A Festive Climate Fair and Oxcart Parade

Happy Birthday to our two wonderful grandsons, Kai turning 15 and Orion who is 12 today! Hope your day is just what you want it to be, full of fun, good food and lots of love from your family and friends. And we hope you both get to visit us in Costa Rica very soon!

Jumping right into my topic, last weekend was the Atenas Climate Fair and Oxcart Parade, an annual celebration in recognition of Atenas' reputation for having "the best climate in the world" and its historical significance as a key site on the road taken by the oxcarts carrying coffee to the port of Puntareñas on the Pacific Coast. Unlike our first year in Costa Rica, this fair day opened to a bright blue sky and the promise of a good day for the vendors in the central park selling jewelry, leather goods, clothing, knick-knacks and aromatic foods. There were trampolines and face painting for the kids and music and dancing for everyone.

Monumento de Boyero

But rather than head into the park, Layne and I had plans for a Sunday hike with Marcial and Seidy. Several of the "Santa Eulalia gang" were off on a trip to Nicaragua for their required "visa run" every three months so they can stay in the country legally, which left only the four of us for our weekly walk. So we gaily hopped on the Santa Eulalia bus for a quick ride into town, then hiked down the main road toward the Monumento de Boyero, dedicated to the oxcart drivers who plied their trade along this road since the time the trail was created in 1843. Although coffee transportation has evolved, the tradition of painting the carts and training the oxen has survived here in Atenas as well as in other parts of Costa Rica.

Along the way we looked behind us and saw a big group of Scouts, boys and girls, skipping along and singing. When we slowed near a bus stop to take a breather, the kids caught up with us and Marcial learned that they were in position to offer refreshments to the parade participants when they went by. It seemed the perfect photo op and the youngsters agreed, smiling and waving for the camera.

"The Last Supper" Bar

We were early for the parade so we continued down the side road into the barrio of Los Angeles where Layne and I lived for more than a year. Stopping at the local pulperia, or small grocery store, only a few blocks from our old apartment, I greeted the nice woman who works there and bragged to her on my improved Spanish language skills. After Seidy bought a bottle of water, we were ready to head back up toward the Monument where we planned to view the parade. But it being mid-morning and this being the remnants of "The 10:27 Club," somehow Marcial found a tiny bar right next door to the pulperia, with only a few stools. Indeed, being located across the street from the Catholic Church and having such limited seating, it enjoys a nickname: La Última Cena, or The Last Supper. Layne and Marcial enjoyed a beer (or two) but Seidy and I stuck to water for now. 

With most of the audience gathered in the Parque Central, the un-crowded Monument park was the perfect place to view the parade, especially since the route took the oxcarts down the main road to a turn one block away and back up on the other side. This being another refreshment spot where volunteers carried tortillas filled with grilled meat to each participant, we had ample opportunity to view the magnificent beasts and the colorful oxcarts, often filled with laughing occupants. There was even some dancing in the street!

Such a beautiful face... 

Atenas High School's Project Blue Flag, made from plastic bottles!

Another colorful cart

Docile oxen gets a pat from his boyero

Marcial chats with a boyero during the stop for refreshments

Beautiful detail in the cart wheel

After the last cart passed by, we trekked the mile or so back to town. Although alcohol is technically prohibited, Marcial and Layne managed to smuggle me a tequila in a plastic cup from the corner bar where they hung out while Seidy and I sat on a park bench and watched the last of the parade circle the park. 

Relaxing in our dead-end street

A visit from a Toucan

Always a thrill!

Catching a taxi back home, the four of us enjoyed the late afternoon view from our front driveway. We were delighted when a beautiful Toucan landed in the tree nearby, the perfect punctuation to a day of Tico culture and good friends. 

Check out Layne's book "Moral Turpitude," available for only $2.99 at Smashwords.com. High adventure with corporate intrigue, danger and romance; from the exotic jungles of Borneo and Costa Rica to the erotic jungles of San Francisco. Sample or purchase at --https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/159570 

  

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!
 

Independence and the Coffee Bean

         Well, today’s the big day. So far we’ve had no word from Monika, our attorney, but we hope that her meeting with Migracion (Immigration) went well and that we will soon be over that first big hurdle. With a change in our status from “tourista” to “in process,” we understand that certain aspects of our life here will become easier. At least we won’t have to leave the country every 90 days.

         This is a big week for everyone here in Costa Rica. Wednesday will mark the nation’s 189^th year of independence from Spain, making it one of the world’s oldest democracies. On September 15, 1821, Guatemala called a Popular Assembly and declared independence for itself and four other Central American countries, forming the short-lived Federal Republic of Central America. By 1838 the Central American Federation had essentially ceased to function and Costa Rica formally withdrew and declared itself a separate sovereign state.

