Masaya Market building
Fountain and church in Granada (note the goat)
View of Granada from a church belltower
Pedestrian street in GranadaFriday, March 30, 2007
Photos from Nicaragua
Masaya Market building Fountain and church in Granada (note the goat) View of Granada from a church belltower Pedestrian street in Granada
More Photos from Nicaragua
Inside the Masaya Market 
Yeah, c´mon and gimme some of the good stuff fishy...
Too Cool For School!Wednesday, March 28, 2007
When Dreams Die at the Border: Chocolate Covered Promises (the Adventures of Sand and Fire, a.k.a. Youngblood and Danger)
Author’s Note: Be prepared for a very lengthy and hopefully entertaining post.
Working somewhat illegally under a tourist visa, I am obliged to leave the country for 72 hours every three months so that I don’t get deported and forbidden from entering Costa Rica again. I’ve only been here about two months, but Alex, one of the other writers, needed to leave the country to renew his visa. Seeing that I wanted to go to Nicaragua anyway, I decided to go with him over the weekend.
Sometimes you just know when things are not going to turn out right. You have a feeling of sorts and I definitely had this same type of auspicious feeling beforehand. And as it turns out, we had a pretty adventurous weekend.
It all got started on the wrong foot as Alex was unable to catch two early morning buses from San Jose to Liberia on Friday because they were full. The idea was for him to come here, celebrate Ines’ birthday over lunch, then catch another bus to the border and go from there. We had a great time eating at an Italian restaurant in town , but Alex wasn’t able to get here until late so we decided to wait until the next day to head north.
As fate would have it, Alex met a girl on the bus and somehow managed to talk us into a trip out to her family farm on Saturday to go horseback riding. It seemed pretty sweet until we arrived where we were to meet her but she was late (predictably by my account) and couldn’t take us to her ranch because she had things to do in Liberia. Adding insult to injury, the already crestfallen Alex was further distressed by the fact that his digital SLR camera got stolen on the bus going after what he deemed, “chocolate covered promises.”
Deciding to cut our losses, we ventured to the bus station to head to the border (only about an hour away) but the bus wasn’t leaving for another hour. We actually ended riding up with a couple other people in an unlicensed taxi and it was definitely faster and reasonabley priced. Things were going relatively well until we actually stepped out of the car and were immediately mobbed by a dozen or so guys who make there living swindling people at the border.
I of course did not realize just how treacherous these guys were as they closed in offering to change money, give us a taxi and find us housing. Amidst the frenzy and confusion, I, needing to change money, gave them more than I should have. I expected them to take some money off the top and foolishly not knowing exact exchange rate, did not realize that they had taken us for more than half of what we gave them until it was too late. I concede that this was more than a dumb move, but I had a little more faith in the goodness of these people that they wouldn’t completely dick us over. But, alas, they did. I was profoundly disappointed in myself first of all, but certainly by the wankers at the border as well.
Anyway, the actual immigration process went remarkably smoothly and we hopped on a bus, (a little expensive but nice) going to Granada, Nicaragua. This worked out well because it was getting dark and we didn’t know of any other options after this bus passed. Granada is a very cool city. It was founded by Fransisco Cordoba in 1524 and is the oldest colonial city in the Western Hemisphere. It has a long and often tumultuous history full of pirate raids and power struggles but a great deal of the colonial housing and architecture has remained intact.
Interestingly, William Walker, ancestor of our fearless President established a stronghold in Granada and from which he tried to take over Central America in the 1850´s. Following mass dissent and renouncement by the U.S. government, he and his army were driven from the city but managed to raze the city on their way out. So you see, W, comes from aa long pedigree of brilliant foreign policy that has helped mold him into the leader we have today. I guess the apple doesn´t fall far from the tree.
I digress...
Alex has been through Nicaragua before and spent some time in Granada in particular so we went back to a cool hostel he knew of near the center of town. Thank God they allowed us to pay at the end of our three nights because we barely had enough money to cover our food expenses.
