Despidida

Half-way through my month-long stay in Santa Ana, two gals from Michigan arrived to live with doña Gladys for their semester of studying ecology and reforestation in Costa Rica. Sonja and Tannis brought much spunk and laughter into the home, and together we enjoyed sharing many delicious meals, exchanging stories and staying up late playing a pretty serious card game tournament of Spades. During my first weeks of dining in Costa Rica, I discovered a new favorite sound: the sound of the blender. A plethora of fresh fruits are consumed on a daily basis, not only in the form of eating juicy chunks of pineapple, papaya, melon, strawberries, etc etc, but also in the form of jugo natural, or natural juices. To make jugo natural, one simply cuts up the fresh fruit(s) of choice and plops it in the blender, adding water and then a bit of sugar to taste. Mmmmm, so refreshing!

The amount of rice that is consumed in Costa Rica is almost inconceivable. Beans, too, for that matter. If one is lucky, it is possible to consume both staples for all three meals in a day! (And, yes, I´m speaking from personal experience.) Lucky for me, I do really enjoy the national tico specialty combo of rice and beans, which is called gallo pinto (literal translation: ¨painted rooster.¨) Also lucky for me, doña Gladys is a woman who makes a mean gallo pinto! Consisting of white rice, red beans, chopped grilled onions, fresh cilantro, and red pepper, and the tico specialty secret sauce called Salsa Lizano, this dish can be doctored up countless ways and can be served for any meal, but it is most often consumed for the breakfast meal. And thus, for my final meal in the kitchen of doña Gladys , I was served a delicious gallo pinto for breakfast. As you can see below, not only was I served gallo pinto, but also eggs, toast, watermelon, fresh papaya juice (made in the blender, of course!), and a surprise treat of warm banana cake. She didn´t make it easy for me to leave!! My first experience living with a host-stay family was a wonderful one--I was blessed not only with the opportunity to live with doña Gladys and her son Cesar, but also to meet and spend time with her other three children and their children as well. I was welcomed into a family for a relatively short amount of time, and I did learn that certain boundaries realistically come with such an experience, but I left feeling like part of their extended family. On the morning of my departure, doña Gladys made sure I knew there would always be a bed for me to sleep in and food on the stove for me to enjoy whenever I am able to visit. My despidida--my goodbye-- was made complete with a kiss on the cheek and the sign of the cross made over me, sending me with the accompaniment of God.

Gamolotillo

We thought that we would be spending the weekend relaxing at the beach, riding horses and spending time with Meghan´s Rotary host counselor and family friends of his. (Note: Since arriving in Costa Rica, I´ve quickly learned that it is essential that I give up trying to envision what my adventures may be like before actually living them, as they have all turned out remarkably different--and often bigger and better!--than what I was expecting.) Our weekend trip to the beach turned out to be a weekend spent up, up, up in the mountains, with ocean views to be seen while climbing higher and higher. To reach our destination, a road like you wouldn´t believe was traversed, in a 4X4 of course, for several hours, leaving the passengers of the vehicle with aching backs from being jostled around so much. With the windows rolled down, the smell of fresh mountain air was potent and the cool dampness of the mist from the clouds we were traveling through was refreshing.

Welcome to Gamolotillo, a small town of about 200 people. An agricultural-based community, the groves of mangoes, papayas, and bananas as well as livestock farms are plentiful. Although there are no phones or internet connections to be found for miles, the residents of Gamolotillo have all they need: una iglesia (church), una pulperia (corner store), una cancha de fùtbol (soccer field), un bar, and a multi-purpose town hall. What´s more is the vegetation is lush (reminding me of my time in Ecuador´s Amazon jungle), a pure mountain river runs through the town, and brilliant green and red parrots are to be seen and heard, flying high in pairs.

After being awakened by the rooster´s morning song and enjoying a delicious breakfast, Meghan and I were offered the ¨opportunity¨ to ride horses down to the river where we were to spend the day, while the remainder of our new friends drove with a trailer full of a canopy tent, chairs, a grill for a BBQ lunch, and two dogs, anxious for their turn to splash around in the river. Meghan, being the more experienced horseback rider, mounted a calm white beauty, while I cautiously mounted a single-stirruped black beast, who I quickly deemed ¨el rebelde¨, the ¨rebellious one.¨ When el rebelde behaved himself, the 3km ride to the river was amazingly picturesque and peaceful. Our friend, Rafa, graciously accompanied us on foot, holding my stirrup-less foot´s sandal and telling us all we needed to know about the vegetation and livestock we were passing. I held on tight as we, several times, had to coax our horses to walk through rather deep puddles of water on the path to the river. We arrived safe and sound, my heart beating quite a bit faster than normal, and we dismounted to enjoy a fun day of playing in the river, jumping off the river bank, eating mucho grilled meat and warm tortillas as well as fresh mangoes and papayas, picked from nearby trees.
I wasn´t kidding about el rebelde! Thankfully he did no such thing while I was riding him!

We returned from our day playing at the river, just in time to mosey over to the soccer field to see if any action was going on. We started kicking the ball around with a group of boys who were playing before heading over to the town hall for the evening´s fiesta. My first real game of soccer since arriving into a fùtbol-crazed part of the world, and man was it good! These muchachos were loving not only having a couple gringas visit their small town, but more so having one that wanted to play soccer with them! And I was loving that they were sweet enough to set up assist after assist for me to score gooooooooollllllls! :)

We lucked out on the timing of our weekend visit, as there was a fiesta de cumpleaños, a birthday party, held in the town hall, that the entire town was invited to attend! It turned out that the birthday boy was turning 70-years old and that he was from Santa Ana, the town where I was, at the time, living and studying at language school. Many of those in attendance had driven from Santa Ana for this party, including one of the teachers from the language school! We ate and danced and met many folks, including a flock of young ones who were delighted to have us treat them to ice cream at the corner store. The night did not end with the party, oh no!, but instead continued at the only bar in town where we proceeded to dance and sing karaoke for hours! As our friend, Rafa, was teaching me how to dance a new dance, I exclaimed, in spanish: ¨I can´t move my notebooks like you can!¨ Cuadernos (notebooks), caderas (hips).... good one Megan!

The following day we spent the morning at the river again and then made the trek to see the town waterfall. We could only drive so far, as a huge tree had fallen, who knows how long ago, and was blocking the path. When we arrived, we eased our way into the icy cool water at the base of the waterfall and had fun swimming underneath the powerfully strong fall. Rafa offered to lead us to the top with him, and we gladly accepted his offer. When we reached the top of the waterfall we could then see another waterfall and its pool of water. It was an exhilarating moment, although little did I know, a more exhilarating one was to follow. We began our descent, grabbing on to tree branches and thick vines and making sure of our footing. I was the last in line, behind Meghan, and about half way down the mountain I looked down and saw a little snake coiled up at my feet. I alerted Meghan, and when I did the snake slithered a mere several inches away from me and then stopped. Meghan, who had been taking her sweet time to descend, was miraculously at the base of the mountain in record time! I was instructed to stand still and not say a word. Rafa climbed back up to where I was, had a stick in one hand to use with the snake if need be, and with his other hand he helped me down and around him to safety. As I had been standing with the snake inches from my sandaled feet and bare legs, I kept telling myself, ¨it´s just a little guy, no big deal.¨ Once I reached the bottom of the hill, I learned, however, that I had been inches away from one of Costa Rica´s most poisonous snakes--the terciopelo.

A weekend of adventure and numerous surprises, Gamolotillo is a town I surely won´t forget!