         Back in 1824, the Costa Rican Congress elected Juan Mora Fernandez as the new nation’s first Chief of State. A visionary, he built schools and roads, promoted industry and commerce and was the man who foresaw the importance of coffee as an export crop for the nascent country. Under his progressive liberal guidance, land grants were offered free to anyone who would plant coffee. Through his farsighted leadership, Fernandez helped to create a nation of small coffee plantations, which led to a large middle class of property owners. Even today, many Tico families continue to own their own land with every square inch planted in beautiful dark green coffee plants. And although a group of large coffee barons developed, they cooperated with peasant coffee farmers in processing the crops for export and with their eventual wealth, invested in the nation’s infrastructure, building a new road to transport coffee from high in the Central Valley to the Pacific port of Puntarenas. In fact, it was along that old road that Layne and I took our morning walks last spring. (See my blog post for more on the road and a photo here: http://fabulistadecr.blogspot.com/2010/03/mango-ceviche-and-hiking-old-oxcart.html.)

         The oxen and the boyeros who drove them are commemorated here in Atenas, since the main road through this town was the principle route leading to Puntarenas. At the juncture of that main road and the side road leading to our current home here in Los Angeles stands a dramatic metal sculpture of a boyero with his team of oxen and his cart loaded down with coffee beans headed for the coast. Another tribute to these historical drovers is held here in Atenas in mid-April with an oxcart parade as part of the annual Climate Fair. (See a report on that festive event in this blog: http://fabulistadecr.blogspot.com/2010/04/oxcarts-on-parade.html.)

         Costa Ricans take their independence seriously with parades, festivals and other celebrations all across the country, but having abolished their army in 1948, Independence Day here lacks any signs of a military unless you count the drum and xylophone corps of schoolchildren. Layne and I happened to be here during mid-September a few years ago and were literally stopped in our car tracks by a parade of spiffy marching troops, little girls in brightly colored ruffled skirts and drummer boys proudly strutting along. In recent days here in Atenas, we’ve heard lots of drum practice in the distance so we fully expect a festive week in town. We’ll be doing our shopping early, as most shops will be closed for the celebrations.

         On a recent walk we noticed another piece of Costa Rican history in a neighbor’s yard: three stone spheres, reminiscent of the famously mysterious stone spheres found here in the 1930’s during agricultural work by the United Fruit Company as they cleared the jungle for banana plantations. Some three hundred almost perfectly round petrospheres, ranging in size from a few centimeters to over six and a half feet in diameter, have been found, primarily in the Diquis Delta in southern Costa Rica. Most were sculpted from granodiorite, a hard, igneous stone, or gabbro, the coarse-grained equivalent of basalt and weigh up to 16 tons. How they were made or what they were used for is still a subject of great debate in archeological circles. It is believed that they were carved between 200 B.C. and 1500 A.D., but they had been all but lost by the time of the Spanish conquest of Central America.

         Hoping for a photo, we walked into our neighbor’s yard and found her sitting on the porch. With my budding Spanish, I let her know I was a writer and wished to take a photo of her spheres. She was quick to inform me that they were not originals but said they looked much the same as the authentic ones. After a few photos, we thanked her and went on our way. But today, as we walked along the same street, she intercepted us, introduced herself as Anna and asked for the website where my blog appears. I told her it was in English but that seemed to be fine with her. Maybe she knows about Google Translate. I think perhaps I have a new reader. Hola, Anna!

         And just now on the phone, we have learned the good news from Monika that everything went perfectly today and we now officially have an “active” file. In a couple of months, we should have legal residency and even more of a reason to love our adopted country. I think we shall have good reason to celebrate Costa Rican Independence Day with great enthusiasm this week!

Oxcarts on Parade!

Monday, April 19, 2010
(Note: Click on photos to enlarge)

         This was Climate Fair weekend here in Atenas, the town National Geographic once proclaimed has the “best climate in the world.” That’s quite a reputation to live up to but for the most part, in our limited experience, it has. So with two days of fair activities scheduled, the central park alive with vendors setting up their turquoise-canopied booths and an oxcart parade on the agenda, Layne and I had every intention of spending much of the weekend at the fiesta. But Mother Nature has her own ideas on these things and it is April, after all, the beginning of the rainy season. So when we arose on Saturday ready to catch the 10 o’clock bus into town, we were disappointed and a bit amused to find it was raining with no indication of stopping any time soon. Some perfect climate! Of course, we were not just disappointed for ourselves but also for the many participants scheduled to present events outdoors in the park: an exercise class, a dance performance by some children, other dance workshops, a magician and much more. So Saturday found us ensconced in our mountain chalet, Layne working on his novel and me reading, doing laundry and watching the rain come down.

