Sunday, 28th July, 2013 - 5th Posting   

No idea what this plant is, but it is fascinating!   It grows in the school gardens, and demonstrates nature at her most ingenious.   Each little hemisphere forms a basin which catches any water that there is, whether rain or dew, then out of that little mini-pool grows a tiny flower at random intervals.

Well, another week gone by in a flash, and it's hard for me to believe that I am already halfway through my sojourn in Costa Rica.   I'm going to work my way backwards to-day, because I have had such a lovely day to-day.   This morning I walked to a local produce market with Mamma Rita.   I had not walked in this direction before, and it was like a whole new world.   The market is held every Sunday, and covers a huge area.   All the stands are run by the people who actually grow the produce, so there are no middle men, hence really good prices.   I absolutely loved the experience!   It reminded me of Italy, of Thailand, of India, Egypt, of any of the lively street markets that I have enjoyed visiting during my varied travels around the world.   The intense vibrancy of the sounds of people advertising their wares, the press of people, children, dogs, the smells of cooking, and the overwhelming visual seduction of the multi-colored fruits and vegetables made this excursion a multi-sensory experience.   Here are a few pictures to give an idea.

A mountain of mamonchinos, which I had never tasted before to-day.   They are delicious.   The outer skin is cut in the middle and a large white fleshy fruit is exposed that looks rather like an egg.   It has a large pit in the center which is spat out after savoring the succulent sweet white flesh around it.   The sellers are very generous in allowing one to taste their wares before buying, or not!

                 

 Note the sign in the background advertising HORMONE-FREE CHICKENS

This dear old girl was kinda selling lottery tickets, but really was holding out a little pot for donations.   However,  she was making a valiant offering in return:  she was singing popular songs in a loud and really good, strong voice.

          Sweet oranges and sweet lemons

 Mamma Rita, the star of the Sunday Market

 What a magnificent splash of color those watermelons (sandias) make.   Now I understand why the mountains in Northern New Mexico are called the Sandia Mountains.   They are this very color when the sun is setting.

Mamma Rita pushing a wagon around for our wares, which we picked up at the entrance of the market. We paid a woman $1, had the use of the wagon while we walked around choosing our wares, and then got our $1 back when we returned the wagon.   We had walked to the market, but we took a taxi home.   They are ubiquitous and cheap, fortunately, because we had many, many bags, all bursting at the seams with delicious and fragrant fruits and vegetables.   We paid $2 for the most incredible pineapple I have ever seen!

This poor old fellow was selling lottery tickets (as were many others), but he kept falling asleep, and then because of his weight he kept toppling forward, catching himself just in time.

I love the way the small heads of garlic have been tied together, rather like the boned petticoats worn under crinoline skirts.

The sun came out while we were there, so we got very hot indeed, but refreshed ourselves drinking a couple of fresh coconuts, offered to us by a vendor.   We must have looked like a couple of hot and sweaty old women!   We ate the soft and tender flesh of the coconut when we returned home with our bounty.

Apart from the school, which I love, I think this was my favorite experience in Costa Rica so far.   It was just so life-affirming, simple and strong in its declaration of the joy of good, fresh and simple foods, the comfort of the kindness of strangers, and a great advertisement for a simple life.   The developed world has lost so much of its appreciation for the simple life.

This afternoon we had a massive thunderstorm and torrential rain, so it was a good time to creep back to my room and have a little siesta!   Which of course explains why I am so late in getting my blog written.

Yesterday, Saturday 27th

In the afternoon I went on the "City Tour", by private mini-bus,  provided by the school as part of my "tuition".   There were 13 of us on the bus, several from other Spanish-speaking countries.   The tour-guide, Katya, was excellent,  and gave her talks in Spanish and English, so I was able to follow both and it was a great exercise for me.   Unfortunately, it was raining most of the time, so I did not take many pictures.

