VIH/SIDA Adventures

I received an email from my buddy Aaron (shout out to the Junction) with questions about my projects and I thought I would answer them publically so all could enjoy and maybe encourage others to ask cuz life is getting to be a lot like life and doesn't seem quite so much like an adventure anymore and I'm not sure what you want to hear about. Way to be a trend setter Aaron!

Anyway, I am going to start with my VIH/SIDA (HIV/AIDS) project. The whole thing started months ago when I attended a informational charla at my school. Among other things I found out that there were 29 current SIDA patients in my barrio alone. Generally when you are talking about HIV/AIDS, at least in Costa Rica, they have what they call the "rule of nine." That means that for every single diagnosed case there are most likely 9 people that have the disease that have not been diagnosed. There are 3000 people in my barrio, so taking this into consideration the HIV/AIDS rate is about 1 in 10. That is really, really high and really, really scary. General consciousness regarding the disease is practically non-existant. For example, I mentioned that I was working on an HIV/AIDS project to a barrio resident and he said, "That is so sad that they have that disease in Africa." So to say the least, an education program is lacking.

As far as my program and projects go. I have ALOT of liberty to work on projects that the community needs and/or wants. This is really great because I have the freedom to work on an HIV/AIDS project even though it may not directly fall under "Children, Youth and Families." Of coarse, being thrown into a foreign community and being told "Okay Do-Gooder; Go do good," was a little disorienting. But now I have got my feet under me more or less and am rolling.

I am currently trying to get some local institutional body to take up a project. I keep running into more and more "here and there" organizations that have small projects. I am hoping that at some point we will be able to form some sort of committee or association that will focus primarily on education and prevention. Ideally this will be sponsored or within an existing institution so that it will maybe stick around for a while. Not that it would be guaranteed even then. But, since the goal is sustainability....

The local hospital has an HIV/AIDS clinic that treats a massive population within a huge geographical area. Right now they are treating aproximately 175 patients. It is important to note that the hospital only treats adults age 18 and up. There is a children's hospital in San José that treats children, ages 0-15. If you are paying attention you might notice that there is a three year age gap, 15-18. If you happen to be a young person in this age group with HIV/AIDS, or basically any ailment the local clinic can't treat, you are salado. (That is means "S.O.L." in Spanish.) Right now I am primary working with the hospital. One plus in Costa Rica is that all HIV/AIDS treatment is provided under the national health care, so pharmeceutical treatment is actually available. The down side being that the lack of HIV/AIDS consciousness is pretty much across the board. Confidentiality really doesn't exist here so many people don't get tested because of the stigma. It is not uncommon for patient's to be discriminated against including losing their jobs, friends, etc. There are even cases when their families toss them out of the house. So there is quite a bit of social pressure to remain ignorant.

Currently the education branch of the HIV/AIDS clinic is ran by the nurse. Sometimes the doctor helps out. Two major problems with this; the first being that if they are giving charlas in schools, they are not treating patients; and the second being that they focus primarily on the physical health end of the disease and do not address the social factors that play a huge role in prevention, seeking treatment and living with the disease. So we are trying to work on that. Then there is the church; Costa Rica's officially a Catholic country... Need I say more?

I have found pockets of people and organizations currently working on this. Hopefully we can get something going. Fortunately and also unfortunately, there is only so long that they can ignore this disease before there is a major catastrophy and they are MADE to pay attention. So I guess there is some hope.

By popular demand...

Okay... I guess it has been a while since I blogged. Part of the problem is that I have been somewhat busy and that things here are starting to feel a lot like life in general and a lot less like exciting adventures. The other part is that I am receiving less and less feedback so I wasn't sure if anyone was still paying attention. For those of you that emailed, thanks and for those of you that don't "shame on you!" Okay... enough chastising.

I FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY got my cell phone. It only took a month and massive international interventions. Not really, but I got my phone so I will be able to be in contact with the world again.

All of a sudden I have quite a few projects going on as well. Things that I had hoped to start months ago are suddenly coming to pass. Wonders never cease. I am starting an English class Tuesday night and an exercise class for "older" women on Wednesday. I have found a group of high school kids that I am going to start working with, that I am pretty excited about. I have also been doing quite a bit with the AIDS clinic and I am hoping to continue to do so in the future.

