Morena in the Milk

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Today is gonna be a good day. How do i know this.....because my shower this morning wasnt ice cold. There was a hint of warmth for a fleeting moment. My usual shower is fridgid--no long showers in Costa Rica, mostly because your hyperventilating from the sub-zero temp of the water and your body will only let you do that for but so long. In most of the Carribean and here in Costa they use a thermoheat system--i have no idea what that means, but apparently not much...enough complaining

So, things are goinging well. Ive got a daily routine down with my tico mother, school is great, and there´s some really nice student here along with me who make the time outside of school fun--although im the raisin, and everyone seems to notice it. I get alot of attention down here--ALOT. Mostly from men, but form women who are trying to figure out how my hair is braided. At first it was a little intimidating, and at one point i was uncomfortable. I was walking down the street the other day and a man looked at me said " hola negra." I just kept walking, not sure if the N word in my country has an equivalent here. So i asked my Tico Mom about it over dinner (another 4 course feast) and she said she didnt like that, and in refering to a brown person, it is more polite to say "morena."

A few days later I was talking to a friend i met here a brown skinned man who in the states would be considered African-american and he said that it is customary for men to call darker women Morena, or Negrita. In fact its sort of a nickname given young children who are darker skinned down here. Its quite common for people to refer to little kids/babies who are brown as "little negrita" or "little morena." My friend who is blond gets called "rubia." So its possible that the calls from men are related to your skin color as well as your hair color--theyre gonna call you something, i guess thats just the system theyve worked out.

I wonder, however, in a society where your skin color is acknowledged on a daily basis, over and over, if that plays out in broader discrimination. From the tico friends ive talked to about this think not.

For those of you reading this who dont know what what the title means, its sort of a twist on the phrase we brown folk give to being in a situation where you are the only melanin-enriched person amidst many non-melanin enriched folk--the raisin in the milk.

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Photos

Me and Harry (one of the tour guides)
Me and Harry (one of the tour guides)

the first four
Melanie, Dana, Me & Sarah. The only 4 students for the first 2 weeks

Melanie & I
Melanie and I at Ole Ole the local "Hot Spot"

tour gudies
Alain, Me and Raul (two of the tour guides who I went Canyoning with)

melanie & her gang sign
Me & Melanie (& her Galveston Gang Sign)

surprise shot
Melanie's Surprise Shot of Me and some guy's neck

post canyonuing
All smiles after a day of repelling dowm waterfalls and zip-lining thru the rainforest

Rafting1
Class 5 Rapids, and smiling

Rafting2
Rafting the Pejibaye

Comments

[RHH]

platino en el leche
hmm... so would I be amarillo?

[amy]

lauren, i think thats a very good question you brought up, whether the nicknames or the lingo habits of a culture actually affect race, i am pretty sure it does, growing up in an indian culture where skin culture and race are clearly distinct(for those of you who dont know india is a mixture of the aryan dravidian and mongloid races) and part of the lingo introduced to children- and i think thats where the prevasity of the lingo affects the most.. btw i love ur morena/ negrita tan - in my opinion u were getting a little pale in the maryland winter! - u look great and costa rica looks like a blast- alot like dominica.

[Morena's Momma]

I thought you said you wouldn't do any white water rafting...looks like it is a LOT of fun!!!! Enjoy