Corriendo Cintas

My favorite kind of parties in or around La Ribera have always revolved around the community getting together and showing off horses.  My last weekend, I finally got the chance to see a different kind of event: corriendo cintas.  To compete in this challenge, members of the community attempt to snag tiny metal rings off of a hanging wire as they gallop past at full speed.  Difficult to say the least! This time, I was more than happy to remain a spectator.

I feel like if I attempted this, I would, without fail, stick the tip of my tongue out in kindergartner-style concentration.  I still do it while threading needles....

Visiting Changena

The Chinchilla family is a huge and friendly group, and I got to take advantage of that when I visited my host dad's nephew Oscar at his farm. About two hours south of La Ribera and not too far from the Panama border, it's a very different kind of farm down there - but just as beautiful and inspiring in its own way.  Having a tour guide who was nice enough to take me along for his daily chores (and put up with my picture taking!) didn't hurt:

We fed and herded the cows, searched for carvings left behind by previous indigenous owners, picked avocados, and got absolutely soaked by the faithful afternoon thunderstorm.

Evenings were spent teaching two adorable little siblings American card games, catching up on the latest telenovelas, and watching the mixed flock of {free range woohoo!} turkeys, chickens, and ducks pick their way over the front yard.

One Last Waterfall

I spent, in all, about six months in La Ribera.  But I never stopped discovering new things in and around the area.  Example: the stunning waterfall I visited my last weekend there.  It plummets 125 meters  - way beyond anything I've seen in the States.  And it does so not twenty minutes from the home of a family friend.

View from the tippy top - check out the road below!

All Good Things....

Coming back to Finca Chinchilla before I travelled home was always my plan.  My experience in Costa Rica was shaped more by my family there than by anything else, and I couldn't imagine not ending my trip in their company.


I will say, however, that I ended up making things harder on myself.  As I wrapped up my wandering travels, I had begun to feel a little tired of lugging my backpack around, of the same sort of conversation, of spending money, of any number of things that wear on a traveller.  I had started to think "Well, when I'm home, I can..."


Coming back to the farm erased all that in an afternoon.  Walking back up to my family's home, surrounded by mist and mountains, I felt a sort of sigh of relief - a homecoming.  A beautiful feeling, but one that can be a little bit problematic when you have a flight booked in three weeks. 


Those three weeks passed in less than a heartbeat.  I woke up every morning feeling a bittersweet pressure to soak in every drop of each moment I had left, but still felt that the sun set before I could catch my breath.  I'm can't let this blog go without recounting a few more of these moments...