The quite gift exchange

Its really interesting here because between the meals that I get and the general lack of entertainment in the village I have no reason to spend any money outside of my bi-monthly payments to my host family.

Another awesome piece of news is that I have also located a suitable home for when my 6 month host stay is up.  finally I will have my freedom, privacy, and dominion over MY OWN KITCHEN!!!!  The plus side is that it is right on the main road, so I will actually have more access to the people that i need to get in touch with the most.  Where as now I am good romp through puddles and coffee plants to get to where I am.
I guess if now I am in the rhythm of spilling the beens, yesterday I went to my counterpart's house to what I thought was going to be a small gift exchange that they do every year.  A couple of hours passed with no one showing up but then all of a sudden a caravan of cars and pickups came to deliver toys and clothing to the children and villagers.  It was organized through a church in San Jose that comes every year (how they didn't know where to go is beyond me).  Anyway, I clearly stuck out among the masses of indigenous people in the village that come to receive clothing and the few ticos that were organizing the operation.  So bit by bit I start to introduce myself to them.  A few could vaguely recall the name Peace Corps, so over the course of the couple hours that it took to figure out the logistics of organizing the distribution of stuff I have ample time to explain the organization and what I would be doing here.  More then once I was asked the same question of "so how long are you going to be here" (probably expecting something on the order of a regular tourist).  "Two years".  That pricked their ears up!  Once we have decided that this whole operation would be most better suited to be go on in the local school, I had sufficiently informed a number of people enough that the words John Foss, Peace Corps, Economic Development Facilitator, and 2 years in Grano de Oro began to snowball around the church group.  They had graciously come prepared with lots of food to feed the crowds, but it still needed to be prepared.  Being someone who is now very good at feeding large crowds of people in pinch and under pressure, I instinctively offered to help.  I jumped right in cutting what looked like an eight foot coil of sausage meat (salchichon).  The whole gender role thing is so funny some times, because it totally caught the middle aged lady who was preparing cups of soda by surprise that a man (to her a giant gringo no less) would make such an offer to help with the food.  After everything was cut and hot food started to come in from the grill (which was actually a tire rim with rebar pipes
wielded onto the sides with a metal grate hinged to the top... I thought it was a rather clever recycling idea), we started serving plates to people.  They don't smile that often, but indigenous children have to be one of the most adorable human beings on the planet when you gift them something.  Every tooth in their mouth has a good 2 millimeters of clearance between the next, their hair is this shimmering jet black, and their eyes look like one giant pupil.  I can't exactly say the same about the adults who seem to be well accustomed to receiving hand-outs.  In fact, I get the sense that they might be passed the point of gratitude and more or less expect things to given to them for free.  This is a topic to explore later. At one point the grill needed a relight, which caused a real cramp in our supply chain.  I wish that I had my voyageur hat at the time because I shooed away the 5 people that were ineffectively adding more and more charcoal and wondering why it didn't just burst into flame, redistributed the coals so their was some air holes, and gave a couple strong blows into the ambers at the bottom to rekindle of the flames. 20 seconds later and the grill was roaring again with the help of fat drips from the salchichon.  I went back to helping serve food, but caught out of the corner of my eye the silent nods of approval from the previous fire tenders.
Everything ended rather abruptly as the last few Grano de Oro residents got some food and a last spokes person made a last prayer of thanks.  I made a couple contacts among them from people who were excited to share their stories of when they traveled to the states. Its interesting because those who had that opportunity are among the better off socio-economically in the group.  I am not sure what good will come out of knowing them, but a growing friend base in country is inevitably valuable, and through them I sure to meet some influential people.
When I got home, i learned that I had missed a visitor that had come looking for me.  Apparently their is a college students in town that learned that I was here and wants a diagnostic on her English.  I have
yet to meet her, but am sure that I can give her a few pointers.  This could turn into another interesting contact because I learned that she is going back to Turrialba to start classes again in 3 months and I
dearly want to make connection with the University of Costa Rica.  If they have a business school on the Turrialba campus that would be even better!

December 30, 2010