Rodeos and dance competetion
So I spent Jan. in Costa Rica, summer camp with the kids for the first four weeks! What a time. It was really a lot of fun, and I was so glad that my environmental day went well! We made recycled paper and I think the kids enjoyed it... which is the most important. Then the last weekend in Jan, and the first week in Feb I actually had some freetime in Samara.
Okay, so I bet your thinking... dont you always have free time, well the answer is no. Other then weekends, since I arrived in Samara on Nov. 12th, I had been working each week with CREAR. SO honestly the first week in Feb. was my first vacation time in vacation town. It was amazing to sleep in, but only of a few days... I continued to hunt mariscos, attemp to surf and just plan relax. I hung my hammock up here the beach one day, brained stormed about CREAR and just enjoyed my time in Samara. Oh did I mention the fiestas!?
Okay! As I have mentioned, Jan and Feb in Guanacaste are big months for fiestas, and when I say fiestas I also mean RODEOS! Every weekend there is a fiesta in Guanacaste, and almost every weekend there is a fiesta close to Samara. The first one I went to was about the 15th of Jan. It was in Santa Cruz (one of the bigger rodeos). First Jorge and I went to Nicoya, its along the way, plus he is from there so we had place to drop off our stuff. Then it was time to watch the toros via tele. When the rodeos are really big there are just sooo many people and it often costs, so its better to watch it on tv. Around 10pm we took the bus to Santa Cruz with several other friends, and there the party began.
Now I missed out on the fiestas in Samara, and the fiesta in Curime was really small, so I was completely shocked by the amount of people at the fiesta in Santa Cruz. I dont know why, but I was prepared for like a 4H county fair kinda party, but boy was I wrong. First of all there are hundreds, possibly thousands of people there. Second, they´re mostly all young! Surprise. Third there are discotecs in the fair ground. Thats right, Imperial (one of the two CR beers) set up a tec in the fair ground, there music was blaring, and tons of people out side. A plus, they sell cold beer on both sides of the entrance, so you dont have to pay to get in to hear the same music and to get quick excess to the bar... I could only imagine what it was like inside there... But that wasnt the only one, about 75mts away anyother CLUB was set up. But this one was more open air, and they had a dance floor without walls. SO depending on what music you want to hear, you could just go closer to one event or the other... But still Im shocked there was so many people. We stay at the fiesta until about 4am, then take the bus back to Nicoya, about an hour ride... we get to Nicoya in time to pick up some fresh pan para la casa y una hamburgesa de la calle! QUE RICA ERA!
The next fiesta is Nosara. This time we didnt want to pay for a bus, so its a saturday, and we plan to ride into town early and grab a ride. We wait and wait, and finally I see Andrea in a BUSETA! (a mini bus) And just our luck... theres ROOM! SO we hope in. Its Driver, Dre, two sisters, a friend and Jorge and I. Excellente. First stop, a friends bar along the way. We get a beer and all head out to the beach to watch the sun set... its a perfect sunset in playa guilones... the playa de Nosara. Around 7-8 we arrive at the Nosara rodeo. This rodeo charges to get in, and I debate if I wanna pay. I only had about 12$ and I knew we would be there for a while, and I still wanted some beer and maybe a bit to eat... But as I was debating, Jorge told me to pay to get in, and he would sneak in... So I get my beer and my ticket and start to look for some campo. The thing about these rodeos is that you have to find room to sit on the fence, and if there isnt much room you gotta ask for it. So I see a little bit of room and I begin to climb the fence. I look at the chubby girl to my left and ask if I can sit there. I spoke perfect spanish, but she didnt say anything. I just needed her to move over a little bit, and she has plently of space to scoot over, but she didnt. SO I squeeze into the spot and Im not too comfortable. Minutes later I see that Jorge and a friend had managed to sneak in too, so thats when the fun begins.
