I final any felt up to par and ready to rage! I worked hard yesterday and it felt great. I even think it’s a bit strange how much I like physical labor. I think it’s because I like to use my body to its fullest, as well I am always pushing my boundaries to see what I can handle. Turns out I can handle about four straight hours of shoveling and pay for it in the fullest the next day.
When we dispersed in the morning I could help up jump into a laborious task even when other recommended I rest another day. I had a surplus of energy and laughter to extrude. There where two other ladies that started out shoveling with myself and the usual Tico hired hands and strapping young gents who have been working on the construction project for some time. We lost the girls about two hours in but gained the female counter part of our farm “Frenchie” couple, she can shovel! We automatically teamed up filling a wheel barrel but girls will be girls and we let one of the boys empty the wheel barrel. I realized that this was the third bathroom/dorm project that I have worked out in my life, what a funny structure to have recurring in my life. It’s wonderfull the new level of respect you gain for the people when you work side by side with them. The “Yan-imal,” Rojo, Randal, Javier and the Frenchies are forever in my books as determined, hardworking and fun individuals. The Ticos (local Costa Rican men) especially blow my mind. Like the stone chiseled fijian’s from Niwasomo, the Ticos in Mastatal are built for endurance labor. I watched Randal swing a pick axe with such ease and finess my jaw dropped and Javier could be crowned the champion for the wheel barrel sprint. I wasn’t disappointed to when the lunch bell rang.
The rest of yesterday afternoon was icing on the cake for my Costa Rica trip. Juan Louis, the chocolate man, came at lunch and I stalked up! Lunch was fried rice, guacamole, and beats! Jesse and I cruised to a new waterfall and talked about men’s interactions with women in Mastatal and in the states. Yet another compare and contrast conversation. The presence of foreign women in the pueblo of Mastatal is a relatively new thing. It seems that the single men of are becoming accustom to the constant swing of new women into the area and do get to continually peruse new endeavors. In my experience/understanding boundaries are a bit blurred, men young and old are very forward about how they feel about how you look and how they think that you should stay for longer in Costa Rica; I quite literally haven’t had a conversation with a local that hasn’t involved the words “you have such beautiful eyes” and “you are so very tal.” Now that I’m writing this it sounds vain (what girls doesn’t wasn’t to hear that they have beautiful eyes)but I think there is a difference in receiving a complement and getting hit on my every male that sits on a park bench next to you because you are white with light hair and light eyes. With that it’s very interesting to see that every advertisement, every one, features fair skinned individuals. Like in the states where extremely thin, toned, white toothed, nicely tanned, and tall women are the projected image of a woman, white women are the projected image of beautiful in Costa Rica. This projection and conditioning makes walking around town for me a bit tricky. In the states it’s common for men and women to hold a friendship and be able to hang out without the pressures of something more than a friendship. It doesn’t seem that men can hold a mutual relationship with a single woman here(this is a generalization based on pueblo life and recent life experiences). On the flip side, when traveling to a foreign country people seem so much more attractive to me, from their style to their mannerisms, because they are different from my own. These differences insight in me a curiosity making everything and everyone that much more beautiful. So there is some compassion to show for the slightly aggressive and forward locals.
We arrived at the falls and had a hay day hehehe there was a deep pool and a Tarzan vine to swing on. I wished the cloths I was wearing in the river as well as my body; after all morning of shoveling it looked like I had gone and gotten an all’natural spray tan. On our way back we managed to pick three coconuts, devoured two ourselves and shared the third. It gets better, Kat, a spunky lady from OZ was leading an Acro yoga session! I got to play and teach along side her. It was great fun to see all the boys so enthusiastic about yoga, more so that the ladies in the group. After Acro I thought all the arm balances I know and everyone did surprisingly well! We finished with a meditation on community (admittedly not my best work but room for improvement is never a bad thing). The most beautiful thing happened to close meditation, we Omed out in waves. The resonance, reverberation and all around Irey vibes generated from the twelve some people that we where was so connecting. After I felt a bit weird because people where so into it and wondering why I hadn’t been teaching earlier. The answer sadly comes from a place of insecurity. Time to share Whit, wake up call!
Wait the evening gets even better, I’m on cook crew with Kat and Rojo (Rojo is the farms Canadian red head who’s really called Deven, but the nick name has stuck). Kat helped me make plantain hash which turned out great considering how ripe the plantains where. Javier took a machete to the remains of Peppe the pig, it was quite a site. Clarification the pig had been slaughtered earlier in the year and parts have been stored in the freezer. Pressure cooked organically raised Peppe was quite delicious. The Frenchies made creeps and Kat made a fresh harvested orange zest sauce with sugar cane juice concentrate, yummmmmm!
The day closed with a bonfire, a special treat for farewells. I wish I wasn’t so distressed about “see you laters.” There was, is, so much I want to say to some people but the words just didn’t come. In English or in Spanish. Ug. I collected most everyone’s contact information, made plans for a reunion in BC this August, and got a small group motivated for Burning man! Great success
The Limber Lotus 