I
knew when I planned this trip that being away from family and tradition on
Thanksgiving would not be easy. Like Halloween, it’s one of my favorites, but
for all different reasons. A chill in the air, a chance of snow, everyone
helping in the kitchen, watching football, and pigging out, thus inducing the
all too familiar food coma before dessert. For the next few days you have
delicious leftovers, though Friday you’re out shopping for good deals and have
to wait for dinner to heat up the turkey. And to round out the tradition,
Saturday is a day for log splitting. I believe this tradition dates back to
when CJ was away at college and since it is a Team Frye project (including mom)
we needed to wait for a time when all the boys were present (though now we are
fortunate to have added Jay and Mario to the crew).
Anyway,
that’s a little more tradition than you were probably hoping to read about. As you
might imagine, being at Playa Montezuma didn’t quite fulfill that family
legacy. But, by no means was Thanksgiving a disappointment because my
friends; my Costa Rican family. A group of people from Robert’s farm decided
that we would meet up for the holiday, which coincided with Meghan’s birthday.
The seven of us were able to all stay at the same hostel which had a huge
kitchen, beautiful rooms and balconies, and was right on the beach! For the
most part, we were the only ones there since the place is relatively new and
advertising is pretty poor.
During the day a few of us went to the beach to
swim in the unguarded waters that presented 12’ (or more?) waves. It. Was. Awesome! I wasn’t brave enough
to ride those bad boys, but getting tossed around was quite a bit of fun! In
the early afternoon we went back down to the beach to look for crabs as bait
for fishing with hand-made fishing devices. We had each planned a meal to
prepare for the big feast, but nobody’s plate stood out as a main dish. Well, we
got some crustaceans but no fish (which was probably for the best). When the
boys arrived home empty handed from fishing, we all started cooking. Funny how
a big kitchen is immediately reduced in size when there are seven people
preparing their own dish. But within a few hours we were sitting down at the
large table with a plate full of the most delicious food. The evening was
completed by a trip to Chico’s Bar, the only nightlife in town. Luck had it
that Thursday night is Reggae Night, and the white folk did our best to keep up
with the dreadlocked Rastas on the dance floor. And then, just to end the night
properly, when we got back from a night of dancing we did what comes naturally
and raided the refrigerator. Mmmm cold stuffing!
