Walk around La Fortuna: scary festival stuff, my favorite little horse and flowers on the road that I run, many photos of birds while bird watching at awesome wood artist gallery, the fortuna school, and more!

Spanglish

Well, as it seems to happen every so often, the last couple evenings have been a bit busy and unorganized here at the police station, so classes have also been unorganized and consisted more of random conversations in Spanglish and more interesting comparisons for our two cultures. Monday night was the last night of the week for that group of officers, so they were all pretty tired and completing any last minute tasks before heading home for a week. Somehow we got on the topic of singing, karaoke, and music. I got out my laptop to play some of the artists that they expressed were their favorite English singers including Michael Jackson, Elton John, John Lennon, as well as Celine Dion and Madonna. They were surprised at just how much music I could have on my computer and super excited when they asked if I could share some of the music through their USB thumb drives. It was fun listening to music with them, singing along with some, and explaining the meaning of others. I was brought back to the late 90’s listening to Celine Dion when that was the only CD I would listen to. I think the officers felt a little old when I explained that in 1997, when I was 7 years old, “My Heart Will Go On” was my favorite song. The officers always like to tell me how pretty I am, and of course, jumped on the chance of telling me how well I can sing, even though I was hardly singing along. They are now insisting that we go sing karaoke sometime, which I do enjoy participating in every so often. Our deal is that when we do go, they must sing only English songs, and I only Spanish songs. I’ve got some Selena songs in mind already.

Yesterday morning while using the office internet to get in my morning updates, I had to try to hold back some laughs as one of the officers played Celine Dion real loud from his car while packing it up to go home. He was also very disappointed I did not have some music from his favorite artist Whitney Houston, so I am going to work on getting some of that brought my way before I leave.  

Tuesday was one of the rainiest days I have experienced here, so I spent the day at the gym biking and at the station talking with the officers, friends on skype, and reading. I was spoiled by a great afternoon snack of a friend egg and plantains and some warm coffee by the officer and cook Victor. He is such a big, old flirt. At times I think I should be almost bothered by how much he likes to tease me, but he is so cute I have to just laugh. The afternoon cleared up enough for a walk around town and some more reading by the fountain in the park. The cool weather after all the rain was very refreshing. Although, to my fellow officers, they coolness was “cold” and required jackets. They didn’t understand why I was still walking around in a tank top and enjoying the nice weather. I tried to explain what real cold is, but I don’t think they can understand having never experienced anything like snow or ice.

Yesterday evening was another busy evening as many officers were getting back from daylong meetings late and other jobs, so we once again had random Spanglish conversations. We got on the topic of marriage. One of the officers who is also studying law wrote his thesis on divorce, as divorces in Costa Rica are even more common with 2 of 3 marriages ending in divorce. This officer looked at the idea of changing the current marriage law of allowing 15-year olds to marry with parental permission and 18-year olds to marry and making the legal age 25 years old. He also wants to recommend that all couples take some sort of course, whether religious or not, before getting married. Both sound like pretty good ideas considering how big of a problem it is. Also related, I discovered the difference in last names between the U.S. and Costa Rica. I’ve been wondering about this for a while as here everyone has two last names and are surprised that I do not. The reason this is the case is because here, a person has a last name from their father and mother. For example, here, my last name would be Kisa Clark Billings- meaning I would have the first last name of my both my father and mother. Furthermore, if I were to get married here, my last name would not change at all. Women do not take the name of their husband here. The officers found the idea very strange as I explained that the majority of the time, in the U.S., when a woman marries, she completely loses her last name to take her husband’s name. One officer said, “If I was your father, I would be very upset when you get married.” Although I don’t really like when we have these unorganized nights and not able to have classes, I truly enjoy getting to visit and learn more from my officers.

After class, I went back into town to meet up my friend Sanne from Holland who I met at the hostel in Jaco doing an internship in Fortuna. We wanted to check out the festivities for the evening at the festival. We were disappointed to find only really bad karaoke and some scary Carnival stands, so we went to a local bar to chat and enjoy some smoothies. As we entered the bar, every single head turned and stared until we reached our table and then watched for a bit more. I thought I had gotten used to the extra attention here, but sometimes it still just fascinates me at how acceptable it is to check someone out here. Nonetheless, it was so nice to catch up with Sanne and hear about some of her recent adventures, share experiences, talk about culture and philosophies, and enjoy the nice evening with a friend. By 10pm we were both ready to pass out so we called it a night.

Last night, I was disturbed by a sound of some plastic sacks nearby my bead making a soft rustling sound like some sort of small rodent or large insect was moving around it. Whatever it was, it must have been smart because every time I heard it and turned on the reading light of my kindle to see what was making the sound, the sound stopped. Hopefully, whatever it was, it has left today and I will never have to find out what was the source of the sound.

