day eight

Today I spent most of the day at home as well. Managed to eat more than I should’ve - lunch consisting of steak, potatoes au gratin, salad with avocados and tomatoes, half a (small) bag of fried lime/salt plantain chips. Dinner at Roxanna’s house with empanadas de queso and yuca cake. I enjoyed the evening at their house… my hands hurt from all the sewing practices I did today.


Its fair to say that I’ve never consciously been around a sewing machine before. I might have done some manual sewing in my years, and that im pretty good at, but when it comes to the pedal, the needle, the thread, and all that metal… intimidation was the keyword of the day.
Nonetheless, I managed to learn the machine pretty well. My hand is still unsteady though, and I scrunch up the fabric every time I feel like my fingers get too close to the propelled needle. But all in all, it was a good learning day. Above are a few practice runs I did.

Something that ive noticed about Costa Rica, or any other third-second world country for that matter, (and because I havent had enough time to really think about it, I wont be able to write much) is that people don’t have such a protected sense of self. Ive been hosting a constant dispute in my head over the differences between California and Costa Rica… in all senses and schemes of life as we know - traffic, fashion, food, friends, home, etc. Here things ride in tandem with people as a whole. With nature as a whole. Tree roots dig up cracks and potholes in the asphalt, but people learn to drive around it. Homes with cracks in the ceiling and pots and pans sticking to nails in the wall are open to guests. And im actually not really sure where im going with this thought, but it’s been fermenting in my head for the past few days as I see more and more suggestive traffic lanes and stoplights, and curious areas of San Jose which I would have once consider mistreated or rundown.

At home, we take such pride in the manifestations of our purchases, in the qualities of our images, that I think sometimes we lose grip of reality. We are so lucky (and unlucky) to have smooth-paved streets, to have most all of our stray-dogs in kennels, and have such a wide variety of consumerist options… where our sense of individuality erases a lot of unity-ideology.

Not saying one is better than the other, as its impossible to choose the better between dream and reality. That’s been a constant question in my head since senior year of high school. This is a big theme… I don’t think ive had enough time or experience to really feel like I can analyze well enough or have a well-formed opinion on.

As for now ill keep enjoying the country as I have been. I love taking trips like these that really have the power to change my perspective on the life I live at home.
Goodnight.