Decoration in the Library
My university had a lot of decorations put up in all of the buildings. It was really cool. There were also a lot of programs going on during the week, and on the weekend, in honor of the holiday. Friday my friend Alannah and I went to the central park in Heredia to see the torch. There is a torch that is literally run through all of the central american countries that won their independence on the same day. We were able to see a whole bunch of little kids preform a short little skit, and do some dancing. We also got to see them run the torch to the next city in Heredia. It was raining that evening, which apparently it has every year according to several Ticos. After the park Alannah and I met up with two of our other friends had a quick dinner, and then went to a play/dance performance at our university.
The play was so good! It was a little intense though, because of the subject matter. The play began with the students moving around in the audience acting like different rainforest animals and eventually making their way to the stage. The play was all about problems in Costa Rica, mainly about the environment, but also about its citizens as well (for example, the police). You could see how passionate the students were, and even thought I honestly didn't understand the whole play (because of the Spanish), it was still really cool to see. After the play was over there was a dance act that performed next. It was a Costa Rican folkloric dance, with typical Costa Rican costumes. It was really cute, and really funny.
The Torch
Saturday was the actual holiday, so I met up with some friends and went to the parade that they had in the central park. Every city in Costa Rica has their own parade for the holiday, all of the schools in Costa Rica are involved. It was cool to see the parade, but even more fun people-watching. With so many people crowding the street to see the parade you see some interesting things. We stayed at the parade for a couple hours and then headed out.
At the Parade
After the parade my friends and I went to the Auto Mercado to pick up some ingredients for chili! This was one of the highlights of my weekend because I was so jazzed up for some cooking. They unfortunately had to deal with my indecisiveness in grocery stores. There are just so many options for things it's so hard to choose. We actually watched a Tedtalk about options too haha. We eventually made our way out though and headed up the mountain where Jonathan lives. We stopped at his grandmother's ranch first to feed the horses some carrots. At his grandmother's house they have this chili pepper plant that had a ton of ripe chili peppers on it. I decided to eat one. One of the worst ideas that I've had in Costa Rica...It was SO SPICY. We were all running around this ranch trying to find some water as I had tears streaming down my face, and not to mention my mouth and face were basically on fire! The water spout that we found wasn't good enough, it didn't help at all. Jonathan ran to a citrus tree, grabbed a ripe sweet lemon and gave it to me. It worked. My mouth still burned, but the citrus helped immensely. Whoo, was it spicy.
When we finally got to Jonathan's Uncle's house we had some time to kill before we needed to start the chili (it takes two hours). So we watched some Tedtalks, listened to music, watched some Ron Paul/Gary Johnson speeches. I had no idea these people existed. I wish I was more educated in politics, but I've been looking into the libertarian candidates lately (thanks to my friends) and I had no idea libertarian was even a party. They have some really good ideas, that are at least different. Some of the things they want to change are actually the things that I've been complaining about, but didn't realize there was a party that wanted to fix them. Pretty cool.
Finally it was time. Alannah and I made the chili while Jonathan set up a bonfire. While the chili cooked we had some great fireside chats. The chili was done around 6pm, and in Costa Rica it's pitch black by then. So then we enjoyed some hot chili, in front of a hot fire, in the pitch black, cool air of the Costa Rican mountains. Perfect. I ate two bowls.
Chili+ Sandwich (this is Sunday's meal)
Sunday was awesome too. My day began with a run, in which I actually got lost. However I can always count on the people to help me get home, so I wasn't worried. Then Bruce, Jonathan's Uncle, came back from the states with two of his friends. Alannah and I came over before they arrived and we prepped some left over chili for them and made ourselves some little sandwiches and ate some chili ourselves. They ended up arriving for an early dinner, around 5pm, and we sat around chatting for a really long time. They all LOVED the chili. They were really impressed, and said they'd never had such good, interesting chili. They all had seconds. We made Jonathan's grandma a sandwich, since spicy food doesn't sit well with her, and she loved that too. It was the same sandwich that I had made for myself earlier. Some after dinner photos:
Bruce's home is all mexican styled decor
Mixed with a little Costa Rican
mixed with a lot of Bruce
Needless to say it's cool, and I like it
Oh Bruce
Bruce is in the hat, haha
He has kind of a cowboy vibe to him if you couldn't tell
It's great.
A little about the food:
Chili
The chili we made was a vegetarian chili. According to the guys, this is what set it apart. It was chunky chili, apparently their used to not-so-chunky chili? However, I think that's only way to go. These were the chunks:
-Sweet potato (which they also were surprised by, but it's my favorite chili addition)
-Carrots,
-Peppers (red+green)
-Black beans
-Red beans
-Red Onion
-Head of garlic
-Chunky tomatoes
Spices
-Cumin (a good amount too, because I love it!)
-Cayenne Pepper (also used quite a bit....)
-Chili Powder
-Cinnamon
-Cocoa Powder
-Black Pepper
-Salt
Garnishes (also surprised them)
-Fresh avocado
-Radishes
-Freshly grated Monteverde cheese
-Cilantro
Sandwich
-Whole grain, flax seed bread
-Hummus
-Avocado
-Sliced tomato
-Diced red onion
-Sliced Monteverde cheddar cheese
I had a wonderful weekend! I hope everyone's weekend was wonderful too!
Thinking about everyone,
Sara
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