The After-Hours Club

One of my very favorite things about Costa Rica is the way they can be completely content just sitting around in the shade, passing the time. There’s nowhere to go, no hurry, they just enjoy the moment. It can happen after lunch (almuerzo), when everyone’s too full to go back to work or do much of anything, late afternoon over a cup of coffee and slice of bread or cookies (cafecito), and in the evening when the day’s work is finished. I cherish these times.

Since there are several young people on my block and some of us are quite the night owls, we’ve developed a tradition of staying up late and hanging out. We usually just stick around either in front of my house where there’s a stone bench, or across the street in front of Andrea’s house in the wooden chairs that are always out front. If it’s late enough, Andrea’s parents take in the chairs and we migrate to the bench / curb across the street at my house.

The core of the group is made up of me, Boby and Katy. Boby is one of the young construction guys working on the house next door to mine. He’s got a bit of a rebel personality, but he’s a hard working and a loyal friend. He’s often the one to liven up the conversation.

Katy

Andrea

Katy (KAH-tee) – who is my tica neighbor, not the friend I’ve traveled with, is Boby’s girlfriend and has a similar personality, but she’s a big gossip (as nearly all Ticas are) so I don’t tell her any secrets. Andrea, who is 18 and one of my closest friends, is almost always with us too.

We are sometimes joined by Cristian. He’s kind of a wild card in that some days he’s really talkative and other days reserved. He and I are somewhere at the blurry line between friends and sweethearts, but it's more of a flirtatious give and take than anything serious.

Kenneth

Then there’s Kenneth. So I mentioned that Boby makes things interesting, well Kenneth turns it into a circus. Kenneth is a regular class clown and gets everyone smiling and laughing without fail. He and Boby are both my same age. Kenneth once entertained us for a night by his attempts to balance on a wooden chair with one foot on the chair back and the other on the seat while only the two back chair legs pivoted on the asphalt. Some of us gave it a try as well. Surprisingly we all ended the night without a scratch but the chair was not so lucky.

Jaleska also joins us once and a while. She’s 18 and good friends with Andrea. In my opinion, she’s an attention hog. She always tries to gain the spotlight and get the conversation to center on her. I really don’t miss her when she’s not around. If it’s not too late, my host sister María likes to hang out with us, but by 9:45/10:00 p.m. my host mom usually calls her inside because she has to get up for school the next day. there’s also Wendy, who has two young kids, but is very young at heart. She might join us if the kids are down for the night and she’s feeling social.

Maria

We entertain ourselves a variety of ways. We sometimes chalked lines on the street and play soccer two square – where you have to pass the ball back and forth with your feet, only letting it bounce once in your square (it’s harder than you think). We often sat around listing to music from people’s mp3 players on their cell phones, singing to the lyrics. We’d tell stories, joke around and all it all just shoot the breeze. Sometimes we had in-depth discussions on one topic or another. A few crazy highlights I remember are walking handstand races and using broken chunks of drywall to chalk up the entire street with messages for and caricatures of our neighbors – all in good fun of course.

Then there were the apretados – oh how I love these. They are simple, frozen ice cream-like treats that come in a plastic bag tied off at one end, a little smaller than a baseball in size. There are all kinds of fruit flavors (mango, papaya, strawberry, blackberry, banana etc.) as well as chocolate, chocolate peanut, coconut, vanilla cream, and others I’m probably forgetting. In some they add powdered evaporated milk that mixes with it as it melts to make it creamy. To eat it you bite through one corner of the plastic bag and bite and slurp till it’s gone. I like to pre-mash the ice so it’s easier to eat. The problem is, your hands usually freeze in the process, but I just switch back and forth. They’re called "apretados" because the verb "apretar" is to press against – makes good sense I think. The best part – they’re incredibly cheap, just 30 cents each or 150 Colones (Colones are roughly 500 to the dollar). They’re sold out of people’s houses where they’re made daily in the kitchen and kept the freezer. Some are open as late as midnight, so we often make late-night apretado runs. They are always a hit.

So this is what I look forward to most nights, hanging out with the “gallada” (the gang). We all live right here on the same block and always have a good time when we’re together. They keep me guessing and I love it.