Fearing it being stolen or lost, I did not bring my credit card with me so we had to pinch every one of our Cordobas and tighten our belts to make it through. I must say, interesting thoughts run through your head when you are in a third world country with no certain way of getting back home, that’s for sure. Fortunately for us things are a little cheaper still in Nicaragua and we were able to ration our remaining money well and got enough food to get us through the days comfortably.
However, we definitely did not have enough to pay for the hostel and the return bus tickets so I had shamefully had to call my parents to have them send us money and bail us out. THANKS MOM AND DAD!! I try to be independent and self sufficient as much as possible and don’t like asking my parents for things, particularly money, but it is wonderful to know that they’ll be there to help when I need it.
I don’t know, perhaps in some ways it gives them an odd source of pleasure that us kids still look to them to take care of us. Or, I could be really off base and they really are fed up with me. Who really knows…
We got money (by the way, Western Union offers a fantastic service to dumb, stranded gringos) and had just enough to make it back to Costa Rica without any more complications. In retrospect, once we got inside Nicaragua, things were really quite enjoyable. We went to a cool arstesania market in Masaya and saw a little of Managua too. Nicaragua has so much more colonial history and culture than what I´ve seen in Costa Rica and Granada is a cool place.
All in all, it was a decent experience. I made some blunders and learned some lessons the hard way but came through it all right and I am still here without a whole lot of fuss. I wish perhaps I could have learned the same things a different way but sometimes the best way to learn is to fall flat on your face.
Working somewhat illegally under a tourist visa, I am obliged to leave the country for 72 hours every three months so that I don’t get deported and forbidden from entering Costa Rica again. I’ve only been here about two months, but Alex, one of the other writers, needed to leave the country to renew his visa. Seeing that I wanted to go to Nicaragua anyway, I decided to go with him over the weekend.
Sometimes you just know when things are not going to turn out right. You have a feeling of sorts and I definitely had this same type of auspicious feeling beforehand. And as it turns out, we had a pretty adventurous weekend.
It all got started on the wrong foot as Alex was unable to catch two early morning buses from San Jose to Liberia on Friday because they were full. The idea was for him to come here, celebrate Ines’ birthday over lunch, then catch another bus to the border and go from there. We had a great time eating at an Italian restaurant in town , but Alex wasn’t able to get here until late so we decided to wait until the next day to head north.
As fate would have it, Alex met a girl on the bus and somehow managed to talk us into a trip out to her family farm on Saturday to go horseback riding. It seemed pretty sweet until we arrived where we were to meet her but she was late (predictably by my account) and couldn’t take us to her ranch because she had things to do in Liberia. Adding insult to injury, the already crestfallen Alex was further distressed by the fact that his digital SLR camera got stolen on the bus going after what he deemed, “chocolate covered promises.”
Deciding to cut our losses, we ventured to the bus station to head to the border (only about an hour away) but the bus wasn’t leaving for another hour. We actually ended riding up with a couple other people in an unlicensed taxi and it was definitely faster and reasonabley priced. Things were going relatively well until we actually stepped out of the car and were immediately mobbed by a dozen or so guys who make there living swindling people at the border.
I of course did not realize just how treacherous these guys were as they closed in offering to change money, give us a taxi and find us housing. Amidst the frenzy and confusion, I, needing to change money, gave them more than I should have. I expected them to take some money off the top and foolishly not knowing exact exchange rate, did not realize that they had taken us for more than half of what we gave them until it was too late. I concede that this was more than a dumb move, but I had a little more faith in the goodness of these people that they wouldn’t completely dick us over. But, alas, they did. I was profoundly disappointed in myself first of all, but certainly by the wankers at the border as well.
Anyway, the actual immigration process went remarkably smoothly and we hopped on a bus, (a little expensive but nice) going to Granada, Nicaragua. This worked out well because it was getting dark and we didn’t know of any other options after this bus passed. Granada is a very cool city. It was founded by Fransisco Cordoba in 1524 and is the oldest colonial city in the Western Hemisphere. It has a long and often tumultuous history full of pirate raids and power struggles but a great deal of the colonial housing and architecture has remained intact.
