Last Thursday, only two days into the New Year, was another
wild and crazy day for "The 10:27 Club" as we took off to revisit the
site of our initial incarnation in the mountains above Zarcero. You might
recall the incident, recorded in my blog
post of October 24, 2012, in which my innocent request for a potty stop
resulted in a tequila-soaked day of fun and adventure. This time the original
gang was joined by a few new friends, whom I fondly refer to as
"groupies," for a total of eighteen. There was the old gang of
Marcial and Seidy, Bonnie and Stephen, Chris and Sue, Eroca and Marc and
Yours Truly (minus Layne, who stayed home with a bunged up knee), along with
semi-official members Darlene and Glynn, Howard and Judi, and Joni, who came
without her jovial spouse Mike. We were joined by enthusiastic newcomers Sue
and Rick and Vicki and Julian.
Around every curve, a gorgeous vista!
We piled into a jumbo-size van, driven by our capable (and
sober) conductor Mainor, for the
beautiful drive up the mountain past Naranjo, through Zarcero, and on up to La
Posada del Buho, the Owl Inn, where
Christmas decorations and even napkin holders are shaped as owls. As on our
first visit, we arrived prior to the "legal" opening time of 11:00
a.m. but apparently they were expecting us because the doors quickly opened to
welcome us.
The bartender laid out eighteen shot glasses rimmed with salt and
Marcial began to pour. We all checked our watches or smart phones, only to find
that the times didn't agree. Was it 10:27 or only 10:24? Who knew? Who cared!
Down the hatch went the first toast with a hearty cheer for The 10:27 Club!
With Latin music to inspire us, we were soon dancing on the small stage, led by Glynn
and Joni, followed by Eroca and Seidy and Yours Truly.
Marcial pours as Rick and Joni wait impatiently
Does anybody really know what time it is?
Does anybody really care?
Joni and Glynn start the dancing...
... Eroca and Seidy keep it going
Eroca and Yours Truly having fun
Rick and his "earrings"
Lunch is served!
But we were there, after all, for a hike so after a couple
of shots and some dancing as warm-up, we struck off up the gently sloping road.
Along the way Eroca picked some stunning white flowers (lilies perhaps?), which
Rick later used as "earrings." Hardcore members, Chris, Seidy,
Marcial, Stephen and others made a real trek out of it but some of us decided
on a less strenuous outing and soon took advantage of the van for a ride back
to the bar where lunch was to be served. We all agreed the food was "¡muy
rico!"
The guys pose for a photo
After our leisurely lunch, we thanked our wait staff
profusely and left a nice tip, then posed for a few pictures as we tried to get
organized to leave. As we were preparing to depart, we were surprised to see a
herd of dairy cows traipsing down the middle of the road, herded from behind by
a small pickup truck.
Cows have the Right of Way!
The drive back down the hill to Zarcero was a panorama of
one gorgeous view after another so we stopped for photos several times along
the way.
Seidy adds beauty to the beautiful scene
Once back in town we made the mandatory stop at the home of the lady
who makes incredibly delicious helados
(ice creams), some prepared using Zarcero's famous sour cream. Chocolate with
peanuts, mixed fruits, strawberry, coconut... who could decide? So most of us
had more than one!
Sue, Bonnie & Stephen chow down
Mr. Miller is serious about that ice cream!
The "Ice Cream Lady"
After a few minutes exploring the fabulous topiary park in
front of Zarcero's dramatic Catholic church and watching kids play in front of the beautiful mural, we were soon on our way again.
Zarcero's topiary park
Seidy picks some "lucky" flower for us
As
we passed a field of blue flowers, Seidy insisted we stop so she could pick
some for us all. It seems that if you pick one of these flowers on New Year's
Day, press it and put it in your wallet, you will have money all year long. Even though this was the second day of the New Year, we all hope the old custom
works for us. Whether or not our day brought us wealth for the coming year, it
certainly provided us with wonderful memories!
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Nowhere does the old adage "Time flies" apply more
aptly than with children, as I was reminded last evening when I attended the Quinceañero celebration for Melanie, a young Tica lass we know.
