Dengue Ultra Lite

26 months into service, 1 month to go and I get Dengue. It's a pretty easy case, I felt a little down on Saturday, worse on Sunday (I didn't stray far from the hammoch), yesterday was a little better and today got the infamous Dengue rash. Still moving pretty slow but looks like the worst is over. I got off pretty easy. Didn't even have to go to the hospital.

Tsunami time....

As you may or may not know, Puntarenas was recently given an evacuation order in response to the tsunami warning after the Peruvian earthquake. Don't worry though... it was a false alarm. There was general hysteria, bottlenecked traffic leaving the pennensula and taxi drivers charging $100 American to drive 10km, but no real harm done. Actually, I missed most of it as I was in San Jose for a training session. I left pobrecito Necio to fend for himself and watched a movie. All turned out well though.

I am currently hosting two trainees. Normally we only host one at a time but my compañeros are slackers and I ended up with two. Not a big deal though. They are both cool. Saturday I introduced them to the Puerto tradition of beer and patacones. Today we went to the beach (the waves were very rough due to the approaching tropical storm) and tomorrow will be the grand finalé with the booze cruise. :)

Tuesday I am accompanying them back to San Jose. I have my close of service medical appointments lined up. I will also be using that time to find an appartment to live in for the next year.

Just under two months to go in the Puerto

Carlos and Gloria made it back to El Salvador. We had a really great time while they were here. The next time I will see them will probably be in February when I go there for their wedding. Looks like it is going to be a great party, and I am not one to miss a great party. :)

Since then, I have been working on developing a site for the next volunteer. I actually drug Carlos and Gloria to a site development meeting. Don Flaco was there and just missed bringing up traigamonedas as a critical social problem. The meeting got a little sidetracked, but ended up pretty good. I have been running around ever since trying to find a place for he/she to live. The new volunteer, whoever he or she is, will be here for their site visit on the 1st of September, so we don't have a whole lot of time.

Other excitement this week... I have been starting to take care of my medical stuff so that I can be cleared to stay another year. So far, all I have been able to do is lab work, which mostly involves taking fecal samples into town via the public bus. It occurred to me that one of these trips would have been the perfect time to be mugged. Surprise! Too bad they missed out on that one. :)

Pupusas hecho de mano gringa

I am on the road again. This constant vacationing in tropical paradises can really get tedious. At least that is a theory I have come up with. So far it is not tedious at all, but I am determined to find out, so on I go.

Carlos and Gloria got here at about 1 am Thursday morning. Carlos tortured a group of English tourists with his lumberjack snoring and then we headed to Puntarenas. Saturday night Gloria taught me to make pupusas. They turned out pretty dang good if I do say so myself. I shared with my neighbors and ended up receiving a fish that is about three times the size of my head. I had to cut it in half to get it to fit in the freezer! On Sunday we left for Puerto Viejo. Carlos and Gloria really wanted to see the Caribbean Sea, so I sacrificed and brought them here. Today we took a taxi to a beach a little further down the coast called Punta Uva. It is basically a string of white sand beaches dotted with touristy restaurants. It was amazingly beautiful. We ate some Caribbean food that was also incredible. We were set to ride the bus back to Pto. Viejo and Carlos ended up hooking us up with a ride in the back of a pickup truck. It was raining and the roads are horrible, even if you are going 50 mph. It's a great story though. ;)

Anyway, so a little earlier, I faked exhaustion and sent Carlos and Gloria off on their own so that Carlos can give Gloria an engagement ring without an audience. Tomorrow we are headed back to Puntarenas and then they leave to El Salvador again early, early Thursday morning. Then I am back to work until the next paseo.

Round and Round we go

It was a pretty busy week. Monday half of Tico 17 arrived in my site for the gira or site tour. Five of them stayed with families in my site and we took them around to all the "must sees" in Puntarenas. It was a pretty interesting visit. We went to an activity in the school in Chacarita (next door to my barrio). I was expecting to do a quick and dirty activity with one of the classes, instead, I found myself having to sing the dedo song during an all-school assembly. They went all out to welcome us. Barring one minor sunburn incident involving a large gringo declaring to the world "Soy en fuego! Adios!" it was a very successful visit. On Wednesday we had lunch at the local restaurant/brothel and pobrecita Marianne got her purse lifted.

