A bit of what I've been up to the past three months

So its been quite a while since my last post so let me tell you a little bit about what has been going on.  

 

1. TEFL: I spent a week in Manuel Antonio finishing up my Teaching English as a Foreign Language certification.  Awesome week! It was great hanging out with gringos for a few days.  Excited that I am now certified to teach english in any county.  

2. My birthday: My host family had a party for me and all of the other October birthdays in my house.  Then went over to a friends house for karaoke, cake, and presents.  I wasn't expecting presents this year, but was defiantly surprised when they gave me a brand-new Nike polo shirt.  It was defiantly one of the nicest things anyone has done for me this year. 

3. My brother Mark came for a visit:  We traveled around together for ten days; surfing, relaxing, and having fun.  He was the first family member I had seen in almost 10 months and I can’t tell you how nice it was seeing him and spending time together.   

4. Quick trip to the US: At the beginning of November I flew to New Orleans to attend my college roommate’s (Alex and Lindsay) wedding.  I experienced an intense, albeit short, bout of culture shock while on my layover in Dallas.  The craziest part was turning on my cell phone for the first time since I left.  I had over 40 messages! The wedding was an absolute blast.  It was awesome seeing my college friends, it had been well over a year since we had seen each other.  Got my fix of warm showers, good food, TV, fast internet, and the general easiness of the states.  

My brother’s visit and the short trip to the states definitely made me realize that I’m ready to move back to the US.  I’ve had my fix of the small town lifestyle and I’m ready for new things.  I’m ready to make money, see my friends, and be an  again among many other things.  

5. End of Service Meetings:  Thanksgiving weekend we had our WorldTeach end of the year meetings at the OTIAC Spanish School in Orosi, the same place where our training took place. Tomas, the owner of the school, agreed to cook a Thanksgiving meal for us.   Tomas, being dutch, had no idea what thanksgiving was let alone how to cook a turkey. So we were a little bit skeptical about how the meal was going to turn out.  However after a few hours of watching youtube videos on proper turkey preparation and researching T-giving on the internet he came through with an amazing meal. Some of the end-of-the-weekend goodbyes where harder than others. Luckily I’ll be meeting up with the eight or so people I’ve been closest with this year one last time before we all leave.  I’m expecting these goodbyes to be much harder.  

The costa rican school year doesn’t really have an official end date, it just kind of just fizzles out.  When I arrived back in Vergel after Thanksgiving I was relieved to find that classes had already really started wind down and that kids were starting not to show up.  The last 2 weeks I have hardly taught at all.  This has caused my boredom to reach new heights.  I spent 3 hours yesterday finishing off two coloring books.  Luckily only 13 days left!  See you all soon.   

El mes de la patria

September is the most important month of the year for Costa Ricans. It is El mes de la Patria, Patriotism month, and the 16th is their independence day.  All month long they celebrate their national pride with parades, neighborhood parties, and fireworks. Everywhere you look there Costa Rican flags hanging.  It is much like the month of July in the United States.

September was also a big milestone for me.  It marked the 2/3 point of my time here in CR (only 4 more months), as well as my one year mark in Latin America (8 months in CR and 4 in Chile).  

One year is a long time to have spent in Latin America and to have never been to any type of soccer game; national team, club team, amateur, AYSO, foosball-- nothing.  So I decided I was well overdue to experience one.  Luckily, on the 5th of September the Costa Rican sele was scheduled to play against Mexico.  I decided this would be the perfect opportunity for me to pop my futbol cherry.    

For weeks prior to kick off, costa rica was caught up in news surrounding the game.  The thousands of fake tickets circulating, the recent success of the both teams against the likes of the US and other powers in the region, and their hopes to make the World Cup.  

A few hours before kick off my friend Dan and I got ourselves ready with a little “Girl Talk” dance party and some liquid spirit in our hotel room (we’re huge dorks).  Then we jumped into a taxi and headed to the game.  On the way over, our taxi driver explained to us how important the game was.  He said that if Costa Rica looses, and the United States wins, then Costa Rica would be in fourth place in region and would most likely have to play a repechage match against the fifth place team in the extremely strong South American region in order qualify for the World Cup.    

  

As soon as we arrived at Estadio Ricardo Saprisa we walked up to the first street vendor we saw and bought two tri color jerseys.  Now looking like true Costa Rican fans we made our way up towards the entrance, and missed getting run over by Oscar Arias’ (President of Costa Rica) motorcade by mere inches.  

