Halloween Costa Rica Style

The last dinner with Chris & Sue

So the Santa Eulalia Sunday party gang punked out on us today, can you believe it? We were all scheduled to take the 8:20 a.m. bus into Atenas and then hike down to Barrio Los Angeles to the soccer field on the off chance that we might catch a "futbol" game there. But at 8:05 this morning Marcial called to say that Bonnie and Stephen had decided not to go and that in fact, he and Seidy were still in bed as well. With Chris and Sue back in the States for a couple of months gathering the paperwork for their residency application, our Sunday hiking plans were off.

After a pretty strenuous evening for both couples last night I suppose a more generous hearted correspondent might say one could hardly blame them. Bonnie and Stephen had spent last night watching the third game of the World Series, rooting with great enthusiasm for the Giants. (Of course, we know how exhausting that can be!) Marcial and Seidy had gone with us to the Halloween party at Kay's Gringo Postre, where we danced the night away in our imaginative costumes: a Rasta couple for them and Ernest Hemingway and Mae West for Layne and me.

Ernest and Mae make a lovely couple! 

But since I am not such a generous hearted journalist, I hereby officially shame them for their slovenly ways. Layne and I are obviously the hardcore couple in this neighborhood. Since we were up and dressed, ready to catch the bus, we decided to get our exercise alone. So off we went, arriving in town to find that the Fiesta Patronales (see last week's post for more on Fiestas Patronales) was still going on in the Parque Central and along the street in front of the Catholic Church. As we wandered by the food booths we listened to the melodious sounds of some sort of xylophone, as Ticas prepared tortillas on an open burner for people waiting in line. Had it not seemed so "touristy," I would have taken a video of the scene because it was a classic look at Tico life.

Monumento de Boyero

But onward we hiked down the familiar route we used to take when we lived in Barrio Los Angeles, remembering the noisy traffic along the main road before taking the turn off at the Monumento de Boyero, which commemorates the historical route of the oxcarts and marks the entrance to the community of Los Angeles. (See this post for more on oxcart history.) After stopping for short rests at a couple of bus benches, we eventually arrived at the soccer field. A worker was mowing the grass and coach-types were just starting to put up the game paraphernalia but when we asked what time the game would start, we learned that it was still more than an hour away. So after a pleasant break, Layne and I headed back toward Atenas, stopping off for a few groceries before calling a taxi for the ride back up to Santa Eulalia.

So here we are with a Sunday afternoon to ourselves. But alas! We have no Internet! So who knows when I'll be able to post this blog? We have suffered intermittent problems with our broadband the last few days. On Thursday we thought it had been fixed after our landlord went to ICE (the electric company that handles our Internet service) to report the problem and a worker promptly came out to reprogram our modem. It seemed to be working until yesterday when once again it dropped off and we've been unable to revive it since. We're definitely experiencing withdrawal symptoms, so reliant are we on that technological connection to the world.

Of course, we feel a bit dragged out after a night of Halloween festivities ourselves. Though the crowd was much smaller than last year's event at Kay's, the zealous attendees more than made up for their low numbers with high energy as they danced to the oldies, drank wine and toasted each other's costumes. 

Seidy as da Rasta gal

Star Trek Commander Leonard and Rasta-mon Marcial

Trekkies Sally and Leonard

Hostess Kay danced every dance!

When the judges of the costume contest began their deliberations, there was little doubt of the eventual winner. Decked out in a sequined flapper dress, a lengthy strand of pearls draped round her neck and armed with a long black cigarette holder, Francis easily carried away the 10,000 colones ($20) prize. Although I missed getting a really good shot of her, this pose will give you some idea of her pizzazz. With her dedicated work rescuing animals here in Atenas, we know that prize money will be put to good use at the Lighthouse Animal Shelter. Congratulations, Francis!

Francis takes the prize!

Well, a couple of hours later and the Internet is magically alive again so I'll try to get this posted before it fades away. Pura Vida!
 