I gave a charla to AIDS patients and their families a couple weeks ago that went really well It felt good to be counseling again (somewhat). You don't realize how much you miss contributing and being a part of something productive until you do it again. It's like, "oh yeah, I remember this.... working... it's kinda nice." So things are coming along.

I spent last week in San Jose working on the Cadena. The issue turned out really well. We had quite a bit of volunteer contributions. This issue is our biggest yet. It was kind of nice to be in San Jose and out of the heat a bit. It is like a different world when I go there... sometimes it is a 20 degree temperature difference. (Not exaggerating).

I came back yesterday and Maria, her brother and his girlfriend stayed at my house. It was really nice. We made dinner, drank some beer, and talked. They didn't even mind having to sleep on the floor with me. Or at least they didn't tell me they minded so much. I have new neighbors that are quite loud so I am less excited about that. I share a wall with then that misses meeting the ceiling by about four inches so there is literally very little to block sounds like conversations, television/radio(which must always be played loud enough to deafen children and small animals) and, of coarse, bodily functions. But, así­ es la vida.

Big News...

The big news this week is that I got my hammock hung. I now have two places to sit in my house. I am still sleeping on the floor but things are coming along. I also have new roommates... I havn't seen the spider in a while, which is not a bad thing. There are small, medium and one very large toad that hops into the house from time to time. I also have a little mouse that has decided to hang out with me. I am not really thrilled about this addition since he likes to run around on my counter. I plugged the hole he was getting onto the counter through and I am hoping that will keep him out. We'll see what happens, I really don't want to resort to drastic measures.

I am still without a phone. I have been denied a cellular line. I am tyring to see if I can get someone to let me get a line in their name. I have actually had a couple of offers but I think they are offering more than a phone line and I really don't want to confuse anyone.

I suddenly have quite a bit going on. I have two (possibly 3) groups of parents I am working with, two programs in the school, I gave a charla to HIV/AIDS patients this morning and my old lady aerobics class may actually take off after all. I am also starting and English class next week. The last week of the month I am going to be in San Jose working on the Cadena. I've also read 5 books inthe last two weeks, so there has still been some down time.

I guess the REALLY big news is that it is now winter. One day it was a billion degrees and the next day it started raining. So I am hauling around the umbrella (which keeps me dry above the neck) and tromping through puddles. My shower has turned into a mosquito incubator and I am hoping not to get dengue.

All in all things are things and slowly but surely days are days and life is life.

Back to (Tico) reality

I spent the last week vacationing with Mom and was able to partake in a good deal of pampering but now I am back to reality... or at least tico reality. It is always hard to readjust after a vacation and this time is no exception. Monday the 8th was a holiday for the change of government, for those of you who missed the news flash, Oscar Arias was elected to be president again. He was president before but the Costa Rican constitution does not allow for presidents to succeed themselves so very seldom does any one individual hold office twice. He is actually pretty well known internationally, mostly for having won the Nobel Peace Prize. We'll see how he does this time around.

So I bought a cell phone over the weekend and went in to the ICE (Costa Rican Institution of electrcity) office to activate an account... no such luck. Apparently I need further proof that I am a resident than what I had. I'm n ot sure if they are going to give me an account at all. We will see. Maybe one good thing that CAFTA will bring is cellular service, I don't know if it will make up for the "other stuff", but after sitting in a government office for two hours and leaving empty handed, oppression of human rights and a massive upsurge in poverty seems like a small price to pay for a little technological convenience.

I also found out that my best friend at my PANI office was fired over the weekend. Not for anything she did but because someone else wanted her job and they were better connected. Así es la vida.

Anyway, hope all is well. I don't think I will be near a computer tomorrow so Happy Birthday (early) Lisa. Welcome to 30!!! It is a lot like the 20s only less insanity. Theoretically at least. Anyway, I have found it to be quite nice. Pull up a chair and make yourself at home; the alternative is infinately less appealing.