Interestingly, William Walker, ancestor of our fearless President established a stronghold in Granada and from which he tried to take over Central America in the 1850´s. Following mass dissent and renouncement by the U.S. government, he and his army were driven from the city but managed to raze the city on their way out. So you see, W, comes from aa long pedigree of brilliant foreign policy that has helped mold him into the leader we have today. I guess the apple doesn´t fall far from the tree.
I digress...
Alex has been through Nicaragua before and spent some time in Granada in particular so we went back to a cool hostel he knew of near the center of town. Thank God they allowed us to pay at the end of our three nights because we barely had enough money to cover our food expenses.
Fearing it being stolen or lost, I did not bring my credit card with me so we had to pinch every one of our Cordobas and tighten our belts to make it through. I must say, interesting thoughts run through your head when you are in a third world country with no certain way of getting back home, that’s for sure. Fortunately for us things are a little cheaper still in Nicaragua and we were able to ration our remaining money well and got enough food to get us through the days comfortably.
However, we definitely did not have enough to pay for the hostel and the return bus tickets so I had shamefully had to call my parents to have them send us money and bail us out. THANKS MOM AND DAD!! I try to be independent and self sufficient as much as possible and don’t like asking my parents for things, particularly money, but it is wonderful to know that they’ll be there to help when I need it.
I don’t know, perhaps in some ways it gives them an odd source of pleasure that us kids still look to them to take care of us. Or, I could be really off base and they really are fed up with me. Who really knows…
We got money (by the way, Western Union offers a fantastic service to dumb, stranded gringos) and had just enough to make it back to Costa Rica without any more complications. In retrospect, once we got inside Nicaragua, things were really quite enjoyable. We went to a cool arstesania market in Masaya and saw a little of Managua too. Nicaragua has so much more colonial history and culture than what I´ve seen in Costa Rica and Granada is a cool place.
All in all, it was a decent experience. I made some blunders and learned some lessons the hard way but came through it all right and I am still here without a whole lot of fuss. I wish perhaps I could have learned the same things a different way but sometimes the best way to learn is to fall flat on your face.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
To Move
Well, following a break downs of pros and cons, and the unanimous and resounding council from family and friends, I have decided to continue with The Journal as a full time writer. I met with Miguel last Friday and after discussing things with him, I accepted the offer and will be moving to Playa Coco sometime soon. I have many things to do now in preparation for the move like finding a new place to live, getting a Costa Rican bank account, get a cell phone and move out of my old place. Fortunately I don´t have much down here so the actually moving process shouldn´t be too bad.
I am both excited and apprehensive about the new job as I really don´t know what to expect from it. The work shouldn´t be too different which is nice, but I will have greater accountability within the newspaper and will have to take more initiative. This, however, is not the part that worries me.
I don´t know if it is unique to the management of this newspaper or a Costa Rica thing in general (though I think the latter), but things are rather disorganized. There always seems to be a bit of a scramble to finish each edition and communication between Miguel and the rest of us is poor at best. He is a nice guy and a good person but he is above all, a businessman. He is always looking for a way to save money and make more and unfortunately this has caused problems for some of the other people with the newspaper. He likes me but he is fickle and so I am nervous that his disposition toward me could change without me even realizing it.
So, I take the job with guarded optimism and I guess we´ll see how it turns out. If things are not going well I guess I can just leave. That´s a nice option to have but hopefully it won´t come to that.
I am in Nicaragua now with Alex Lane and to say the least, it has been an adventurous trip so far. I´ll write about it when I get back to Liberia.
I am both excited and apprehensive about the new job as I really don´t know what to expect from it. The work shouldn´t be too different which is nice, but I will have greater accountability within the newspaper and will have to take more initiative. This, however, is not the part that worries me.
