Couch Surfers Heredia

A bunch of Couch Surfers (see August 29 entry below) currently in the Heredia area got together for lunch today. What fun to get to meet some of these people in person! There were people from at least six countries, God only knows how many languages. Travelers are definitely some of the most fascinating people you can meet. So glad my friends SarahJoy and Julio told us about this group.

Baile de los Diablitos

Our New Year this year was spent in the wonderful indigenous village of Boruca, where each year the villagers have a 4 day festival that celebrates the fact that the Boruca people were never conquered by the Spanish conquistadores. Many of the men dress up as diablitos (in this case best translated as spirits) and fight against a bull (who represents the Spaniards). At
the beginning it seems like the bull might win, but in the end the diablitos prevail! There are sometimes over a thousand spectators (both extranjeros and locals) to this festival but only local men who have carved their own masks are allowed to participate.

Our entire trip was arranged and led by a marvelous couple, Sarah Joy and Julio. Anyone who knows us knows that we do not do tours. This trip was definitely the exception to the rule. Thanks to Sarah and Julio, we felt like honored invited guests for the entire 6 day trip. This was not a fancy resort, eat in the hotel kind of "tour." This was a trip with friends, where we were invited into peoples' homes and made to feel like a part of the family.
We met the van at 6 am on Friday for the 6 hour trip to Boruca. After lunch and getting settled into our various accomodations in private homes or the "hotel," we relaxed a while and met up with our group again for dinner at the home of Doña Rosa, who indeed fed our entire group 3 meals a day the entire time we were there. She prepared all our wonderful meals on her wood stove, and she was always smiling! After dinner that first night, the local "story teller" arrived to tell us some Boruca stories and legends. Like most of the villagers, this community elder speaks the Boruca language as well as Spanish. He told his stories in Spanish - and Julio and Sarah translated for those of us who don't understand Spanish well.
On the second day we were taken by truck and car to the top of Mount Cuasrán, from where we could take photos of the incredible views and hike through the wilderness, either the short hike or the long. The mountain is a holy mountain in the Boruca tradition and the home of one of the most important gods of the Brunka, Cuasrán. In the afternoon we were invited to the home of the "mayor," where we were allowed to watch the creation of the "bull." We were then told about the rules for visitors, which involved staying out of the way, understanding that we were guests and not to get in the way of the ceremonies. The main thing was to not use flash cameras and to keep a reasonable distance with cameras. The actual ceremonies were to begin at midnight.
By morning of the third day (Sunday, New Year's Eve), the "game" was in full force. We awoke to the sound of the diablitos shouting, horns blowing and more fireworks, which we had already learned the night before sound more like bombs than any fireworks I had ever heard. There was a "battle" on the corner by the hotel - before breakfast even! The excitement begins! After breakfast, which didn't begin until 10 since some of us had actually attended the opening "ceremonies" the night before, we visited some of the artisan's homes. At our first stop, at the master carver's home, we saw the mask that I should have bought. It was an incredible "traditional" mask, made of natural cedro wood - not painted. Although it was amazing, I made the mistake of wanting to see others before deciding what to buy. So of course it was sold by the time I went back. Nevertheless we had a great time viewing the masks of various carvers as well as the homes of the weavers (the women). These women are amazing. They grow and harvest and process the cotton, dye it, spin it, weave it - everything. Beautiful stuff. And when you look at what they sell their weavings for (based on hours required to create them) compared to what the men sell the masks for, you have to start thinking again about the perceived value of "women's work." Eventually I bought a mask - one of the painted ones - carved from balsa wood. It is truly beautiful. I also bought a woven bag (purse). The diablitos paraded about the village all day, stopping to stage a battle and then continuing to another location in the village for another battle. It was an ongoing process throughout the day.
In the evening our group gathered at the local bar to drink beer until close to midnight, when we had been invited back to Doña Rosa's to see the new year in. There was a large crowd of locals and visitors gathered at her house - and every sort of booze was offered on a big table. Interestingly, there were no "mixers" offered - until Sara went back to the bar and bought some. I guess if you're accustomed to drinking "chi cha," (an evil corn liquor thing) which many of the participants seemed to drink throughout the 4 days, you might not find mixers to be a necessary part of drinking alcoholic beverages! All of us had a blast. I think it was the most fun New Year's Eve I've ever had.
Monday, Day 4 - New Year's Day - We wandered about most of the day - watching the diablitos do battle and looking at weavings and masks. Some of the group had planned to go horseback riding, but the horses never showed up. We think that the horses were ok, but that their owners perhaps had had too much chi cha!
Tuesday, Day 5 - This was really the big day for the "game," with major battles going on throughout the day, and the bull eventually being defeated at day's end. In the evening, the bull was burned (fortunately just the "costume," not the human being inside!
I wish I could do a better job of describing this 4 day event, but it's definitely one of those things where you "had to be there." The next morning, leaving the village, I wished that we could stay longer. We had to leave, but have already decided we want to go to the Baile de los Diablitos again next year - and we definitely want to go with Sarah & Julio. I hope the photos will give you a feeling of this awesome event. For even more photos, go to our group's photo site
.