Sol y Arena

I made it home again safe and sound. I kind of hit the ground running, figuratively and somewhat literally as well. I can't believe I've been back a week already. I have been working on my community analysis and it is taking over my life. Lots has happened this week. Sadly, last Thursday I went to Constance's site to help her pack to send her back to New Orleans. I am really bummed, I will miss her a lot. She has been quite the trooper but the forces of the universe have made it quite clear that she is not suppose to be here and it is time for her to go home. I wish her lots of luck and am certain she will find her place.

On Saturday, I ran the Sol y Arena. It was incredible... grueling. It is a 10K run on the beach. I ran from the Hospital in El Roble to the tourist street in Puntarenas. They have to do it at low tide so this year it was at 3p. It is was incredibly hot and humid but I was able to run the whole thing. My time was about 1 hour 9 min. It is the longest and furthest I have ever run. I was beyond exhausted when I finally got to the end and was nearly in tears when I found out that they didn't have water... just sport drinks. I should have known better and should have prepared better, but my support staff was on a plane to New Orleans. Anyway, I survived!

From Nicaragua

Wow... my week in El Sal went by really fast. I am now in Palacaguina, Nicaragua visiting another Peace Corps Volunteer. I have only been in town a few hours so there is not too much to report. I came here via the King Quality bus, which is basically a koosh greyhound. It is air conditioned to below freezing and serve meals. I actually went to El Sal on the Tica Bus which is the other koosh line, but they were sold out of tickets. Fortunately, I was able to get this ticket to Nicaragua, unfortunately, there are no seats available to go back to Costa Rica so I will be piecing together over-crowded, un-air conditioned, chicken buses back to Puntarenas. It should be an adventure...

On Wednesday we met up with (another) Carlos in Santa Ana and then met Cecilia a little further North in Anacahuia. I met Carlos and Cecilia in Costa Rica on the Cocotales tour. It was really neat to see them again. Cecelia said that Carlos had told her I was coming but that she didn't believe it. She kept grabbing my arm as if to feel that I was really there. We hiked to Lago Azul. It is a lake that formed in the crater of an extinct volcano. We picniced and played soccer. It was an incredibly beautiful experience and utterly exhausting.

We went to the Playa del Sol on Thursday and went to a concert. It was a lot of fun, we all crashed at Carlos' friends house and slept on hammocks in the front yard. El Salvador is very interesting in that their civil war ended only 15 years ago and since then there has been an incredible boom in franchise stores and restaurants. It is kind of a surreal experience to be here among McDonalds, Texaco stations, Office Depot, and even PriceSmart (basically Sam's Club). Everything is very familiar, yet foreign at the same time. There are very, very few Salvadoran companies meaning that most capital and wealth leaves the country or concentrates itself among the elite. The American Influence here is striking, the main government party (ARENA) is heavily, heavily, (have I emphasized "heavily" yet?)influenced by the American Government. Add to that the fact that reparations from the U.S. account for more than 15% (2004 statistic)of the countries GNP. Everyone I met had at least 2 siblings living in the U.S. It was interesting to be here while the protests for immigration rights were occuring in the states. There is a much, much bigger picture out there.

I got some incredible pictures of some of the Semana Santa activities in El Espino. I will upload pictures as soon as I am able. I wasn't able to get pictures of the procession cuz I left my camera in the house, but take my word for it, it was pretty cool. I will try to do better next year.

Greetings from El Salvador

I made it to El Sal about midnight Friday night. I caught the bus just outside of Puntarenas at about 4:30 am. We made good time and were only about 3 hours behind schedule. Most of the delays came trying to cross the borders, there are three between here and Costa Rica. I was able to sit by the window for a small part of the journey and it is striking how different Costa Rica is from the rest of Central America, even through a bus window. The poverty is much more apparent and is not hidden from tourists the way it is in Costa Rica.

El Espino, the town I am staying in, is still struggling with many social problems all of which stem from or in the least are amplified by the extreme poverty that is El Salvador. My friend Carlos is deeply dedicated to improving conditions here and spends 90 percent of his time working in, about and for the community. He is very passionate about his work and is motivated by a dep love for his country and his community. It is very inspiring to be around him. He is also a lot of fun and "ornery as all get out."

