Mata de Caña, Costa Rica
Hurrah! This morning began with Lidieth and another fabulous breakfast. This time, french toast and fresh fruit. Yum. While we were eating, Lidieth said she heard about our hot tub issues, and thought she figured out the problem. Apparently, some numbskull had shut off all the breakers. (What?? The breakers were off?? Who could have done such a thing?) She said she flipped the breakers back on and now the tub was refilling. Cool, we’d finally get to use it tonight.
Bri and I finished breakfast and went horseback riding with Alex. We rode around for a couple hours (this time *I* rode Bonita and let Bri take the butt-bouncing Casper) and took a completely different trail than before. Once again, we heard monkeys in the trees but couldn’t actually see any. We did see lots of other animals – baby cows, horses, roosters, baby chicks, and even a toucan!
When we got back, I called Michelle because she invited us to go to the school to watch the women making tamales for tomorrow’s fiesta. I got her answering machine, and decided to change out of jeans into shorts. Bri had the same idea, so we headed to the bedroom. On the way, we passed Lidieth, who said she was almost ready to leave, if we didn’t need anything else. No, no, we said, we don’t need anything, feel free to cut out whenever. Bri washed his face, we threw on some shorts, and were discussing whether or not we should keep ringing Michelle until she answered or if we should just walk over, when I suddenly realized I was hearing a steady watery sound.
Thinking that Bri had not completely shut off the sink faucet, I slid off the bed to check it out. Imagine my surprise when instead of tile, my sock touched down on an inch of cold water.
A sneaking suspicion snaked through my stomach as I made my squishy way into the bathroom. The jacuzzi was steadily overflowing and water was flowing everywhere.
Oops.
“Lidieth!” I screamed, not knowing how to shut it off. “Lidieth!” I ran out of the bathroom, through the bedroom, and into the hall, where Lidieth paused with her hand literally on the door, ready to leave.
“Yes?” she answered.
“We have a problem,” I confessed. “The tub is… too full.”
She came running, took one look at the ever-flowing disaster, and ran outside to shut off the water. The three of us spent the next hour or two draining, towelling, and mopping on our hands and knees. Lemme tell ya, you haven’t had fun times until you try flooding someone else’s house.
I have no idea what caused it, whether it was us flipping the breakers, Lidieth forgetting the tub was refilling, or some combination of both, but with a good team effort, she managed to escape two hours later than planned. Bri and I felt awful.
Michelle called back, we told her we’d grab some lunch and head over to the school grounds. We heated up food and drove over, where a kids’ soccer game was in full speed. Michelle met us there a few minutes later. We grabbed a couple cervezas and she showed us the kitchen where the women had been since 7 am (it was now 4:30 pm) making tamales. First, they tear the leaves from banana trees and smoke them. Next, they prepare all the ingredients. Then, they spread the leaves out on a long table and each woman takes an ingredient bowl and puts a scoopful in the center. Lastly, each leaf gets folded into a shape somewhat like an Uno deck and tied closed. Lastly, the tamales are boiled before they’re ready to be eaten.
Brian meant to try a spoonful of Michelle’s but he ended up eating the whole thing, so she ended up getting a new one for herself.
As we were pulling out around 7:30, the truck arrived with the music (and something about a disco ball) for tomorrow. We plan to head over around 2 – should be lots of fun!