Las Aves Locas

This morning we were awoken at 6.15 am by a loud banging sound that appeared to be coming from inside our home. This was particularly unusual, as we have been awake before 6 am every morning that we have been here so far…

After wondering what the noise was for a few seconds, we thought we ought to go investigate. So we got out of bed and put on our house shoes (having first shaken them out to remove any critters that may have made their home there in the night!) and cautiously went to investigate. Checked the upstairs – nothing. Checked downstairs – nothing. Yet still the banging went on. Loud. And in the house. At this point, we were somewhat what nervous and wondering what to do. We started back up the stairs and came eye to beady eye with the culprit. As he looked us in the eyes he made as if to try the window once again …

In the years that they lived in this house, our friends, Peter & Victoria, had never had an attempt at forced entry. And here we were, 5 days into our stay coming face to face with a BIRD trying to enter the house!! We think it was attracted to the rather beautiful stained glass window and was actually pecking at it because it thought it could get something tasty to eat. It flew off shortly afterwards, and all was silent again. Well, as silent as it ever is in Costa Rica.

Sunday is market day in San Rafael, the town closest to our home in Costa Rica. So, after we got over our rude awakening, we paid the feria a brief visit this morning to take a look. There were a lot of people out to get their fruit and veg for the week, and many of these people were trailing "granny trolleys" behind them so that they could wheel their purchases home. We only saw one that was of the traditional style that we are accustomed to - red tartan. Both the prices and quality seemed pretty good, so we plan to make this our weekly fruit and veg shop ourselves - although it is yet to be decided whether a granny trolley will be required. On this occasion we only bought a pineapple (piña), cost 300 colones (about 40p).

Please note: This the actual pineapple and not a stock photograph.

In the afternoon we went into Heredia to see a festival that was on in and around the main park in the centre of town (parque central). The festival consisted of various shows, dancing and singing, all performed by the students of Universidad Nacional (UNA). UNA has its main campus in Heredia city, and also has several other campuses around the country. Students from all campuses had come to take part. Here are some of the highlights of what we saw…

Baile Folclórico: Así es Nicoya, Campus Nicoya

We saw a very similar performance when we were here last time, in March this year, though we don’t know if they were the same people. Our understanding is that in this dance the men and women take it in turns to hurl insults at each other … we are not entirely sure why. However, there was always much appreciative whistling from the crowd after each one was thrown! (If anyone can translate the one in the video for us, we would be most appreciative).

This little group, from Campus Pérez Zeledón put on a section of the Christmas story for us. Somewhat of a challenge for our Spanish, and even more so for our ears during the parts where they sang carols. Angel Gabriel couldn’t sing for toffee, but he did put everything he had into it….

More traditional dancing, this time from the Liberia Campus. We were told they had been up since 3 am in order to get there to dance for us.

And finally, we simply couldn’t leave out the group UNÁnime. We probably shouldn’t say too much about this because some things are beyond explanation.