Then Thursday, I came into San Jose to do some training sessions with the newbies in their training sites. Zoey came in Friday so we got to hang out a little bit. Today I am going to pick up some San Jose supplies, primarily peanut butter and catfood, sit in a coffee shop and write in my journal, and then tonight, a student group from UC Santa Cruise invited Marianne and I to go to the Quinta Estacion concert tonight. I'm not sure who they are, although I have been assured that I will recognize some songs, but the tickets and a ride back to the Puerto are free so I am there.

Next week I am working in the Puerto, on Monday I have a meeting to facilitate scholarships for teen moms and then Thursday I am back in San Jose for meetings and trainings. AND... Thursday night, Carlos, Gloria and two other Salvadoran friends will be here to visit me. It should be an utterly insane, fun and ultimately exhausting visit. I can't wait!

That New Bus Smell

As you may have guessed, the big news in the barrio is that we have to brand spanking new buses running. They are quite shiny. Makes that 15 minute ride into the center that much more enjoyable. It even has that "new bus smell". Ahhhhh! What else... I feel like i have been running like crazy and I am not sure what i have been doing. I spent the afternoon in the AIDS clinic. I am helping the nurse there design a study to find out the level of AIDS awareness in Puntarenas. As a sociology geek, I am totally psyched about it. It is not going to be completely scientifically infallible, but I think it will at least be useful. I may even sell the results to the WHO. (No that is not a 1970's rock group... it is the World Health Organization) The other big news in the barrio is less praiseworthy. Tuesday morning some people broke into the CEN-CINAI, which is the local daycare and nutrition center. They took all the food and even trotted off with the refrigerator! I know what you are thinking "How do people wonder off with a refigerator without being seen?" The answer is that they don't. As in they were seen. In fact, some neighbors actually bought the fridge from the robbers because they knew that it belonged to the CEN-CINAI. So here is where the social justice breaks down. The OIJ (Tico FBI) came in, "investigated" and left. All the neighbors, and the CEN-CINAI workers, know who it was that did it, but their not talking for fear of retribution and in the long run it really wouldn't matter anyway because if they don't take a HUGE amount of money, nothing will happen to them anyway. The neighbors that bought the fridge from the robbers aren't talking cuz they are drug dealers and they don't tend to mix well with law enforcement. So.. that little annecdote pretty much sums up the crime atmosphere in the barrio. Most likely, the robber's girlfriends/wives/babies momma's will show up on Friday and wonder why there is no food for their kids. It's a vicious cycle.

Transitions...

Okay.. I have officially spent one consecutive week in my site. Big excitement! I actually got some work done also. It is nice to be in one place for a while.

I am trying to get manuals written for the projects I have done. The main one being adapting the Love and Logic program to PC and Ticos. It is a big program so it is taking a while. It also doesn't help that I have been procrastinating! The same goes for writing out the HIV workshops I did in the High School and with professionals.

As for community work, I am trying to concentrate my efforts in supporting the infant HIV commission here in Puntarenas. So far we have had two meetings that have both gone well. We have a third planned for the end of the month. It works out well that I will be moving just to San José this fall so that I will be able to continue to support the commission. I am looking to get them hooked up with some NGOs in San José to have more long-term contacts.

My other "big" project is helping the office out with site-development. Tico 17 is actually already here and in training in San Jose. So, we need to get them places to live for September. My counterpart wants to replace both Scott (in Miramar) and I, AND put another volunteer about an hour away in Esparza. I am not psyched about putting somebody in my exact barrio because, it really sucks to directly follow a volunteer and I have run into so many obstacles finding projects in my school and neighborhood that I think a volunteer would have more success somewhere else. It looks like we are going to put them in Chacarita. The non-porteño would probably not even recognize it as a seperate barrio, it is so close to where I live now. It is only about four blocks from my house and sits directly betwen me and the highway so I walk through there often to catch the bus. I met with the counselors and principal at the school on Friday and they are very excited about the possiblity of getting a volunteer there. I am already a little jelous of whoever the next volunteer will be. I think they will get a lot of support and be able to do some great things there. We are planning a community meeting for the week of the 23rd.

It is already July. On the 13th I celebrate 2 years of living in Costa Rica. It is also the last stretch of my PCV service. I am excited but also trying to soak up my favorite things about living here. (Like right now I am sitting in an internet cafe listening to the Little Mermaid Soundtrek in Spanish.) I am really going to miss living on the coast. I hope I am able to do it again in my life.

Finally a little time to rest....

