On Friday night, a bunch of us went to a little art cafe in Santa Elena called La Carambola, which was fantastic. The woman who runs the place is named Susanna and it's pretty much just her with hired help during rush times. She lives above the cafe and has hammocks set up in the yard for people to relax in. The menu is Middle Eastern, and every Friday night she has some variety of ethnic food special. We all enjoyed delicious falafel/hummus wraps with a glass or two of optimally priced boxed wine, which was little to nothing like Franzia. The box was more like the kind of box that soy milk or veggie stock comes in, and it was actually pretty decent. The place has a wonderful atmosphere and as much as I like beans and rice, it was a nice culinary reprieve. I went back to La Carambola this afternoon to do some reading and have a glass of ice coffee, and I ran into a few other students. After we had been reading assorted assigned chapters and articles for a while, Susanna came out to offer us some complimentary watermelon slices (the best I have ever had in my life).
Yesterday morning, we arose bright and early to head to a nearby farmer's market, or la feria. (Note: the Tico daily schedule is old-school agrarian, leftovers from the days when farming, rather than ecotourism, was the most common occupation. Most Ticos go to bed around 8:30pm and wake up around 5am, and since my bedroom is practically in the kitchen, I'm up and about by 5:30 most days). We went to collect data for a lab on community food security. After talking to farmers and compiling a price list at the market, we headed to a nearby supermarket to compare availability/affordability of staple goods. Outside the SuperCompro (a popular Tico supermarket chain), we encountered the cultural novelty of a DJ announcing the day's hot sales over a soundtrack of American classic rock. Several of us introduced ourselves and she enthusiastically allowed us to announce some sales ourselves. All in all, it was a fun and interesting morning, and I learned some key phrases like "Where are these green beans from?" and "Today only, Yucca root for 900 colones per kilo!"
When I first arrived at my homestay last Sunday, I told my host-mother that I really enjoy cooking, and she told me she'd teach me how to make some Tico dishes. Unfortunately, our program is so busy I haven't have many chances to try my hand in la cocina. That changed last night though, when I helped Dona Yolanda and my sister, Malory, make chicken empanadas. Yolanda had already prepared the chicken and made the tortilla dough, so it was basically just assembly and frying, but it was really fun. Making consistent, uniform tortillas is an art, and I was amazed at how quickly Malory cranked them out. Mine were much slower and aesthetically inferior, but they still tasted good. The meal had a heightened sense of warmth and enjoyment because of the absolutely torrential downpour going on outside. It's very windy in the mountains here, and at night it sometimes sounds as if the tin roof or even the whole house is going to be swept away like something out of the Wizard of Oz.
An Unrelated Note: My host father has a great fondness for dancing, and one of his favorite movies is his DVD of Michael Jackson's best music videos and live performances. He thinks that MJ is "un bailando mas mejor" and the world will never again see anything like him.
That's all for now, so I'll sign off with another picture of Pelusita, this time trying to wake up her mother to play (can't resist, kittens are only kittens for so long...)
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