As you may know, the Quinceañero is
a special birthday in Latin culture. Held on the fifteenth birthday, it marks a
girl's passage from childhood to young womanhood and is celebrated with a grand
party. But I had no idea just how grand my young friend's festivities would be,
nor did I realize what a beautiful young muchacha she has become.
Beautiful Melanie, now 15 years old
Layne and I met Melanie three years ago when we lived in
Barrio Los Angeles where her mom Cidia was our weekly housekeeper. On occasions
such as holidays when school was out, Cidia would bring 12-year-old Melanie
along with her for the few hours she spent cleaning our house. At the time
Melanie was just a cute little girl, shy but friendly, with stunning dark eyes
set off by a creamy tan complexion. She would watch TV or read and when I
learned she liked puzzles, I would give her ones I had finished. Although
neither of them spoke English, we became friends with Cidia and got to know
little Melanie. When we needed to communicate beyond my Spanish, Melanie's
older sister Karen could translate with her excellent English skills. When
we moved from that house to Santa Eulalia two years ago, Cidia, Melanie and
her dad gave us good-bye gifts they had made, earrings for me by Cidia, a
wooden tray the father had hand-crafted and a decorated bottle made by Melanie.
We treasure their friendship even though we have few opportunities to see them
now.
The doll matches Melanie's dress!
A three-tiered cake marks the occasion
Melanie and Cidia
Mom, Dad and Melanie
But by chance Cidia saw me at the feria last Friday and
invited me to Melanie's Quinceañero to
be held the very next day. And what a fabulous event it was! Held at a large hall
in Barrio Los Angeles with tables and chairs along both sides of the building,
profusely decorated with purple and white balloons, with colored balls covered
in hearts and butterflies hanging from the ceiling, matching table decor,
throbbing lights and pounding music, it was a bigger party than I expected.
When Melanie made her grand entrance through the balloon archway in her
amethyst ball gown, sparkling tiara in her dark hair, jewels around her neck,
walking with her mom and dad, I got choked up. How had the little girl we knew
grown into such a glamorous and elegant young woman in only three years?! Well,
time flies, I guess.
First dance with Dad
Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for much of the party because
Winston was at home alone and he is still young enough that being alone at
night is scary for him. According to our neighbors, he howls. So after
Melanie's first dance with her dad and the toast to her Quinceañero, I made my excuses and taxied home. But it was a joy
and an honor to be included with the extended family for this very special
occasion.
Tomorrow night will be another special occasion for me --
Layne is coming home from Oregon, almost two weeks early! The sad reason for
this good news is that the family finally had to find a memory care facility
for his sister due to the inexorable progress of the Alzheimer's. Since the
home care Layne had been helping with was no longer required, he was able to
leave Portland early. We were again fortunate to find a flight using the
airline miles we had so with just a small change fee, he got a flight. Winston
and I are very excited.
And since I know an update on little Winston is probably in
order for his many "fans," I made this rather bumpy video the other day; it's
hard to keep up with the little rascal.
As you can see he is growing like the
proverbial weed and greatly enjoys running like a raving maniac and playing
viciously with his toys. Layne will hardly recognize him from just two weeks
ago, but I know Winston will be overjoyed to see Layne, as will I.
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July 22, 2013 -- an auspicious date: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge,
gave birth to a baby boy, heir to the British throne (poor kid); the Pope
arrives in Brazil (yawn); there is a full moon and my Tarot deck worked its
magic for me. I was all ready to write a blog, complete with photos, when I
discovered that the transfer cable for my camera was not in its storage place.
How could that happen when I only use the thing here in my office and always
put it back in a small bag full of other cords? Where could it be? I looked
high and low literally, on shelves above, in cabinets below. I even called
Layne to ask if he had moved it somewhere before leaving on his trip, but he
had no clue.
The Six of Wands, Trust
Finally, in an act of metaphysical desperation, I did a
Tarot reading on the issue, asking three questions: How did it go missing?
Where is it now? And how can I find it? The three cards that came up were
mysterious and vague, as Tarot often is, but the last card, the Six of Wands,
seemed to offer a clear message: Trust, the card said. Trust the Universe and
trust yourself. So... trusting that indeed I do not remove the cable from my
office, I came back in here with a fresh eye and almost immediately spied the
black cord peeking through a plastic container where I keep bagged spices. I
had apparently scooped it up with the herbs when I put them away. As Layne put
it, "'Woo' strikes again!"
