Cabalgata in my Town

I showed up to the cabalgata in my town just as it's starting to help with whatever I can and considering riding if the rumors are true that some people brings horses to rent out the same day.  Ernesto and I were unsuccessful in finding horses to rent prior to the event.  So I arrive, mention to a few people that I wanted to ride but couldn't find a horse and am waiting for the people running the event to give me a job.  I sit with one older lady who has a bunch of cool daughters and granddaughters around her and order lunch.  About fifteen minutes before the people are going to head out on their horses a friend of mine Pedro from the next town over comes up to me to ask if I still wanted to ride.  I hesitate because it's pretty expensive and is a short ride.  I have the opportunity to ride trail about ten times as long in a few weeks so I really couldn't decide.

Finally, I realize I don't feel like helping serve food and horse back riding would be so much more fun and my old host-dad explained that riding would be better because I'm basically giving them a lot of money.  In U.S. standards it's not that much but out here it's pretty substantial.  So I change into my boots (yup I knew the universe would work out for me), and go to find my horse.  Pedro said it was super "manso" or tame and I find that it is for the most part but really like to run.  So I take a few turns around the soccer field and we all head out right as the heavens let out a few drops. We got through the town a bit and head up the road that's "pura montana" the old road that's surrounded by farms. 

As soon as we start this trail it starts to pour.  I've had issues with my eyes not liking my contact lenses anymore so I'm wearing my glasses and can no longer see.  Maybe I should invest in a sombrero for the next one, or a horse as my host-dad has joked.  Anyways, some guys stop under a shady area and block up the trail, I try to get through because at this point we are completely drenched.  Finally, a man comes up and gets them to move, commenting on how even a woman wants to continue.  Avoiding the machismo I just add, "I'm no ordinary woman."

And my horse is off trotting the whole way there.  I tried to stay with a few friends of mine but I got tired of trying to hold it back.  A tipsy guy from the next town over takes interest in me and keeps me company since he knows horses better and can keep up.  It turns out he's Ernesto's cousin, as is most of the region, and he finally backs off a little.  When we get to the rest stop I find one dry spot on the back of my leg and make my way to get a drink to warm up a little.  Of course, only meat snack but the owner of the house invites me to something warm.  One of my students that has a crush on me finds me and tells me he dropped his sombrero and by the time he retrieved it I was way ahead of him. 

We got back to the main road and the rain has finally stopped.  At least now I can see the beautiful, fog covered, crazy green mountains around me.  The coming of rainy season has made me comment on how green everything is at least three times a day for the last few weeks.  But now I'm on a horse and soaked and it's been so much fun.  I ride back into my town and am so excited for the next one.  There's mud everywhere.  I end up riding the horse home and was going to shower and head back up to the parties but it got too cold and Ernesto and I decided to stay in and watch movies.  I wound up getting a cold but that's become pretty common for me.  They blend into the usual nasal allergies I haven't been able to part with.

For the next week everyone I saw commented on how they saw me riding.  They all commented on how well I ride.  It's funny because I know I don't ride well, but I guess I didn't have my eyes bursting wide either.  It impressed them which I can appreciate because if anyone sees me walking downhill in these mountains probably sees me as a two year-old.  But the best part is that my town got a chance to see that I'm not just an English teacher and have a life outside of the school.  Although the event is for a fundraiser for a family that has had very hard times recently, they've brought my community to have two large events in the last few months and I hope that it empowers them to stay united and work together to improve the town as a whole.  Riding through the rain never felt so good. 

Trip to a Trapiche

 The day after my Honey Experience I got invited to walk down to a "trapiche" or a sugar cane processing place.  Being Cuban-American, I'm kind of sad I've never experienced this before.  I remember my Dad bringing sugar cane to my grandparent's house one weekend and me chewing on that and thinking it was gross but never really drank too much cane juice afterward.  But being as how it was one of the most widespread grown crops in Cuba for some time I find it closely linked to my heritage.  Especially since Allan spent most of career working to efficiently process it, and my hearing about it regularly from Dad.

