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Day 176 - 26 December 2005 Christmas PCV style Aren’t the holidays nice? full of laughter, of cheer of children smilin ear to ear. even though the temperature is down, the spirits are up. and all the gifts and tradition & feasts & grinches. and of course, nothing beats a WHITE Christmas. at least that’s what I’ve been told in the past. now I live in a land where there are no commercialized holidays, where the once religious holidays in the states are actually STILL religious ones here. in a country that lacks resources and financial means. a country that is run by the huge supply of outside support that fuel its economy. needless to say, it was a very different holiday “season” here. remember that feeling you used to get as a kid when you knew xmas was comin? all that wishin for the things you wanted from Santa, all the anticipation building up in the coming months of fall (or spring if your name is Debbiedeb) up through the final days just before the BIG night of Jesus’ birthday...wait, Jesus who? we’re talking about Santa aren’t we? so yeah, ‘member that feelin? m-m-m-mmmmeeemmmberrrr? is it only a memory now? do you still feel that feeling every year? if you do, consider yourself lucky (yes you Debbiedeb), cuz I haven’t felt that way in years. xmas just comes & goes for me. maybe the latest years of my life have been preparing me for this year. there were no constant reminders of the upcoming season- no cold weather, no malls or stores playin “silver bells” or “my grandma got runDOVA by a reindeer,” no xmas light lined streets (well not until the 23rd), no airing of the classic cartoon and claymation Christmas icons we expect to see on TV, and NO, it was NOT a white Christmas. instead it was pretty much same ol’ same ol’ ‘round the ‘hood. but I gotta say it was a good day. the lights on the lampposts went up around town a couple days before the big man’s bday just as the shipment of cheap, mislabelled, half-workin toys made their first appearance in the lojas around town. and yes, tons of folks flocked to gaze and gander at the ‘novidades.’ what a zoo! but as quickly as the rush had come, it had disappeared in a matter of a couple days. ‘bingo bango bongo’ a tennis partner of mine used to say, and that’s exactly what it was. if only travelling during the holiday season was as quick and easy. five fellow volunteers from around the country came to visit our most beautiful island, but first had to make their way to our neighboring island (since we don’t have an airport), so we went over to meet them there. thanks to scheduling, the 5 of them were coming in 3 flurries spaced over a full 24 hours. at least two of them were on the first day a few hours apart. the first guy arrived a bit early and had already started a beer and made a friend at the bar we found him in. my, how quickly he’s integrated. so we grab him, then grab some food at a nearby café. it’s a shwanky li’l place with modern décor and a full menu (hard to find on my island). unfortunately the service wasn’t up to par. somehow we went from ordering two meals and a side with 3 drinks to 3 drinks and one meal. unfortunately for us, we thought that the second meal might just take longer to make, but alas, after nearly an hour of waiting we had to reorder the second meal and didn’t even care about the side any longer. another half hour passed and the second meal finally appeared. what a waitfest! by the time we made it out of that place, the second flurry had already come & gone, but we quickly caught up with them and ushered them to mama’s hotel, where we were stayin for the night. after a li’l sesta, we head over the Sports Café and had a few drinks, snack, internet time and a li’l time with a BIG screen TV and American programming. from here we head out to Le Flostel for some pizza & chawarmas with our fellow resident volunteer. then onto a streetfest by the Presidential Palace where the headliner seemed to be a one-legged “rapper” who spent most of his time climbing the lighting trusses & thrustin the backsides of ladies who jumped onstage. he was super captivating & the crowd loved every minute of it, us included. as the final flurry arrived on the next day of xmas eve, we had just enough time to grab a (not so) quick lunch & make a break for the boat back ‘home.’ needless to say it required the fastest break you could make. as we arrived back ‘home’ to the north of the island, it was time to feast! well...time to create a feast. and what better way to celebrate a Christian holiday in another country with a bunch of Americans than with Mexican food! enchiladas- order up! DING! with quasi-burritos as a follow-up the next day, it’s a shame our Mexican buddy head home to the states for the holidays. (quasi-tribute?) and of course the bebidas were plentiful thanks to our beloved bartender, who was always on top of things. (I won’t say what exactly) our white elephant gift exchange the next day was a hit & had some interesting twists. in a last minute entry move, the previously self-proclaimed non-participator jumped in with an American icon of a gift valued so high that he just took it right back during regular game play. in a stunning turn of events, the gift of goodies I originally picked was ever so gallantly stolen by another devious participant and I was forced to choose between one newspaper-wrapped bottle and another set of smaller newspaper-wrapped bottles and what looked like a pack of cards. so of course, I chose the cards and to my blissful surprise, I opened a pack of “ok” playing cards appropriately labelled for the scantily clad women adorning the front of every card. what a pleasure to play with the now mandated ‘house’ cards. for our final day together, we hit up an uphill and upstream hike through forests of sugar cane, banana farms and babbling brooks. the beautiful countryside in full bloom set a magnificent background for the holiday spirit. after our hike through the countryside, we took a stroll to the touristy fishing vila to the west to enjoy a final meal together before the trek home for our visitors the next day. the night ended with Zoolander- for serious, and a really really really RIDICULOUSLY sleepy night for all. the next morning our buddy driver Tony picked us all up and drove us down to the port to send our gracious visitors on their way home. it truly was a wonderful holiday full of friends, feasts and fun. <--- 5 days of solitude                Boas Festas! --->