Food talk, monkeys and CARNIVAL!

Day 209, el Jueves 7 de Febrero 2013 8:16

Tico’s fav food.

Last Tuesday I went to school to sign up for this year, it’s funny that I can do this this late even though classes start next Monday. It was nice to be back in school, a few people thought I already left and it was nice to see them happily surprised. I met 3 classmates and we chatted a bit while filling in papers. It felt like Dutch summer that day, being in school with just a few peeps on a sunny day made me remind the old days. I also spoke with one of my best friends from my Dutch highschool and I kind of missed these times.

Yesterday there was another arrozarium a.k.a. singing to baby Jesus. This time we got Rompepe and Nachos. Rompepe is a typical drink which tastes like ‘leche dulce’ but with a bit alcohol. Leche dulce is sweetened syrop like milk and Ticos love it, they put in and on everything, another Costa Rican favorite is Pollo Frito, fried chicken. They sell the greasy but o-so-good fried chicken everywhere and the greasy smell fills the streets. The worst what can happen is sitting next to somebody eating his pollo frito next to you in the bus, it has happened. The nachos were better as the rompepe, way better. You have some ‘nice’ nachos in The Netherlands if you put them in a bowl with plastic cheddar cheese and put it in the microwave, here, here nachos is a whole meal. You’ll get a mountain of nachos, meat, tomato, natilla, salad and cheese on a plate so small that everything will be all over the place when you’re finished.

But I was extremely happy with the nachos besides for the fact that they were very tasty they also helped my kill the hunger I had all day. I woke up early in the morning with just a bit of bread for breakfast to go with my uncle to the school where he works. It is in the village of Guayllipi or something like that, it lies on top of a mountain and it a 12 kilometer gravel road takes you there. There is almost nothing: 1 church, 1 soccer field, 1 supermarket and the 60-student school. It was nice to visit such a small village like this, it made me think if the small village in France, it just suck that Costa Rica doesn’t have any nice architecture at all. While my uncle was in a meeting a laid outside in the sun and took a nice nap, just me and my thoughts. My nap got disturbed by rain which is weird because it didn’t rain for over a month and it isn’t supposed the rain at all. But Costa Rica is a country of surprises and I actually liked it, I miss the crazy rain. And the way back we went to a viewing point and I could see all over my region, I didn’t see Orotina itself but the sea was beautiful and the mountains far away filled with woods were beautiful.

22:13

Monkeys!

Today was an epic day at the river! While we were swimming from the rope as always we heard some loud noises which my dear friends indicated as howler monkeys. Me and 2 friends were up for a little adventure so we took off towards the sounds. We went bare feet jumping from stone to stone through the river until we found an entry in the forest. We continued; still on bare feet towards the still howling howler monkeys. After a few hundred meters we climbed a little hill and looked up: 4 meters above there were around 8 howler monkeys just chilling. Luckily the howler monkeys stopped howling so we could watch them in peace. After 2 minutes we decided to go because the not howling howler monkeys looked kinda mad and ready to throw shit at us. On the way back we got a bit lost and I was sure the monkeys were following us so after we started running we heard something we suddenly were back at the river; it was a cool small adventure.

Dia 210, el Sabado 9 de Febrero 2013 21:15

CARNIVAL!

Yesterday was nice, and today, today was EPIC. So let’s talk about yesterday first!

It was an easy day; I started with sweeping the floor which is my daily chore. I did some preparations for the holiday of my parents for when they come here; it’s going to be amazing! In the afternoon my hostmom came home with and aunt and a cousin. We talked during a lovely lunch with ‘chimi churri’ a mix of tomato, lemon, salt and union; delicious! I’m going to eat that so much in The Netherlands. The lunch changed into coffee time and we just kept on talking about the regular Costa Rican stuff. Later when the women wanted to gossip on their own I went to the center to pick up my new school uniform pants, brown pants specially made for me in some store. Because I am a last year’s student I get to wear a different uniform and I must say I feel damn good in it.

This morning my alarm clock went off and it took my time to figure out which day it was, when I realized it was Saturday I almost went back to sleep, but I am so so so sooo glad I didn’t! I swept the house, ate my breakfast ate a second breakfast, showered and for ready for carnival! I took a bus with 2 friends from school to Puntarenas, normally the ride takes 1 hour and 15 minutes, today it took 2 and a half hours. But the bus ride was funny, a few friends more entered the bus and we were joking all the time about everything and nothing. I must honestly say that I was surprised when I arrived in Puntarenas. Puntarenas wasn’t the dirty harbor city anymore, it changed completely. Okey, it was still dirty but the vibe was way better. There were a lot of fast food trailers on the boulevard alongside the beach and a lot a lot a lot of people and at the far end: a huge stage. I didn’t believe my eyes, it was like I was back in the Netherlands on Queens day but now with beach and palm trees! We walked the boulevard until the crowd started and searched for a spot between all the half-naked beer-drinking and marihuana smoking Costa Rican students. The concert was mostly live Reggae music but with a nice beat to dance to. The party was getting started and then I suddenly got a big hug, it were Ruth and Bea who saw me standing, which must not have been that hard since I was about 15 centimeters taller as everybody else with some blond hair on top. They came all the way from Nicoya to this festival and it was a very nice surprise that I saw them. We danced a bit together, me, my friends and them. Later we split up again and I moved with my friends the some shadow since the sun was burning like crazy and the temperature had raised to 34 degrees Celsius. After 6 hours of dancing and jumping I lost my friends in the crowd, I walked a bit out of the crowd to find get some reception and there I found Ruth and Bea again! after walking back with them I got found by my friends who probably saw me coming from the other side; being tall is awesome (except for bus rides).

After this concert there was going to be the real carnival with nice carts and dancers and everything but we were pretty tired and we didn’t have any money either so we took the bus back to Orotina. During the bus ride I called with the Dutch radio program ‘De wereld van Filemon’  which is used to do every day but quit due to the holidays, but now I’m back! So tune in on Saturday night between 1 and 3!

Today was an epic day in Costa Rica; I didn’t expect it all and almost didn’t go. I heard of this festival just 2 days ago and happened to meet some people yesterday in the center who were going, fate has been on my side I guess. It was awesome, now I’m tired and going for a nice sleep.