I’m getting excited for the new volunteer coming to work at the project as he leaves today and gets to Fortuna on Friday. I was upset to hear that he is running into some of the same troubles I had when I first came 5 weeks ago with the organization here in Costa Rica not being ready for his arrival, but hopefully he will get here without too much stress.

Now off to enjoy a pretty sunny day with some walking, reading, and prepping for class! 

Muchas Aventuras Buenas

Since my last post I have been very fortunate enough to have had more great adventures here in La Fortuna, as well as some time for some good relaxation.

Picking up from where I left off this last Friday- I used the morning to go on a nice little walk around town and venture down some of the side streets I have yet to really explore. I encountered a man painting outside a large art gallery. I visited with him for a while as he told me about his paintings. He was very talented, working with mini canvases and using several of the canvases to create one large image. Although I could not understand everything he said as he spoke super fast, he was very nice and offered to make me mini canvas painting earrings. The owner of the gallery then came out and opened the doors where I enjoyed viewing the work of a variety of Costa Rica painters. The owner, an Italian man who came to La Fortuna 20 years ago when the town was much-less developed was very kind as well. After the art gallery, I bought myself a nice fruit drink and headed to the park to sit by the fountain and finish reading Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! which is really an excellent book. I had almost forgotten why I loved Fannie Flagg. The book deals with political, social, personal, and emotional issues in such a graceful way and the ending answered so many questions and brought together all the seemingly unrelated stories together so well. The book also made me a bit homesick as it certainly glorified small-town life in Missouri with friends and families. Fortunately, in the afternoon I got to skype with some very special people back home and felt much better. Friday evening, I joined some of the officers for a run and pick-up soccer. I was proud of myself for keeping up with the fastest officer during the run, and most likely could have run more than him. I did not match up when it came to soccer however. It was obvious that my police comrades have played soccer much more than I have, and the young boys playing soccer barefoot as they probably do every day were  to say the least a bit intimidating. When we walked back we had a much-deserved dinner of rice and beans. We also treated ourselves to some fresh melon and I explained to them the difference in the naming of the melons like cantaloupe, honeydew, and watermelon- although there were a couple melons I did not recognize, all were very good. We then had a fun class by playing a few word games.

Saturday was one of the random rainy days. I had thought to get up and do yoga, but instead had breakfast at the station and visit with the officers in the morning. I was able to talk to some of the officers that have an exam in English at the end of April about the test, and now have a better idea of some material we need to be practicing more- including more reading comprehension. The rain gave way for a while, so I ran to town to bike at the gym for a while and came back to shower and have lunch. After lunch I felt exhausted so I went back to the apartment to rest. I opened the window above my bed and the perfect cool, fresh after-rain breeze knocked me out in now time. I woke up and started my next book The Help which after seeing the great movie, I have been meaning to read for some time. I also got to watch Evi hand-make some delicious empanadas, which are basically a fried tortilla stuffed with whatever fillings you like. Fortunately she was making empanadas with beans and cheese, very delicious. I then went to the station to do some extra practice reading with some of the two female officers Mercedes and Berta.  I had planned on having some class as well, but after several of the officers got caught in the pouring rain during the run, and as it continued to rain and the inside room with the television was much more appealing to everyone, I ended up watching the movie The Scorpion King, which if you are wondering is still a bad movie in Spanish, probably even worse, and visited with the officers over some yummy Costa Rican coffee.

Sunday was a very exciting day here in La Fortuna. In the morning, as I went to the gym to bike, I could see preparation for a big event in the central park as the roads were being blocked off and stages set up. I asked the officers at lunch what was going on, and they explained that there was going to be a large horse parade. After lunch, I headed to the center to find out what exactly they were talking about. The park was already filling up, and several loud speakers were already blaring. The event reminded me of parade like events in the U.S. Several people had coolers with drinks and beer, Costa Rican’s Imperial beer of course, and men walked around selling blow-up toys and bubbles to kids. Everyone was wearing their cool American brand shirts, and women wore belly shirts with tight jeans and boots. Like many Latin American cultures, everyone greets their friends with a kiss on the cheek, a tradition that I find both a bit uncomfortable as I am not used to such a tradition, but also very intimate and kind. And like the U.S., with the high school kids in attendance, you could see the clique groups as “the cool girls” took their photo together. As the park got busier the four different stages with announcers and blaring music just got louder and louder in attempt to drown out their competitors.

 I found one of the few free benches to enjoy some reading in the sun and ate a delicious huge mango that the station secretary gave me before the weekend started. I found that eating a mango as you would an apple can be quite messy, and I could feel some looks as I messily ate the mango; however, I really didn’t mind as the fruit was so good. Also, I had not realized how stringy the fruit of mango is. If you thought eating corn left lots of stuff in your teeth, try eating a mango- I was going nuts the rest of the day with the mango string stuck in my teeth.