After a seres of security check pat-downs and “can I smell what’s in your water bottles”-- we finally got our first look inside the 23,000 person stadium. The stadium was built vertically, and the stands seem to hang right over the field, I couldn’t believe how close the lower seats were to the action, no more than fifteen feet from the end lines. The upper sections were filled with Mexico green and the rest of the stadium was a covered in a blanket of red.  We found some seats in the top corner of the stadium behind one of the goals.  Probably the worst seats in the place, but the way the stadium was built it didn’t make for bad viewing at all.  

The atmosphere in the stadium prior to kick off was electric. The crowd took part in a seres of Costa Rican fight songs and chants, and it didn’t take Dan or I long to pick up the words.  In between songs the crowed scream obscenities at small group of Mexican fans just below us.  We decided that we only heard about a 20 different words the entire time we were there, most of them cuss words and a few others having to do with some kid of a gripe going around in Mexico right now.    

During the first half of the game the Ticos, who were caught up in the patriotic sprit of the month and the importance of the game, were itching for any little thing to cheer about.  However, La sele had a hard time getting anything going and gave up a goal one minute before half time.  Once the second half started it was obvious that some of the air had been taken out of the stadium.  Mexico got two beautiful counter attack goals after failed corner kick attempts by Costa Rica, and that was it.  The cowed started making their way towards the exits.  I felt pretty bad for the Tico fans, they defiantly felt like their team let them down.  La sele didn’t even give them one legitimate thing to cheer for.  A breakaway, a close shot, a juke, anything would have sufficed, but it never came. Mexico dominated.    

I was very impressed with the Mexican fans.  I know it was probably only the most diehard fans that made the trip to CR for the game, but i couldn’t get over how crazy they were.  Most of them were completely decked out in goofy mexican gear and were equipped with all kinds of horns and other noise makers.  They didn’t sit down once the entire game and even controlled the stadium at a few points with their cheers of MEXICO... MEXICO.  After the game ended and everyone had left the stadium, the mexicans stuck around singing songs and applauding their teams performance.  

Dan and I spilled out of the stadium into the street with the rest of the crowd.  It took us half an hour to find a taxi because of the packed sidewalk and near fight we got into with a bum who wouldn’t leave us alone.  

The night was capped off while Dan and I were laying in bed recapping our first professional soccer match and watching TV.  We were just about to fall asleep when our room started to shake.  We looked at each other thinking “is the room spinning because of all the guaro we drank tonight, or was that an earthquake?”   

When I look back at my first soccer match years from now I don’t think Ill remember the goals that were made or anything that happened on the field.  I think what I’ll remember most is the hour or so I spent before the game singing and cheering on La sele with a group of happy Ticos, and feeling the amount of pride they had for their county.  

The next morning, despite the loss and the earthquake, most of the Ticos didn’t seem too sad. They jumped right back into their happy, pura vida way of life pretty quickly.  Maybe it was the month of parties and parades they had to look forward to.  

El Vergel

I realized that I have been writing a lot about what I do on the weekends and my time away from El Vergel.  This was done more subconsciously than anything,  because other than some porch lounging and farming, not too much usually goes on here.  But let me tell you about what has happened here the past few months, and about some of the people whom I’m close with.  

El Vergel has gone through somewhat of a boom in growth this past year.  And I think now Vergel can be classified as a pueblo.  Before this year I wouldn’t have even consider it to have reached that status. It was that small.  It was essentially a tiny collection of houses (only about 5 or 6) and a school plopped on the side of the Pan-American highway. 

At the end of 2008 a government housing project started, and a group of Nicaraguans have been building homes in Vergel ever since.  Over the past few months 15 or so brand new homes have been built.

The gov't housing, escuela vergel, and my house

In January 09 alone El Vergel saw more growth than it ever has.  A second pulperia was built (which provides sweets to the school kids, and me with an abundance of headaches), two pay phones were installed, and a satellite dish was put on top of the school’s comedor (the CR ministry of education plans on having all schools online by 2010) which supplies wireless internet through much of the town.  Furthermore, this March a new classroom was built for the Borucan culture/crafts class, and they are currently in the process of building a Pre-K classroom.  

My host family has also been getting in on the growth.  This year alone they have purchased, a new computer monitor, a digital camera, and even a laptop computer-- and they are now learning to use internet and email.  Vergel has defiantly come a long way since 08. 

