Are My Ears Bleeding?

I remember in third grade when we were all given a recorder to play in music class. I suppose it was our introduction to band, which was a required class in fourth grade. I remember playing “Hot Crust Buns” over and over again. Well, I would now like to take this time to apologize to my family, babysitters, friends, dogs, and anyone else that was in my life during third grade and had to listen to me play that abominable instrument.

September 15^th is Costa Rica’s independence day so the high school in my town has been preparing for the celebration that will take place. Not only will the usual drum line perform but there will, apparently, be a recorder performance as well. I was lying in bed Monday night and I heard someone outside my house playing the recorder and after about thirty minutes I was ready to have my ears removed. It only got worse. Francel, my host brother, went outside and when he came back he was in possession of the recorder. He began to practice in the house. I wasn’t aware it was possible to be an awful at playing the recorder, but I am now very aware that it is very possible. Luckily my host mom was home and was clearly having the same thoughts, and she yelled at my host brother to “callate,” which means “shut up.”

Unfortunately, last night my host mother was visiting her mother after dinner and wasn’t there to tell Francel to shut up. Normally I have no problem telling Francel when he is annoying me. We fight like real siblings. However, I couldn’t bring myself to tell him to stop practicing because, God knows, he needs it. Instead I shut myself up in my room and put on an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” in hopes to escape the piercing sounds coming from Francel’s recorder. He played “Hot Crust Buns” (yep its an international thing) over and over again. I kept removing my headphones to check to see if my ears were bleeding. I felt like pulling my hair out…

Eventually he got tired of practicing and the house was at peace once again.

In other news…

Life is going well here in Pacayitas/Mollejones. This past weekend my good friend, Caitlin, came to visit and experience an infamous Pacayitas Baile (dance). When ever I talk to other volunteers about my town their usual responses fall along the lines of, “ You have people your age in your town?” “You have a bar in your town?” “You have dances in your town?”… Yes I am lucky. I have lots of young people my age in my town and great friends my age. We do have a bar in Pacayitas and it is known to have fun dances every month or two. I was excited for Caitlin to see my town, meet my family, experience a dance, and attend a Sunday soccer game. We had a great time. Caitlin got to meet my friends that she has heard me talk endlessly about. We had a lot of fun at the dance.

Let me break down a Pacayitas Baile for you…

The music starts blaring around 7:30, however, no one ever shows up to the dance until a little before 9. I think this is a mixture of Tico Time (no Tico is ever on time) and being fashionably late. People come in from all the surrounding towns, normally on motorcycles or dirt bikes. Caitlin said she felt like we were in our own “Fast and the Furious” movie. The women come dressed in the tightest clothes and highest heels imaginable. Each man has used about a bottle of cologne and their hair is gelled into a perfect fro hawk. At first everyone stands outside. I am not sure why, but it takes a while for people to enter. Once people begin entering the bar, most of the guys stand along the back wall drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. The girls find tables and chairs and sit in groups. Minus the cigarettes and booze, it is a lot like a sixth grade dance, men on one side of the room and the women on the other. Finally a few guys will approach a table of girls, asking them to dance and breaking the ice for everyone. The DJ starts off with traditional Salsa or Merengue and then it turns into more Reggaatone, hip-hop, and techno. There are disco balls and strobe lights to set the mood. Caitlin and I danced with some of my friends. Then we sat and people watched, occasionally being interrupted by men asking us to dance. I don’t know how we were able to say no to their toxic scents of cologne and hair gel… but we politely declined. We left before the party was over and headed home, exhausted. When your bedtime is usually 8:30 it is hard to stay out past midnight.

It was a great weekend with great friends. I can’t believe I have less than four months left. Time is flying and I can’t quite tell you how that makes me feel. It is definitely bittersweet. Even the thought of having to leave my students and family gets me a little teary eyed. However, I do look forward to being closer to my family, friends, and dogs at home.

Well, I am crossing my fingers that Francel isn’t in the mood to rock out on the recorder tonight. I don’t think my ears can take another note.

Dark Knight(s) Up in Here

A little over a week ago I was woken from my deep Benadryl induced sleep to the sound of something bouncing between my walls. I opened my eyes and watched as a bat flew into my curtain and then continued to watch as he climbed to the top of the curtain to hang. At first I was intrigued. This wasn’t the first time I have seen a bat in Costa Rica. When I came here on a school trip my senior year of high school, I actually fed a baby bat with a bottle. I found bats to be interesting animals, and I wasn’t frightened at all by this bat who had seemed to make himself at home in my bedroom. That all quickly changed. I don’t know if was the white of my eyes watching him, but something attracted him, causing him to fly directly at my face. I panicked and ducked under my covers. Not cool bat, not cool at all. In that moment, bats when from being an animal that I found interesting and cool to being an animal that I despised. He had invaded my personal space, and I was not happy about it. I stayed under my blankets until I felt as though I was running out of oxygen. I quickly emerged from the blanket and reached up to turn the light on. I heard the bat fly back up into the roof. It was three in the morning and I proceeded to sleep the rest of the night with the light on.

