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.
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