New Year's in Boruca - New Friends

A great Time was had by all on New Year's Eve - first at the neighborhood bar and then at the ever friendly Dona Rosa's

Pictures of Our New Friends

Sarah - our Amazing Tour Guide
Mike ("Dad")- an angel from Bainbridge Island, WA
Pedro - font of knowledge on everything Borucan
Julio - font of knowlege on Costa Rica
Peter - always smiling & helpful (Mike is his Dad)
Annalisa - a year in Argentina & now in Costa Rica
Alexis - a year in Thailand, 6 mos in Nicaragua (Mike is her Dad)
Norma & Jose - from Sacramento, Calif - loved Costa Rica
Jose, Alexis,Rochelle & Tom - from Canada
Rochelle - likes to have fun
Gosia - the one with the pink hair - from Poland - then US - now Costa Rica
Christine - 63 countries so far ...
Annalisa - after talking with her I just know we have to go to Argentina
Gene had a great time!!!
Norma & Jose with Julio

Guy Fawkes Weekend

OK, so we're not British, have never played darts, tried horseshoes once at summer camp 45 years ago, haven't a clue what cricket is (some kind of bug?) and until moving to Costa Rica had never heard of Guy Fawkes...

The new experiences just never end. Our good friend Dale, who is also not British (does Kiwi count?) invited us to the big weekend party this weekend in Jaco. What a blast!

Talk about feeling like an outsider! You'd think we might be used to that, living in a foreign country and all, but on a day to day basis, this is just my home. I do not feel like an outsider. But toss me into a crowd of people who speak my own language differently than I speak it, people who actually KNOW how to play cricket, darts and horseshoes, and well, no one actually ever asked me if I was from the Colonies, but...

The whole weekend was actually one big party. And yes, the Brits certainly know how to throw one. The local was the beautiful Hotel Club del Mar at Jaco Beach. Great facility. Wonderful service. Excellent food. Right on the beach, which is where the cricket game was played. Now I have no idea if cricket is normally played on the beach, but it sure made it interesting. The darts competition, on the other hand, was held at the end of the pool, with 2 dart boards set up and probably 50 people competing. And no fatalities as far as I know!

Our group of 5 had reserved one of the 2 bedroom 2 bath cabinas. It turned out to be the one right in front of the beach. It was a beautiful little apartment, with ocean view. Go to sleep at night listening to the surf. Yes, I could live there!