So lucky for you, I have photos to share of the last outing
of the Santa Eulalia gang, plus a couple of new groupies, Joni and Mike, and
occasional gang members Darlene and Glynn. Of course, we were missing my
darling Layne since he is on an emergency trip to Oregon to help care for his
sister Annie, who is struggling with a number of health issues. The toll on
family members as they share the load of caring for her reached a limit and
they had called asking him to come. He left two days later and will be gone
another three weeks, leaving me and Winston to take care of each other.
As you may have deduced from reading our various culinary
adventures, the Santa Eulalia gang has
Chef Chris and his sauces
several excellent chefs among its
members, one of whom is Chris, whose cooking skills are top-notch. When he
learned that Bar Las Brisas near his and Sue's home had a big grill available,
he got the inspiration to treat his local neighbors to some of his Hot Wings
and in the process get better acquainted, become a real part of the barrio. But, as these things often do, the idea grew to include the Santa Eulalia bunch and why not throw some of Marcial's sausages on the grill as well.
Chef Chris offered three different homemade sauces: the
mild, the picante and the "loco." All were outstanding but I really think they
mislabeled the loco. Seidy and I
had already agreed that the medium level, the so-called picante, was over-the-top hot. She and I were slugging beer,
tequila and ice water to cool our poor burning tongues. How could we possibly
stand to taste something even hotter? But when we finally broke down and
decided we owed it to ourselves to taste the loco, we found it milder than the medium. Chris assured
us that it was just our palates having gotten accustomed to the intense spices,
but I... don't... think...so.
Hot Wings comin' up!
But no complaints from this quarter! It was a very fun
afternoon with Sue serving plate after plate of the delicious morsels. As Chris and Sue, Stephen and Marcial offered
samples of hot wings and Italian sausages to the locals sitting at the bar, I
told Marcial he was trying to "go viral" at the barrio level. If
Ticos learn how good his sausage is, they will no doubt flock to his booth at
the feria.
Two Cute Bald Guys
Joni, Stephen, Bonnie & Mike
Bonnie & Joni share a laugh
All afternoon Las Brisas' dance music inspired our lovebirds
Marcial and Seidy to put on a little floorshow for us. Joni and I both took
videos of the couple and when she showed her footage to Marcial, he said that
was the very first time he had ever seen himself dancing. The wonders of modern
technology arrive belatedly in Costa Rica.
Poor Winston had to stay home alone while I was gone and needless
to say was overjoyed to see me when I returned about an hour after dark. The
next day my landlords/neighbors mentioned that he howled miserably while I was
away, so I guess he made his feelings quite clear on the subject of my being
gone at night. Since their dogs bark incessantly whenever they leave the house,
I'm not too concerned for their sake, only for Winston's. Pura Vida as applied
to dogs!
Check out Layne's book "Moral Turpitude," now available for FREE 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. A great read! Pick up your copy here --https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/159570
In Costa Rica most every little pueblo has its own Catholic saint, no surprise given the
number of towns with "San" or "Santa" in its name. You have
our own Santa Eulalia, for example, along with dozens of San Rafael's, San
Carlos', Santa Elena's, San Ramon's, Santa Cruz's and, of course, San Jose's,
including the nation's capital city. Each year most all of these communities
set aside a few days to honor their saint with a fiesta for the whole town and
anyone else who wants to join in.
The church in San Isidro
Thus it was that most of the Santa Eulalia gang (minus Marc,
who stayed home, and Eroca, who is currently back in Canada) made our way to
San Isidro de Atenas last Sunday for the final day of their "saint's
day" celebration in honor of Saint Isidore, the patron saint of farmers. San Isidro is a beautiful little barrio located at almost 3700' high in the mountains above
downtown Atenas. Atenas is also the name of our canton, or county, so just as our barrio is Santa Eulalia de Atenas, so San Isidro needs that
identifier to separate it from all the other San Isidro's in Costa Rica.