New Digs in the Land of Pura Vida

Out for our first walk

We moved into our new place early last week and almost immediately had to vacate the premises so the new maid could do her work. (It’s awkward to hang around while someone is cleaning your house, you know? But her weekly services are included in the rent, so I’m not complaining!) The next day we had company over for dinner. Our friends Jackie and Neil just moved in down the road from us so we all enjoyed guacamole and hamburgers as we shared our adventures in moving. The day after that, we took the bus into San Jose to pick up our friend Marcy, here for dental work with my own dental implant hero, Dr. Alberto Meza. That weekend we had dinner guests both Saturday and Sunday evenings, meaning lots of work for the cook and dishwasher. That would be me and Layne, in that order. On Monday Layne escorted Marcy back to San Jose for more time with Dr. Meza and I began preparations (translation: liquid diet) for a routine colonoscopy while I worked on my column for The Costa Rica News, deadlined the day after that fun procedure. That would be today. Whew! Busy is a four-letter word.

So now the column is turned in and Marcy is still in the city so I’ll try to entertain you readers with our latest escapades. While we were packing to move, the annual Halloween party at Kay’s Gringo Postre rolled around and we simply had to go, albeit without much in the way of costumes. Layne did manage to stick a “Press” card in his hat, sling his fancy camera over his shoulders and tie a sign around his neck saying: “The Gringo Gazette -- Yesterday’s News Tomorrow!” I put my hair up in a sparkly butterfly clip, donned a short kimono-style jacket and called myself Madame Butterfly. Pretty lame but the best I could do in the midst of a move.

PSYCHO!!

It was a festive gathering with lots of great costumes. It’s amazing what people here can come up with. Some folks, like our friend Nancy, are so into Halloween that they brought costumes from the U.S. when they moved here. Nancy had a terrific Dorothy from the “Wizard of Oz” outfit on -- pigtailed wig, checkered pinafore, carrying her small fluffy dog, dubbed Toto for the evening. She even had the perfect sequined red pumps to click her heels together and complete the picture. But the big winners of the costume contest were Patricia and Kevin, dressed up in elaborate “Psycho” garb, complete with a PVC pipe and tinsel “shower” atop Patricia’s head, “blood” dripping down her shoulders. Kevin topped off the scene dressed as the psychotic Anthony Perkins in dowdy dress and gray wig, totting a big gory knife. It was hilarious! 

The move to the new house went smoothly enough, although we were shocked to need three pickup truck taxi trips to carry things up to Santa Eulalia. Shocked because, after all, we moved to Costa Rica less than two years ago in a couple of big suitcases. Where has all this “stuff” come from? Fortunately, our new place has an abundance of storage space, including a secure and dry concrete basement under the rancho so everything is now in its proper place and we still have a few empty drawers. It seems that, just like in our old apartment, we have gotten lucky here with some great landlords in Isaac and Sonia. They have been very solicitous in asking us if everything is to our satisfaction, adding a fire extinguisher, a bell on our gate to announce guests and trying to get the phone jack in our bedroom to work. Yesterday Sonia even brought over some delicious corn pancakes topped with natilla (sour cream) when we returned from the hospital. Their little dog Chispa (Spark), a sweet Miniature Pinscher, comes for a visit now and then, giving us the pleasures of a dog to pet without the responsibility. All in all, we’re very happy here so far.

Horses in the 'Hood

Flowering Sugarcane

Shade-grown Costa Rican Coffee

We are enjoying the beautiful country roads we have for our morning walks. Spotted with patches of sugarcane, peanuts, corn and coffee between charming Tico houses, the area is an agricultural cornucopia. Little did I know that sugarcane sprouts a huge feathery flower on top when ripening. 

Se Vende = For Sale

If you’re interested in living next door to a peanut patch, then this lot for sale on one of the side roads might be just the one for you. 

