Bar fight

So, the past two weeks were the annual town-wide fiestas (think a combination of tiny county fair and rodeo days). They kicked the weekend off with a Tope- which is like a parade, except there are only horses. A bunch of horses. We basically ate and danced all day. I can now do something that resembles an ugly form of Cumbia. Thus, keeping with the festivities, I went to my first baile in the village, at the only bar there is in town: Los Pinares. It was fun, crowded, and everyone in the community was there-the prinicipal of my elementary school, some of my fifth graders (apparently they don't ask for ID at the door). Dixie (my best village friend) was having some boyfriend drama because her novio said he was going to come, then called and said he was sick, then showed up like 30 minutes later dancing with another girl and not even acknowledging Dixie. In my book, that is enough to be pissed off about, but she seemed to be taking it pretty well. As the end of the night came around, we were all dancing to some salsa, and Dixie was dancing with her brother, Rene. Rene proceeded to punch Damian (Dixie's now EX-boyfriend) in the face, and Dixie was quite caught up in the middle of it. Usually, when a fight at a concert or a bar breaks out, I would try and get as far away as possible. However, I don't have a ton of friends in Santa Rosa yet, and I didn't exactly feel like watching Dixie get the crap beat out of her. Thus, I proceeded to jump in too =) The boy I was dancing with was spending his time trying to pull me out, as I was simultaneously trying to extracate Dixie. With the help of the bouncer, the situation was diffused: Dixie was crying and had a broken high heel, Dixie an Rene's mom (who was watching all of this ensue) was outside yelling at Damian in Spanish (I didn't quite catch all of it, but it wasn't good), and I gathered up all of our stuff from the table we were sitting at and that everyone else had left in the drama. So, there we were, outside in the cold, regrouping to head home. Suddenly, Rene runs right past me and jumps on Damian (I am not quite sure why he would come back). I turn, wielding 2 huge umbrellas that I had just collected from the table, and start yelling in Spanglish about how Rene is to stop right this instant and come home with us! Looking back now, it was hilarious. At the time, a little disconcerting. In any case, the night ended up fine, and now I have a single girlfriend to hang out with, instead of one that was always busy with her lame boyfriend!

While bar fights are fun and all, I have been doing other stuff. Last week I went with a group of like 30 people from Habitat International on a tour of a housing community in Northern Costa Rica, as well as some sight seeing. Basically, I was invited along because 1- I speak Enlgish, 2- I can tell the international people about what we are doing in Costa Rica, and 3- I can be charming and try and get them excited to send funds to our projects =) It turns out that the group was made up of the people who work for Habitat in the States doing fundraising and finances. This was a really awesome group of people to spend my day with! I don't think that I have posted it here yet, but lately I have been thinking about changing my life plan (I'm still mulling it over though, nothing definite). I may want to go into non-profit management when I get back, specifically into resource development (read: fundraising). Thus, it was a lucky break that I found myself on a bus with 30 people who are doing exactly what I would like to be doing in the near future. I got some really good advice on how to go about enacting this new, different life plan, and made some really good contacts. So, we'll see. Also, it was nice to eat at nice restaurants and see touristy stuff like volcanoes for a day (especially since Habitat was footing the bill).

Let's see, what else have I been up to? Dustin, who is the only other U.S. volunteer in the country, came and saw my community this weekend. He came up to S.R. on Saturday, hung out, met my friends, saw the houses, etc. We went to a party at Dixie and Rene's house, and somehow Dustin ended up getting people to do the limbo. It was fun, though not nearly as dramatic as the previous weekend with all the dancing and fighting; I hope that he wasn't disappointed.

I am sure that I am forgetting a ton of stuff, but oh well. Thanks for all the emails I have been getting! I love hearing from y'all!