Friday was a day of wind and clouds and “pelo de gato” (or a fine mist, like “the hair of the cat”) all day. For breakfast my family -- Cristina and Geovanny (parents) and Daniel (13) and Miguelito (3) and Bolin (the tiny chihuahua puppy) -- had coffee, homemade granola, milk from the farm, homemade bread, and homemade jam of pineapple, papaya and raisins.
Danny headed off on his motorcyle up “la trocha.” This is the steep mountain pass between here, San Luis, and Monteverde and Santa Elena (the tourist area and the location of his private school). And I walked down the dirt road from our house to the main road where I got my own ride up the mountain.
While I am here I am volunteering at CASEM, a local women’s art cooperative, in the mornings (when I have a ride). While I enjoy that time and am inspired by their work, what I really love is living with my family in San Luis.
In one week I have become part of a rich rural network of conversation, cooperation, cooking and celebration! Geovanny is one of eleven children, and Cristina is one of fifteen. The valley and small farms of San Luis and the cloud forested mountains around hold the lives of their familes and friends.
On Saturday we began by shopping -- and greeting every other person, aunts, uncles, cousins, at every turn.
Then we headed down the rocky, dusty road to the family reunion of Cristina’s family -- a huge gathering of newborns to ninety year olds for food, football (soccer) and dancing that would last all day.
From there we went to the home of one of Cristina’s sisters for coffee, sweet bread and cream.
And from there to the meeting of the town assembly of San Luis where Geovanny serves on the junta or leadership team. After two hours of deliberation about how to proceed on road repairs, high school scholarships and safe water, we went to our next event.
And next? To the dinner at the University of Georgia extension site here that was planned to honor all the families who serve as hosts to students. We sat with two young women who had also lived with my family in weeks during the last three months.
And that was Saturday!
Today we began cooking at 6 am for a group of 25 that would visit the farm of Geovanny’s family. I won’t list all the dishes prepared, but it was the Costa Rican equivalent of a Thanksgiving dinner prepared by hand from scratch. We were ready about 1 pm.
Two dishes we prepared today are traditional for Holy Week, so I will tell you about them:
Picadillo de arracache y patatas is a dish made of a root (arrocache) and potatoes, finely chopped roast pork, a lot of garlic, cilantro and other spices. It is cooked very slowly over the wood stove until it is smooth and hot and “riquisima” (scrumptious). It is served in hot homemade corn tamales.
Mudo is a somewhat like a tamale: rich corn dough with garlic and cilantro rolled in banana leaves and steamed. Some are like a jelly roll with mashed beans inside. It is served in slices. Cristiana says that every house will serve this dish at coffee time (late in the afternoons) during Holy Week. We have some left over….Incredible!
The image for the week: living in the house at the end of the rainbow. During the misty days, the valley of San Luis was embraced from side to side with a rainbow that lasted for hours and hours. I could see it from la trocha blessing the valley of San Luis.
And sure enough, when I walked home after my work at CASEM on Friday, the rainbow was right over MY house, MY kitchen, MY family. Yes, another week of mi casa es su casa. While Cristina said she could surely use a pot of gold to educate her children, help pay for safe roads and clean water, there are surely many other treasures here.
It is indeed una olla de oro (a pot of gold) in this wonderful sabbatical of language and culture in Costa Rica!
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