All the neighbors have been friendly, as are most Ticos, and we look forward to practicing our Spanish along the way. Already we’ve met and chatted with several Ticos as we were waiting at the bus stop for our “shuttle” into town. The bus drivers know us now so we no longer have to show our cedula (residency card) to ride for free. It seems to be a serious case of Pura Vida in Santa Eulalia de Atenas! 

Beware Nicaraguan Cow Killers!

We’ve had some military drama over the last couple of weeks here in Costa Rica, a nation, you’ll recall, with no military. So when a neighboring country, in this case Nicaragua, starts to step on toes, it does make one a little nervous. From news bulletins, we learned that the Nicaraguans had started dredging the eastern end of the San Juan River, which forms the international border between the two countries, and was dumping the resulting sediment onto Costa Rican soil. According to a farmer whose property was being damaged by the dumped materials as well as by the unauthorized clearing of trees on his land, the man in charge of the dredging project is none other than Eden Pastora, formerly known as Commandante Cero (Commander Zero) during the Sandinista Revolution and later a Contra rebel leader. Interestingly, Pastora spent eight years in exile in this same area of Costa Rica, after breaking with the new Sandinista government in the early 1980’s.

 

Marco Reyes, the owner of a large farm on the Costa Rican side of the river, claims that the trouble started earlier in October when a number of armed men led by Pastora entered his land, informing him that the land belonged to Nicaragua. When Reyes objected and stated he was in Costa Rican sovereign territory, the Nicos, as Nicaraguans are known, harassed his workers and killed several of his cows.

        

As the situation has developed, it appears that Nicaragua was hoping to carve a new channel for the San Juan in order to open the river to more tourism, but in the process, chopping off a piece of Costa Rica for themselves. Naturally, Costa Rica lodged a protest with the Nicaraguan ambassador to Costa Rica and sent some 90 members of the National Police, a sort of army-lite, to a small village just south of the disputed river area. A Tico Times report says the police force was dressed in military fatigues and carried M-16 assault weapons, but apparently most of their duty involved periodic flyovers of the area to assess environmental damage. As of last Friday, the dredging had been moved to the Nicaraguan bank, according to one report, on the direct order of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, but a number of police were still stationed in the small town of Barra de Colorado as diplomatic efforts to settle the dispute dragged on. The river has served as a border between the two countries since a treaty in 1858 but has been a point of contention on many occasions. It’s times like these when it is nice to have a big, strong friend like the good old U.S. of A.

And it’s Halloween weekend in the States and although Costa Rica considers that a “foreign” holiday, they still find a way to celebrate. It seems to be a part of the Pura Vida lifestyle here to celebrate for just about any reason and since kids of all ages love to dress up and hide behind masks, Costa Rica has its own Día de la Mascarada Costarricense. A decree in 1997 made the fiesta official but masks have been part of the cultures of indigenous people such as the Boruca and Bribri Indians since pre-Columbian times. So Sunday will see parades full of colorful masks and costumes in cities across the country, along with dancing and music in the central parks. In Aserri, the party will last all day with a Feria de Tamal (Tamale Market) and fireworks in the evening.

But there’ll be no masks for Layne and me as we join the festivities at Kay’s Gringo Postre for a Halloween dance party tonight. Putting a costume together here just seemed beyond us this year. The best I could do was to buy a lovely seed necklace from an elderly Tica in a small home along our walk the other day. That, along with a yellow  hibiscus in my hair, will have to suffice to turn me into a “Sweetie from Tahiti,” as my beaded capri pants and top will attest. Layne says he plans to go as “a Gringo.” How’s that for creative? Just as we left the woman’s house, we encountered this spirited horse and rider, a typical Costa Rican high-stepping steed. But the caballero was cooperative enough to stop and pose for my photograph.

 

As we enjoy the music tonight, we will remember fondly the many great Halloween parties at our friend Ruth’s home in Auburn when we adults all dressed up in the most outlandish costumes and half-scared the kids who came to the door for candy, unprepared for crazy costumed grown-ups. Happy Halloween to all!