She gave some general information about the country:  its size is approximately 20,000 square miles, and the national University of Costa Rica is located in San José.   We drove around its perimeter, and it is huge, covering approximately 70 acres.   It has other campuses all over the country, and also makes its tuition available on-line for those who are working or are unable to afford any fees at all.   Education is very important in this country, and attending school is mandatory, otherwise the parents of the children go to gaol!   The first 10 years of a child's education are mandatory and free, and attending university costs $1,000 per semester.   They graduate a lot of doctors and medical technicians, dentists,  pharmacists, and lawyers, to the point of saturation, so it is difficult to find a job.   There is one lawyer per 100 people in this country!

Tourism is the main industry now, and they are protecting their coastline from those who would develop it.   The Chinese have been trying to get permission to drill off-shore for oil and build a refinery but CR is not going for that.   Agriculture constitutes 23% of the economy, followed by industry at about 17%.

The National Museum, which we visited, used to be the HQ of the Costa Rican army, until it was disbanded in 1949, after their Civil War in 1948.   The Communist Party was abolished at the same time.   At this time they re-wrote their constitution for the Second Republic of Costa Rica, including many other social reforms as well as the abolition of the army.

The usual work-day here is 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, and there is a mandatory ceiling to the number of hours a person can work.   The law permits a person to work only up to 12 hours per day, because the state looks out for a person's health and well-being and does not exploit its people.

Coffee is the main export here, and it is very good.   I have not had a bad cup of coffee since I arrived (apart from that weak and watery cappuccino at the beach last weekend!)   The splendid Teatro Nacional was originally built as a comfortable and civilized meeting place for the coffee growers to congregate.  Most of the funds for its construction came from a tax that was placed on each sack of coffee that was sold to Europe.    It was finished in 1897, and is modeled after the opera-houses of Europe, so lots of gilt, mirrors, Italian marbles, and magnificent examples of local hardwoods.   Several years ago there was a severe earthquake in San José, which did huge damage to it, but it has been lovingly restored.   The local people are very proud of it as part of their heritage and a symbol of their culture and standing in the world.

 Apologies for its being out of focus.   I had to be really quick!   There was a rehearsal going on for an up-coming performance of modern dance.   When the theatre was built, they forgot to build an orchestra pit!   They have solved the problem through a system of hoists and pulleys that extends the stage out over the front rows of seats.   This auditorium is also used for big state gatherings, at which time ALL the seats are covered by a temporary floor.

This is the main reception room in the theatre.

We next went to the Gold Museum, situated beneath the Plaza de las Palomas, just across from the Teatro Nacional. This is a small museum that gives the history of pre-historic Costa Rica, and shows the development of the local tribes,exhibiting many of their tools which have been excavated, and many gold figurines depicting animals, shamans and vegetation.   As of to-day, only 1% of the population consists of indigenous peoples.

This is the main entrance to the museum, and we descended several stories  to the museum itself.

At the end of the trip we were inevitably taken to an "art gallery", euphemism for "shop", and showed various replicas of the gold figurines from the Gold Museum, and several pieces of jewelry.   There are no precious stones mined here though, or even silver, but they have gold!   Also on offer at this shop was coffee, and the national liquor GAURO.   It tasted like a cross between vodka and tequila, and it tasted pretty good in my coffee!   No doubt offered to us in the hope that it would soften us so we would make a purchase!   I escaped unscathed though!

Well, by this point we had had our way with the Guaro, and as you can see, we were pretty merry.   I was with two Ecuadorians and a Cuban from the tour, and they were extremely jolly even without the booster.

I'm going to end this chapter here and just write up a short account of last week in a separate posting.

As we say here in Costa Rica PURA VIDA   "Pure Life".   This is used to greet people, to say goodbye to people, and to use as a throw-away phrase if someone is pestering you!   People think you are Costa Rican if you say it.   I used it to-day to a man who was paying me rather too much attention at the market, and we all had a good laugh after I said it!

An extra tid-bit of information:  Costa Ricans are known as "Ticos", and the locals call their country "Tiquisia".   The people here use "tico" as the suffix to a word to make something small, instead of "ito"as in "un perro chiquetico", meaning "a little dog".   The way they use it and say it is very simpatico.