El Espino, as well as all of El Salvador, is currently suffering from a massive gang problem. It is complicated by a lot of factors including the palpable absence of working age adults/parents, the deportation of gang members from the states, massive unemployment, lack of social services and, again, poverty. The poeple here live with violence and the threat of violence every minute of every day. Salvadorans have become quite accustomed to having guards with rifles patrolling everywhere; restaurants, parking lots, etc. I still have the privilege of noticing. In the three days I have been here, I have attended the viewing of a young girl that died from a bacterial infection, played soccer with kids in the "park" (the space between the highway and the pillars of the overpass), and greeted the local gang kids. I'm back to bucket baths and outhouses. (Carlos' family is actually one of the fortunate families that has access to potable water for a few hours every other day.) To tell the truth, my vacation from Peace Corps feels morelike "Peace Corps" than my Peace Corps experience. Not that there aren't problems in Costa Rica... there most certainly are, but I find myself wondering if I couldn't be more useful here. I believe everything happens for a reason, and that I am where I am suppose to be, but I can't help but think that El Sal may be in my future...

Settling in...

My Casita

This is the back yard which conveniently holds my bathroom sink

The living room, including fridge and one chair

I am sleeping on the floor and having surprisingly few problems with it

My roommate :)

Well... things have been moving right along here. I have been adopted by two different families which is actually quite nice. One is in Puntarenas and have a kiosk where they sell souvenirs to tourists. They are extremely generous to me even though I have much more than they do. I am teaching their oldest son English. They are lots of fun... the younger ones call me "tia" (aunt) and cry when I leave. The other family is in San Jose. The mom is a retired Sociology professor and the dad teaches Anthropology/History. They are a tremendous help in my technical and social issues vocabulary. They are also incredibly generous in allowing me floor space when I need a place to crash in San Jose. I feel so loved.

I am frantically trying to get ready to go to El Salvador AND gather information for the community analysis that I have to write. My priorities are obviously in that order as I have had months to get info for the analysis and am waiting til I have just three weeks before it is due and am spending one of those weeks on vacation. I am justifying it with the thoght that I will be practicing my Spanish the entire time I am gone so it can almost, technically be considered "working on it."

Big News for the casita

Looks like I have found a frige! This is very exciting news as for the past month or so I have been without. I will finally be able to enjoy refreshing ice water. And in the heat here, it is sorely, sorely missed. Plus, no more wilting cilantro. I want to cry I am so excited.

All I have to do now is find a way to transport it. I am going to go ahead and rule out the bus. I would also like to avoid a taxi but here I know significantly less people with trucks.

Other exciting news. I have been working on my first quarter work report and my Community Assessment Tool (CAT). The work report is your typical bureaucratic fun paperwork. The CAT is a whole other animal (punn intended). It is a description off the community including all characteristics, services, social problems etc. It is even more fun since I have to do both in Spanish. I guess I can't complain too much, I am a sociologist and that is pretty much what we do.

I am headed to El Salvador in about three weeks for Easter to visit friends I met when I was there two years ago. I am very excited. It has been quite a long time. I will also be visiting some people I met here that live there. I will also spend Easter weekend in Nicaragua with a fellow Peace Corps volunteer that I met down here. I had given up on being able to get ahold of her cuz Mike D. lost her email address when we hung out with her. Luckily though, another volunteer has left service and is traveling in Nicaragua and happened to run into her. Sometimes the world is quite small. So, I am excited to do some more traveling. And I will only have to spend about 48 hours in a bus round trip. ¡Que dicha! :)