I had intended to find out with the trapiches are run around here and go to one so when my host-sister-in-law invited me I jumped right on board.  I walked down with them and managed to slip and cut my hand up a little on the walk down.  Once we arrived Eric had already run all of the cane through a machine that squeezes all of the juices out.  The juices trickle down through a pipe to this gigantic vat which sits over a wood burning oven.  It's pretty intense.  He had been boiling it for a couple hours when we got there so we didn't have to wait long. We got to shelling peanuts to put in some of the candies we were going to make.

We heard some people on the next farm over and went to visit and check out their trapiche run by "bueyes" or oxen.  Some of my neighbors and students were there having a little party as their dads, uncles and sons worked processing the sugar.  They offered me a wok full of cane "miel" or honey.  It's the juice after a certain point of boiling, or what they scrape off the top of the boiling cane juice.  I had a few spoonfuls and had to beg they make me not eat it all because it was just too much sugar!

We got back to what used to be my host-dad's trapiche and is now his son's and he was starting the first candies.  He was taking some of the cane and putting it into what looks like a large wooden canoe.  Most of his wooden tools are over a hundred years old he explained to me.  The canoe thing was carved straight out of a tree to make sure it could deal with the boiling cane juice.  He mixed up the juice until it started to cool and solidify a little and we added some peanuts.  Then, they placed this mixture onto a palm leaf to make some candies.

Lastly, he pours all of the cane juice into the wooden canoe and then started picking up smaller amounts and pouring it into long blocks of "tapas" molds.  He fills each one up and lets them cool.  While they do Cinthya and Mauricio walk me down the "quebrada" to show me the water Eric was using to clean all of machinery and tools.  We sit along the rocks as Mauricio points out all of the cows he's named and splashes us as he throws rocks.  It was a beautiful break from a very hot morning around a use boiling vat.  When we get back to the trapiche Eric and Macha are flipping over the molds and we hear the popping sounds as they fall to the table.

It's a Semana Santa custom that people usually go down to a trapiche on the first Saturday of Semana Santa and use the dulce made to make cookies and all sorts of deserts throughout the week.  People give their visitors entire tapas or bags of the coconut/dulce cookies they make called "cajetas de coco."  These are by far my favorite part of the Semana Santa traditions.  The fish soup, sardines and excessive consumption of fish is a little much for me.  Then, there's "picadillo de aracache" which is like most other picadillos but based off a different vegetable that was interesting.  I did enjoy trying everyone's arroz con leche or cajetas de coco though. I finally got a chance to make some the following weekend.  Carving the coconut out and then shredding it was tough work.  All in all, I still don't like sugar cane dulce very much, but mixed in with coconut, I can definitely learn to be Cuban.

My honey experience!

Friday before Semana Santa I got to experience how a local farmer takes out honey from hives.  It might not sound cool, but I'm still so excited I got the chance to.  The farmer's name is Carlos Luis, probably the nicest man I've ever met and he's kept bees for over 30 years.  And at the time, it was especially unheard of around here but it's provided quite a bit for his family.  His youngest son Luis Andres was in my community high school course for the four months it was held and always a pleasure to be around.  So getting a peak into how he's spent a lot of his time was really nice.  For him, going up to the bee hive outside his house is like kayaking in Florida for me... common.

So I was still recuperating from a bacteria in my stomach when Carlos Luis calls Ernesto's house to invite me over.  Ernesto and his Mom frantically start cleaning the boots he's going to lend me... he takes the pressure washer to them.  Ticos are serious about their shoes being clean, and if you know me at all... I don't care.  So I walked all of the four blocks over to their house and they set me up in their nice suit.  Thankfully, this hive that they have right next to their house they only go to just before sunset to make sure the bees don't attack their chickens, or worse their turkeys.  Carmen (Carlos Luis' wife) has "chompipes" (turkeys) and chickens behind the house.  One of the chickens has been killed by bees, but if one of her precious turkeys were killed it would be really bad.

So we made our way up the "path" that they go up every two weeks so it's not really a good path but I made it in my clown boots and all.  They smoke the crates as they open them and all throughout to calm the bees so that they don't get upset.  Apparently the cells in the middle are usually used to harvest the babies and towards the outside the honey.  The top boxes in the stacks are also more likely to have honey and the lower ones babies.  So they go through each box verifying each cell and placing the ones with honey in another box they take to the house. So we did that until sunset, well actually they did.  Luis Andres spraying them with smoke from a little puffer that they put little bits of wood in and light on fire.  Carlos Luis checking each cell and switching them to the other box.