I think I am finally looking at a little time off... from vacationing! :) I spent about four days in my house after my whirl-wind trip to the states before I went to San José for our COS (Close Of Service) conference. We were put up my Peace Corps in a swankity-swank hotel. (Rooms included, coffee-maker, hair-dryer AND bathrobe!) All of Tico 13 was reunited for the conference (both CYF and MED programs) so we were back to all hanging together like we were at the beginning, except for the fact that we have lost 12 of the 31 we started with. During the conference we were able to present the projects we have done and our "accomplishments" both professional and personal. It was actually a very inspiring presentation, my compañeros have done some really incredible things.

I also applied and interviewed for the PCVC (Peace Corps Volunteer Coordinator) position that will be available after I finish service. I just yesterday, heard from the El Salvador position and did not get it as there was another candidate that had more experience working with faith-based groups. So it seems that Díos no quiso as they say. All is well though, I am pretty excited about the PCVC position. I will be able to continue to support the newly formed HIV commission, albeit from afar. I am also excited about being able to work on volunteer support and other projects on a national level. I think it will be a great experience. I am disappointed that I will not yet be able to go to El Salvador, but now I am looking forward to spending some time there in early 2009 to work during the elections.

On Saturday, I was able to have a quick visit with Heather and Oscar before they headed back to the states. It was great to see them and catch up, even if it was a fleeting visit. :) That afternoon we went to Playa Hermosa for one last Tico 13 trip. We rented a house on the beach from a sketchy French-Canadian and had a battle-of-the-sexes Charades marathon wherein the women, once again, proved superiority. My friend Kathy, who I initially met in El Salvador was visiting so she received a massive Peace Corps immersion. She insists she wasn't traumatized but the rocking and babbling incoherently say differently. :) Kathy and I took the bus back to my site yesterday and I showed her around el 20 and the Puerto. It was a lot of fun to have here around. I put her on a bus this morning and sent her off to San Francisco. Hopefully it won't be another three years before we hang out again!

Anyhoo... I am excited to be able to spend a little time in my casita in the next couple of weeks. My cat, Necio is living up to his name. I guess he is now officially mine, as the neighbors to whom he technically belonged moved away and left him to me. My first act as his official owner will be to take away his manhood. I think he's pretty excited about it. :)

Still No Word

Well, for those of you that have been pacing, wondering what it is I am going to do with myself after Peace Corps, well... join the club. I still have no idea. I am waiting to hear about the job in El Salvador. If that doesn't work out (it is seeming less and less likely by the minute), I will be staying here in Costa Rica (but in San José). That is of course, if they accept me for the extension. If all else fails, I may be wondering around Central America nursing my wounds and picking up the pieces of my self-confidence. Regardless, I'll end up where I am suppose to be. I always do.

Demasiado Poco Tiempo

I believe I spent the last week in the states. I can't say for sure because it went by so fast and much of it passed in a blur, but I have some tickets stubs that say I was there, so I must have been.

I got in to Denver last Wednesday night at about 9p. I left Costa Rica at 7 am that morning but spent most of the day at the Houston airport. My flight was delayed (thanks to high winds) and then I almost missed it due to having a couple of beers bought for me and being too accustomed to la hora tica (thanks to Darren (?) and Costa Rica respectively). The first indications of reverse culture shock came when I was unable to speak English in the Houston airport (possibly due to said beers) and when later that night at Qdoba, when the burrito boy asked if I wanted salsa I said "si" and then spent the next five minutes trying to convince him that I am accustomed to speaking Spanish and was not one of those dorks that says "si" instead of "yes" in all Mexican and Mexican-esque restaurants.

I spent Thursday morning at the DMV trying to get my driver's license back, a logistical remnant from the mugging. While waiting, I decided to walk over to the Rite Aid and pick up an Economist to read and pass the time. I searched high and low through a plethora of bridal, hotrod, celebrity and porn magazines but couldn't find it. I asked the girl working there if they had any news magazines at all, I would have settled for a Time or Newsweek even. She looked confused and offered a Discovery Magazine. "Never mind," I said. I guess campesino does translate.

