Almácigos y postres

Wednesday:


I missed another dance class…for a gira! We went to Cartago to learn about mushrooms and flowers and visited three different locations. I sat next to a man on the bus who seemed a little shyer than the rest. Most of the adults get so excited and talk so quickly that it sounds like chickens when we're all in that little bus, which can get overwhelming, but he was very soft-spoken (sometimes a bit too much, as it took me a while to start to understand him). We chatted on the bus and ended up keeping each other company at each stop. We visited someone working to phase out chemicals when growing mushrooms, two men growing mushrooms and making compost for a profit (these mushrooms were grown in crates, and the stalk and cap came out the sides! I’ll post a picture soon, it was really neat), and a flower nursery. The flower nursery works to produce flowers and seeds for exportation to the US and Europe, and the guide kept emphasizing how sad it was that ticos didn’t get to enjoy them. Except we could buy the flowers next door, and they were practically free for US standards (I’m no gardener, so I shouldn’t say, but it seemed that way from everything I remembered and even the ticos thought it was cheap…12 garlic plants for $2, a pot of flowers for less than $2, big hanging arrangements for something like $5), so I don’t think they’re THAT sad about exporting. The guide took us into the greenhouse, taught us how to how to tell male and female flowers apart, then how to fertilize flowers, and finally little bit about production (manual pollination is more efficient than natural pollination for seed production, etc.).

When I got home and turned on the tap, it spurted out differently and surprised me. I turned it off, and realized it was no longer dripping. Figuring it was something the new person living with us had seen and fixed, I asked if he had changed the faucet. He was extremely confused, and then so was I, but then I saw that a little cap had been put over the tap. Maybe my tica mom finally decided to believe me about the leaky faucet!? Whatever happened, yay, that sink was driving me crazy.


Thursday:

Today on the farm (that is so cool to type…haha) we dug flower beds (they’re called ‘camas’ in Spanish, too), turned the non-working compost heap (mmm, cockroaches, nice little sign that things aren’t going as planned), and planted seedlings. The Biodynamics calendar says this week is good for ‘leaf’ plants, or plants such as basil and lettuce where the leaf is the part that is consumed, so that’s what we planted along with thyme and chive-like onions. I got my first official nasty blisters, and I found a caterpillar hanging out on the compost bag. I asked if it was poisonous, and apparently it only causes problems when it touches somewhere on the body with hair. So, hands were safe, arms were not. Strange.

I had to mail a ballot to vote on a proposition from home, and just as I was making all the signals in the crosswalks and really hauling butt to be able to make my bus on time, I trot up to a boarded up post office. Half-hoping that there were no nearby post offices so I could just give up and go home, I asked and someone told me it relocated to just around the building and across the street. Well, after bitterly admitting to myself that I wouldn’t make the bus, I found the new office and took the long way home.

I was a little angry after missing the direct-route bus and having worked digging holes and hauling things for six hours, but I consoled myself by promising myself a dessert at the bakery I pass on the way home. I always say ‘hi’ to the security guards I pass on the street if they aren’t busy and are more or less on my path because I figure we’ll be seeing a lot of each other, I think it's the proper social thing to do here, and I’d like them to save me from crazy people if the need should ever arise. I passed a security guard and said ‘hi’, to which he responded ‘¿todo bien?’ with a big thumbs up. So I told him, ‘¡todo bien!’ and gave him one back because everything really WAS fine, and my grumpy went away. When I went to the bakery, I told the woman I wanted to try a bunch of different things before I went home, to which she replied that I would be returning home with a few extra kilos in a playful manner. Thankfully, after trying the desserts, now I know that won’t be a problem. I HAVE liked desserts from here, but just none that I’ve bought myself. It’s always someone else picking a place or letting me try what they’re eating. I guess it’s better that way, as desserts are waaaay too cheap here for me to be safe craving them.

I finally got lunch, at around 4, and decided to stay home from choir and do homework. I didn’t end up doing homework, though, because I chatted with my new…dorm-mate? He got stuck in Miami after a conference due to the volcanic eruption (of a volcano whose name I couldn’t quite catch…being that it was a pretty crazy name) in Europe, and therefore couldn’t go home to Switzerland (the ash cloud prevented more or less all the flights in Europe). It was cheaper to fly to Costa Rica, study Spanish for a week, and fly back than to just stay in Miami, so that’s what he did! He’s a new dad and a backpacker, so he told me about his family and his trips. It was really nice talking to him, and surprising to learn that he didn’t know what a piñata was. I feel like I’ve just always known, but I don’t really know why. Culture is fun. His business pertains to Internet, so we griped about how slow it is here, and then did an Internet speed check and validated my claim that a short youtube clip takes more than 10 minutes to load (it said 13 for a 3-5 minute clip, if I remember correctly). Good fun! He left today (Friday) to do touristy things before returning to Miami and then home, and I was sad to see him go. But, there is a couple interested in staying here a few days, and we find out tomorrow if they will (they wanted to pay less than tica mom wanted, so I suppose they’re deciding).


Friday:

My alarm didn’t go off again, but I realized it was because the power had gone out. I mentioned this to my tica mom, and she told me that her daughters’ shower had broken so they had cut the power to fix it. Thank goodness I didn’t have school or plans today o_o;

Today was fairly uneventful. I did, however, slam a knife into my finger and only get a papercut. That was lucky (or the knife is extremely dull, which is what I’m thinking), as I was cutting a carrot and there is no cutting board…And as I typed that, I realized that there IS one, I just hadn’t seen my tica mom use it so I assumed there wasn’t. Recently it’s been hanging out behind the handles of the sink and keeps falling into my hands when I wash things. Hurrah, no more awkward putting things on plates and trying to have the least knife-plate contact possible!

Tomorrow I am going on a fieldtrip with my Organic Agriculture class. It seems that there are no students  my age going, as everyone in my work group said they couldn't make it, but we'll see. Almost all of the automayores will be there, from the hand-count that was taken, and we will in fact be working, but I don't really know on what. Yup, this is planning Costa Rica style.