I'm bored... I think I will try to get somewhere on time

I read in the paper on Tue that there was a speaker at the university in San Jose 6p Thursday night. It was a Nicaraguan journalist speaking about Power and Politics in Central American Literature. So I decide, what the hey, I havn't battled the traffic gods in a while.
I had a workshop at the school that was suppose to be done at 2. I figured, if I could make the 3p bus I could get there relatively on time. I get done with the workshop at 2:45. I haul ass home, change clothes, and leave. Miraculously I find a cab on the corner as if it were waiting for me. We head to the bus stop and pull in right behind the bus I have to catch. I get my ticket and get in line for the bus. It is nearly full and I am thinking…”If I can’t get on this bus, I may as well not go.” The guy in front of me says “there’s no more room” and squeezes past me to get off the bus. I think I see a spot behind a big guy with an even bigger suitcase. And I got the absolute last spot on the bus. By this time, I am thinking that things have really just worked out in a place where things never work out unless “Díos quiere” (God wants) so, I figure, I am destined to be on this bus.
I get into San José at about 5:30 and traffic is insane. I have to get to the other end of town, so I get off the bus and proceed to walk/run through rush-hour crowds to the other side of the center to get a cab that won’t have to sit in traffic. I catch a cab and get to the lecture about a half-hour late. The room is packed but I am able to get a seat. Then reality set in and I realize that my Spanish is not quite good enough to keep up. Actually, since I was sitting by the door I was privy to a hallway noise which included the audio for the English class which drowned out the soft-speaking author and was super distracting for me to concentrate on Spanish. I also realized that I am at the point where I know enough Spanish that I get the gist of pretty much everything. I also know enough to realize that I don’t know enough to understand the subtleties and imagery of the language, you know, all the “good stuff” that makes learning another language worth the effort. Being an student of literature, I realize that that is pretty much what literature is. Still totally worth it.

Ain't technology cool....

Can you see me? I am waving...


http://local.google.com/local?f=q&hl=en&q=Puntarenas+costa+rica&t=k&ll=9.980009,-84.840031&spn=0.039054,0.085831&t=k

(you have to cut and paste the link into your browser...)

I live on the "bump" on the right directly below the word "map"

Qué lejos está mi tierra

Things are starting to roll. I had busy and even quasi-productive week. I am sure you were all aware that Wednesday March 8th was International Women's Day. How did you celebrate? I helped the local women's organization plan some activities for Wed evening and even read a poem. Very few people showed up which was luckily for me, not so much for the women of the Puntarenas. The following is the poem I read, followed by the English translation for those of you who are Spanish impaired...

Qué lejos está mi tierra,
y sin embargo qué cerca,
o es que esiste un territorio,
donde las sangres se mesclan.

Tanta distancia y camino
las diferentes banderas,
y la pobreza es la misma,
las mismas mujeres esperan.

Yo quiero romper mi mapa,
formar el mapa de todos,
mestizas, negras, blancas,
trazado codo con codo.

Yo quiero romper la vida,
cómo cambiarla quisiera,
ayúdame, compañera;
ayúdame, no demore,
que una gota con ser poco,
con otra se hace aquacero.

How far is my country
yet how close
or is it that there exists a land
where blood mixes.

So far and the road so long,
the different flags,
and the poverty is the same,
the same women wait.

I want to tear my map
create one map for all
Mestizas, Blacks, Whites
drawn arm in arm.

I want to tear life,
to make it what we wish,
help me, friend
help me, without hesitation
One drop is little
with another begins a downpour.

-Daniel Viglietti

Update

Things have actually been pretty busy. Well, I have at least been out of my site quite a bit. I have actually been out of my site as much as I was in last month. OOpps. Last week I was in San Jose working on the Cadena, the volunteer newsletter. I think it turned out pretty well but it was a little FUBAR'd organizationally and I had to take down another volunteer. Luckily she is leaving country within the next month so I won't have to deal with her again. It was a good reminder that incompetance and self-centrism is a human characteristic and not a cultural one.

Last weekend we had our VAC meeting and the volunteers for our region got together and went camping on the beach. It was beautiful!!! We had to hike to the beach and it was pretty secluded except for a few fishermen. I should have some pictures within the month to share.

Now, I am thinking that after five months in my site, it might be time to get some projects rolling. I'll keep you posted!

La Casita and Carriari

I sent everone off on Tuesday and then headed back to Puntarenas. I spent the afternoon moving into my "casita". I am sleeping on the floor (Thank God I thought to bring my sleeping pad), I don't yet have chairs, a frige, or a place to cook, but... I LOVE IT!!!! At least, all the time I have spent in it, which hasn't been much.

I caught the 4am San Jose bus on Wed morning to go on a community tour organized by a university group. The tour was actually for a group of Salvadorans but they let me tag along. It was really an incredible trip. It was a lot different that what I have been doing as it involved zero tourists and a lot of 3rd world poverty.