Friday I had lunch with the Island Grove group. It was kinda our last she-bang as Nicole is moving to San Diego. Chris will be working on his post-doc. I suggested that where I come from, when someone is unable to finish going to school, it is sometimes referred to as being "held back." :) Lisa told me I was old, I told her "yes WE are." She is desperately avoiding motherhood although I think that any man that will still love you after you set his apartment on fire is one that maybe needs to be duplicated. :) Em looks happy and great and is learning to love a Republican. Donna is still amazing, still my hero and still working with the people everyone else wants to forget about, all the while suffering the British shenanigans of Dr. Hottie. And Mason.... Mason is still Mason, swinging from apron strings and looking for a lap to lay his head in. Headed off to counsel torture victims in Eastern Europe. Wei Wu Wei my friend.

Friday night drove to New Castle and hung out with the fam and 5 rapidly growing nieces and nephews. It's hard to miss that part. Billie and Rod have one more on the way, so soon there will be six. Saturday we headed to Grand Junction and hung out with a few select Sefcovics along with my girl Holly and the little man Ky. We had a very pleasant afternoon. Saturday night I met up with Aaron, Maria and Will (Bill) my buds from the initial El Salvador trip. We swapped some stories, did some shots, I lost Holly, but then I found her again. I am still getting used to American cell phones. Not sure what the big difference is, but I seem to be deaf to their ring tones. :) I learned that speaking Spanish makes me invincible at Shapiro’s although the big gringo standing behind me may have had something to do with that. :) Holly and I went to an after party at J-Dogg's or some other dreaded rapper sounding name. I spent most of the night staring at Grand Junctions alternative crowd thinking "you people are definitely not ticos." Sunday morning was back up to New Castle. I taught Holly about tico time she seemed to catch right on. We had breakfast with the Burns' et al. and then headed back to the Fort.

Monday, I kidnapped Sarah from her infant twins and 4-year-old and took her shopping. It was lots of fun. There was giggling involved. I had just enough time to squeeze in an hour of drinking coffee and writing in my journal at Starry Night before I met Shawn and Cassie for dinner at the Rio. They are expecting their second child or "young mind to corrupt" as I like to call them. Caroleena and Andy joined us and we ended the night with a PBR at the Trailhead. They are also doing well, finishing up school, working for Island Grove and hunting shrooms. Cool.

Tuesday Byron and I were going to go hiking but it was raining. (Did I mention that I froze 97% of the time I was in Colorado?) So we went over my financial stuff. I got a couple of "bad monkey" speeches but other than that, all went well. Byron seems to have inherited all of the "adult responsibility" genes, I predict that this will not be the last time I am found crashing on his couch. Dara still likes animals. I can't seem to talk her out of it. Although there maybe be hope for her after all, she spends her days cutting them up and placing their insides on glass slides, or watching other people to make sure they do said cutting correctly. Jack got onto my computer and learned to play chess. I may try to learn also and play with him next time I am home but that will probably end with tears. Not generally a problem, except that they will probably be my tears and that's not nearly as fun.

Wednesday I spent packing and desperately looking for quasi-formal shoes just in case I ever need to wear something besides my Chacos. Failed miserably. I have been cursed with gargantuan feet and they just don't make shoes for me. I have thought about shopping where drag queens shop, but I think I would be hard pressed to find a sporty-and-outdoorsy-yet-appropriate-for-semi-casual-drag-queen store. If you know of one, please let me know. :)

Wednesday night, I left. We, logically, flew from Denver (left at 1:30am) to Newark then to Costa Rica. I was only quasi-conscious through most of the flight. I got back to San Jose, grabbed a cab to my bus stop just in time to squeeze into the last space on the bus to Puntarenas. My house is in good/excellent order, thank you Marianne. My neighbors are already hooking me up with their husbands’ co-workers and my cat is MIA. Although I'm not worried about the cat, I know he has been around because there was half a mouse on the kitchen floor when I got back. He is probably just pouting because I was gone so long. He is so catty! HA! Anyhoo... like I said, I spent most of my time running frantically from one reunion to another. I learned that one week is not nearly enough time after being gone nearly two years.

I am still waiting to hear about the El Salvador job. So I still don't know, for sure, what I will be doing come October. Well, that's about as good an update as I can give you. I have a work report and a close of service report due soon so I will be spending the next couple of days at my computer.

Peace Out

T minus 4 months

Today I picked up my COS (Close of Service) packet from the encomiendos office (aka the bus stop.. you can send packages on the passenger busses.. .it's fun AND relatively convenient). I now have to think about wrapping up this whole crazy experience and sumarizing it in 2 pages or less to be filed away in the D.C. office for posterity. That'll give me something to think about for a bit.

