Tales from Ticolandia

Daily photo: 6.26.2008

2008-06-25T20:01:00.001-07:00

My love of cooking came in handy a couple of weeks ago, when I was invited to help prepare the food for a local wedding. The day after the wedding was Father's Day, so in the midst of the wedding preparations, my host whipped up this delicious dish for the luncheon. It's called lomo relleno and is a slab of pork stuffed with potatoes, carrots, ground beef, hard boiled eggs and cheese. And, yes, that's lard it's cooking in. (It was fantastic!)

Daily photo: 6.25.2008

2008-06-25T19:55:00.001-07:00

I'm renting a small apartment from a *very* nice and helpful woman. It's on the second floor and overlooks a small valley. No view of the lake, but it's beautiful all the same.

Back in action

2008-06-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

Hello! Hi! Thanks for checking in! I've been in Costa Rica for almost a month, and have been making good progress on my research. I won't bore you with the details; suffice it to say that I ran into a gold mine of data that will make my life much, much easier over the next few months.

Field work also means it's time to start blogging again. Thanks for being a part of this journey.

Love to all.

Tap tap...tap tap...is this thing on?

2007-07-10T07:56:00.000-07:00

Did I say something about posting a couple of times a week?

Ahem.

Sorry about that.

Life has been a whirlwind of activity since I last posted.

I visited these lovely people for a couple of days in Playa del Coco...

who live in a condo on the beach where these adorable creatures roam...

Then I mostly finished up my field work in Arenal and moved back to San Jose, shortly after which this guy came to visit for a few days...

We first went to Monteverde where we saw some amazing wildlife...

then headed to Mal Pais...

where we did this...

while watching this...

I also might be getting some work done. Maybe. ;)

Love and hugs to all of you.

Hot water, please...but hold the electrocution

2007-06-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

Central hot water heaters are few and far between in much of Latin America. The alternative is to attach a localized electric heater to the shower head. The safety of some is…um…more reassuring than of others. :)

In other news, field work is going well. People in Arenal have been more than gracious with their time. I'll be here for another two weeks, then will head back to San Jose for the remainder of the summer. Hope you are all well!

Life in Arenal vol. 1

2007-05-28T11:47:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 8:00 am: The sound of Queen of Hearts (rock on, Juice Newton) drifts up to my bedroom from the appliance store across the street.... "Joker is the only foo-hoo-hool..." wait, what!? Where the hell am I?

I guess it could have been worse. Could have been Britney Spears...

In lieu of recent photos...

2007-05-26T14:36:00.000-07:00

In my packing frenzy, eight short hours before my departure for the airport, I managed to remember a few critical pieces of field equipment (two bikinis and a shower poof = CRITICAL!) but I also forgot a few things, one of them being the digital camera connector/download cable thingy (apologies to the supernerds out there…my technical vocabulary is, well, nonexistent). BUT! I know that pictures are the most interesting part of any travel log, so here are a few from last year to tide you over until I get back to the big city in mid-June.

A view down one of the main streets of Nuevo Arenal

One of the houses constructed for resettlers in the late 1970s.

I'm a sucker for a cute dog outside the local disco...looks like it's been a long night.

Welcome!

2007-05-26T14:24:00.000-07:00

I'm jumping on the blog bandwagon...but for a very specific purpose. I hope you'll check in frequently as I post about my adventures in Costa Rica this summer and next year during my dissertation fieldwork.

For those of you whom I have not kept up to date (hi! sorry!), I'm in Costa Rica until early August doing some preliminary fieldwork, then will be returning to the States for a few months to take my qualifying exams. I hope to be back in Costa Rica early next year to begin my long-term fieldwork. In a nutshell, my research will focus on the long-term effects of development-induced community displacement. I'll be working and living in Nuevo Arenal, Costa Rica, which was uprooted and relocated during the construction of a large hydroelectric dam in northern Costa Rica in the late 1970s.

I hope to keep the boring research-oriented stuff to a minimum here (unless y'all request more details), and instead regale you with tales of life as a gringa anthropologist in Ticolandia.

I'm a feedback slut, so please leave me a comment, even if just to say hi!