Semana Santa 2010

Susan, Nano and me



During Semana Santa, the Holy Week leading up to Easter, ticos take off work and head to the beach. This is a good time for gringos to stay put in the Central Valley and enjoy driving around without traffic jams.

The holiest days (and thus least worked) are Thursday and Friday. On Thursday Indio (my beau of two months) and I started out at 9am for a day at the beach. I was driving and planned to take the new toll-road highway. As soon as we got on the highway in Santa Ana, the backup started. Uh oh. I got off quickly and aimed for Plan B, the old highway going through San Jose and the mountain area of San Ramon. That was also a non-starter, as we were waved off the highway at an early exit. I thought there had been an accident, but it I learned later that the road was plugged up with motorists.

Plan C came to me in a flash. We wanted to go somewhere cooler than where we were. It is summer here, and the dog days in the sun are draining. I headed southeast from the capitol, where the weather comes in from the Caribbean side and tends to be cooler.

We drove through Cartago and into Paraiso (Paradise). I knew of a beautiful, free park there, El Mirador (the view), and that's where I pulled in. We spent a lovely day under a big shade tree, picnicking and napping. There was a small group of men piloting RC (remote control) planes, which was fascinating to watch.

Friday's plan to accompany Dolores to the tattoo artist fell through as the artist realized at the last moment that it was Good Friday. His cancellation made for a relaxing catch-up day for me.

On Saturday, Susan and I headed out past Cartago and Paraiso to Orosi to visit a friend of hers, Nano. Orosi is a lovely little town in a beautiful valley. We parked the car at the bottom of a mountain, and hiked up a very steep incline for 45 minutes. I am still sore three days later. Nano is a mountain man who subsists on growing coffee beans, giving tours of a waterfall, and with the help of visitors who come from all over the world and bring him things. We brought him rice, juice, bandaids, and a few other things.

We spent several hours visiting with Nano, who is a jokester and gracious host, and three other ticos who were visiting him. Susan had brought a pasta salad and we dined well, al fresco.

On Sunday I went to a pool party. There are four of us (Corinne, Marilyn, Lisa and I) who pal around together (it's our scrapbooking group, although interest in this hobby seems to be waning), we converged at Marilyn's, along with another woman from our Thursday lunch group, and their spouses. We played in the kiddie pool and ate a delicious pasta meal that Avram (Marilyn's husband) prepared. My peppermint patty brownies were a hit, too.

The last hurrah was going to the Cariari Country Club as Corinne's guest. Lisa, Corinne and I swam in the olympic-sized pool. Well, Corinne did a lot of laps; Lisa did some, and I went up and back a couple of times then pooped out. Corinne, who is married to an east Indian, helped Lisa plan her October trip to India, while I read People magazine, smug in my already-set plans for Spain next month.

I got to spend time with a lot of my favorite people, and I also had enough down time to make me happy.

Indian Cooking Class

Oooh weee! Can Corinne cook!

Corinne is part of my Thursday lunch group, the Bruhos. Usually we have lunch at Robin's Kitchen in Escazu, but once in a while we branch out and do something different for lunch.

Last Thursday we went to Corinne's for lunch and instruction on making her yummy Indian food. Corinne is married to an Indian from India and has learned over the years to make great dishes.

She cooked ahead of time so that while we were eating, she demonstrated how to make the different items. Corinne brings her show on the road, too, and recently did an Indian cooking demonstration for many people.

Corinne is the friend who has a karaoke machine, so after dessert, we all took turns sounding our very worst to American songs. I never thought I would sing karaoke, but with this forgiving group, it's a lot of fun to belt out songs with gusto.


Corinne sets a beautiful table

Indian Food and Karaoke

Most Thursdays I have lunch with a great group of expats at Robin's Kitchen, where Robin serves up a variety of lunch specials and the best desserts in Costa Rica. Until yesterday my favorite was mocha pie, but that rich and creamy delight has been bested by the tart and sweet key lime pie. Maybe next week I'll pick another favorite, like the orange cake.

I joined this group of brujas (female witches, affectionately named after the mascot of the city where we have lunch, Escazu) in February of this year. We talk about anything and everything, and it has been a lot of fun getting to know each woman.

One of the things I like best about this group is that we celebrate birthdays. In April I received many gifts, and for a single person without much family and certainly none in this foreign country, it is a blessing and a comfort to be shown such love and friendship on my special day.

Yesterday we celebrated Carina's 40th birthday. Carina is from Sweden and is a very good golfer (she broke 80, whatever that means). But instead of going to the restaurant, Corinne invited us to her house way up the mountain of San Antonio de Escazu. Finding Corinne's house was a trip, because we did not have clear directions and no one's cell phone had a good signal. But we finally found the house with all windows overlooking the Central Valley.

This is a wine-drinking group, so we started with reds and whites with our appetizers. Corinne, a Philippino, is married to an Indian and has learned to cook delicious Indian food. I also love that we are somewhat of an ethnically diverse group. Corinne prepared all the food with love and attention to detail. We ate on the semi-enclosed balcony and thoroughly enjoyed each other's company. Jane brought her little angel, Alexis, who will turn one year old on Lisa's birthday in July. Alexis munched on Cheerios while we enjoyed chicken, rice and eggplant dishes and flatbread. I wish I could remember the names of everything.

While Robin wasn't there with us, two of her desserts were. The key lime pie and a chocolate cake. Corinne added a carrot pudding that was also very good. Of course, we sang happy birthday to Carina, and she opened our gifts.

Then we piled into the living room and turned on the karaoke. Oooooweeee! Did we have fun! We have two professional singers in our group, Barbara and Sally, the former and the current lead singers from Harmony Roads, a rock n roll, country, blues band (see my story, La Lunada). And the rest of us did the best we could. I had never sung karaoke before, and was a little hesitant to try, but I felt supported by the group, and after the first song, no one could shut me up. It's like singing hymns in church: it doesn't matter if you can carry a tune or not when you sing with passion and zeal.

Our lunches usually last 2 to 2.5 hours, but we stayed at Corinne's 4 hours. And then she sent us home with doggy bags of her yummy Indian food.


Barbara belting out a song with Alexis on her lap