By rachels522
Tonight is the first night of our second field trip. We are staying in a fairly remote town on the Nicaraguan border named Los Chiles. During lecture outside we heard the loudest music. We then decided to go explore what this loud noise was in this quiet little town. We stumbled into a fair!
There was a Ferris wheel, tea cups, the whole shebang. Not only that, there was cotton candy, fried dough, and candied apples. And of course, really loud music. The ticos that were walking around seemed to be dressed in stereotypical cowboy gear: Cowboy hats, boots, chaps. Not only that, but there was some kind of bull ring with games going on. It was super expensive, so we didn’t end up going into the stadium. From what I understand it was a soccer game… with bulls on the field. I watch that on T.V. all the time in my host family’s house, so I guess it makes sense. The town we are in is not touristy whatsoever, so a group of 20 gringos stuck out like a sore thumb. I think to the residents of the town we may have been the strangest fair attraction. However, it didn’t stop some of the locals from going up to girls in our group and asking for a ride on the ferris wheel. I rode the Ferris wheel with a guy named Zoro. It was really interesting to get to talk to somebody from this town. He works as a carpenter. We had about 12 minutes of conversation about why I was in Costa Rica and how I liked it. He also told me about his family and a little bit about life in Los Chiles. Overall, there are about a million things I that we were really confused about at the fair. It was for sure one of the biggest cultural immersions in which I’ve ever participated. It was so much fun, and I can’t wait to stumble into the next big adventure.