I don´t know if it is unique to the management of this newspaper or a Costa Rica thing in general (though I think the latter), but things are rather disorganized. There always seems to be a bit of a scramble to finish each edition and communication between Miguel and the rest of us is poor at best. He is a nice guy and a good person but he is above all, a businessman. He is always looking for a way to save money and make more and unfortunately this has caused problems for some of the other people with the newspaper. He likes me but he is fickle and so I am nervous that his disposition toward me could change without me even realizing it.
So, I take the job with guarded optimism and I guess we´ll see how it turns out. If things are not going well I guess I can just leave. That´s a nice option to have but hopefully it won´t come to that.
I am in Nicaragua now with Alex Lane and to say the least, it has been an adventurous trip so far. I´ll write about it when I get back to Liberia.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
To Move or Not to Move...
Today I had a meeting with Miguel, the owner of The Journal, and he actually presented me with a very interesting proposition to move to a beach about an hour away from Liberia and continue working for the newspaper but as a full-time journalist.
It is a very tempting offer because I will be paid more for approximately the same amount of work that I am doing now. It will be a little more expensive to live on the coast and the particular beach is not exceptionally nice, but it still is a beach.
The problems I have with taking the job is that it would potentially mess up plans to travel to South America after the internship is done. The job is for an indefinite period of time and I have been planning and looking forward to returning to Chile and travelling around the rest of South America for a long time. I also still have my return flight to the U.S. mixed in there in June so it might be alittle difficult to coordinate all this logistically.
I told Miguel that I would think it over and get back to him on Friday. In the meantime, I am asking anyone who checks this blog to get me there opinions on the matter, so please let me know. Thanks!
It is a very tempting offer because I will be paid more for approximately the same amount of work that I am doing now. It will be a little more expensive to live on the coast and the particular beach is not exceptionally nice, but it still is a beach.
The problems I have with taking the job is that it would potentially mess up plans to travel to South America after the internship is done. The job is for an indefinite period of time and I have been planning and looking forward to returning to Chile and travelling around the rest of South America for a long time. I also still have my return flight to the U.S. mixed in there in June so it might be alittle difficult to coordinate all this logistically.
I told Miguel that I would think it over and get back to him on Friday. In the meantime, I am asking anyone who checks this blog to get me there opinions on the matter, so please let me know. Thanks!
Monday, March 19, 2007
Sweet Release
Well after a crazy last week I decided that I needed to get out and do something adventurous. Long ago I realized that the best way for me to deal with any sort of negative situation is for me to go and exercise. Without ready access to my usual cathartic crux, soccer, I had to improvise and to this end, I decided to tackle one of the many national parks that dominate Costa Rica.
I hopped on a shuttle bus that departed from a local hotel and made the hour trip to Parque Nacional Rincon de la Vieja to get out civilization for a day and see what I could see. The park has a couple different trails leading past fumaroles, bubbling mud pits and waterfalls but I wanted to try my hand at something a little more exciting i.e. hiking up to the crater of an active volcano.
It took me about four hours to get from the ranger station up to crater itself and it was absolutely incredible. The trail worked its way up through a forest where I saw gigantic Fichus trees, some crazy looking birds and some monkeys that were pissed I was taking pictures of them. Just as I was getting out above the forest line the trail split and there was a sign pointing out an easier way and a more difficult and dangerous path. I thought about it for a second and of course I ended choosing the tougher route, I mean what kind of pansy would I be if I took the easy way, geez!
It was windy and slow going on the way up but I persevered. It actually wasn´t too bad but I imagined myself as Sir Edmund Hillary, minus my faithful shirpa Tensing, summitting Mt. Everest (well, or something like that). I actually first went to an inactive volcano crater that was along the way but I couldn’t really see anything because it was shrouded in clouds. After the inactive volcano I worked my way over to the real deal and the view was incredible on the cusp of the crater. I could see for miles in all directions! I was hoping to see lava bubbling but instead there was this sorta translucent milky colored lake in the crater. It smelled terrible and the sulfur gases burned my throat a little bit so I didn’t stay too long. I made it down with time to spare before the bus came back to pick us up, so I took a quick jaunt on another trail to see some more smelly, bubbly things. All in all, it was definitely a great trip.