When we got back to the house we cut up some of the panels into blocks that they give as gift to people who chew on the wax to get all of the honey out.  It's honestly too sweet for me to eat such big chunks of.  Then we scrape of the outer layers of wax to then put the panels in this spinning contraption with four panels in each and spin it to get the honey out.  Then, they let all of the honey settle and drain it through a fine cloth.  They bottle the honey in gallons or about 21 oz bottles and sell that smaller bottle for $6 each.  It's pretty expensive actually, well comparatively.  So for those 2-3 hours of work they make a good bit.  But they're still one of the humblest families I know.  They're comfortable enough to send their oldest son to college and hopefully Luis Andres is on his way there too.

 Pancakes sweetened with honey, AND honey on top!

I might be excited since I just got the coolest package from Jessy, but still, the time I spent with them was so great.  He just knew so much about every aspect of his job and it still excites him.  He's also a coffee/banana/basically anything farmer.  I guess most farmers around here are always excited to tell me about their jobs.  That's the beauty about living a life you love.  Having a huge grin ear to ear talking about your job even after working it for over forty years.  I hope I can find that...

Good night loves!

My Costa Rican Birthday

To celebrate my birthday I bought myself a ticket to the Shakira concert which was one of the inaugural events for the National Stadium recently donated by the Chinese government.  The Friday before the concert, as I was baking cookies with my host-cousins, I got bit by this tiny bug and my forearm swelled up to an uncomfortable size.  The following day I decided to take benadryl since the swelling wouldn't subside.  That night I went to a bingo at one of the schools I work with and spent the night at a friend's house in that town.  It was really nice participating in that town's activities since I'm usually just there under ten hours a week working in the schools.  The little kids and moms love seeing me out of school and those that had heard of me finally meeting me.

But for some reason I was super tired the whole day and night, and not in my normal chipper mood.  Sunday morning I headed into San Jose from my friend's house and some of my PC volunteer friends and I went to Pizza Hut for lunch and relaxed at the hostel before going to dinner.  I still couldn't figure out why I was so tired.  I just wanted to chill out on the hammock, I couldn't believe I was being such a lazy bum for my own birthday celebration! Finally, a friend mentioned the fact that benadryl makes people groggy.  I've never had to take it before so I hadn't even considered it!  So I stopped taking it and felt much better for the concert.

Annisse took this while she and Jennine sang to me

Before the concert, we went out for my birthday dinner.  SUSHI!  Some of us overachievers decided to buy an 8 person boat for only 6 of us.  It was SOOO good.  Then we headed to the concert to wait in a ridiculously long line - apparently the Ticos haven't figured out organizing the 30,000 people that will be heading in somewhat regularly.  So some entrances were empty while others had lines half a km long.  But we made it in and the concert started two hours late.  Shakira was great!  I totally want to be her!  But for real... I want to dance like her!  Too bad the sound wasn't very loud even though we were on the floor and there were very few of us dancing to to it.

Got home Monday - national holiday so I didn't have to teach.  Tuesday went to school for my usual half day and started to feel a little funny.  The bus ride home was especially fun sitting in a row that's window didn't open.  Basically, all of us that ate sushi that day got really sick.  One friend was hospitalized for 24 hours because she couldn't keep any liquids down.  Most of us were basically bed ridden for 3-4 days.  At least by day two I was eating bread and crackers.  But it took my body a good bit to adjust back to normality.  Wednesday I spoke to a bunch of family and some friends on skype and was feeling much better!  But then this thing called heartburn started kicking in.

Ernesto took me to town to have dinner because I didn't want some bacteria to conquer my birthday.  I didn't exactly hold onto my food but I'm still glad I went.  I was sad to cancel my community classes for the week but it was definitely necessary.  That Saturday I finally made my birthday cake.  No one in country sang to me, because I didn't really plan anything with anyone.  But I lit a candle and blew it out for a picture with Ernesto and his mom.  All in all, a memorable birthday.  Still waiting for some packages to finally arrive.  Mail always accepted! 

Miss you all!

Jenny