Im not too interested in the TOROS but is fun to watch the guys ride them, and the other people run around like crazys trying to avoid the toros and at the same time provoke them... its intense. SO Im trying to get comfortable meanwhile watching the chicos from Samara run around and play with the bulls. Then there is a pause... I dont see a toro in the ring.. then Jorge waves for me to enter the ring... I am a little reluctant. I really dont want to be down there when a bull comes out, but I figure... IF one does enter, thats the opposite side of the ring, so I could just climb back up the fence. So I enter.
As soon as I get down, Jorge asks if I wanna dance. Of Course I say yes, I love dancing... but Jorge tries to get me to dance with a friend of his, but he is too shy... Then the next thing I know, this guy I have never seen in my life is looking for a partner and he see me, grabs my hand and we begin to dance. Oh shit! Im in a dancing competition. We are in the middle of a circle in the middle of the rodeo ring. I see everybody from Samara-they are dying laughing, Im dumb founded, but the music is playing so I know I just gotta dance. At this moment everything is kinda a burl. Im dancing Cumbia and being spun a lot. I see tons of people around us and a couple of other couples. I just think dance dance dance... and we do! Okay, the first song is over. And the judge asks the audience to vote. We are couple numero 2! So when it was our time for the judging I put my hands up like Richard NIXON and wave my peace sign! Numero 2! Numero 2! And the CROWD LOVES US! We blow group one out of the water! Now I dont know if its really of our dancing, or for our characters... let me refresh you..
Im a tan, short haired gringa. My dancing partner is a short, tico with a leather cowboy hat and Im 95% positive he wasnt the brightest crayon in the box... if you know what I mean. Also he was clearly a local from the area so he had fans.
As I was saying the crowd judges and we are in the next round. This time my unknown dancing partner is not holding anything back! We are spinning (oh yeah, any other cumbia), we are dancing and then Dancer man lies on the ground. I mean in one sec he is on the ground resting his head on this hand- totally casual like and then in another instance he is back up dancing with me! HILARIOUS! It was completely unexpected and awesome! Then the next time he does it I just whip out some of my mexican dancing moves and I kick my legs back (like trying to kick my butt) and I spin around and around! We are dancing fools! Finally the song is over and Im beat! WOAH! Lets see how the vote goes! This time we are couple Numero 1! WOOT WOO! And OBVIOUSLY... WE WIN! Oh My GOD! Im laughing so hard, this was that last thing I expected. The competition, the dancing, my partner, the audience, and rodeo, my friend watching... Oh I hope someone took photos... but wait... what did we win....
As it turns out my dancing partner is named Jose. And we won a bike. I got a mini interview by the announcer, and afterwards we need to head over to the announcers booth to claim our prize... But what are Jose and I going to do with a Mountain Bike. He lives there, and I live in Samara. And quite honestly I felt that we won because of him, so I was thinking in the back of my mind that he could keep the bike, but he says to me... "vamos a hacer lo justo.. vamos a compartir el dinero "half and half"!" He said half and half! I love it! Sure, okay... we are not going to take the bike, we are going to take the money. Okay.. we head to the announcers booth and I can just feel people looking at us. We climb up there,watch the last toro and each get 40mil! Thats 80$! Jesus, and I almost didnt want to pay to get in...
The rest of the night Im the QUEEN of the RODEO... But seriously, Jose wont let me leave his side! We do several vueltas de la fiesta and people are asking to take our photo and talking to us about what we are too etc etc. Jose buys me some beers and with my winnings I buy my friends a couple of rounds! Jose even buys me a T-Shirt from the Rodeo! But then it got kinda awkward because he didnt let me leave his side... but at the same time I felt like the money I won could have been his.. or his bike.. but anyway! WHAT A PARTY! We finally get back to Samara around 5am...
The morning was a bit hazy, but I heard from several people we were the talk of the town, even the next day. Some friends of mine were surfing in Guiones and they heard some older gentleman talking about the Gringa Alta bailando con el Tico Bajo! Hahah! Even at another fiesta a week later some vendors asked me about my bike! Im famous now!... Oh and the icing on the cake... Joses apodo (nickname) is Tuto Zanahoria! QUE RISA! Que fiesta mas fiestona de mi vida te lo juro!
