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Urban Eclectic Jewelry

Handmade Jewelry For The Bohemian Soul

Chicken Necks

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A local chiropractor recently told me this story:

Years ago while traveling in Central America, her husband and her were in the back seat of a cab for a long distance trip from the airport to their destination.  The driver and his friend were sitting in front chatting back and forth in Spanish, assuming that the two Gringos in the back seat didn’t speak any Spanish.
After a few hours on the road, her husband began to develop a migraine headache.  She asked him if perhaps he’d like to have a quick neck adjustment to let off some of the pressure. He laid himself across the back seat as well as he could and she quickly did a little wiggle, wiggle, snap with his neck.
The chatter in the front seat stopped.  
The cab fell silent.  
The driver’s friend whispers out of the side of his mouth, “What the hell was that?!?!”  
The driver responds, “I’m not sure, but that’s how I kill my chickens!!!”

Watermelons And A Piggy

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Since I live in a small, but bustling little town, sometimes it’s easy to forget that I actually live in the country.  Just a short drive way there are farms, roaming cows and people riding their horses down the road along side cars.

About 2 hours outside of town, there’s a farming community where the primary crops are watermelon and yellow melons (which are a lot like a honey dew).  It’s a beautiful area to drive through, especially if the rain has started and revived all the vegetation after many long, dry months.  There is about 3 miles of road, lined with farm after farm, surrounded by crops of bright yellow and green melons beneath deep foliage.  Tucked away from the road there are cute, little country farm houses with laundry fluttering on the line and old farmers sitting on the porch in a rocking chair.

 

Being the melon lover that I am (well, really I don’t discriminate when it comes to fresh fruits or veggies!), we stopped at one of the roadside stands to buy a few melons ripe off the vine.  Can you believe that 5 melons cost only $2.  Yes please!!!

 

 

We pulled to the side of the road and began chatting with a vendor, and out of no where, this small pink piggy snuck up behind the heap of melons, started grunting and hungrily gobbling the melons.

 

Mmmmm, yellow or green, yellow or green??
The guy turned around, flailed his arms and yelled at the pig, shushing the squealing fuzzy pest away. He turned back around towards us, resumed his chatting and before you knew it, the piggy had circled around and launched an attack on another pile of melons.

 

The man repeated his defense tactics and charged the piggy, who once again ran off squealing, lickety split!!  The man rolled his eyes, let out a long, slow tired sigh and told us that every day, all day, that’s what he does. Keeps the pigs away.  Poor guy.

 

As we drove away, I saw the piggy making his next round through the melons. What a way to spend the day.

 

Oink! Oink!  Catch me if you can!!!

Tope ~ March 17, 2013

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Every December and March there are local fiestas in Villa Real, the small town outside of Tamarindo.  These fiestas are small town carnivals complete with food stands, carnival rides, LOTS of drinking and drunk people and of course, a  bull ring.
There’s lots of fun activities that go along with the fiestas. One is the Baile de Polvo (the Dust Dance) which takes place in the bull ring (minus the bulls!!) and marks the beginning of the fiesta.  It’s called the Dust Dance because well, when you get a few hundred people dancing in a dust ring, you make a big dust cloud.
Another event that takes place during the fiestas is the Tope — a horse parade where riders meet in the center of Tamarindo (the Circle) and ride to the fiestas in Villa Real – about 2 1/2 miles away.
The Tope this year took place on St. Patrick’s Day, Sunday, March 17.  I personally didn’t care to ride.  It looks like a lot of fun, but sadly I’m not too keen on riding horses.  I think they’re awesome to look at from afar, but I’m actually a little afraid of them.  And they say animals can sense fear so I thought it would be best not to take any chances.  However, the hubby and our good (hilarious) friend Fabio decided to participate so I opted to be the photographer for the day.
For those wanting to actually mount up and ride, you pay a nominal entry fee which entitles you to ride with the group, a free lunch and of course, a complimentary “drink” – which to most people means beer.
Good For One Drink
If you have your own horse, that’s great, but if not you can rent one from Jeronimo, who seems to be the go-to guy for the best horses.   He has a house and stables in Villa Real and for $30 you can rent a horse for the event.
 
We arrived at his place around 10:30 a.m. and hung out there for a bit watching him prep the horses.  The horses definitely sensed that a party was in the air.  I’m sure these horses have been through a million of these things before.  I’d think it’s as big a party for them as for the people.

Around 11:30 or so, the guys finally got their horses and the party officially began!

After doing a bit of riding on the dirt roads behind town, me and the guys met up in Tamarindo to people watch, and of course, have a few drinks. Little by little, spectators, horses and their riders filled up the Circle.  Salsa music floated through air and everyone, including the horses, was in a festive mood.
Every year this guy mounts up his own sound system to his horse and blasts salsa music.  Classic!
By around 2:00 p.m. the show got on the road and the riders started heading out of town.  About midway between Tamarindo and Villa Real there is a rest spot (aka drinking depot) where the riders cash in their drink and meal tickets.  I’ll take a long shot guess here and assume that most people have more than their “1 drink ticket” entitlement!
Us “non-riders” got in our cars and headed out to the fiestas.  It took the riders around 2 hours to get from Tamarindo to Villa Real and by the time they did, a good number of them appeared to barely be able to stay on their horse.  Poor horse!  We all stood along the side of the road like we were cheering runners coming over the finish line.

 

I love this dancing horse!

As the sun set over the backdrop of the fiesta, people met up around the food and beer stands and in the cantina and shared laughs about the day.

Until December…….

Here’s a gallery of all of my photos from the Tope.

Photo Gallery by QuickGallery.com

More Leather!!

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As you may know from my previous post, I’m obsessed with leather.  I still buy most of my supply on-line, but in a dream world, I’d find local suppliers so that I could touch, see (and smell!) the leather before purchasing it.  Considering I live in the middle of the country where it’s difficult to find many of the basics required for everyday life, you can imagine what a treasure hunt finding leather shops is.

 

My super duper talented friend Lydia (who also has a shop in town) makes the cutest leather feather earrings so I asked her where she gets her leather.  Come to find out – she stumbled across a little shop in Liberia (about 45 minutes from me) where they repair shoes, belts and saddles.  So the hubby and I set off to try to find the place to see if they might have something I can use.

 

After a few left and right turns, and then a U-turn or two, we located the little workshop tucked away on the backside of town.  As we stepped through the doorway into the dark, cluttered space – it was clear that time had stood still there for many, many years (especially in the organization department!).

 

Translation:  Leather Workshop – The Star – The Morales Brothers

 

Inside were three men in their late 50’s to mid 60’s hustling around mounds and mounds of leather, misplaced shoes, belts with missing buckles, tools and God only knows what else!

 

From what I was able to see, all of their equipment was antique – much like these sewing machines.

 

In the back, a shirtless man hovered over one of the sewing machines, working on a piece of leather.

 

 

I inquired if they had scrap leather for sale.  One of the men came over, looking a little confused so I clarified that I make jewelry and was looking for thin leather.  The man said he thought he had some and proceeded to dig.  He dug a little here and a little there and slowly came up with bits and pieces of amazing brown, navy blue and black leather.  Jackpot!!!  The price was fantastic, the quality couldn’t be better and only 45 minutes from home!

 

He said he gets different leathers from time to time and could probably find me some of the brighter colors I’m interested in, so I asked for a business card.  This was it…..

 

I love it!!