Holidays!

Before I begin, I would like to give the not-so-long anticipated amendment to my answer regarding Christmas trees in the lowlands of Costa Rica. From what I see, they’re all plastic versions of the “normal” tree we associate with Christmas in the US. See the photo of our family’s Christmas tree below.

As for Christmas and the celebrations following, our family has dealt with the problem of being extremely large by giving everyone a single gift arranged through a “secret santa” type of system. This is nice as it seemed to take the “gimme!” spirit out of the children and got them more focused on giving than getting.

Christmas celebrations here seem to be largely held on Christmas eve as opposed to the familiar Christmas morning depictions often seen in the states. The kids stayed up until midnight and wished each other a Merry Christmas while setting off fireworks and swatting at a piñata that Melana and I purchased for the occasion.

In addition to the holidays, we have also had two birthdays over the course of the past week. (that’s a lot of parties!) Our host mom had her birthday, and the whole family came out to celebrate. Feeling extra creative, Melana baked a cake for the special night. The kids were very excited to help (and to lick the mixers after we were finished).

Inspired by my wife, I went ahead and tried out a bread recipe the next night. It came out something like funnel cake, or other fried dough concoction. The family loved it so much they they decided to forego dinner and fill up on fried dough or, as they liked to call them, pan orejas - bread ears.

New Site

These past couple of days Melana and I have been settling in to our new home in the the northern province of Alajuela. Melana’s host family was kind enough to drive us down to our new home and we stopped by the beach along the way for lunch. This also meant that we came the long way around Mt. Arenal (and the whole Vulcan Tenorio park) and had to swing up to Upala to in order to get to our site. It was a nice trip though, coming from the relatively cold San Jose province through the heat of Guanacaste and finally settling in the warm yet dry zone in the north. I’ve included a detailed map of Costa Rica in the link below. If you’d like to find out what the heck I’m going on about, you can do so here.

So far things have not stopped moving as we’ve made preparations for Christmas. We have been cooking non stop for the horde of people that will descend upon the house come Christmas Eve. On Wednesday, I watched my host dad and his neighbors butcher a newly slaughtered pig which we would later cook and make into chicharrones (fried pork fat) and other dishes. Chicharrones pictured here:

In the afternoon, I donned boots and made my way into the forest to chop down banana leaves which would be used to wrap tamales. We then held the banana leaves over a fire to soften them before cleaning them for wrapping tamales.

For the uninitiated, Tamales consist of a ground corn paste and rice with meat (in this case, from the pig) and some vegetables. The combination is then wrapped in a banana leaf (or corn husk in the US) and boiled for several hours. Tamales are pictured below!

I have been struggling in Spanish. Melana’s six years of diligent study are really putting my paltry three months to shame! I’m getting better every day, though! Hope everyone is having a great holiday season!

Answers to Sea Girt 7th Grader's questions #1

First of all, let me thank you for your wonderful, insightful and thought-provoking questions. A lot of these are really, really interesting! I will answer every one of them below and encourage you to keep them coming, though I may not always be so prompt in my replies due to internet access. Before I begin, I want to let everyone know that Melana and I graduated training this Friday. That means, as of Dec. 17th we are full fledged PCV's! We'll be traveling to our site on Monday! The graduation ceremony was held at the US Ambassador's house and we were received with grand pomp and circumstance... we even sang the Costa Rican national anthem (which is in Spanish - ahh!)

This also means that we said good-bye to our host families, who we've grown to love. The pictures posted below are of our family parties.

Melana with her family:

And me with my family!

We kicked off activities with a classic water balloon toss.After I hung the piñata, I kind of got stuck in the rafters. You could say it was a "hit".

Ok, questions!

Q #1

It looks like most of your daily routine outdoors. DO you eat outdoors? What are some stuff that you do outside that you wouldn't do outside here?

Great question! Most of our daily routines are indoors to a large degree. This includes meetings, meals, time with the family, etc. In a lot of ways, Costa Ricans spend as much time inside as US Americans do. The difference is that when we in the US are inside, we're really, REALLY inside, as in, four wall that go to the ceiling with glass in our windows. In Costa Rica, a lot of the buildings are very open air, meaning that it can feel or look like you're outside even in your house (this means bugs are everywhere!) The other difference is that I walk everywhere, so I'm outside when I'm traveling (usually 1-4 hours a day just doing that.) One activity we do outside here that US Americans usually don't do outside is wash clothing. Most CR households have an outdoor sink where they wash their clothes by hand. This is usually under an overhang but, for all intents and purposes is outside. We usually eat inside too, unless we're grabbing a meal to go.

Q #2

Hey Peteman I was just wondering if the people down there are celebrating christmas and if so are you getting a real chrismas tree or a palm tree (because i've seen it done)or are you not getting any trees and just celebrating this great festive holiday!? please write back

They are definitely celebrating Christmas! Christmas here started back in October as far as decorations and music go. There are Spanish versions of Christmas carols everywhere. Most homes do have typical Christmas trees if the families can afford them. There is a Christmas tree farm on my way by bus to San Jose. Then again, we're high in the mountains here. When I get to my new home in the lowlands, I'll follow up and let you know!

Q#3

Is Peace Corps ever dangerous?

Yes. Next question...

Ha! I'm kidding! Peace Corps can be dangerous - but the US Government does everything it can to keep us from harm. Being in impoverished and underdeveloped areas, though, there is always at risk for certain natural disasters, crime and political instability. We are briefed weekly from the State Department about safety and security issues and the Peace Corps has a special Safety and Securities Officer responsible for training us on how to mitigate risks. The biggest natural threats in CR are earthquakes, landslides, flooding, volcanoes and tropical diseases!