Next... can I talk about Peru already?!
Okay, so I bet your thinking... dont you always have free time, well the answer is no. Other then weekends, since I arrived in Samara on Nov. 12th, I had been working each week with CREAR. SO honestly the first week in Feb. was my first vacation time in vacation town. It was amazing to sleep in, but only of a few days... I continued to hunt mariscos, attemp to surf and just plan relax. I hung my hammock up here the beach one day, brained stormed about CREAR and just enjoyed my time in Samara. Oh did I mention the fiestas!?
Okay! As I have mentioned, Jan and Feb in Guanacaste are big months for fiestas, and when I say fiestas I also mean RODEOS! Every weekend there is a fiesta in Guanacaste, and almost every weekend there is a fiesta close to Samara. The first one I went to was about the 15th of Jan. It was in Santa Cruz (one of the bigger rodeos). First Jorge and I went to Nicoya, its along the way, plus he is from there so we had place to drop off our stuff. Then it was time to watch the toros via tele. When the rodeos are really big there are just sooo many people and it often costs, so its better to watch it on tv. Around 10pm we took the bus to Santa Cruz with several other friends, and there the party began.
Now I missed out on the fiestas in Samara, and the fiesta in Curime was really small, so I was completely shocked by the amount of people at the fiesta in Santa Cruz. I dont know why, but I was prepared for like a 4H county fair kinda party, but boy was I wrong. First of all there are hundreds, possibly thousands of people there. Second, they´re mostly all young! Surprise. Third there are discotecs in the fair ground. Thats right, Imperial (one of the two CR beers) set up a tec in the fair ground, there music was blaring, and tons of people out side. A plus, they sell cold beer on both sides of the entrance, so you dont have to pay to get in to hear the same music and to get quick excess to the bar... I could only imagine what it was like inside there... But that wasnt the only one, about 75mts away anyother CLUB was set up. But this one was more open air, and they had a dance floor without walls. SO depending on what music you want to hear, you could just go closer to one event or the other... But still Im shocked there was so many people. We stay at the fiesta until about 4am, then take the bus back to Nicoya, about an hour ride... we get to Nicoya in time to pick up some fresh pan para la casa y una hamburgesa de la calle! QUE RICA ERA!
The next fiesta is Nosara. This time we didnt want to pay for a bus, so its a saturday, and we plan to ride into town early and grab a ride. We wait and wait, and finally I see Andrea in a BUSETA! (a mini bus) And just our luck... theres ROOM! SO we hope in. Its Driver, Dre, two sisters, a friend and Jorge and I. Excellente. First stop, a friends bar along the way. We get a beer and all head out to the beach to watch the sun set... its a perfect sunset in playa guilones... the playa de Nosara. Around 7-8 we arrive at the Nosara rodeo. This rodeo charges to get in, and I debate if I wanna pay. I only had about 12$ and I knew we would be there for a while, and I still wanted some beer and maybe a bit to eat... But as I was debating, Jorge told me to pay to get in, and he would sneak in... So I get my beer and my ticket and start to look for some campo. The thing about these rodeos is that you have to find room to sit on the fence, and if there isnt much room you gotta ask for it. So I see a little bit of room and I begin to climb the fence. I look at the chubby girl to my left and ask if I can sit there. I spoke perfect spanish, but she didnt say anything. I just needed her to move over a little bit, and she has plently of space to scoot over, but she didnt. SO I squeeze into the spot and Im not too comfortable. Minutes later I see that Jorge and a friend had managed to sneak in too, so thats when the fun begins.
Im not too interested in the TOROS but is fun to watch the guys ride them, and the other people run around like crazys trying to avoid the toros and at the same time provoke them... its intense. SO Im trying to get comfortable meanwhile watching the chicos from Samara run around and play with the bulls. Then there is a pause... I dont see a toro in the ring.. then Jorge waves for me to enter the ring... I am a little reluctant. I really dont want to be down there when a bull comes out, but I figure... IF one does enter, thats the opposite side of the ring, so I could just climb back up the fence. So I enter.