 

I couldn’t even imagine living in El Vergel without internet or phones.  Messing around online defiantly takes up a chunk of my day and getting a phone call from a fellow volunteer every now and then is exciting. I defiantly have a lot of respect for the three Teachers, Joe, Alex, and Radford, who were here before me.  I’m defiantly living large compared to them.  

Vergel’s tiny size has defiantly been the root of some of my frustrations this year.  It has been difficult for me to adjust to a small town lifestyle.  Other than a few Sunday afternoon majengas, pickup soccer games, and biannual BINGO fundraisers there are absolutely no social functions in Vergel.  I’m defiantly jealous when I go visit other volunteers and find out that they have dances, karaoke nights, and cantinas where they can meet people and socialize.     

Luckily for me, though, I have my friend Jeremy just up the road in Rey Curre.  In comparison to Vergel, Curre is like New York City, Los Angeles and, Disneyland put together.  They have bailes, mask-carving classes, TV, dance lesson, “real” pulperias (that actually sell stuff other than rice, beans and toothpaste), and even get a few gringos every now and then. The closets thing to a gringo in Vergel is a rental car full of tourists speeding down the Pan-American highway on their way to one of the nearby beaches.   So after I have checked my email for the 10,000th time and gotten bored counting the trucks drive by the highway I usually head up to Curre for a visit.     

Before coming here, I had a pretty good idea that I wouldn’t really have problems living a simple lifestyle and that I really don’t need much to be happy.  I have become perfectly accustom to eating the same meal everyday (rice and beans), the cold-- sometimes bucket-- showers, and the lack of other modern convinces like TV and video games.  Surprisingly, I don’t miss watching TV one bit-- well... maybe sportscenter just a little.     

(Note: Some other things I miss-- playing piano, ice cubes, good plumbing, cold weather, carpet, playing water polo, Mexican food, swimming.)

I have defiantly been a bit bipolar with my opinion of Vergel this year.  I either love it, even so much so that I consider staying another year, or I absolutely hate it and can’t wait for the next bus to pass so I can get the heck out.  Much of my unhappiness has to do with my living situation.  My family is very nice but isn't particularly talkative and can be extremely difficult to engage in conversation sometimes.  This really bothered my for a while but I have since gotten use to it.  Living in a house with eight people and one bathroom isn't exactly fun either.  However, the good defiantly out weighs the bad.  

Miguel ready for work

I really enjoy my host Dad, Miguel.  He is an extremely loving and affectionate father and the little ones (Quito and Melissa) absolutely adore him.  He’s always giving them kisses and calling them mi amor.   He’s also super funny and even reminds me of my real Dad sometimes. Unfortunately Miguel has to work a lot. He is a police officer in the nearby town of Buenos Aries and is only home four out of every eleven days.  When he is home though the house is much more pleasant and lively.  He hangs out all day with his shirt off cracking jokes, dancing around, and playing with the kids.  He’s a big goofball.  Miguel is also a great cook (very unlike my Dad in this sense). He is a much better cook than my host mother and makes every meal when he is home.  He knows how to say a couple words in english and loves to show them off after he hands me a plate of food-- chicken... rice... pig.  Sometimes just to get a laugh out of me he’ll pat his big belly and say “sexy”.  Its gets me every time.  

Miguel and my host mother, Eliza, hitting the pinata

Some of my other favorites...

My host brother, Juan Pablo (18), is one of my favorites and not just because we share the same name.  Pablo has a very active personality, much like me.  I can tell that he notices I get really bored sometimes, so he invites me to go along with him on his activities.  Surprisingly, there’s a decent amount to do in Vergel; play soccer, go for bike rides, swim in the river, fish, shoot the pellet gun, go cow tipping, throw stuff off the bridge.  The list goes on and on.  Pablo is also very hard worker and very smart. He gets almost perfect scores in all of his classes and really understands the importance of education, which is something a surprisingly large number of people here don’t quite get.  However, Pablo’s ambitions out weigh his smarts, if his dream of becoming a professional soccer player doesn't work out he plans on going to college.   

