Today, the sun came out

It's been raining here for days... ALL the days!  Every damned one of them.  Except for today.  And like... most of a day last week.  Today, the sun came out.. and pretty much STAYED out.  And while the dark gray clouds did loom and did threaten, and did technically sprinkle for a few minutes... I'm going to go ahead and give it a pass.  Why?  Because this morning, we woke up to SUN!  And I didn't get rained on for the whole day.  Yay!!

So, it's been a little over 2 weeks since my last confession.  I'm still addicted to Tropical Te Frio, but I've managed to titrate the required dose down to something that will let me walk down the street during the day without people looking at me any funnier than they would any other gringo in my neighborhood.

Actually, considering that in my particular neighborhood, there's some sort of Mormon Missionary pavilion, I probably get more FAVORABLE stares than other gringos because I'm not wearing a backpack and a name tag.   Sigh.  If they only knew the inner me... they'd probably walk backwards across the street with their crosses in front of them, mouthing the rosary.

In other news though, it's been a really busy couple weeks.  And when I say busy, I mean busy starting the night we got here!  The first night we were here, we went to see a 1-man show by a guy named Hernan Jimenez.  This actually bears a bit of back-story, and I think it's a nice story, so I'll come back to that in a bit.

After that first night, and over these last couple weeks, I don't think we've had more than one day without seeing people!  During most days, I spend a few hours cleaning up the house, finding and sorting out long-hidden items into "keep, chuck or give-away" piles, and generally preparing the space for the arrival of our container (some day).  Jime, for her part, is busting her ass like mad trying to knock out her dissertation, or helping translate my documents for residency and such.

In the afternoons and evenings, we see friends, go to movies, have people over for game nights, visit bars and hang out for hours.  I've met so many wonderful new people!   We've also done some other chorey things like get me set up with a bank account, get her set up again with the Caja (that was today, and that was a lesson in patience and perseverance both). 

On Saturday mornings, we get up early and go to the feria (farmer's market) and stock up on fruits, vegetables, and fresh farmer's cheese for the week.   I am a happy man when cheese is a significant part of my life.   For whoever comes to visit us later, I am gonna LOVE taking you to the feria!  There's so much cool shit there!  So many different fruits that you've never seen before, and so many fruits and vegetables that you HAVE seen, but haven't seen what they can be when they're grown in the tropics!

Those aren't carrots:
http://www.terawarner.com/hhh/istockimages/carrots_bunches.jpg

THESE are carrots!
http://photosalex.shutterfly.com/208

Also at the feria, you can have fresh-squeezed (sugar) cane juice.   If that's not a pick-me-up, nothing is.  Also, you can get fresh "agua de pipa".  Basically, coconut water... water from young coconuts, before it turns to milk.  When you order agua de pipa, it's prepared for you with a machete.  Any time you can get a drink prepared with a machete, that's a drink worth having. 

This week too, I even found a connection for green coffee beans.  If you didn't know it before, one of the hobbies I picked up in Portland was roasting my own coffee beans.  I love it! 

At any rate, right as we were on our way out of the feria, we passed by a booth with 2 ladies selling coffee beans from a co-op in Tarrazu, one of my favorite places in the world for coffee.  Also... I've been there (not to this particular co-op, but that neighborhood at least).
http://photosalex.shutterfly.com/261

At any rate, I asked Jime if she would chat them up for me, and she did, and it looks like they're willing to sell me small quantities of green beans! That means I don't have to buy a whole 100 lb sack!  And... I don't even have to go all the way out to the farm to get them... since they're already regulars at the feria, all I have to do is call them up ahead of time, and they'll bring them right to the feria for me!  Not sure what the cost will be just yet, but even the roasted beans are cheaper here, so I'm imagining these will be just slightly more expensive than dirt (or... I'm hoping around half what I would otherwise pay for roasted beans).

And lastly, I started running yesterday.  Yes, I actually got off my ass, out of the house, and ran.  This was sort of a big deal for me, because not only do I not know the neighborhood, but I don't even know the whole SYSTEM of getting around here yet.  It's not like the streets are laid out in nice grids with conveniences like street names and god-forbid numbers.  No, these streets are random, almost hap-hazardly laid-out, frequently-dead-ended, often turning, and as far as I can tell from my lack of experience thus far, all exactly the same-looking.  I have no context for this place yet.  Translation... if I get lost 6 blocks from my house... I'm pretty well fucked.  I don't know which way is up here, yet.  So, stepping out and doing "a little run through my neighborhood" was actually somewhat terrifying. 