My legs were sore yesterday so I hopped on another bus and went to the beach for the afternoon. Volcanos and beaches in consecutive days... yup, Costa Rica is pretty sweet and it´s hard to stay down for too long.
I hopped on a shuttle bus that departed from a local hotel and made the hour trip to Parque Nacional Rincon de la Vieja to get out civilization for a day and see what I could see. The park has a couple different trails leading past fumaroles, bubbling mud pits and waterfalls but I wanted to try my hand at something a little more exciting i.e. hiking up to the crater of an active volcano.It took me about four hours to get from the ranger station up to crater itself and it was absolutely incredible. The trail worked its way up through a forest where I saw gigantic Fichus trees, some crazy looking birds and some monkeys that were pissed I was taking pictures of them. Just as I was getting out above the forest line the trail split and there was a sign pointing out an easier way and a more difficult and dangerous path. I thought about it for a second and of course I ended choosing the tougher route, I mean what kind of pansy would I be if I took the easy way, geez!
It was windy and slow going on the way up but I persevered. It actually wasn´t too bad but I imagined myself as Sir Edmund Hillary, minus my faithful shirpa Tensing, summitting Mt. Everest (well, or something like that). I actually first went to an inactive volcano crater that was along the way but I couldn’t really see anything because it was shrouded in clouds. After the inactive volcano I worked my way over to the real deal and the view was incredible on the cusp of the crater. I could see for miles in all directions! I was hoping to see lava bubbling but instead there was this sorta translucent milky colored lake in the crater. It smelled terrible and the sulfur gases burned my throat a little bit so I didn’t stay too long. I made it down with time to spare before the bus came back to pick us up, so I took a quick jaunt on another trail to see some more smelly, bubbly things. All in all, it was definitely a great trip.
My legs were sore yesterday so I hopped on another bus and went to the beach for the afternoon. Volcanos and beaches in consecutive days... yup, Costa Rica is pretty sweet and it´s hard to stay down for too long.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Still Here and Still Kicking
Well I am still here in Liberia and still working, though it has been a pretty crazy week. Jan is definitely not with The Journal any more and I haven’t seen him or talked to him since last Friday. I don’t know what he’s doing but I’m sure he’s fine. The office is still locked and the computers are still gone. I was told initially that our tech person who took them would be back on Wednesday to re-install everything but that definitely didn’t happen. So consequently, I’ve had to work from my laptop and Internet cafes all week to try and get things done. Apparently the computers will be there on Monday but I’m not holding my breath.
I also spoke with the owner Miguel and he is not worried about the future of the newspaper. I think Jan perhaps overestimated his influence in the company so hopefully everything works out. I don’t know for sure, but I feel much better about everything.
Moving on, last weekend I was actually able to meet up with Chad and the soccer guys from Ames. I took the last bus from Liberia to San Jose and got in about 12:30, hopped in a taxi and showed up at the hotel at 12:45AM. I called up to the room and woke up Chad and told him to come down to the lobby and let me up. I would have slept well but one of the dads who I was sharing the room with snored louder than anyone I’ve ever heard in my life. It was so bad that I actually hit him with my pillow in the middle of the night. I had to wear my headphones with the pillow over my head and only then was I able to get a little sleep.
The next day was a lot of fun because I just hung around with the guys and actually got to play in their game. It was great to run around and touch a ball again. Later that night we went to a game between two of the top teams in the Costa Rican professional league. It was a good game and it was especially cool because it was really foggy and at some points you could barely see across the field.
I also spoke with the owner Miguel and he is not worried about the future of the newspaper. I think Jan perhaps overestimated his influence in the company so hopefully everything works out. I don’t know for sure, but I feel much better about everything.
Moving on, last weekend I was actually able to meet up with Chad and the soccer guys from Ames. I took the last bus from Liberia to San Jose and got in about 12:30, hopped in a taxi and showed up at the hotel at 12:45AM. I called up to the room and woke up Chad and told him to come down to the lobby and let me up. I would have slept well but one of the dads who I was sharing the room with snored louder than anyone I’ve ever heard in my life. It was so bad that I actually hit him with my pillow in the middle of the night. I had to wear my headphones with the pillow over my head and only then was I able to get a little sleep.