Other than that, I am hanging out in the Puerto again. I am recovering nicely from the hernia opperation. It involves a lot of wandering around and watching it rain. It is not, really, much different than what I normally do.

I did have a pretty productive meeting with a group from the Ministerio de Salud (Health Ministry) about forming an HIV commission in Puntarenas. It sounds pretty promising, although I am still a little gun-shy about getting my hopes up. We have another meeting in a couple of weeks, so we'll see what happens.

New PCCR Logo

Que Pereza!

I am "recovering" in San Jose. I am BORED! I am actually feeling quite good. I am moving a little slow but the drugs are good so things aren't so bad. Anyhoo... I thought I would share with you all some of my favorite tico-isms (or translations that make me giggle):

The word for 'lesbian' is 'tortillera'

The word for 'vibrator' is 'consolador' (Ha!)

The word for 'handcuffs' is 'esposas' or 'wives' (a tad bit machista, eh?)

Anyhoo... that is my most recent cultural update. Hope it serves you well. :)

El Chunche

Well, I have four months left in Costa Rica and I figured one thing I havn't done yet is get cut open in third world hospital. So yesterday afternoon I remedied that. Yesterday, I had a hernia operation. I would like to point out though that the "third-world" hospital that I was in, was not really that. It was the private gringo hospital and is arguably better than most of the US public hospitals. Private room, cable, it could definately be worse.

I got a shiny gold star for my surgery. I have been pleasantly surprised that I have had very little pain and discomfort. The Surgery doctors and anestesiologists thought I was a little nuts because when they gave me the spinal, I couldn't stop giggling and saying "Hormigas! Hormigas! Me siento boracha!" Apparently the hernia was in the top of my leg muscle rather than my abdomen and it was BIG. (I try not to do anything half-assed.) But, all is well now. I am on the road to recovery and should be fine within a couple of weeks. Right now I am staying at a hotel in San Jose. Zoey has generously come into town to take care of me and cater to my every whim. I will be here until Saturday so I will have lots and lots of internet access. Yea!

Back to life in the Puerto

I have been in my site for over a whole week now. (I am not counting a quick day trip into San Jose to run errands). I was pretty excited that I was here on Friday and got to go to the feria de verduras (farmer's market). I havn't been able to go in about two months and I really miss it. It is definately the perk of my exciting weekends.I went to the beach and played in the surf with some kid friends on Saturday and got a pretty heinous burn on my right side. It's fading though so I really can't complain too much.

Miracle of miracles, my PANI office has internet up and working so I am taking advantage of the free internet time. It is definately not something to be taken for granted. I am waiting for my new APCD (boss), the infamous Dan Baker to get here so that we can have a meeting with my counterpart about where they are going to put Tico 17 volunteers. I have a couple of places that I would like to see them place some people so I am hoping that they will be able to happen. Other than that, there is not a whole lot to report. I have some stuff to be wrapping up, but I am mostly procrastinating. I still have an entire season of CSI on DVD to watch, it's tough work, but someone's gotta do it, and since Katheryn left, that leaves it all up to me.

Back in the Puerto

I am back home again. And I have been here for more than two days in a row. It is a little strange, but I think I can get used to this again. It's not quite back to normal yet though cuz I had out-of-town visitors Monday night. Kevin, a friend from the states that was a PCV in the Republic of Georgia was visiting so I got to hang out with him and his buddy Jairo. We had about as good a time as you can have in a seedy port town. Did some dancing, sang some kareoke, really, really badly and drank a couple of cervezas.

I am focusing most of my efforts now into wrapping things up here and preparing for the next step. I only have a little more than 4 months left til the end of service! I am still planning on going to El Salvador for a while when I finish here. I just don't know what I am going to be doing when I get there. Figuring it out is all part of the fun though right?

That's all for now.

La despedida mas triste

Me and Maria in Costa del Sol, El Salvador

I am still running. I think I have been home a cumulative total of two weeks in the past two months and a week and a half of that was hosting guests. I am beyond exhausted, but not yet done.

I spent last weekend with Maria. We went to Puerto Viejo, Cahuita and then I finally made it to her site. It was our farewell tour, you might say. Maria is headed back to the states on Saturday. She got accepted into a really great grad school program this fall and is headed out early to spend some time with the fam and go to her brother's graduation before she hits the books in Vermont. I'm really excited for her but I will also miss her terribly. I have spent the last two years figuring out how I am going to fill my time until we can hang out again. I'm not sure what I am going to do with myself. I actually think I am still in denial. So far it just feels like we are hanging out again and then we will go back to our sites. I think it will hit me for reals in a couple of weeks when I get the urge for coffee and Maria time and there is none to be had. Que tristeza!