The trip has had me thinking and is fanning the embers of my activist/revolutionary spirit. As the only Gringo in attendance, it was hard to hear that a good deal of the suffering has been affected by the medling and/or indifference of of other Gringos. We've known that on an abstract level, but it is different in person. I listened with compassion and humanity. The only time I felt shame was when someone told me that every other gringo they have told these things to has left the room and refused to listen. At one part of the tour, we all introduced ourselves and said what we bring to the group. When it was my turn, I said that I brought humility and friendship and that I hoped to be a voice. I later realized that I don't need to be a voice. They have their own voices, their own stories, they are not mine to retell. What I should have said, what I will say next time, is that I will do my best to teach my countrymen to hear.

19 buses, 11 taxis, 4 horses, 2 ferries, and a TON of walking....

Emily, Nicole and Chris are on their way back to the states now. We had a great time and were able to catch up on nearly every moment we have missed since I left. Chris really enjoyed that part. :)

We were in La Fortuna saw a cloud shaped volcano as well as a couple of sparks of lava. We ziplined (upside down!) through the jungle, saw a frog wearing blue-jeans, rode (fiesty) horses, saw a waterfall and swam in thermal waters in a down pour. Lest I forget the best part... we drank lattes. :)

It rained a lot in La Fortuna but luckily the weather cooperated and I was able to show them that it generally hovers around a billion degrees in my site. We went to my school, played hangman with the English class and taught them about the transportation system in the US and the 2 car minimum. We also ate ceviche which is wonderful.

We treked to Mal Pais and they got a taste of the nether regions of Costa Rica where a lack of telephone or internet service is offset by an abundance of sun and dust. The beach was beautiful and was not overshadowed (excuse the punn) by the massive sunburns inflicted on newbee flesh. Well, it didn't overshadow for me as the cancer tan that I have aquired at least saved me from burning, Emily and Chris may think otherwise. We also ate falafel and kept ourselves busy sweeping big ants and milipedes out of the cabina.

Back in San Jose, we hit the Mercado and froze to death in the much cooler weather. THen, before you know it, it was time to go and they have gone and I am back to work. The problem with vacations is that they tend to end...

End of Summer (Vacation) Camp

The week flew by as I have imagined busy weeks are wont to do. We held our end of vacation camp on Tue, Wed and Thur. Tuesday started out pretty disapointing as not one person from my barrio showed up to participate. To say the least I was more than a little discouraged. Tuesday was soccer in El Roble, Andre's site. We split the kids up and went through some fundamental drills and were immediately reminded that a) Tico kids are not predisposed to listening and/or following directions and b)multiply that by ten for socio-economic level. It was pretty out of control, but somehow ended up well. The kids got metals and were generally happy.

Tuesday was my day. I hosted a Beach Day at the (Crack)Beach by my barrio. My neighbor and her son came and I was able to recruit a couple more on the walk to the beach. (The kid I "recruited" and I have a fun game we play... he sees me and asks me for "one dollar" and I respond "Oh, you want to give me a dollar? Thanks!" He was quite confused the first time we did this, but now thinks it's pretty funny. Or maybe I'm the one that thinks it's funny.) Anyway... the kids played in the waves and Constance and I tried to keep them from being carried out to sea. Our concern was not appreciated as gringos seem to over-supervise in nearly every aspect of life. We had the kids build communities out of sand and had a contest for the best one. We included a trash pickup in the contest and were pleasantly surprised when the kids actually jumped up and filled 9 or 10 bags with trash. We didn't make a dent in the landscape of litter but we figured it was the effort that counted. Then, we had a snack and the kids immediately dropped their wrappers to the ground. Baby steps...

Thursday we headed to Miramar for Scott's hike. Andre and I had our hands full trying to coordinate transporting 25 people on the public bus. I can't say it enough... transportation is always an adventure. The hike was hot, long and gorgeous. We played games and the kids got metals for winning the races. We had lunch and then walked back to catch the bus. It was a long, tiring day, but was a lot of fun and all the kids seemed to enjoy it. In the very least, they were a little more "tranquilo" on the bus ride back.

So... nothing like following up a quasi-gruelling two week run of activity like a vacation; Emily, Nicole and Chris arrive tonight!

