I woke up at around 6 feeling very sweaty and not able to sleep anymore because of the light streaming through the window and the heat. Costa Rica is in central time, one hour earlier than Georgia and the sun rises at 5:45, about one hour earlier than it rises in Georgia, so it really feels like a 2 hour time change instead of one. I Facetimed with my mom for about 2 hours, catching her up on all the details of the trip so far.
We had planned the night before for David to pick me up at 10 to take me to the church to start planning the class calendar. He arrived around 10:30, as I expected, from what now knew about "tico time." Apparently he is one of the worst in the family about getting up late. I was still eating gallo pinto and sweet bread when he arrived, but it was no big deal to him.
We headed out to the church and it only took about 10 minutes to arrive at the orange and brown building in the little community of Comunidad. I knew my friend Laura's family nearby, so soon after arriving I called her mom to check in. She walked over within 10 minutes and took me to her house, just a 2 minute walk away from the church, and introduced me to her mom, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. She served me a fresco de piña, fresh pineapple juice, and the granddaughter showed me her pet puppy that upon seeing me jumped up on the couch and got dust all over my white pants. Thankfully none of the clothes I brought are my favorite or most fancy ones, and I was mentally prepared for things to get dirty and to give things away at the end of the trip.
Dinora took me to visit with her sister who lives just down the street where I met some of Laura's cousins and drank some cold water they brought me. At that point I realized that I was drinking the local water on the first day, something Trellise and Marlen had advised against. The water in Guanacaste is clean but the minerals in it are different than the US and the taste is different even than the water in San José. It tasted fine to me and I pretty much decided to just go with the flow and drink what people gave me, because if you refuse the tap water you might as well refuse smoothies and fresh juice, since those don't have purified water either. So far I've felt fine and have continued drinking the water.
I returned to the church office and started planning the class calendar with David. His office has a fan, wrought iron barred windows (the typical kind here) on both sides, yellow walls and two foldable wooden tables for the desk. I started planning the class calendar according to the basic English test that is required to get a certificate. The test includes content that is spread throughout all four levels of the books that Berry ESL donated to me.
The heat was pretty bad that day and I took this screenshot of the weather:
Later that day I walked back to Dinora's house on my own for lunch and I think everyone else had already eaten because she made a plate just for me and it took her about 30 minutes. David went to the local "Soda" for lunch, a restaurant that serves typical Costarican home cooking, so I knew he'd be a while getting back. I sat outside and talked to Laura's sister-in-law while Dinor cooked, and her little daughter showed me her "pet" chickens and chicks. We ate raw mango with salt, a very sour and bitter experience, but tasty and fresh nevertheless. Here they eat the mango whenever it grows, not matter if it's still green or if it's ripened.
David and I worked til 7ish when Raquel arrived from work and I rode back with her to Ana and Modesto's house. That evening Ana and I went to culto de oración (prayer meeting) at David's church. I wore my same clothes from earlier that day, white capris, brown sandals and a pink tank top, with my hair in a simple braid, and Ana and her daughters said I should wear whatever I felt comfortable in, so I just didn't change. I felt a little out of place once I saw all of the elderly women in their short-sleeved dresses with skirts down to their knees, but I don't think anyone judged me for that. I got a lot of stares and weird looks, probably just because I was the only pale-skinned, sandy-haired person there. David played piano and sang worship songs for the first 30 minutes as people filed in and took their seats. I think about 30 people came all together and
el 3 de febrero, 2015
We ate breakfast together, Jose, Marlen and I and spent the rest of the day packing, cleaning and working on our computers. I finished some blog posts from other days and imported a lot of photos onto my computer, Jose worked and Marlen studied. It was a very low key day since we knew we were leaving in the afternoon. I talked with Trellise, the former missionary that organized this trip for me, and she reminded me to meet up with Pastor Guido in Santa Ana to give him a gift from her. I tried calling Guido 10 times, left him a Facebook message, text message and a whatsapp message, and still he didn't answer, so I did all I could do to make a connection. The plan was to leave at 5 but we ended up leaving around 6 (tico time) and went straight to the ATM for me to get cash and to add credit to my phone.
I called David, the pastor who I would be working with, and we planned for me to get dropped off at the church in Comunidad instead of at the house in Palmira. That wasn't the most convenient plan for Jose and Marlen since Comunidad was farther away, but David said he couldn't leave the church til 8. So we set out on the road driving north away from Santa Cruz and I texted David as we got closer. When we were almost to Palmira, passing Filadelfia de Guanacaste, I texted David and he said he could just meet us at a supermarket in Palmira instead of us having to drive all the way to Comunidad. That worked out a lot better for Jose and Marlen and saved them maybe 20 minutes extra driving time to get back to San José. We met at the Atsecatsa supermarket in Palmira and put all my bags in David's little Toyota sedan.
I said goodbye to Marlen and Jose and we promised to see each other again, sometime soon. David took me to his suegros (in-laws). David is the pastor of Iglesia Misionera Fuente de Restauración in Comunidad (north of Palmira) and his father-in-law, Modesto, is the pastor of the main church in Palmira. Modesto is the leader of a brotherhood of pastors in the area with 46 members. All the churches are evangelical Christian and are located in the surrounding province of Guanacaste. Once a month these pastors meet to plan activities and community gatherings between the churches.
We parked on the right side of the street and opened a large metal gate that lead to the house. Just inside the front door I saw a long dining table with a turquoise table cloth and lots of young women sitting around it, as well as an elderly woman. I said hi to everyone and the mother-in-law, Ana showed me to my room. Ana is in her late 50s and has dark grey hair and brown skin. I met David's wife, Raquel and his son, Adrian, as well as a few of Raquel's sisters. Ana and Modesto had seven girls and one boy, and all of them are now married with children. Their youngest child is 22 and their oldest grandchild is 21, if I remember correctly.
We all sat down and ate rice and beans together with fruit juice, all at the long table, Raquel, David, Adrian and Ana. Adrian is 5 years old and goes to a private school in the area where he is learning English. Raquel works with a tour company in the sales department, and Ana is the pastor's wife and takes care of everyone, including her ailing father.
After David and Raquel left I sat on my bed and caught up with friends and family, reveling over the fact I had wifi in the house, my own bed and a fan in the room. I wasn't sure what to expect, although Trellise had told me there was lots of space in the house, I didn't think they'd have wifi. That night Ana gave me an extra quilt for the bed, one made by her daughters for their family business, and helped me make it up. The quilt is bright blue with flowers and has a skirt around the edges, kind of like a bed skirt/spread. My walls are turquoise/ green painted cinderblocks and I have sheer white curtains. The floor has brown linoleum tiles and the ceiling has a brown wooden molding. I have a small shelf and nook for my clothes and a table where I put books and toiletries. There are a few hooks on the wall where I can hang towels, scarves and bags. Out my window I have a nice view of the front porch, a fruit tree and the street. Ana and Modesto's room is next to mine and the bathroom is in the same hallway.
Anna came in and sat on my bed for a while, telling me how happy she was to have another "daughter" in the house to keep her company, even though the rest of her daughters still live nearby and visit almost daily. She broke down and cried about the recent death of her mother and the fact that her father is sick. She said she always loves to host guests and is was happy to have me in her house.
I met Modesto before I went to bed. He is a few years older than Ana, with short grey hair, dark brown skin and a smaller stature than that of Ana. He works in construction and is also the main pastor, so he comes home late every night, tired after working all day. They were both very friendly and welcoming to me, saying I should feel at home.
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