This post marks the "One Week Left" period for me in Copey. A week from now, Xavier and I, along with Angela, Celeste, and Noelia, will travel to San Jose to spend the night in order to catch our early flight back to the States Saturday (6/4) morning. Even though we are leaving at the same time the other two volunteers we have been working with--Markki and Marguerite--are leaving, I know the Center will be in good hands with the two new volunteers taking their place, Joe and Solana. Joe is a volunteer through Peace Corps working in the community on sustainable tourism practices and has graciously volunteered to teach while the Center continues their search for another volunteer. Solana, on the other hand, has just signed up to teach for three months (hopefully longer!) at the Center!
Joe and Solana have brought with them new stories to tell, knowledge to share, and adventures to begin. Xavier and I decided to accompany them on a little walk
Joe and Solana have brought with them new stories to tell, knowledge to share, and adventures to begin. Xavier and I decided to accompany them on a little walk
Wednesday afternoon after we all finished teaching for the day. It was going as planned--we had just finished a late lunch and were walking up to meet Xavier and Joe--and that's when it started to rain. (Remember Tico tip #10? Always bring an umbrella. Chances are it's going to rain.) Our nice, afternoon stroll quickly turned into a rainy hike up a mountain, one reason being because of the rain, the other being the road we chose took a turn toward the sky. After about 45 minutes of complete downpour, the rain finally stopped. Thankfully, we had reached a point where we could look out through the trees over the community of Copey. All-in-all, it was a great hike! I had a lot of fun and got to know some pretty rad people. The view was amazing and it made me love this town so much more.
After the hike, we changed into dry clothes and went to the Center to play a card game we have been playing practically every night for the last week called Contract Rummy. In case you didn't already know, I am a huge fan of card games. So much so that I thought I knew just about every card game known to man. This, of course, is a huge exaggeration, but still. This one, however, I had never heard of before. I am super glad Solana taught it to us, though, because it may just be one of my new all-time favorites! I am looking forward to playing again tonight!
Card games aren't the only things I've learned in the past couple of days. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to learn how to make a traditional Costa Rican meal--tamales! And, boy, were they good! My host family had a pretty good system going when Solana, Joe, Markki, and I got there, but showed us what to do and let us jump right in! We were definitely not as fast as they were, going through the process, but we did eventually get the hang of it, and had a lot of fun! In case you're interested:
How to Make Tamales (Granados Cruz Style):
And ta-da! You have tamales! We made SO MANY! It was a good thing we did, though; when I got up this morning, there were people coming to the house to buy them before 7 o'clock! Here's an addition to Tico tip #4: The sun rises around 5 am and sets before 6 pm, so when you want to go to bed at 8 or 9, people don't question it. It's also normal to get up before 6 am! With that being said, people coming to the door at 6:45 in the morning really wasn't that big of a deal for Mila, my host mom--just me.
Card games aren't the only things I've learned in the past couple of days. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to learn how to make a traditional Costa Rican meal--tamales! And, boy, were they good! My host family had a pretty good system going when Solana, Joe, Markki, and I got there, but showed us what to do and let us jump right in! We were definitely not as fast as they were, going through the process, but we did eventually get the hang of it, and had a lot of fun! In case you're interested:
How to Make Tamales (Granados Cruz Style):
- Make the corn-dough-stuff that goes inside, called masa.
- Lay out two big banana leaves, one on top of the other. The one on the inside should probably be the smaller of the two. Lay them out across a table or counter (my host family made what seemed like 20 at a time!).
- Scoop out a large spoonful of masa and plop it on top of both banana leaves right smack dab in the middle.
- Take a small spoonful of rice and place it in the middle of the masa (this was my job!).
- Place a piece of pork in the middle of the rice.
- Put one green bean and one massive slice of carrot next to the meat.
- Last, but not least, place a nice little pepper right on top of it all.
- Wrap the tamale by, first, taking opposite sides of the leaves and pulling them together on top of the insides and folding it down to one side to seal it.
- Then, make your hands flat like you're going to karate chop something and push the insides of the tamale in, away from the still open ends.
- Fold one end over to seal it, pick the tamale up, shake/push the insides toward the sealed end to make it full and compact, and fold over the other end to seal the tamale.
- Make another one, put the folded side of one together with another, and tie the two of them together with some kind of twine or string.
- Boil some water, stick 'em all in a big pot, and cook for an hour, maybe more.
And ta-da! You have tamales! We made SO MANY! It was a good thing we did, though; when I got up this morning, there were people coming to the house to buy them before 7 o'clock! Here's an addition to Tico tip #4: The sun rises around 5 am and sets before 6 pm, so when you want to go to bed at 8 or 9, people don't question it. It's also normal to get up before 6 am! With that being said, people coming to the door at 6:45 in the morning really wasn't that big of a deal for Mila, my host mom--just me.
Today, as I said earlier, I was up a bit early. That's because Xavier, Angela, and I were asked to be judges of a Spelling Bee at the public school down the mountain in the town of Santa Maria at their English Festival. It was super cute and super fun, but I also found it to be kind of saddening. I didn't like the part where we had to tell the kids they misspelled the word that would have gotten them to the next round. However, the smiling faces of the three champions who get to go on to the next Spelling Bee was really touching, as were the proud parents. Many tears were shed today, happy and sad. Even though it was long and, at times, sad, I am looking forward to getting to do it again next week in at the public school here in Copey.
I'm sure I will have more tales to tell on Monday. Tomorrow, I am going rock climbing with Xavier, Solana, Joe, and Angela! Hopefully, we can do a little swimming in the natural springs, too! Sunday, I might also get to go whitewater rafting, too! With only a week left, I still have a lifetime of adventures to begin.
I'm sure I will have more tales to tell on Monday. Tomorrow, I am going rock climbing with Xavier, Solana, Joe, and Angela! Hopefully, we can do a little swimming in the natural springs, too! Sunday, I might also get to go whitewater rafting, too! With only a week left, I still have a lifetime of adventures to begin.