I finished the mango and cleaned up just as the horses arrived. I couldn’t believe just how many horses would come through this small area. There were hundreds of horses and riders varying in sizes and colors, and riders varying from not only older men, but also woman, young kids, teenagers, and adults even holding babies. The horses were very well trained and most could perform fancy galloping tricks. All the riders had numbers on their backs much like a race bib, so I figured it was some sort of competition, but that was not the case. They simply rode around and got beers and other drinks from the different stages also lining the park. During the parade I met a nice young man named Jose who is studying to be an English teacher and works at a local restaurant. He easily spotted me (the gringa) out and walked around with me a while to visit and practice some English. I also met a friend of his who is originally from New York and saw another American named Ron who I had met through Naomi at her hostel. I found it funny that he had seen me several times running around town. It was nice to see some other familiar faces at the parade, and was also a realization that I have been here long enough to almost be a local.

Last night I spent the class-free evening to talk with my brother and parents who will be coming in just a few weeks. I was very grateful for skype last night as I was also able to have a 1-year anniversary date with my boyfriend, during which I watched the Academy Awards through his web cam. I was so happy to not miss it as it is my favorite awards program, despite the fact that he had the better predictions, breaking my several year winning streak. I’m also more excited to get home to see some of the nominated movies, along with the individuals whom I was visiting with. I was also given some more yummy fruit from one of the officers who is afraid that because I don’t eat meat and run as much as I do, I am not getting enough food. Although this is certainly not the case, I definitely appreciate the gift.

Today I completely lucked out and was spoiled by police officers as they arranged for me to be able to tour the La Fortuna waterfall complimentary. I had been waiting to make this trip with a friend, as it is a $10 fee, and was excited to finally see this place I have been hearing such great things about. The officers drove me to the site, which is usually a 45-50 minute walk, and talked to the officials to let me in. I could hear the waterfall before I could see it as the large 70-meter drop of continuous flow of water made a loud crash. Although I really don’t like to do things alone, it was nice to enjoy the serenity and raw nature of the hike down to the fall pool. Standing at the bottom of the massive fall was breathtaking. I felt again like I was in a scene in Jurassic Park, and that a small dinosaur might pop out of the surrounding woods to take a sip from the pool or small stream. At the bottom of the trail I also met a very nice American named Angela from L.A. who was on a group tour and also using the morning to enjoy the fall. It was so nice to visit with her and share some life experiences and cultural differences in the U.S. while both enjoying the beauty of the fall. After a couple of hours we returned to the office, and I called one of the officers Carlos who came to take us both back in to town. He spoiled us again by stopping at a roadside coconut vender for some fresh coconut juice. I then had a yummy traditional lunch with some yucca, rice and beans, and a fresh salad. I was questioned by some of the officers as why I did not want to eat the chicken as well. It is quite funny how the idea of vegetarianism seems completely incomprehensible to most everyone here.  

This afternoon I went into town to meet with the woman named Gabriela, who I have been planning to meet for a few days now about some private lessons. Knowing she works till 4, I didn’t know how well that would work with my schedule starting to teach around 5:30, so I decided to see if my friend Ron who has been looking for teaching work and most likely more in need of work than I would want to meet with her to see if he could start some lessons with her. Fortunately, he was in his hostel, so he and I went to the park to wait for her. While waiting, we talked about movies, as he is originally from L.A. and studied and worked in the movie industry. I could talk about movies for hours, so I loved the conversation. We also talked about traveling since he has traveled the world, and lived in Japan for over 20 years teaching. Gabriela arrived, and it was nice to finally meet her. I stayed to help translate a bit as Ron’s Spanish is not strong, and Gabriela knows no English. I was a bit bummed when she told Ron that she is switching her schedule so they could have class in the morning, something I was not aware of and would have worked very well for me and some easy money, but I am glad I could help Ron and he now will be able to stay in Fortuna, as he wants to. Gabriela said she knows more people wanting English lessons as well, so I might be getting work afterwards. After walking home and talking more with Ron about older movies, I went to the police station to get in a run with some of the officers before class. They ended up going somewhere without me so I went for a run on my own at the track. Running while the sun was setting and watching the brilliant oranges and purples change hues with the volcano looming over was absolutely stunning. With the perfect climate, cool breeze, and happy families playing around the track combined with the high from being on a run, I felt really content and realized just how comfortable I now am being here in Fortuna; I could see how a person would want to stay and live in Fortuna for a long time.

Now off to class to give a weekly quiz (of course after eating some more rice and beans)! 

La Catarata de Fortuna (Waterfall!)