keep in mind I have not been on a horse for about 20 years, and this gets more interesting...The horse I had was wonderful, he seemed to read my mind, and took a very gentle lead. However, he liked to run, and would try to move faster every opportunity he got. And although I didn't know the Spanish commands, he was highly intuitive, and we had a lot of fun, including a quick trot on the road at the end of the trip.
The people I am staying with speak no Spanish. Maria Alicia, the mother, is a woman with eight children, three of which are living with her Bryan, who is 22, Leopoldo, who is 8 and Erica Maria who is 6. They are all really neat people, and I am enjoying getting to know them in the limited way I can, and in being welcomed to their family. The house is a small two bedroom clapboard house that the rain doesn't enter, but the mosquitos do. There is rain almost every day or night for a few hours, and the trail down the hill to the house is slippery when wet, and tricky at night with no lights. They are delighting me, and I am delighting them with all my cultural blunders and lousy Spanish. Erica is a talented artist, and we are having fun drawing together. Bryan wants to marry me,or so his mother says, and while he is very cute and very flirtatious, I think it might not work out. The blogger is having trouble taking hte photos, so I am going to have to try it with my own laptop, which has a different photo handling program...next time...
In Costa Rica, now for almost a week.
In a lovely place called El Carmen, full of green lush hills, waterfalls, and fruit trees. In this small village, no one is fluent in Spanish, except the friend who introduced me to this place, and I hardly see him. It's harder than I thought, and I am seriously considering a Spanishlanguage intensive course to get up to speed.