Guy Fawkes

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Tortuguero

Tortuguero is one of the places we'd been talking about visiting ever since we made our first trip to Costa Rica some 8 years ago. After a trip to Playa Grande on the Pacific coast a couple of years ago to see the Leatherback turtles nesting, we knew that we had to go to the Caribbean to see the Greens. But getting there seemed difficult - and expensive. It seemed you had to fly there from San Jose, or take an expensive tour. Not our usual traveling style. When we got serious about it last month, we realized how easy it can be. And inexpensive. So we took our favorite bus trip from San Jose over to Cahuita, spent the night with our friends Judy and Bob, who live there, then took the bus up to Limon in the morning. From Limon we took a taxi to the port of Moin, from where we caught a 4 hour boat trip up to Tortuguero! Simple! OK. So maybe not all that simple, but relatively inexpensive. And definitely one of the most beautiful trips to take in this country. For more on Tortuguero, click here. Best place to sleep and eat in Tortuguero? Miss Junie's - we loved it. The people were great, Miss Junie is wonderful, and her food is awesome!

Tortuguero

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Quick Trip to El Caribe

Cahuita & Puerto Viejo

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Not much happening this month. After traveling in North America for 2 months, it's very quiet here. Our friends Judy and Bob are still on their boat in British Columbia. And Emma and Jon have taken off for Malta and Sicily. Our only travel was a quick trip to Hone Creek on the Caribbean to check on Judy and Bob's house.Click on the above photo for more pics.

We're Home!

What an incredible trip we had this summer! We spent all of July and August in North America. We started with travels throughout Florida, visiting our great family and friends there. Then we flew to Portland, Maine and drove to Union, New Hampshire, where we got to attend the wedding of my sister's son Michael and his beautiful bride Aimee. I had a fabulous time visiting with my sister, and we even got to take a trip up to Sweden, Maine, where we visited our cousin Phyllis, who actually lives in our grandmother's old house up in the wood. It was an incredible experience. What memories! I had thought grandma's old house might not even be there anymore, but it certainly is, and Phyllis has done a beautiful job of remodeling it, without harming the original aura or the place! After a couple of weeks in New Hampshire, visiting and eating and gaining another 10 pounds (!), we flew to Chicago to visit with Ron and Marilyn. Ron is Gene's buddy from all the way back in high school, and we love them both and were so happy to have the opportunity to visit them. From Chicago, we flew on to Seattle, then took a bus over to Spokane, where we visited with my beautiful daughter Angelique and her awesome sons, Jorden and Mark. Mark got to go along with us when we drove over to Missoula, Montana for a few days to see younger son Rob, his incredible wife Polly and their amazing sons Evan and Logan. Wow! What a blast to get to spend time with my grandkids. Made me wish we could be around them all the time. Back to Spokane, then back to the west side of Washington again and a visit with our wonderful friend Madelle, in Olympia. The climax of the trip was getting to spend 10 days boating with our friends Judy and Bob, who live 1/2 the year in Costa Rica (on the Caribbean) and the other half in BC on their boat! Judy instructed me in various boating procedures and promoted me to a new rank each time I successfully accomplished a new goal! At the end, after learning to drop the big balls into the water when we docked, pulling them up when we left the dock, throwing the strings to a waiting person on the dock when we landed, and various other important sea tasks, I believe I was promoted to the rank of Boatswains Mate. Or maybe it was high ballyhoo assistant Boatswains Mate. Something like that anyhow. It was a blast! After a few final days in Seattle, we flew back to San Jose. We had thought that 2 months would seems like a very long trip, but everywhere that we went, I wished that we could spend more time there. To see more about our summer trip, see our summer trip blog.

Volcan Rincon de la Vieja - Girls' Trip with Sue, Natalie & Lynn

Mud Baths: So Who Needs a Facelift?!

Grand Fun at Jaco

Great fun in March. Gene's nephews John & Jeff visited us from Florida. They also brought John's Gregarious Girlfriend Jeanna. We met them in Jaco and stayed at an all-inclusive resort where "the boys" have a time-share. Serious pool time. Serious Fun. Serious Drinking. And Jeanna introduced Laurie to that fabulous liquor that tastes like suntan lotion!

We Could Live Here!!!

Gene looks out over lower Arcos from the wall at the park.