The next day was a lot of fun because I just hung around with the guys and actually got to play in their game. It was great to run around and touch a ball again. Later that night we went to a game between two of the top teams in the Costa Rican professional league. It was a good game and it was especially cool because it was really foggy and at some points you could barely see across the field.
Sunday I left the team and met up with Alex and Peter in San Jose, the two other writers, and we went to a fiesta near where Peter lives. It was fun until a huge street fight broke out and somebody got knived in the throat. We were all standing right at the front when some drunk crack heads started going at it but I was the first one to get the hell out of there when shit started to get really crazy. People were throwing bottles and garbage cans and it was escalating quickly when the police finally arrived. Don´t worry Mom, I bolted when things got out of hand. ¡Loco!Alright, gotta get back to work. Sorry, to cause alarm to anyone. Things have been pretty hectic but are getting back under control.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Black Friday
Well I arrived at the office this morning and the doorknobs and locks had been changed. I clearly could not get in and was incredibly confused as to why something like this happened. At first I thought that we had been robbed during the night and for some reason the theives changed the door knobs. That really didn´t make any sense so I walked over to the other office to speak with Ines and call the owner of the newspapers.
I don´t still don´t know exactly what is going on but apparently there are some serious issues going on between Jan and the management. I think Jan is being fired for reasons that are still unclear to me and the owner had the locks changed so that Jan couldn´t get back into the office and sabotage the newspaper or something. A little absurd if you ask me but I´m sure that´s happened before.
There has been a bit of disorganization among the management and payment of bills and salaries and stuff lately and I think this the fallout of all that. I am doing fine and have had no problems with anyone but I am a little concerned about things to come. To be completely honest, Jan does a lot of stuff for The Journal and I think it will be difficult for them to replace him. I was talking to another writer and he is worried that the paper might go under. I don´t think it is quite that severe but then again, I´ve only been here about five weeks.
As of right now things are OK for me but we´ll just have to wait and see how they progress in the next couple weeks or two. If worst comes to worst and they need to get rid of me then I guess I just start my travels early. Not entirely a bad thing I guess.
On a much happier note, Chad is actually in San Jose right now and I´m going to meet him over the weekend. For those who might not know who that is, he was my high school soccer coach and lives next door to my house in Iowa. He´s down here with the high school team for a trip before their season starts. I leave Saturday morning and it should be great because I´ll get to hang out with him and see San Jose for the first time and I might even get to play a little bit too! (I´m a little out of shape so we´ll see how long I last in the heat though)
I don´t still don´t know exactly what is going on but apparently there are some serious issues going on between Jan and the management. I think Jan is being fired for reasons that are still unclear to me and the owner had the locks changed so that Jan couldn´t get back into the office and sabotage the newspaper or something. A little absurd if you ask me but I´m sure that´s happened before.
There has been a bit of disorganization among the management and payment of bills and salaries and stuff lately and I think this the fallout of all that. I am doing fine and have had no problems with anyone but I am a little concerned about things to come. To be completely honest, Jan does a lot of stuff for The Journal and I think it will be difficult for them to replace him. I was talking to another writer and he is worried that the paper might go under. I don´t think it is quite that severe but then again, I´ve only been here about five weeks.
As of right now things are OK for me but we´ll just have to wait and see how they progress in the next couple weeks or two. If worst comes to worst and they need to get rid of me then I guess I just start my travels early. Not entirely a bad thing I guess.
On a much happier note, Chad is actually in San Jose right now and I´m going to meet him over the weekend. For those who might not know who that is, he was my high school soccer coach and lives next door to my house in Iowa. He´s down here with the high school team for a trip before their season starts. I leave Saturday morning and it should be great because I´ll get to hang out with him and see San Jose for the first time and I might even get to play a little bit too! (I´m a little out of shape so we´ll see how long I last in the heat though)
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Dance Lessons?