Anyhoo... we are in San Jose now. Zoey, Maria and I went to our favorite restaurant, Tin Jo last night. Zoey heads back to her site tonight, I'll be here to see Maria off tomorrow. Then back to Puntarenas tomorrow, and hopefully I will get to stick around a bit.

One Small Good Thing

It's done! The following is what I submitted to the Cadena about my HIV Workshop:

The entirety of my service seems to come down to this. It wasn't an accident. I've been calling it, "my baby," my "legacy project" for months. And it has literally taken months for this one day to come together. The HIV infection rate in my barrio is estimated to be one infected person for every ten residents. One in ten. 10% of the population. So I give some charlas, start talking about what no one wants to talk about. Inevitably, I know that my voice, is just one voice, in one small place in the world that not even Google Maps can focus on. Christian mythology says that hope springs from the tiniest mustard seed, but futility was beginning to lap at my mustard seed. I was sitting in a meeting of my Junta de Proteccion zoning in and out of consciousness as they ranted about the dangers of traigamonedas. I could hardly mask my indignation... Drugs, alcohol, domestic violence, delinquency, HIV/AIDS and the group that is suppose to be protecting kids is worried about glorified pinball machines. "I'm outta here" I thought, and then my do-gooder conscious part said, "Quit whining and do something about it. Teach them."

I had done some work at the local HIV/AIDS clinic and suggested to the nurse there that we host a taller(workshop) for professionals educating them about HIV/AIDS. The hospital was already involved in doing some education in the schools and other organizations although their reach is severely limited in that they spend a great deal of time treating patients and they don't have the time or resources to dedicate to organizing charlas. I have the social connections I told him. I have drank coffee and talked about the weather in pastel colored cement buildings all over this city. The theory is that all service workers that work with the affected populations are working in HIV/AIDS, they just don't realize it. It's up to us to tell them, I said. He agreed. Well, he said, Where would we get the money?

We had no budget. It was made pretty clear that there would be no financial support from the hospital or any other social institution. (Speaks volumes doesn't it?) Our biggest expense would be the food, and there has GOT to be food. Whoever said, "There's no such thing as a free lunch" has never been to a tico taller. Not only is there a free lunch, you also get two cafécitos. "If you feed them, they will come." I decided I would write a PCPP and try to get the funding for the food. That would leave the facilities, all resources etc. up to the community to provide. My hospital counterpart had a contact at the Rotary Club and he thought he would be able to get the building donated, the clinic staff would be giving most of the presentations so that would not be a cost and the rest we would hunt and gather. We had a plan, we were good to go. We were on it. First things first let's pick a date. It is such a simple thing, you look at a calendar, you chose a day, you write it down, then you get to work.

We changed the date 3 billion times between November and April; the space wasn't available that day, he scheduled it during his vacation, then the doctor wasn't available, then the "donated" space became a "discounted" space and we were back at square one. This called from drastic measures. Fortunately, while researching "stress management techniques" and greater "community integration" on the Paseo de Turistas I met the brand, spanking new gringo owner of a bar/restaurant and ended up talking him into donating the upstairs of his building, and he would work within our budget for the food. Rockin'! Now I have a space, AND the irony of giving an HIV taller in a bar was really just too good to pass up. The good news; things are coming together. The bad news; it's becoming increasingly clear that this is my baby and very little help is coming from my "counterpart." I decide I am just going to have to live with that. It's not that they don't care or even that they don't want to do anything, it's that working on big problems with few resources tends to breed what looks like apathy, but is really just hopelessness and resignation.

The "S" word (sustainability) keeps popping up in my head. If I'm the only one invested in this, it's not sustainable. "One good thing," I think. "If I can just do one good thing during my service. I'll be happy." I had it in the back of my mind, but I hardly dared to whisper it. I wanted to create a Red de Prevención. There are a ton of HIV resources out there, but there is not any one organized entity in Puntarenas that is working on getting them there. It's a pipe dream, I know. But, I thought that if we could just get people together; the people that are already out there working in the most affected populations. If we could just get them to be aware of it. If we could get them to start talking about it, even in the smallest way, then that would be something. That would be my seed.

