Festival Latino 2014

Majority of last week, I was down with a terrible flu. As soon as I realized I'm getting the flu, I didn't even bother to wait to get an appointment from my physician, I ran to urgent care. Waited for almost two hours, only to get a prescription for an antibiotic dose. I don't know how much it helped though, because the next two days I was too weak to even to get out of the bed. My situation got better by Thursday, and by Friday I was almost back to normal. 

So, during the weekend I wasn't ready to sit back and relax. I knew the summer is coming to an end soon and wanted to reap the benefits of the longer sunny days before mother nature throws us another Polar Vortex. The moment I had my energy drink, that is my well made tea, I searched through the internet, looking for the events happening around Columbus. I came across "Festival Latino 2014". 

"Do you wanna go?," I asked my husband. 

"Sounds like fun, we can go," he said, "but, before that I have some work to do," he added. 

"It's alright. Even I have to walk the dog and do some other stuff." 

"We'll plan to go after 1pm may be," he suggested. 

 The agenda said all the entertainment events start after 1pm at Bicentennial Park in Columbus, OH. I looked for more information about the festival. This is event that has been around since 1996 and held every year since then. It did sound good. 

By about 2.30pm, we managed to get ready and leave the house. It was a beautiful day, the sunshine was exactly the way I liked; not too hot with a touch of soothing warmth. 

"Perfect day for a festival," I thought. 

To some weird reason, we parked our car 1 mile away from the Bicentennial Park and walked. I didn't regret that even a bit. I like walking. Downtown Columbus was almost deserted and we could get a nice up close view  of many buildings. Though Ara kept pointing at empty car parks, regretting the decision to park further, I enjoyed our walk across the city. 

By the time we got to the Scioto River we heard the music and saw the tents.It made us walk a little faster. Stopping by the lookout place near the Scioto River, we checked the festival grounds through the built-in binoculars. It looked fun. 

"I can see something very Latin from here," Ara pointed to a tent. 

'5-hour energy drinks' We both giggled. 

By the time we reached there, a Latin band was playing on stage. Looking at the agenda I assumed it was Herman Olivera. I didn't understand a word he said, but I thoroughly enjoyed the music. I, anyway, love music and dancing. Though, I didn't know Latin dancing, I couldn't stand still. 

We spent few minutes enjoying the music and looking at the couples who did well in latin dancing. Then we headed towards the stalls. There were many stalls with crafts, which I thought native to latin America. Ponchos, beaded jewellery, wooden toys and arts were the best among all. 

Ara offered to buy me anything I wanted. But, I couldn't picture myself going around wearing those heavy pieces of Jewelry. So, I had to decline that offer. Thinking about it now, I should have asked for a rain check. :-)

We slowly headed for the food area,it was the fun area. I'm not a big foodie, but, Ara was excited. They had mainly Mexican, Peruvian and Brazilian food. I could tell those were authentic, not because I couldn't pronounce a single name, because I have never even heard about those before. I thought Mexican is all about Tacos, Quesadillas and Tortillas. But, these vendors had much more variety. Salt level was a bit more than I would have liked, but everything tasted good. 

I treated myself with a nice Pina Colada, served in a Pineapple. It was fun, refreshing and tastier. I liked it so much, I forgot all about sharing until I got to the last bit. All Ara got was the bit of juice soaked to the pineapple. My bad!

This festival was a unique experience for me. For the first time in the three years I lived in USA, I felt like a tourist; a tourist visiting South America. I think it was the effect of the food, music and the people at the festival. 

I still don't know what I ate, or what they announced on stage, but I know if I have a chance I'll be going next year too!

For more information visit: http://www.festivallatino.net/

Tour de Cincinnati

Cincinnati is one of the major cities in Ohio State situated at the North Bank of the Ohio River near the Ohio – Kentucky border. Known for its large collection of historic architecture, Over-the-Rhine, a neighborhood just to the north of Downtown Cincinnati, boasts among the world’s largest collections of Italianate architecture, rivalling similar neighbourhoods in New York City, Vienna and Munich in size and scope. Cincinnati was founded in 1788 by John Cleves Symmes and Colonel Robert Patterson.

I am not planning to tour all around the city of Cincinnati in one day. Because of the Ohio Buddhist Vihara, which is in Cincinnati, it has become a regular destination of late. The journey is about two hours drive from where I live. Two hours may not sound much, but the distance matters. It is a little more than 100 miles away. However, how much we love to make it a regular trip, practical issues make it difficult for us.

Therefore, to compensate we make sure that a visit to the temple is always combined with some sightseeing.

As a result during our latest visit to the temple, we went sightseeing. Unlike on the other trips, this time, we did some research before arriving at the destination.

After reading some online reviews, a decision was made to visit a place called ‘Krohn Conservatory’ in Eden Park within Cincinnati, Ohio.

We were excited by the thought of being able to see more than 3,500 plant species from all over the world. After some hassle of finding the way, even with the GPS, we arrived at a building that looked like a green house. The Krohn conservatory was completed in 1933, and named in honour of Irwin M. Krohn who served on the Board of Park Commissioners.

The garden landscaped to a butterfly theme was a love at first sight. A bench, shaped like a butterfly in a bikini, welcomed us. A man made 20-foot waterfall with a goldfish stream was the first vista from the entrance.

Yes! I am from a country where there are many waterfalls and yes again, I paid a visit to the Niagara Falls recently. However, I was in love with that artificial waterfall.

The sound of water flowing down those fiberglass stones was Beethoven music to me. My friends practically dragged me out of the place to see the rest of the green house.

The Tropical House was the first section to see. Built like a small rain forest, it contained a large variety of ferns, both terrestrial and epiphytic; cycad, bromeliad, and begonia collections; and important economic plants including a cacao tree, Pomegranate, vanilla vine and dwarf banana.

The moment we walked through the door, everyone went hysterical after seeing familiar plants such as banana, Papaya, Araliya, Erabadu, Crotons and hibiscus. That was something unexpected.

The entire section was full of plants we find in Sri Lanka. Some of those we plant and some grow in our gardens whether we like it or not. It was like going back home. It was familiar territory; everyone enjoyed the ability to recognise each and every plant in the green house.

The ‘Desert Garden,’ the next popular attraction of the house is where they kept succulents and cacti including agaves, aloes, crassulas, and yuccas, as well as cereus, opuntia, and pereskia.

The Golden barrel, a plant shaped like a barrel, stood out from the rest. It was fun to see how two little daughters of our friends’ ran around the area hugging themselves and yelling after seeing the thorns of those plants. They gestured as if all the thorns were pricking them while they ran around.

The Conservatory also owns a good collection of Bonsai as well. This is a collection of Bonsai trees from the conservatory itself, the Bonsai Society of Greater Cincinnati and private individuals. Some of the Bonsai trees date back to the 1980’s. Well grown branches and fat trunks evidenced how old they were.

The Palm House, another attraction of the house which is a 45-foot high central house with palm trees, rubber trees and bananas, shrubby plants and ground cover.

This is where the waterfall lies. When a visitor enters the green house, the waterfall in palm house is what catches his attention. If you pass through it, you will be treated with a gorgeous collection of orchids.

The Kandyan Dancers were missing, but the collection had other different varieties. In a corner of the section were Pitcher Plants. I wonder whether they had been tamed or whether I did not try hard enough, I could not get the lid of the plant to close.

Inside the Krohn conservatory is a good experience. The efforts they had taken to recreate an environment from around the world definitely deserves a big round of applause!

Pix: Aravinda Dassanayake