I was surprised when I woke up that morning and my host family hadn’t realized that I had the light on in my room. The three bedrooms in my house are all aligned in a row on the left side of the house. None of our bedrooms have ceilings so when one room has a light on it flows into the other room. However, I hadn’t bothered anyone with my light. While eating breakfast, I tried to explain to my host mom that a bat had flown into my face. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember the word for bat so I was explaining how it was fury with wings, but not a moth because it has big ears. That was all the explaining I could do before I had to leave for school.

Later that afternoon I came home to an empty house. My host brother, Francel, was staying at his grandmother’s for the night and my host mom, Zeneida, was in Turrialba and would be getting a ride home with my host father, Alejo, in the sugar cane truck late that night. I knew they wouldn’t be home till at least 10. I sat in my room and heard things fluttering about in the roof. I was sure it was the bat. I began to research bats on the internet, and didn’t like what I found. Through this research, I learned that a sleeping human might not wake up to a bite from a vampire bat because their teeth are so small. I just imagined myself sleeping, while bats feasted on my blood. I spoke to a friend at home in the States who informed me that her family had a bat in their house the week before and the man who came to kill it told her family to all go get rabies shots. In this moment, I forgot that rabies doesn’t exist in Costa Rica. The last case of rabies was over 60 years ago, I believe. I had also learned in my research that bats could spread rabies just by being in the same room. There doesn’t have to be any physical contact. Through all my internet research and chatting I had convinced myself that I was sleeping in a room that rabid bats like to use as a playground at night. I picked up my blankets and pillows and made a nice little bed for myself on the couch in the living room, which is the one room in the house that does have a ceiling.

When Zeneida and Alejo came home they were startled to find me sleeping on the couch. I explained to them about my bat incident the night before. By now, I had looked up the word for bat so there would be no confusion about what I was trying to describe. Zeneida shook her head and said; “I don’t think there is a bat in there. It was probably a moth.” I tried to explain that I had seen it climb and fly at my face and I was positive it was a bat. Alejo got a ladder and looked up into the roof, he sprayed bug spray, and promised me he saw no signs of a bat. He said he thought that maybe some white-bellied birds had made a nest in the roof and that was probably the sound I was hearing. I wasn’t completely convinced but I carried my blankets back into my room and slept in my bed.

I had almost forgotten about the events that took place over a week ago. That is, until last night. Last night we had a huge thunderstorm that knocked out the power. I was sitting in bed, reading with my head lamp when all of the sudden something swooshed down from the roof, into my face, and then onto the curtain that serves as my closet door. I screamed. It was 8 o’clock so everyone was in bed. My scream got them out of bed. I kept my flashlight on the bat and when my host family opened my door I exclaimed, “I told you so!” They all laughed and Alejo grabbed a piece of wood and beat the bat to death and carried it out of the house. Alejo got the ladder and looked up in the roof. He said he didn’t see anymore. At this point I was too worked up to sleep. My heart was pounding after experiencing, for a second time, a bat flying into my face. Francel, stated that he would be sleeping in his parents room and I told my host sister, Carol, that I would be sleeping in Francel’s bed in their room. Carol and I were lying in bed talking about how scary bats were when we suddenly heard something hit the wall that separates my bedroom from hers. Carol sat up and asked me if I heard it too. I said yes and we grabbed our flashlights and went to check to see what was making the noise in my bedroom. Carol opened the door and just as she did another bat came swooshing down, flying at us and then turned and landed on my bed. Carol and I both screamed and Alejo came out of his bedroom, this time with the machete. The bat took off flying again and Alejo swiped at it with the machete and it fell to the ground. Apparently all he had done was tamper with its ability to fly because it scurried out of the room towards the rest of us in the living room. Carol, Francel, and I jumped on the couch, screaming. Because the thunderstorm had knocked out the electricity, we were chasing the bat with our flashlights trying to keep an eye on it. The bat scurried behind two chairs in the living room as Alejo followed behind it, whacking the ground with the machete. Finally he hit the bat, putting an end to its scurrying. However, our battle with the bats was not finished. Zeneida, was scanning my room with the flashlight, when another bat came flying down at her. She screamed and jumped up onto my bed. Alejo ran back into my room, machete in hand. Again, he only managed to hit it in flight, making it fall to the ground and scurry out of the room like the previous one had. Francel, Carol, and I assumed our positions, standing back on the couch, screaming. The bat scurried under the TV stand and Alejo swiped his machete beneath it, back and forth until the bat finally scurried out allowing him to get a clear whack at it. He picked up the two dead bats with the end of his machete and then teased me saying it would a good breakfast in the morning. I was not amused. Alejo did another search in the roof and said he didn’t think there were any more. I was not convinced. He had already said that once and then twenty minutes later two more came out of the roof. Carol, Francel, and I sat up in the living room for about 30 minutes waiting to see if anymore bats would emerge from the roof. No more came out, so Francel went to sleep in his parent’s bed and Carol and I slept in her room. I think that I am going to continue sleeping in Carol and Francel’s room until Alejo can somehow assure me that there are no more bats in the roof.

Here are some pictures to recap my evening: 

 The first bat that flew into my face....

 The next two that Alejo chased around the living room after they scurried out of my bedroom

 Alejo searching for more bats in my room.... Do you like my 18 wheeler posters? Francel decorated it for me before I arrived...

 Zeneida on my bed...

 Carol and Francel on the couch...

 Carol and I on the couch....