Christmas Tamales!

A big tradition here in Costa Rica is to spend a day around Christmas making tamales with the entire family. It is a complicated process that takes some time to make, but everyone pitches in to complete the final product. Most are eaten throughout December, but some are saved for January or February - when I am told they taste much better!

My wonderful friend and colleague Krisya invited me to her house on Sunday to learn how to make tamales with her family. Her family was so sweet to me, as usual, and even told me I was really good at making the tamales! Below is a picture outline of how it works.

At Krisya's house, her sister-in-law Yadira was my tamale teacher. 

Step 1:
Prepare all the ingredients to put in the tamales and create a tamale making station.

Step 2:
Lay out 2-3 plantain leafs (hojas), layered.

Step 3:
Put the cornmeal mixture (masa de maiz) in the center of the leaves. Just plop it down apparently. A lot of families take whole corn to be ground and add their own secret spices. The key, I've been told, it that this stuff must be very flavorful.

Step 4:
Put a spoonful of rice in the center of the masa.

Step 5:
Strategically add other ingredients. Place two strips of green pepper on 2 sides, two pieces of asparagus on the other sides (making a square around the ride.) Put two small carrot sticks in the middle. Add two pieces of meat (in this case, pork) in the center. And the put a few green peas around everything.

Step 6:
Wrap it up!!

Step 7:
Tie two wrapped tamales together, and add them to the pile!

Step 8:
Boil the large amount of tamales you spent all day making for 3 hours or so.

Step 9:
Spend most of the next month eating tamales.

After learning to make tamales with Krisya and her family, Catalina invited me over to learn how to eat tamales with hers! Catalina's family uses a different recipe that her father's grandmother learned from a Venezuelan. Hence, the different ingredients in this one. YUMMY!

Catalina and I enjoying our tamales.

Catalina's sweet mother, father, and niece. 

I am very lucky to have such wonderful friends who invite me into their homes and their special family traditions. Now it is time for me to head back to NC for some family traditions of my own!

<3,
Amber

Byron & Mary Beth Visit!

 I am just off another week being Costa Rica's coolest tour guide! Byron and Mary Beth came down to visit for a whole week and we had lots of fun! We spent a lot of time just bumming around the country. Unfortunately, most of you have heard about most of the places we visited on this tour. ( I said I was the coolest tour guide, not the most original.) Below are a few fun snapshots from the trip.

 First stop on the tour: the beach!!

 The key to a good Costa Rican lunch is a giant fruity beverage.

 Our first stop was a hotel right next to Manuel Antonio National Park - La Posada. We LOVED this place and did not want to leave. Byron especially enjoyed the hammock on the porch.

 On our first morning, scores of monkeys came to breakfast at the hotel with us. They were everywhere and super close. Mary Beth snapped this great picture of one of the monkeys with a baby on its back. So cute.

This is one of the raccoons from the park that has no problem reaching inside your backpack for a quick snack. It apparently also had no problem scratching itself right in front of us! I just love that he put his foot up in the air in order to reach maximum scratching capability.

On our second day, we went to La Selvita to do their zip lining tour. Here we are all harnessed up and ready to hurl ourselves off a platform into the jungle. 

Our guides at La Selvita were fantastic. One offered to carry my camera and take great pictures and video. Here is Kendall (the guide) zipping along one of the longest lines they had. Pretty, cool, right? Yeah, I did that. :)

 After we got back from the beach, we decided to head to the town of La Fortuna which is at the base of the Arenal Volcano. Unfortunately it was very rainy and cloudy, so we got no glimpses of the volcano. The rain did, however, make for perfect weather for the natural hot springs at the based of the volcano. We visited the Baldi Hot Springs and Resort and enjoyed dipping in their 20+ pools with temperatures ranging from 90 degrees to 150 (that one was impossibly hot by the way.) The springs felt great and are all heated naturally. They also had 3 big water slides that dumped you out into one of the pools. It was a lot of fun.

Overall we all had a really great week enjoying some of the best that Costa Rica has to offer! I only have a few more days and then I will be back in NC for 2 weeks - hooray! See you all very soon.

<3,
Amber

Playa Hermosa

I needed to get away this weekend, so I rode with my friends to Playa Hermosa. Playa Hermosa is on the Pacific coast, only about an hour and 15 minutes away from San Jose. What is interesting about this beach, is that is has black sand - apparently due to volcanic activity. Although, I can't figure out where the volcano is around here...unless it is under water. The other beaches in the area are all white sand. Playa Hermosa is also known as one of the best surfing beaches in Costa Rica due to its consistent waves. There was the end of a surf competition going on when we arrive and lots of surfers in the water. The currents were pretty strong, so swimming or bobbing in the ocean wasn't too possible. Also, if you think white sand gets hot, you haven't felt anything until you try walking around on black sand! OUCH!! I snapped a few pics with my phone, so the quality isn't superb. Enjoy!

<3,
Amber

My super wonderful and supportive parents came to visit over the week of Thanksgiving. It was their first time in Latin America and I think they handled it splendidly! I played tour guide all week, and have been told I lead an excellent tour. We saw the beaches, wild animals, day to day life in San Jose, a coffee plantation, and a volcano (sort of...) Below is our vacation "slide-show." Disfruta! (Enjoy!)

Sally May the Hyundai (that's the car's name) is packed full and we are off to the town of Quepos and the beaches at Manuel Antonio National Park! 

After a mostly easy drive (I only hit 952 pot holes) we stop on a cliff with a wonderful view of the Pacific Ocean. 

 

Self portrait:

 

We had a great time in Manuel Antonio National Park. We got to see lots of monkeys, raccoons, frogs, and a pizote. I have a great shot of Mom with her coconut drink after exiting the park. But since we were "roughing it" that day, I promised not to post any photos. So, here's the pizote instead, because I know you are wondering what the heck that is. Google it.

We left Quepos and Manual Antonio and stopped to ride an aerial tram through the rain forest. It was a very interesting view of the forest, but, alas, no wildlife was to be found. They're smart and stay away from the stupid tourist with cameras. 

Dad is a big coffee drinker. So for his birthday I took him to the Cafe Britt coffee plantation for a tour. It was really interesting to see how coffee is grown and learn more about the history of coffee. Here we are in front of some brewer-roaster thingy. In hindsight I realize I should have gotten a photo of us in the coffee fields. That would be have been much more interesting...

 

 On their last full day in Costa Rica, we got in the car and headed for Poas Volcano. It is supposed to be an easy drive from San Jose. And it is, in theory. However, the roads were so riddled with pot holes that I spent the hour drive playing a game of frogger with the giant craters. Not fun. We made it to the park and were told that the crater was clouded over. We didn't believe the guy, so we paid to go in. This is a photo of me in front of the crater. Isn't it pretty? (I'm being sarcastic here folks. Obviously the guy was right about the whole cloudy business..)

So that's the tale of Ma and Pa Featherstone's adventures in Costa Rica! I'm back on tour guide duty next week when my best friend Byron and his wife come. Here's to more adventures!

<3,
Amber

Mas o Menos?

Hi All,

I've added a list on the left-hand side of the screen called "Mas o Menos," which means "More or Less." A lot of people ask me if it's much cheaper here than in the US. It is and it isn't. My mom was recently horrified at the prices in the grocery store - where prices are shockingly higher. So, I decided to start a running list. I'll keep adding to this as I come across these differences. If there is a price in particular you are curious about, let me know and I'll check it out!

<3,
Amber