Q#4

Wow! those are a lot of ants! Imagine if they could hold up something even bigger!

Ants can carry 10x their own body weight - or more!. Meaning that if you as strong as an ant, you could carry a car! The African lion ant, I've heard, can carry up to 50x its body weight!

Q#5

Does some of Costa Rica live in poverty? Eh?

Yes, this is why the Peace Corps still operates in this relatively developed nation. According to the CR government. 18.6 percent of CR households are impoverished. However, poverty is difficult to measure. There are both national and international poverty standards. For example, in the US, the US Census Bureau estimates poverty to hover somewhere around the 13 percent mark. However, an impoverished person in the US most likely still has access to roads, water, public schools and other resources that an impoverished person in CR does not. Still, poverty in all countries is something we must take initiatives to combat. In the US, the group that does the job of Peace Corps is called AmeriCorps.

Q#6

Was the earthquake horrifying or was it just a little shake? what happened when the earthquake came? Did you try to take cover or hit the ground?

Honestly, it felt like a cheap ride at a local amusement park. The kind where a platform shakes and an unenthusiastic ride operator says, “Oh no, earthquake!” Fortunately the earthquake was strong but very, very deep underground (5 miles, I think.) Earthquakes are especially dangerous in CR because they can cause landslides. This one did not. Also, because we were outside anyway, I just hung on and enjoyed the ride! If I were inside, I would hide under a door frame.

Q#7

Hello! You're adventures in Costa Rica seem very exciting! Did you want to be a PCV when you were younger? Also, do you plan to do peace corps projects for the rest of your life? Thank you.

I have always been a traveler, but I didn’t really know that much about Peace Corps until College. Your teacher can probably tell you stories of how I was as a student! I loved everything to do with nature, science and far-away lands. I always envisioned myself traveling, but I didn’t really know how I would be able to do that for a job. Would I do it for my whole life? Probably not because I need to make money at some point! What I would really like to do after I finish my Master’s is look for new ways to bring the international experience into classrooms like yours, much like I'm doing right now!

Q#8

hey Peteman,

I was pondering if you have to take some type of pills before you eat so you don't get sick.

Keep on pondering! That’s how Pinky and the Brain do it! Food here is relatively safe compared to the rest of the world. All I really have to do is look out for the same things you have to look out for in the States: uncooked meat, raw eggs, unwashed vegetables and stagnant or unclean water. I DO have to take special pills when I travel to Malaria zones in the country, but those are not for food.

Q#9

Those look a lot like the ants in "Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

This isn’t really a question but I’ll simply state that Indiana Jones has always been my hero and that I love all of those movies - especially the first 3, but that could be because I’m old.

Well, there you have it, 9 great questions! Keep ‘em coming and be sure to ask your teacher about any words or concepts that you didn’t fully understand and discuss them in class! If you need to ask a follow-up question, I’ll be happy to answer it! Also, be sure to research topics you find interesting on your own either online or in the resource center (library) in Sea Girt School!

Site Visit

This week, Melana and I visited our new site where we be living for the next two years- or at least the next six months. I'll break any suspense that you may have by saying up front that it was wonderful.

The region of Guatuso is very different from where we have been living the last few months. The area outside of San Jose are magnificently mountainous with climates ranging from cool to warm during the day to cool to cold at night. There is a lot of fog as the clouds pass right by our homes on there ascent up the mountain and it is generally humid and rainy in the evenings and afternoons.
You also get magnificent. Views like this one:


And this one:


The new Location, however, is flat - very flat. We're not talking midwest-I've-been-driving-for-six-hours-with-only-billboards-for-company flat, but it's flat for Costa Rica.
It's also much warmer

Our new home is on a little farm set among other pineapple and sugar cane farms. It is surrounded by orange, lemon and lime trees that are populated by a very pretty assortment of tropical birds... and monkeys. Yes, there are monkeys at our new site, howler monkeys to be specific. They like to yell at trucks when they go by (it is THEIR turf after all). Though I haven't seen them, we are also supposed to have smaller capuchins and toucans. According to the family, there are NO tarantulas at our site... which is awesome! It almost makes the 3-4 inch cockroaches easier to bear. There are also chickens, cows and horses about as well as a number of dogs and other critters.
Our whole house seems to be more of an ecosystem than simply a house for people. I'll tell you what I mean, on our second day there our mom killed one of the chickens that was walking around outside, cleaned it and served it to us for dinner. the feathers went into a pile out back, a bunch of the bones went to the dogs (dogs seem to eat chicken bones here without a problem, I don't know what's wrong with our snooty US dogs) and a good deal of the organs were put out back for the vultures and eagles to keep them around so that they would eat the mice in the area. The dogs run loose next to the chickens and protect them from local predators and, in return, are fed milk from the cows every day plus all the scraps from the house. What the dogs don't eat, the chicken or buzzards do. It's pretty amazing.
We also have a pet parrot that walks about the house and will occasionally sneak up on us and squawk very, very loudly.
As far as the family goes, they are a charming old couple, a retired farmer who still busies himself with farm work and a grandmother who is content just being a grandmother. I should also mention that there are 15 grandkids, almost all of whom appear in the house on a daily basis. Our mother cooks for all of the grandkids and a good deal of her five children and their spouses in addition to some friends that occasionally show up. The result of all this activity is a house that looks a lot like a restaurant a lot of the time with piles of dishes and food cooking at an industrial scale. Melana also noted that the children tend to descend upon the kitchen like a swarm of locusts leaving only empty spinning plates settling amid an eerie calm as the dust slowly settles from the recent rush of activity.

I've gone on long enough for now. I'll document more about my site when I'm actually living there. Until then, here are some pictures!