Jody (15), my host cousin, is a lot like Pablo.  He is also very smart and ambitious. He works at the new pulperia during the day and goes to high school at night.  Jody defiantly impressed me when he realized that the pulperia isn’t a great place to work; he  told me he hardly makes any money and wastes a lot of time sitting around doing nothing. Next year he plans on getting a real job in the nearby town of Palmar. Jody seems pretty grownup for a 15 year old, however he is very much of a kid at heart. He loves watching cartoons and still thinks that farting the funniest 

thing in the world.  Jody is also much more talkative than most of my family.  So we spend a good amount of time hanging out on the porch or playing soccer together.  

Left to right; Miguel, Negro, and Jody

Pablo and Jody defiantly are unique compared to a lot of people their age.  So many people between the ages of 16 and 25 approach life very passively and apathetically.  A lot of them sit around all day doing absolutely nothing and many have even accepted the fact that they’ll just end up being farmers and have dropped out of school.  These two have defiantly been a breath of fresh air.

Diego (22) has been best friend to all the volunteers in Vergel (me included) and is one of the most ridiculous people I have ever met.  Diego works at the local pulperia and teaches first communion classes in the church.  When I arrived in Vergel Diego spent most of his days pacing around Vergel looking for something to do or someone to talk to.  He liked to practice his English every chance he could and even wanted to move to the United States.  He has since give that up and has now dedicated himself to learning everything he can about Mexico.  Diego doesn’t even consider himself to be Tico.  He thinks he is mexican.  Now, he paces around Vergel singing the mexican national anthem and showing off his mexican dichos, slangs.  “Super padrisimoooo weeee” is his favorite.  Like I said, he’s ridiculous.  

Quito and Melissa.  My host brother (8) and sister (10).  Living with these two has taught me what it’s like to be an older brother.  I’ve learned how fun, and also how annoying it can be.  

Quito drove me nuts a the beginning of the year. Whenever we played together he’d end up getting really angry (usually for no reason) and start calling me names.  “Donkey Viejo” was his favorite.  Whenever I heard Donkey Viejo come out of his mouth I knew I must have done something horribly wrong and that a temper tantrum was coming soon. The name didn’t really bother me too much. I actually though it was pretty clever/funny, and at least he learn something from my lesson on animals.  Quito has done a lot of growing up the past few months and now we get along great. We roughhouse all day long without problems and I must admit it’s a lot of fun having a little brother around to torture.  And for some reason, even after eight months, Quito has a hard time pronouncing my name.  He calls me Jonk. Jale a jugar Jonk!!   Lets go play John!!

Melissa defiantly inherited all the family’s talking genes.  She doesn’t shut up.  Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  Melissa also loves to eat, all day long she’s munching of something.  Her older brothers are constantly making fun of her.  They call her names like chancho, vaca.  Luckily though she also has really good sense of humor and dishes it right back at them calling them “bones” and “skeleton”.  Melissa is shameless when it comes to talking, usually whatever is on her mind comes out of her mouth, which has been a good and bad thing for me this year.  She has no problem telling me “hey tonto stop walking through the house with you shoes on”, or “do all gringos slam doors as hard as you.”  She was nice to have around when I was adjusting to life here because she was the only one who would tell me when I was doing something wrong.  The rest of the family was much too quiet.  However, she can get irritating sometimes.  Melissa has just recently started calling me her “empleo” and has even taken it has far as “esclavo”. She’ll half-jokingly say “John your my employee do my chores for me and cook me some lunch, Im hungry!”  

Most nights Melissa and I eat dinner together at the kitchen counter.  Melissa was very good at speaking clearly and slowly with me at the beginning of the year and didn't have any problem correcting me when I made mistakes.  I think I have improved my spanish more with her than anyone else.  

I spend more time hanging out and talking with Quito and Melissia then anyone else in Vergel.  I’m at school with them all day, and at night all the boys (Pablo, Jody, Diego, and Negro my other host brother who’s 28 yrs old) go to colegio-- high school-- so Quito and Melissa are the only ones around to hangout with.    

Thanks for listening of me ramble on for 2,000 words about my pueblo.  I hope it gives you a better understanding of what my life is like here in Vergel.  

Hasta luego  

P.S.   I tried to put more pictures up of my family and town but my CR internet is having a hard time with blogger.  Check back later if you want to see more. 