As soon as I get down, Jorge asks if I wanna dance. Of Course I say yes, I love dancing... but Jorge tries to get me to dance with a friend of his, but he is too shy... Then the next thing I know, this guy I have never seen in my life is looking for a partner and he see me, grabs my hand and we begin to dance. Oh shit! Im in a dancing competition. We are in the middle of a circle in the middle of the rodeo ring. I see everybody from Samara-they are dying laughing, Im dumb founded, but the music is playing so I know I just gotta dance. At this moment everything is kinda a burl. Im dancing Cumbia and being spun a lot. I see tons of people around us and a couple of other couples. I just think dance dance dance... and we do! Okay, the first song is over. And the judge asks the audience to vote. We are couple numero 2! So when it was our time for the judging I put my hands up like Richard NIXON and wave my peace sign! Numero 2! Numero 2! And the CROWD LOVES US! We blow group one out of the water! Now I dont know if its really of our dancing, or for our characters... let me refresh you..
Im a tan, short haired gringa. My dancing partner is a short, tico with a leather cowboy hat and Im 95% positive he wasnt the brightest crayon in the box... if you know what I mean. Also he was clearly a local from the area so he had fans.
As I was saying the crowd judges and we are in the next round. This time my unknown dancing partner is not holding anything back! We are spinning (oh yeah, any other cumbia), we are dancing and then Dancer man lies on the ground. I mean in one sec he is on the ground resting his head on this hand- totally casual like and then in another instance he is back up dancing with me! HILARIOUS! It was completely unexpected and awesome! Then the next time he does it I just whip out some of my mexican dancing moves and I kick my legs back (like trying to kick my butt) and I spin around and around! We are dancing fools! Finally the song is over and Im beat! WOAH! Lets see how the vote goes! This time we are couple Numero 1! WOOT WOO! And OBVIOUSLY... WE WIN! Oh My GOD! Im laughing so hard, this was that last thing I expected. The competition, the dancing, my partner, the audience, and rodeo, my friend watching... Oh I hope someone took photos... but wait... what did we win....
As it turns out my dancing partner is named Jose. And we won a bike. I got a mini interview by the announcer, and afterwards we need to head over to the announcers booth to claim our prize... But what are Jose and I going to do with a Mountain Bike. He lives there, and I live in Samara. And quite honestly I felt that we won because of him, so I was thinking in the back of my mind that he could keep the bike, but he says to me... "vamos a hacer lo justo.. vamos a compartir el dinero "half and half"!" He said half and half! I love it! Sure, okay... we are not going to take the bike, we are going to take the money. Okay.. we head to the announcers booth and I can just feel people looking at us. We climb up there,watch the last toro and each get 40mil! Thats 80$! Jesus, and I almost didnt want to pay to get in...
The rest of the night Im the QUEEN of the RODEO... But seriously, Jose wont let me leave his side! We do several vueltas de la fiesta and people are asking to take our photo and talking to us about what we are too etc etc. Jose buys me some beers and with my winnings I buy my friends a couple of rounds! Jose even buys me a T-Shirt from the Rodeo! But then it got kinda awkward because he didnt let me leave his side... but at the same time I felt like the money I won could have been his.. or his bike.. but anyway! WHAT A PARTY! We finally get back to Samara around 5am...
The morning was a bit hazy, but I heard from several people we were the talk of the town, even the next day. Some friends of mine were surfing in Guiones and they heard some older gentleman talking about the Gringa Alta bailando con el Tico Bajo! Hahah! Even at another fiesta a week later some vendors asked me about my bike! Im famous now!... Oh and the icing on the cake... Joses apodo (nickname) is Tuto Zanahoria! QUE RISA! Que fiesta mas fiestona de mi vida te lo juro!
Next... can I talk about Peru already?!
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