Today is Grandpa Gregory’s 100th birthday.
Friends and family from all over Costa Rica and other countries flew in for the occasion.
We flew in from Guatemala yesterday for a wedding and today for Grandpa Gregory’s celebration.
Grandpa is really a glimpse into last century. He grew up in Costa Rica and only went to school 1 year when he was around fourteen. He did learn how to read and write though. He spent a lot of his your barefoot, until he started working on corn, rice and bean fields, so he could finally afford a pair of shoes. His parents, great grandpa Jose and great grandma had a trapiche, which is an ox-powered grinding mill. They also made sugar cane candy for a while.
This is where Grandpa learned how to make moonshine from sugar and corn and yeast. Chirrite as it’s known colloquially. The first bottle that came from the distillation process is known as Cabeza (head) and it’s the really hard stuff. After that, the rest of the lot of alcohol came out more or less the same.
image source
He decided to move closer to the Pacific coast in the 60s as Puerto Caldera was increasing in popularity and significance for international trade.
He bought a plot of land to start a farm, and he’s been living here ever since.
Everything that came out of the farm was taken to the train station by ox, to later be taken to the market in downtown San Jose. After a day at the market, they’d come back in the evening with cash, food and other goods to get ready for the next trip.
Photo by Claudio Cruz
Grandpa later helped to build roads from Purires to Puriscal with a company called Sanchez-Carvajal.
To celebrate Grandpa’s birthday, the boys woke up before the break of dawn to slaughter a hog; a normal thing for a celebration like this out in the countryside. I’m a city cat, and get my pork from the butcher; nice, cold and dead already, so my lazy ass stayed in while the real men did the killing.
By the time I got there, Porky looked like lunch.
Grandpa was looking sharp, like a young 100 year young man should. He loves hanging out on his hammock and swings himself with a string tied to a pole.
Grandma Flor, is practically blind, but she recognizes our voice. She’s always delighted to know we’re there.
Everybody gathered around the giant star apple tree.
My father in law, Romelio, was passing out shots of whiskey.
And everybody was taking turns holding the new babies in the family.
I tried practicing some amateur photography :)
Everybody in town was there.
This right here is Chicken Breast and the man's a legend.
See this huge scar from chest to belly? well he got this from a kick from a mule. The man flew in the air like a rag doll and landed unconscious an spewing blood from his mouth. Everybody was sure he was dead, but took him to the hospital anyway.
Here he is though; alive, kicking and full of jokes and tons of stories.
The girls decorated the barn with balloons. Wow! 100 years old.
Everybody pitched in for a surprise mariachi band. Grandpa loved it and was requesting songs.
We had an amazing time celebrating Grandpa's 100th birthday and he looked like he was having a good time too.
At the end of the evening I sat down with him for a while and he told me all the stories about his youth and how he made his way to the farm where he lives now. a century is a long time to be alive and we don't know how much longer he'll be around, so as you can imagine, this celebration was special for me.
Every minute on this earth is priceless; for you, for me and for Grandpa Gregory.
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog to share my #weekend in Costa Rica. All images here were taken by me on my Samsung Galaxy S20 FE or my Sony a6000 with Sigma 30mm lens (unless stated otherwise and link to source provided).
What's his secret for such a long life?
Living a simple life I guess. He eats a lot of food from the farm and lives an easy lifestyle away from stress, pollution and mainstream media.
Maybe I should quit the internet 😄
Probably quitting processed food would be a better point to start from.
Well hello there stranger😂 it's been some time hey!!
I don't know if I should believe you though... 100 years?? That is impressive... Really impressive, and on top of that he doesn't look bad at all. It looks like he can be here for another 10 years... Did you ask him what his eating habits were through out his life, cuz damn I wont mind growing as old😂😎😎
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Hey man!
Great to see you! Haha I got the 100 balloon to prove it 😄.
He eats Costa Rican farm food mostly: Rice, beans and veggies with chicken, pork once in a while. We even had a drink of Zacapa Centenario 23 year old rum for his birthday.
I guess eating right and keeping a healthy lifestyle can go a long way.
100 years is a century of many stories, I'm glad you are celebrating your grandfather, nothing like seeing the smile on his face to know he was happy, greetings.
Thanks so much!
At 100 He's still quite lucid to tell stories about his younger years. It's amazing really 😄.
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