OK, so a couple of weeks ago I started having lunch with Ines and Rosibel at a different office here in Liberia. They work for a newspaper called El Independiente which is actually owned by the same person who owns The Journal. The used to be in the office where I´m at not but have subsequently moved on a couple blocks away. Ines brings me a home made lunch from her mother, who sells baked food and I buy of course, and we usually just have lunch together. I bring a drink, juice or Coca-Cola, and the lunch is always good and cheaper than if I were to get the same food at a restaurant. We always have a good time and it definitely beats eating alone.
Ines is taking an English class and so I help her and she helps me with my Spanish. Pretty cool. She is incredibly nice and chatty and funny and today she decided she was going to teach me how to dance. It was pretty comical that´s for sure. I wish I had recorded it and could post it for you all to see because I´m sure you´d be on the floor laughing. I learned the steps okay but could only do them for a little while before I goofed up. I blame it partly on the cultural difference that Americans don´t dance and on my genes because for some reason my muscles are always tense. Even when I´m fully relaxed I´m still stiff as a board and when it comes to dancing I have no rhythm. This has always baffled me because I am athletic and play soccer in which you obviously use your feet. I think of course, that my footwork should be better but apparently being sporty does not necessarily transfer over to being a good dancer. I am determined to practice and will get better (though that still doesn´t mean I will be good).
Ines is taking an English class and so I help her and she helps me with my Spanish. Pretty cool. She is incredibly nice and chatty and funny and today she decided she was going to teach me how to dance. It was pretty comical that´s for sure. I wish I had recorded it and could post it for you all to see because I´m sure you´d be on the floor laughing. I learned the steps okay but could only do them for a little while before I goofed up. I blame it partly on the cultural difference that Americans don´t dance and on my genes because for some reason my muscles are always tense. Even when I´m fully relaxed I´m still stiff as a board and when it comes to dancing I have no rhythm. This has always baffled me because I am athletic and play soccer in which you obviously use your feet. I think of course, that my footwork should be better but apparently being sporty does not necessarily transfer over to being a good dancer. I am determined to practice and will get better (though that still doesn´t mean I will be good).
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
¡Fiestas Cívicas de Liberia 2007!
Last week were the Fiestas Cívicas de Liberia and let me tell you they were a pretty good time. They are an annual event that have been going on for over 100 years and are meant to celebrate the cultural traditions of Liberia and Guanacaste. A quick little history lesson, Guanacaste was not originally part of Costa Rica, it was it´s own country and was actually annexed about 150 years ago. It is hotter and dryer than any other province in Costa Rica and maintained a strong tradition of agriculture, ranching and the like. So, the Fiestas are to commemorate and preserve its strong folk heritage and they have lots of music, dances and parades throughout the week.
It was cool because our office overlooks the park in the center of town which was where a lot of these events took place. So, I could just look out my window and see a procession of horses clopping away and people playing traditional festival songs below. I enjoyed getting a good taste of Guanacaste culture for sure.
Aside from the songs and parades and normal stuff, Liberia also has some very odd traditions that go along with the Fiestas. "La Diana" happens every morning at 5:00AM and is where groups of people go around playing instruments, banging on things and setting off M-80´s to remind everyone it´s festival time. This gets especially raucus when people are just coming back from partying and join in the fun.
Also, the bull riding here is crazy! People absolutely love it because it is both idiotic and courageous at the same time. Riders try and stay on as long as possible but after they are off the bull stays in the ring and chases after everyone else who´s inside. There may be 100 or more young men in there and they duck and dodge to avoid getting hit by the bull. The point is to try and run past the bull and touch it and inevitably people get really hurt. The most dangerous bulls are the ones they let out without riders because they are usually a little bit smaller and faster and have pointed horns (they truncate the horns of bulls that are ridden). I saw one guy get caught from behind and then flipped in the air, another couple got slammed and one guy even got killed on Friday. The locals all say with a wry smile that it´s not a good bull or Fiesta unless some gets seriously hurt. ¡F´n loco no!
