Semana Santa

And now on to Semana Santa/ spring break!  The whole spring break idea is completely different here.  Every year, everyone’s spring break (including working adults) is during Holy Week, or Semana Santa.  Although some people have to work Monday through Wednesday, basically the whole country shuts down for the week and everyone has family get-togethers or beach trips all week long (Heredia looked like a complete ghost town with everything boarded up for a few days).  For those who do have to work, I get the impression it’s kind of like the first couple days of March Madness – people may be physically at work but they’re probably not getting any more done than Daniel is in this picture:  

In this picture, Daniel is a good example of the average productivity in Costa Rica during Holy Week.

One of the most distinctive things we’ve noticed about the Costa Rican culture is the importance of family.  They get together all the time down here!  Growing up, it was always a special occasion to see extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents).  Here, a day is out of the ordinary if you DON’T see extended family - within about three days of moving in with my host family, I had met brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, great grandchildren, etc!  Every day it’s like a different part of the family comes over for coffee (the fourth meal here, between lunch and dinner).  

Anyways, our first spring break destination was Tamarindo to see Pedro and family!  It felt so good to be back with them, although a little unfamiliar since they moved to a new place a couple weeks ago.  But their new apartment is wonderful!  In addition to being closer to town, it has a delightful, large, third-story balcony where you can just sit and watch dozens of birds!  So that’s what we did!  While making palm crosses for Palm Sunday, while Norma painted Caroline’s toe nails, while snacking, and we even had fun setting out pieces of bread to try to lure the birds onto the balcony.  In the afternoon, we all took turns surfing until sunset and then ate at an Argentinian grill Pedro and Norma have been wanting to try. A little too fun, maybe – I ordered a (as in one) mojito, and boy I was feelin it!  Kind of embarrassing actually when your 117-pound girlfriend is more of a heavyweight than you are!  But I just tell myself it’s because she gets all that practice helping the priests consume all the wine that’s leftover after communion in Sewanee!  It really was a delightful meal though…

A Turquoise-browed Motmot

A weetle hummy!

shreddin

We loved spending Palm Sunday at St. Paul’s By the Sea, surrounded by real palm trees in addition to all the palm crosses Caroline and María José made!  One of my favorite parts of St. Paul’s By the Sea is that after the service, everyone stays for a few extra minutes for coffee and snacks!  And this Sunday, we also all ate lunch together at Longboard’s BBQ.  Then after the goodbyes it was on to Monteverde!  In an effort to limit tourism-related overdevelopment, the community of Monteverde has decided not to pave the windy mountain road that leads to it, so the last hour or so of the journey was BUMPYLUMPY, so rough in fact that our driver had to take a break to throw up (although I suspect he might have been sick too)…

Daniel always makes great picture faces!

We had crosses up all over the place!

McKenzie decided she wanted a closer look :)

In Monteverde,we stayed on an organic farm outside town run by the sweetest family!  In addition to giving us a tour of the farm, they fired up their sugar cane-grinder and made us each a fresh glass (three actually) of…I don't know what to call it… liquefied sugar cane with some lemon juice mixed in – it was amazing!  The next morning we had set up an early-morning tour in one of the wildlife reserves around Monteverde.  We had a wonderful guide who kept even Caroline from being bored during the four-hour hike (Caroline’s about as big on bird-watching as I am on fasting), but the undisputed highlight came near the end as we got a splendid view of a pair of resplendent quetzals!  This is the prize bird that everyone wants to see in Costa Rica, not only because of its brilliant plumage, or because it’s endangered and rare, but for the sacred role it’s played in the indigenous folklore.  We stood there marveling at them for at least twenty minutes…

due to the cloud forest climate, them trees in Monteverde are even more ringless than Duke players in the NBA!

female quetzal

male quetzal

Leo and Reina operating the antique trapiche: In goes the sugar cane, out comes the juice!

Caroline made two new friends :)

We spent the afternoon leisurely strolling around Monteverde, with Caroline this time being the tour guide who knew everything.  Then in the evening we had a delicious seafood dinner with the host family she had during her first-week orientation in Monteverde.  Little year-and-a-half-old Santiago appeared to remember Caroline but couldn't quite seem to figure out where from, and it was wonderful spending time with Jessica and Eric.  Partly because of special moments like that with friends in all the places we visited, this was one of our favorite trips so far.  That trend would continue the next morning as we met up with Silvie and Diego (and Feli!) and journeyed with them to Miramar to spend even more time with family!  First we stopped at their nanny’s house (who had the week off for Semana Santa) to celebrate her birthday, and then up into the mountains again to where Silvie’s dad and many aunts and uncles live.   

Santiago, Eric, and Jessica

Feli (messily) trying to eat a mango

It was a whole different experience from being in the city – what a charming and welcoming place!  Basically a whole lot of Silvie’s family lives together in a couple houses spread out on a mountain, and it is far from “civilization.”  It reminded me a little of Swiss Family Robinson except with electricity; it’s hard to describe, but suffice it to say they are pretty self-sufficient – their water comes from a spring (although they do have indoor plumbing), they grow and raise much of their own food (we got to watch some neighbors milk the cows and then make cheese from it), they have horses to get around on, when something breaks they make do with whatever they can find, and just a general attitude of your shirt has holes in it?  Who cares?  Ain't no thang but a chicken wang!  Wear it anyway!  It was about the least fancy place I can think of, and there wasn’t much to do except sit around together, but perhaps that’s part of the reason we loved it so much!

Abuelo loved playing with Feli!

unedited sunset over the valley

The next day on the way back to Heredia, Silvie and Diego decided to take a pit stop in the peninsula port city of Puntarenas to introduce us to the locally famous dessert called the “Churchill,” and ordered us each a colossal one.  The Churchill consists of ice cream, granizado (similar to a slushie), powdered milk, and sweetened condensed milk, and ooooooooooooo girl that thang was tasty.  I didn’t even eat dinner that night because I was still full!

What a rich trip it had already been in terms of food and time shared with others, when the next morning they invited me to go to “lunch” north of town where all Diego’s parents and aunts and uncles live.  I put lunch in quotations because anytime someone invites you “lunch” here, it is probably going to drag on and on and become an all-day affair, which is exactly what happened!  We just sat around eating and talking and playing (riddles, Mafia, a homemade zipline - don't ask, Mom, a kiddie pool, squirt guns, etc.) and hanging out with Diego’s family until well after dinner, and it was awesome!  So different than in the States, where (this is generalization) everyone is so independent and focused on productivity.  Granted, family get-togethers are easier here geographically because it’s a smaller country, but most families seem to choose to stay in the same area specifically so they can see each other frequently.  In contrast, for me growing up, even my grandparents who live only 40 minutes away in Greensboro, I’d only see four or five times a year (Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and maybe a couple random times), whereas here, if your grandparents live 40 minutes away, you probably see them once a week!  I know there are lots of complicated factors, but nevertheless the difference is astounding, and Caroline and I are definitely fans of the Costa Rica style!

Reminds me of a fascinating blog post that I highly recommend called The Medium Chill ( http://grist.org/living/2011-06-28-the-medium-chill ), and it seems to me that Costa Ricans just seem to understand better what really makes us happy (relationships and community, not dinero or status).

the makeshift zipline :)

Diego's family enjoying some porch time!

 http://grist.org/living/2011-06-28-the-medium-chill