         In early afternoon, the phone rang - if you can call the timid sound our phone makes a “ring.” More of a tinkle which we can barely hear. The call was from Leigh, a Tica friend we met on the dance floor a few weeks back at Kay’s Gringo Postre's monthly party. It was Leigh’s beautiful daughter and her boyfriend who set the house on fire that night with their skillful and passionate salsa dancing. Since Leigh knew we love to dance, she was calling to invite us to opening night at her new discotheque, El Mirador (The Lookout). As I struggled to understand the directions through her strong accent, I deduced that the location was somewhere just up the road from us. 

         But the rain had cleared by late afternoon so at the appointed hour we called a taxi and headed uphill with no clear idea of where we were going. Remember, there are no addresses here and since it was a new club, the taxi driver did not know the place either. But after a couple of miles of dark deserted highway with Layne and I giving each other a questioning eye, we saw the lights and cars at El Mirador and made our way inside. What a beautiful facility! Situated on the very edge of the mountain (with no doubt a fabulous view in the daytime), the restaurant and bar offers several levels of outdoor terraces and a large dance floor surrounded by countertop bar seating. More remote tables offer a quieter experience. And what tables they are! Clear glass tops affixed to huge - I mean really huge! - gnarled tree trunk bases. With pulsing salsa beats coming from the DJ booth, Layne and I soon joined other dancers with our own style of Latin boogie. It was a great evening.

         On Sunday Atenas dawned bright and sunny, warm and breezy, exactly as the guidebooks promise. After a short bus ride into town, we walked to the park and found it filled with colorful booths and happy Ticos wandering from one display to the next, nibbling on ice cream or sipping cold drinks. In the middle of the park was an exercise group, headed by a muscular guy on the small stage, pedaling away on their stationary bikes with the bright awnings of vendor stands radiating out to all corners from the central plaza. As we wandered along under tall palm trees snapping photos of the crowd, we saw children learning origami or getting their faces painted; we chatted with our own organic vendor, Genevieve, who had baskets of vegetables for sale, and Tom the organic baker, cooking up barbequed pork burritos alongside chocolate chip muffins; we stopped to watch artisans at work designing lovely creations with rock (yes, rock!) or fabric or wood; we inhaled the rich odor of chicharrones cooking in a monster pot and the sweet smells of blended fruit drinks. For much of the day, we simply enjoyed the smiling faces of adults and children alike. At one booth offering beautiful jewelry made from exotic woods, we bought a few gifts for friends and family, pleased with the high quality and low prices. We laughed at the makeshift electrical wiring running overhead through the trees and along the ground, commenting that in the U.S., strict regulations would prohibit such improvisation. Uniformed policia were apparent in the area but they seemed to have little to do besides chat with Ticos and look at the displays.

         When we heard the approaching fire engine wail, we realized the parade of boyeros (drovers) and oxcarts was about to begin so we found a place across from the main viewing stand where spirited Latin music had been blaring from giant speakers all morning. In loud and rapid Spanish, the announcers began introducing the passing parade participants, enthusiastically praising the size and beauty of the animals as well as the intricately painted designs on the carts.

         Atenas and neighboring towns are recognized for their role in the nation’s history as the pathway of the original oxcart trail created in 1843 for transporting Costa Rica’s famous coffee many miles down to the port cities of Puntarenas and Limon for export around the world. Although more modern transportation is used nowadays, the skills of training and working with these magnificent animals have been preserved along with the artistry of painting the beautiful carts. Even the children get into working with the massive animals and one little fellow seemed very much in control of his smaller pair. This young boy’s size and competence drew cameras all around him, slowing the parade until he could calmly make his passage through. In a few cases, the oxen (and some uncastrated bulls!) seemed to have a mind of their own, eagerly pushing forward despite the boyero’s efforts to slow them down with a gentle tap on the nose or a skillful application of the long drover’s stick many of them used lightly across their broad backs. Layne and I had to wonder if there had ever been any wild romps through town when an ox team decided to ignore the boyero’s instructions and literally “bulled” their way through! Not today, in any event, as the fair’s entertainment continued on into the evening’s dance without mishap. But having danced our quotient the night before, Layne and I soon headed back to our little hillside retreat for a quiet dinner and time to start blogging about what was a most enjoyable festival.