When we arrived by taxi, the church service was just
finishing up and much of the town was out in force, on motorcycles, bicycles,
cars and pickup trucks. Marcial and Seidy, it turned out, were acquainted with Doña Rosa, who had cooked huge pots of food for the event and we were ushered into her kitchen to tempt our palates for later.
Doña Rosa in the kitchen
As we wandered around we discovered one of the big
attractions for the day was to be 4x4 mud races on a muddy track in a large
open space, previously a soccer field, in the cradle of steep hills. Spectators
were already perched around the sides of the basin ready for the day's action,
but since we had a hike to do, we decided to return later when we were sure the
races would still be on.
So with our intrepid leader Marcial in charge, we headed
down the road, now bumper-to-bumper with fiesta-goers looking for parking.
Marcial had spied a trail heading up the side of a hill across the way but we
didn't know how to get there from here. Never fear! Having noticed what looked
like a path beyond a barbed-wire fence, Marcial stopped and asked a fellow who
was helping park cars across the road how we might get in. An instant amigo, the guy sent over another man to cut the fence and
open a gate for us! How's that for friendly? He gave Marcial his name so if
anyone stopped us as we hiked along, we could say Juan gave us permission.
Just cut the fence -- No hay problema!
Seidy and I are across, Marcial helps the others
We traipsed down the narrow path alongside the fence and
soon came to the inevitable river to cross. But this one was shallow and easy
so I just walked through the 3-inch water in my trusty boots. Marcial helped
the others to cross safely. The trail took us up through coffee fields,
shade-grown under a canopy of banana trees and other tall nameless greenery.
Marcial and Chris far ahead, Sue coming along
Seidy picks culantro
Along the way Seidy noticed some native culantro growing on the sides of the path and began picking the tender leaves,
explaining to me how good it was in frijoles or gallo pinto, the ubiquitous beans-and-rice dish so popular here. Culantro is similar in smell at least to cilantro, which
Layne and I love, but I've not found the flavor to be quite the same. Still, when Seidy pulled up a small plant for me, roots and all, I put it in my
backpack and have now planted it out back alongside my other herbs.
Looks like blueberries, tastes like plum!
Marcial peeled a "potato mango," one of the many varieties here, and cut off pieces for us - delicioso! - and Seidy introduced us to tasty little berries that looked like blueberries but tasted more like a peach or plum.
On our return trip, Seidy and I stopped to look more closely
at some rusted old metal and concrete structures. She described how they had
been used in the past to press the juices from sugar cane, using the giant waterwheel to power the press. Then in large metal pans seated in the huge
concrete bowls now filled with plants, workers had heated the syrup (miel or honey, as Seidy called it) to render granulated
sugar. It was a fascinating taste of Costa Rican history.
The big rusted waterwheel
A press for the cane
What used to be concrete bowls for heating sugar cane juice
Returning to the festivities, we found the 4x4 mud rally already underway. Chris and Sue, Marcial and Seidy and Layne all stayed to watch
while I walked back to the churchyard to check on Bonnie and Stephen who had
opted not to hike. They were enjoying some of the comida tipica or typical food for sale and shared a couple of tasty
Chicharrones, fried pork, with me
before they taxied back home.
The ever-popular 4x4 mud races
When I rejoined the others at the rally, the
races were in full mud-spattered swing, with some of the cars stalling out in
the deep murky pools of water and having to be towed off the tracks. But the
crowd was enjoying the day with barbeques and picnics throughout the grassy
hillsides.
Eventually Layne and I left the rally heading for the dance
being held in the salon near the church. There we joined in the salsa dancing
and even managed a waltz, which garnered us a nice compliment from a Tica,
before Marcial and the gang joined the party.
By then it was time for the
entertainment to begin with dancers from San Ramón performing historical
Italian dances and a group of colorfully-clad Ticas doing a spectacular
full-skirted rendition of Costa Rican traditional dances. Once again we all
reveled in the great opportunity to join with our Tico neighbors in a
celebration of their history and culture.
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
Travel adventurer, organic foodie and cultural explorer, Kat Sunlove hopes to make her way to hidden jewels around the world and report her findings to you.