Aside from the traditional cultural events, they also have a fairgrounds where they set up food and drink vendors and these two gigantic portable discos. I´ve never seen anything like them before and they pounded dance music until 2:00AM just about every day. Two other writers for the Journal whom I hadn´t met yeat, Alex and Peter, came up on Thursday from San Jose and we went out Thursday through Sunday. The biggest night was Saturday which was absolutely nuts. There were hundreds of people in the discos and hundreds more spilled around outside. I was out late, around 4:00, every night and I can tell you there´s nothing quite as delicious as a juicy, salty stick of meat for $0.20 each when you´re walking home from the Fiestas early in the morning.
It was cool because our office overlooks the park in the center of town which was where a lot of these events took place. So, I could just look out my window and see a procession of horses clopping away and people playing traditional festival songs below. I enjoyed getting a good taste of Guanacaste culture for sure.
Aside from the songs and parades and normal stuff, Liberia also has some very odd traditions that go along with the Fiestas. "La Diana" happens every morning at 5:00AM and is where groups of people go around playing instruments, banging on things and setting off M-80´s to remind everyone it´s festival time. This gets especially raucus when people are just coming back from partying and join in the fun.
Also, the bull riding here is crazy! People absolutely love it because it is both idiotic and courageous at the same time. Riders try and stay on as long as possible but after they are off the bull stays in the ring and chases after everyone else who´s inside. There may be 100 or more young men in there and they duck and dodge to avoid getting hit by the bull. The point is to try and run past the bull and touch it and inevitably people get really hurt. The most dangerous bulls are the ones they let out without riders because they are usually a little bit smaller and faster and have pointed horns (they truncate the horns of bulls that are ridden). I saw one guy get caught from behind and then flipped in the air, another couple got slammed and one guy even got killed on Friday. The locals all say with a wry smile that it´s not a good bull or Fiesta unless some gets seriously hurt. ¡F´n loco no!
Aside from the traditional cultural events, they also have a fairgrounds where they set up food and drink vendors and these two gigantic portable discos. I´ve never seen anything like them before and they pounded dance music until 2:00AM just about every day. Two other writers for the Journal whom I hadn´t met yeat, Alex and Peter, came up on Thursday from San Jose and we went out Thursday through Sunday. The biggest night was Saturday which was absolutely nuts. There were hundreds of people in the discos and hundreds more spilled around outside. I was out late, around 4:00, every night and I can tell you there´s nothing quite as delicious as a juicy, salty stick of meat for $0.20 each when you´re walking home from the Fiestas early in the morning.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Birthday (Part 2)
The first entry about my birthday was earlier in the morning and I wanted to do another post because the rest of my day merits sharing.
I was a little uncertain how the day would actually go because birthday´s can sometimes be depressing especially if you´re away from family and friends, but this was definitely not the case for me. Though of course I missed people back in the U.S. and where ever else they may be, everyone here made me feel quite at home.
Lunch was great! We had some very traditional Guanacastecan food called "arroz de maiz," which is actually an oxymoron because it literally means "rice of corn," rice with chicken (also very Tico) and for dessert we had my cake with milk. It was interesting because I encountered a very unique cultural difference between United States and Costa Rica in that I asked for milk to be served with the cake. They were a little surprised by this but everybody knows you have milk with dessert. It was a bit odd for them perhaps but they humored me for my birthday and in the end, I think I didn´t matter at all.
Later that night I went out to dinner with Jan and then headed back to the same bar as the night before. We met up with a couple people there both work and non-work related and like the night before, it was decided that tequila was to be the honorary drink of my birthday. This time it was not of choosing but nevertheless, I ended up having more than a couple shots plus other drinks, which is both the up and down side to any birthday.
Also, as anyone who has ever been a country where they are not a native speaker could attest, alcohol does wonders for your ability to speak up to a certain point. For some reason words seem to flow better and everything is great until you reach the zero barrier and it falls off precipitously. Fortunately, the drop off did not happen to me (or at least that´s what I remember... the jury´s still out) and I ended up having a great night.
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