Loosing Things

I have lost a good amount of weight since my arrival to Costa Rica.  I think somewhere between 15 and 20 pounds.  I attribute my weight loss to a few things.  First, my diet.  Switching from a college student’s diet to the diet of the 3rd world country defiantly took a few inches off my waist. Instead of eating burritos and 2:30AM and drinking three nights a week, I eat a diet of almost purely rice and beans and only get served food when it’s meal time.  And yes I am hungry a lot.  The second cause of my weight loss is sweating.  It is always hot in Vergel. and it’s not the dry type heat that I was used to in Arizona, its a wet, muggy, jungle heat.    

The combination of my weight loss and the nonexistence of dryers here has caused many of my cloths to stop fitting properly. My pants especially is where I’ve noticed the biggest difference.  I officially had to go up a loop in my belt.

The problem with my weight loss/clothes got me into a little bit of trouble on one of my recent trips to Dominical.  It was a typical Sunday afternoon.  The sun was out, the beach was packed, and the waves were big and powerful.  I decided to go out for a quick surf before the US and Brazil went at it in the final of the Confederations Cup final later in the afternoon.    

The waves were good and I caught a few really fun rides.  It was however when on one of my paddle outs that my troubles began.  I duck dove under a wave and on my way up to the surface I felt my shorts slide down a little bit. I didn’t have time to pull them up before the next wave came, so I duck dived it leaving them where they were.  This time on my way up to the surface my shorts fell completely off.  They didn’t stop down around my ankles, they fell completely off.  I was laying on my board totally bare-assed and there was another wave coming toward me that I was going to need to get under.  Rather than trying to duck-dive again, and moon the entire beach in the process, I decided to ditch my board, swim down, and try to fish out my shorts.  Luckily I found them down around my leash.  I untangled them and pulled them back on all the while trying to dodge the big waves breaking in front of me.  I paddled back out to the line up happy that I didn’t have to give the crowded beach too much of a show. 

I tied my shorts as tight as they would go and kept surfing.  It was however only a few minutes later when I found myself in almost the exact same position; in the water, naked, trying to find my pants.  I fished them out and pulled them back on.  As I was treading water tying to tie the drawstring a wave came.  I dove down under it, and just as I reemerged on the other side I felt my leash snap off my ankle.  

I swam the 50 yards or so to the beach and when I arrived I couldn’t find my board anywhere.  I signaled to my friend Jeremy, who was sitting under a palm tree if he saw it wash ashore.  He pointed over to the lifeguard tower and gave me a little applause. Not really understanding what the applause was about, I walked over to the lifeguard tower and saw my board lying there broken into two pieces.

The board had a huge buckle in it and I new that it was going to break sometime soon, I was actually surprised it lasted as long as it did, so I didn’t feel too bad about it.  Two little kids came up to me and asked it they could have the board.  I knew it was going to be way too expensive to fix it so I gave them the broken pieces.

The Confederations Cup final was about to start so me and some friends went to our favorite beach-side bar to watch it.  Jeremy bought me a beer to ease my pain and we spent the rest of the afternoon watching the game.   The bar was packed with Americans and Brazilians so I’m sure you could imagine the atmosphere was pretty exciting.  Unexpectedly, the US took a 2-0 lead over world-number-one Brazil in the first half.  Jeremy, who is a huge soccer fan, and I ended up getting a little too excited and ordering a few too many drinks.  But thats another story.  

I wish I could have broken my board doing something cool- like pulling into a ginormous close out barrel, or landing wrong after boosting a huge air.  But  my weight loss and stretched out shorts denied me of that.  Oh well.  At leas it was only a board and a leash that were permanently lost and not my pants.   

Post Vacations

Nothing too exciting has happened since I returned to Vergel after our July vacations. Anyhow, here is a little bit about what’s been going on the past few weeks.  

(Note: I think I’ve been scaring my mother a little bit too much with my stories about run ins with crocodiles, police, and big waves (sorry ma), so Ill save some stories from my vacation for a later time.  Also, in case you were wondering TIco means Costa Rican.)  

The first Wednesday back after vacations my WorldTeach boss, Leilani, came to El Vergel to observe me teach.  I was a little bit nervous about this especially because Wednesdays I have 3rd grade, and 3rd grade means Carlitos.  Carlitos is by far the most hyper and poorly behaved student in the school.  I was praying he would 

behave and not embarrass me in front of my boss.  But, of course, he did. 