The week before the taller, the date was finalized (for real this time). We cranked out some invitations, I took half and my counterpart took half. I hit the streets. I walked all over Puntarenas with a stack of invitations and a sweat rag. I was running about half and half of those that said they would be able to go, and knew that probably about half of the ones that said they would make it wouldn't actually come. I spent the rest of the week typing up the agenda, pre and post tests, evaluations and surveys that would be the measurements and accountability portion of my project. My counterpart was working on getting us some folders donated.

Monday morning, the day before the taller, I got to the hospital to go over final stuff with my counterpart. He, the doctor and the psychologist are scheduled to present in the morning. I booked an amazing woman from Associacion Americas to come from San Jose to present in the afternoon. I got to the clinic Monday morning, the day before the taller and my counterpart has come through with the folders. Yipee! Then the psychologist walks in and I ask her if she is ready for the big day and she says, "yeah, I don't think I'm gonna make it. I think I am gonna be 'incapacitada"(sick) tomorrow." So I did what any mature professional would do... I told on her. My counterpart told her she had to go or at least had to find someone to stand in for her if she couldn't go. I confirmed the Associacion Americas woman that afternoon. I had all the speakers lined up with one exception, me. But I still had a good ten hours to get that together.

The morning of the taller I show a the restaurant at 8 am. The taller was scheduled to run 8-4, so needless to say, I was early. There were two minor (AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!) catastrophes first thing. The new owners changed the name of the restaurant recently and had bought a new sign. The name I put on the invitations was in little-bitty print on the new sign. I had also mistakenly written "Oeste"(West) on the invitations instead of "Este"(East). I was on the verge of a breakdown. Was it all really going to fall apart due to one little extra 'O'? One little 'O', as in "Oh f*@#, everybody's lost." My ever so generous machito compañero helped me out, signs were made people came. Not a lot of people, but people none-the-less. I ended up with 11 professionals and 6 PCVs.

All in all, things went pretty okay. The presenters presented. The food was good. The service was good. People participated. The Associacion Americas presentation was incredible and impactful. It still had it's idiosyncrasies of course. It was Puntarenas HOT. The doctor sweat through his scrubs during his presentation. Don Flaco; so named because he is amazing emaciated (I think that taller provisions are his sole source of nourishment); still managed to bring up the evils of traigamonedas. The afternoon presenter was an hour late and my counterpart left after lunch. But then people started talking about the future. Shirley, this incredibly powerful and compassionate woman, starts talking about planning another taller for her coworkers and for MEP and IMAS. The women from the schools ask about scheduling the doctor to present at their school. And then it happens, the heavens open, a man from the Minesterio de Salud (Health Ministry) says it; "I am going to work on putting to together a commission to work on HIV prevention in Puntarenas."

I don't dare get my hopes up. There is excitement, there is energy, there are promises and sometimes they don't make it out of the building. When I leave here in September, the HIV infection rate will still be high. The social workers and psychologists will still be over worked and overwhelmed. Vital programs will still be under-funded. Important information will not be distributed because it is uncomfortable to talk about. The impact of the taller will fade. But maybe, just maybe, one small good thing remains.

This thing may actually happen

I don't want to speak too soon, but it looks like my HIV workshop for professionals may actually happen. The newest and latest date for it is next Tuesday. We are having it in a bar. No, the irony is not lost on me. I am running around today hand delivering invitations (read: begging people to come). I am not sure how this thing is going to turn out. I may be in tears come Wednesday, but at least it will be over and done with.

More irony: Last week I was in San Jose giving a talk to the new group about filling out Incident Reports after having been mugged and/or a victim of theft. When I got back to my house, I found out that the local crackheads had stolen my towels off my clothesline in my back yard. Oh those crackheads! You just never know what sort of shenanegans they'll be up to next!

Back but not completly

We got back to Costa Rica Sunday night at about 9pm after over twenty sweltering hours on a bus without air conditioning. To say the least it was good to be back. I was home for two whole days before I had to come into San Jose to do some training work. I am giving a training on safety and how to fill out an incident report since I have, unfortunatley, got the process down now. I am looking forward to spending some actual time back in my site.

The date on my HIV/AIDS workshop got changed again. It will be nice to have a little more time to get things together but I would also really, really like for it to get done. It has drug out a really long time. I am a little worried that I am more invested in it than my counterparts, but that is a pretty typical scenario. After so much anticipation, I am just hoping that it gets done without bombing too badly. On a good note, the food is paid for so I don't have to worry about people showing up! :)