Dancing in the Rain

My parents were in town again this past weekend after a 4 day tour in La Fortuna, like I've already said I think. They were able to spend Friday in my town Barva where there is a "Feria de las Mascaradas" = Mask Fair. I don't know if I've already said or not, but Barva is famous for its fiberglass masks and one of my neighbors, Bombi, makes a lot of them. We listened to my brother's cimarrona (traditional music band) and then looked around at all of the masks.

We took a bus into Heredia to tour my university. But first, we made a pit stop in the Parque Central of Heredia (a little larger than Barva's) and then I had to make a trip to the bank. My mom came with me, and she was blown away by the cultural differences of something as simple as going to the bank. First of all, each person that entered the bank was wanded from head to toe, and not more than one person was let through the door at once which was locked after they passed through. Then, each person takes a number and sits down DMV style in a room full of chairs. When you're number is called, one person (and only one person) is allowed to come to the teller's window and do their banking business. Oh, and absolutely NO cell phones. Whoops :)

We met Aaron and Sam (stepdad and brother) at McDonald's on Calle de Colesterol (Cholesterol Avenue) and had a nice, all-American lunch. Then we headed to my university down the road and did a quick tour (it was hot) to see where I go to school! Yay! Then we headed back to my house, watched some of the NCAA basketball tourney, and then were treated to a delicious dinner, compliments of my host mom. She made spinach lasagna, my favorite dish of hers. Aaron went to San Jose with my host dad to buy some cigars, and then I took the fam to La Casona so they could see my second house and meet some of the staff. Unfortunately, it was a little early for there to be any of the night-time regulars, so we had to bail without meeting them. Oh well. I stayed the night with them in the hotel again, in the amazingly comfortable beds, and then took them to the airport to say our goodbyes.

Meg's dreads! I forgot about this story! Nela is determined to comb out all of Meg's dreads so she can have really hair. Problem: 29 dreads!!! And they're dreads! I've never heard of anyone taking out their dreads in any other way but cutting them out, which is what Meg wants to do. But I guess she has nothing to lose... we'll see how that goes.

So, last night, I had a "date" which wasn't really a date, but more of a meeting that was supposed to go down. It didn't, so I texted Quailman (the guy's nickname) and asked him where he was. He called me back and said that it was his birthday and that he was having a party at his house and that I, and my friends, should come over. So Raquel, Meg, and I took a taxi over there and met some of his friends. Quailman was no where to be found... and his friends were too drunk or stoned to tell us where he was. He eventually came out of the house, with a giant cup of beer a-sloshing around. I had a great time, considering the person who invited me ignored me the entire time. His friends might have been too high to talk, but they were really entertaining. Meg took a liking to one named Joaquin who had been robbed and cut the week before. Another one, Victor I think, came back to Casona with the four of us (Joaquin joined the three of us girls also), and it turns out that Jaime knew him from way-back-when. Jaime was really really worried about me when I left, and he gave me a very big-brotherly talk when I got back. He basically said that even though I have been living in Barva for 2 months, I still don't know the inner workings of the town and that even though everyone is super chill and peaceful, when guys are drinking etc they don't really have a lot of self-control. He made sure I was ok, and wouldn't stop asking until I convinced him that a) I was ok and b) I hadn't done any drugs. Which I DIDN'T!!! Duh!

Now, I just got home from watching a "pique" aka a competition between cimarronas. It was pretty fun, and I got some great photos of the groups. I think Jaime's band was by far the most entertaining out of the four. But then it started raining, so I went back home, and here I am! I went outside in our backyard and danced for a while. I've realized that I really miss precipitation! I can't wait for the rainy season to come.