During class we were playing one of Carlitos’ favorite games, airplanes.  Carlitos called one of the girls in the class a bad name and she punched him in the face.  Both of them were put on a time out.  Carlitos couldn’t stand sitting out while the rest of the class played his favorite game and ended up having a complete breakdown.  He started crying, screaming, and rolling around on the floor.  It was awful and very embarrassing, but just another day at Escuela Vergel.  

Leinani made me feel a little bit better about the Carlitos situation and told me that I handled it well and I defiantly had better control of the kids then any of the past volunteers did.  Although I do enjoy teaching more now than I did in the beginning of the year, the kids do still drive me nuts sometimes.  

My first weekend back after vacations turned out to be pretty fun.  My host brother, Pablo, asked me if I wanted to go with him down to the boarder so he could do some shopping.  He said there was a market there that sold chunche (stuff) for really cheap.  Being a Sunday and having nothing to do I said claro.  The boarder isn't too far from Vergel, only about an hour and a half.  So at around eight in the morning Pablo and I jumped on a bus for Pasa Canoas, a small town on the Tico side of the boarder with Panama.   

Pasa Canoas is exactly how you’d picture a typical Central American boarder town. It’s dirty-- full of poverty, half finished buildings, and crime.  So I was a little bit skeptical about the legitimacy of this “shopping” we were about to do.  I pictured the place as a sort of out door flee market, where one could bargain for suspicious merchandise from shady salesmen.  

So after a quick stop at bank, I followed Pablo through the crowded streets of Canoas up to where the market was.  I had no idea where we were going, and kept thinking “where the heck is this place” because since arriving I hadn’t see anything even closely resembling a market.  

I stayed right behind Pablo as we dodged a few last street beggars, then Pablo made a sharp turn down a dark ally.  The ally was so tight I had to turn myself sideways just to fit in it.  Again I was thinking “where the HELL is he taking me? we’re going to robbed and murdered here!”  Then it appeared. And I couldn’t believe my eyes. We popped out on the other side of the ally into a long corridor packed with people. The corridor was impeccably clean, everyone was wearing expensive brand-name clothing (Polo, Loccoste), and there was even AIR CONDITIONING!!!   WHat?!! The market was totally legitimate.  One side of the corridor was lined with small mom n pop type tiendas, and on the other large two-story department stores that sold everything, and I mean everything!  Bathtubs, plasma screens, brand name clothing, birdcages, shoes, sports equipment. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was like we stepped into another world!  I felt like Harry Potter stepping on to Diagon Ally for the first time.  It was surreal!  

Pablo and I spent the next few hours shopping around.  Pablo ended up buying a pellet gun (which he says he’s going to use to protect our mamon trees from birds but I really think he just likes to shoot stuff), a couple pairs of shoes, and a zip drive.  I wasn’t even planing on buying anything, I was just along for the ride.  But I found that the pric

es we so low that I couldn’t afford not to.  I ended up buying a pair of pair of Reef flip flops for $12. a Croatian soccer jersey (something I had been searching for for 2 years and in 3 different countries) for only $4. 

I later found out that all the merchandise was once on its way to Panama but couldn’t pass the boarder for whatever reason and ended up in those stores. Shopping was defiantly a cool experience I think I’m going to go back sometime in December to buy some Christmas presents.  

The only other thing that i can really report on is that have a new favorite food, mamones.  I thought that after avocado season ended I wouldn’t have any new harvests to look forward to, however one good thing about living in Vergel is that almost every month some new fruit or vegetable starts sprouting.  I absolutely love this about Vergel

, and I absolutely love mamones.  

            Avocado and mamones (upper right corner)

In case you have never heard of a mamon before, a mamon is a small neon-colored fruit about the size of a golfball.  They are most commonly yellow and purple but can also be red, blue, green or a mix of those colors.  On the outside there a thick, spike-covered rind, and Inside there is a tasty white fruit wrapped around a pit.  To me they taste like super sweet grapes.  

Mamones are just as tasty and cool to look at as they are fun to eat.  In order to eat a mamon you have to rip open one end of the shell (or you can be like a true tico and bite it open), pull the fruit with your teeth, suck the fruit off the pit, then spit out the pit. 

Eating mamones is a great activity for porch lounging (vergel’s favorite activity), as they provide for an endless possibility of games, which is really good because since april when my family cut off the TV, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a group of people so bored.  So anything that can be made into a game or some kind of entertainment is good thing. Some of my favorite games include seed spitting contests, rind toss into a wast basket contests, juggling contests, and who can fit the most mamones in their mouth at once contest (Melissa usually wins this one). 

