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.
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