Fortunately, Jime was able to tell me a fairly easy route, with really huge land marks, and several different ways to find my way back if I somehow got lost.  Also, I had my phone, which has freaking GPS on it.  So... I really had no more excuse to not give it a try.  When all was said and done, I had no trouble at all!  And frankly, I think this may actually be a great way for me to learn my neighborhood. I'll just expand my circle a little bit each time.  Not only will I see more of the hood, but I'll also be extending my physical running range, bit by little bit.  So... I think that will work.

OK, so... back to Hernan Jimenez...

Hernan is a film-maker, and he's a Tico, and he does something unique and amazing, which is to tell stories about Costa Rica, and Tico culture and customs, using Tico slang and language, and set in Costa Rican locations.  What makes that unique is that almost NOBODY does that.  It's virtually unheard of.  And this guy not only does it, but he does it with OUTSTANDING success, amazing humor, gut-wrenching drama, and even some self-criticism.  He both celebrates and criticizes all the little quirks and curiosities that he's noticed about his own culture.  He's like a Costa Rican Seinfeld, in a way... only he's actually funny, and has a talent for writing and telling dramatic, compelling narrative.

Jimena saw his first movie, "A Ojos Cerrados", and loved it (aside from some bits that hit a bit too close to home, but that's not my story to tell).

So later on, we get forwarded a link to a Kickstarter project for a new movie he was making, called "El Regreso" (The Return).  We didn't realize at first that this was the same guy, but Hernan himself appeared in a little video clip about the project, and was so charming and compelling, that we were sold right off.  When we realized what his previous film was, that just cemented the deal, and we donated $20 to the project to earn ourselves a DVD and a credit at the end of the film (as "Associate Co-Producers" or some such thing).   This film, in another weird, too close to home way, was about a Tico who had spent something like 8 or 9 years living in the US, and was finally going back home (the similarity ends there, but that's a pretty big match with Jime to start off with!).  Suffice to say, the premise sounded interesting, the preview seemed awesome, and the guy already had a pretty good reputation to start with.  We were pretty jazzed about the film.  And it seems we were not alone; he apparently blasted past even his stretch goal for fund-raising to finish the film.

Here's his IMDB page, if you're interested:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2076099/

Jump forward several months into the future... we have our move date set, our packing is going well, but all-consuming, and we still live in that fairy-tale world where our container was GOING to show up on Saturday.  We find out from a friend that Hernan is doing some sort of a talk in Costa Rica (after he had been living in San Francisco for years), and wonder of all wonders, it seems his last show will be the night we're due to arrive!  We beg and plead, and our friend gets us tickets (thanks Hector!).  I figure it's going to be him just talking about the film, but who cares... it's the guy!  And we like him!  We're there, dude.

Flash forward again, we've survived the container Snafu, we've had wonderful times with friends followed by gut-wrenching goodbyes, followed by nearly 24 hours of travel time with 2 cats.  But we made it here, and we had our awesome welcome, and within 6 hours of making it home, it was time to go out! 

Turns out, the show was not just Hernan talking about his movie.  It was nothing like it.  Turns out, it was actually a 1-man play, written, directed and performed by Hernan.  He does a pile of different characters, from silly to cheeky, to tearful, to hopeful, to just himself.  I understood about half of it (with it being Spanish and all), but the primary gist of it was... if you're going to tell a story... make it accessible!  Do it in the language and the culture and the customs of the people you're telling the story TO.  Don't put on airs and try to perform the whole thing with "Announcer voice".   Tell the story like it was your buddy talking.  The whole series of little vignettes he did was all about illustrating this point, but along the way, he also ran the gamut of emotional expression and also really demonstrated that he has some SERIOUS acting chops!  You couldn't help but love the dude.

After the show, we all decided that the only thing to do to follow that up was of course... dim sum.  I don't know how they knew... but it turns out that was correct.  And apparently, the place we went was THE place to go.  How do I know that?  Because while we were there, Hernan himself came by.  And we got to meet him, and shake his hand.  I don't know if that was an accident or a setup.  Honestly, in this country, it could go either way.  But either way, the dude is a rock star, but imminently approachable and friendly, and I'm comfortable stating that Jime and I are fans for life.