Thats all for now. Hope you enjoy reading.   

Bigfoot and Balls of Poop

El Vergel is just one of the many tiny pueblos on the Borucan Indigenous reserve.  Borucans are a very kind and welcoming people who believe strongly in their sense of family and community.  They are also deeply invested in preserving their culture, language, and customs.  I feel very lucky to have been place here in El Vergel because its given me, not only, a chance to learn about Costa Rican culture but also the Boucan.  I like to ask my family about the history and the customs of the area and their people.  In doing this I have learned that, like many other indigenous tribes, Borucans are very superstitious.  They believe and all kinds of mythical beings and spirits.  

From the first day I arrived Vergel I started hearing stories. Stories about witches that sneak out of the mountains and rob people at sunset,  trolls that take on the form of people and kidnap children, and my favorite, the Hombre Peludo, who lives in the river behind my house and kills people that try to go swimming at night. 

Late one afternoon my family and I took a trip up the mountain to the town of Bouca to visit some relativ

es.  Most of us were riding in the bed of the pickup truck when we stopped to pick up a hitch hiker.  As the man jumped in the back with us and I could tell he was extremely disturbed by something.  My host mother asked him what was wrong and he told us that he had just seen the Hombre Mono (I guess thats like the Costa Rican version of Bigfoot).  The man seemed legitimately scared for his life and was tremendously thankful that we stopped to pick him up.  My host mother tried her best to comfort him until we reached town.  I found the whole thing pretty ridiculous and tried to keep a straight face for the remainder of the ride. 

I have heard dozens of these stories, each one more dubious than the next.  However the Borucans, absolutely 110% believe that they are true.    

There was one story, however, my host brother Pablo told me that I didn’t find entirely absurd and actually did give me a little bit of a fright.  The story was about the first WorldTeach volunteer in Vergel in 2006, Joe.  I had heard a little bit about Joe in the past and knew that he left after only six months because of a death in his family.  However Pablo told me the “real” reason he left.  

Just before Joe arrived the family added a small room to the side of the house that would be the new cuarto de teachers (teachers room).  Joe moved in and got settled. A little while after arriving his girlfriend came out for a visit and ended up staying for a few months.  Shortly after she arrived was when the trouble with the brujas (witches) started.  Supposedly, one night all the stray dogs in the area decided to sleep right outside Joe’s room, like they were protecting him from something. Then at some point in the middle of the night they all got up and chased something over to his classroom barking the entire way, and remained there barking for thirty to fourty-five minutes.  When Joe arrived at his classroom early the next morning he was met with a unexpected surprise. He found perfectly round circles of feces, about the size of baseballs, scattered all over the floor of his classroom.  The door to the classroom was closed exactly the way he had left it the night before, it was obvious that no one had opened it.   

This exact same scenario was repeated night after night at exactly the same time. The only difference being that the balls of feces would rotate between the floor, Joes desk, and the blackboard.  The family was convinced that one of the many brujas in the area was haunting Joe.  The last straw came one morning while Joe and his girlfriend were still lying in bed.  They heard the soft knock on their door and bruja calling out Joe’s name, Jooooee, Jooooeee, Jooooeee.  This really freaked everyone out and my host mother decided it was time to take action.  She made crosses out of banana leaves and put then on all the doors entering the house to scare away the evil spirits. And sure enough they did the trick; the dogs stopped sleeping outside el cuarto de teachers, the feces stopped appearing in the classroom, and the bruja stopped haunting Joe.

However, the crosses weren’t enough to suppress Joes fear and he moved back to the states shortly thereafter.  

My host mother became really worried when she found out that Pablo told me about the brujas.  She feared that I might get scared and want to leave too.  She reassured me that she has take many precautions to keep the brujas away, including making the teachers sleep in a different room, placing rosaries on the doors, and calling in Fathers Merriin and

karras to preform an exorcism (just kidding about that last one).  Since Joe left no one has spent the night in the cuarto de teachers.

I don’t know exactly how much of this story is true, and if I had to guess, I’d say not very much of it.  I say this because I know first hand how gossip can spread in a small town like Vergel, and how easily little things can get blown out of proportion.  However, I have to admit this story did scare me slightly more than any of the others I’ve hear so far.  Its also made me slightly more of a believer in the Borucan Folklore.