Climbing through snakes and waterfalls

I guess it has been a while since I last wrote. I've been kinda busy getting things situated for our "end of summer" camp. We kick it off tomorrow. I am also trying to move this week. Wed is the first but I am putting it off till Friday when the camp is over. (This is the part where I don't mention the fact that Thur night is the final episode of Project Runway and I HAVE TO find out who wins....TV is EVIL!)

I went hiking on Saturday in Miramar. Miramar is Scott's site and it is only about 45 min from mine but Sat was the first day I made it up there. It is gorgeous!! I also did my first chimney climb (jargon?). Pretty proud of myself. I am more than a little afraid of being exposed to heights and my upper body-body strength is not great, but being stubborn and prideful, there was no way I was going to be the girl that had to go around. The two Tico guys we went with said they were impressed and that I am only like the 5th girl that has been able to do that. So... I made the top 5. :) There was a very refreshing (cold) pool at the bottom of the waterfall for swimming. It was awesome! I also saw my first snake. There was debate as to whether or not it was poisonous. I chose not to get bit so I didn't have to worry about it. I am trying to get some pictures uploaded. If you see them, it worked, if not... I'll keep trying.

Saturday Emily, Nicole and Chris arrive. I am pretty excited. I have been working quasi-daily for almost 3 weeks now, so it is time for a vacation. :)

Post B-day Update

Well, this entry is coming a little late. My post b-day blog entry was waylayed by my post b-day recovery session. For those of you paying attention that implies a very good birthday. Pretty mellow. We went to dinner, good food (Tico-Mexican), bad margarita (can't have it all), followed by Cuba Libres (Rum and Coke) and hanging in the koosh hotel apartment that Peace Corps provided for IST.

Back in the site, I have actually got some projects on the verge of existance. I met with the director of the health clinic this morning and will be meeting with the senior group on Wednesday to get my geriatric aerobics classes rolling. I am also working on putting together a camp with Scott and Andre for the kids in our barrios and the albergue kids. So... actually starting to get a little busy. That means that I may put in about 8 hours this week. Phew!... may need to hire a personal assistant.

On to the weather... The weather in Puntarenas is hot and humid with a 99% chance of excessive perspiration.

Other Voices

Hey all... I wanted to post this link to a piece that Macho (aka Adam) sent to his hometown newspaper. He is a great kid and has an incredible outlook on just about everything. I thought you might like to hear a story from here, but from a little different perspective.

http://www.startribune.com/blogs/abroad/

Enjoy!

I am putting this pictures into the "Good Idea In Theory" category. Peace Corps equips us with safety equipment which in theory, protects us from injuries and such. However, in practise, this same safety gear screams "Rob Me! I'm a Gringa" or "When not on my bike, I enjoy riding the short bus."

My meeting went pretty well. Luckily the local pastor brought his youth group so it ended up being more than just me and pigeons as I had thought it would be. So, I should be starting some classes with the church group here in the next couple of weeks. I will also start an excersize class with a group of seniors. So that should be fun.

I am in San Jose this week for our In-Service Training. I have two option on getting to San Jose early. The first requires catching the 5 am indirect bus from the highway by my barrio. As it is indirect, I end up getting to San Jose at about 7:45am. The other option is catching the 6am direct bus from Puntarenas which gets to San Jose at 8am. It would totally be worth the 15 minutes later to catch an extra hour of sleep but, since I have to catch the bus in Puntarenas, I end up having to catch the 5 am barrio bus anyways.... so 5am standing by the highway. It is pretty exciting. The only rough part is that it is so dark I have a hard time recognizing my bus before it goes by. Travel is definately never boring...

So, I'm here til Friday. Good hotel (PC is paying). Should be good.

Yin and Yang

It has come to my attention that although pictures tell a thousand words, they are only telling part of the story. There are a number of things that volunteers say when they describe what it is like to be in the Peace Corps. One of these is that PC amplifies everything. The highs are higher, the lows are lower, the vices are exponential. A lot of the pictures that I take are of the highs and I feel I must throw out a disclaimer that I am having the time of my life, but some days those times seem to come few and far between.

Most of my days are very non-picture-worthy. I am still struggling to learn Spanish which means that the simplest of conversations are taxing for me. I used to be articulate and talk about “important” things artfully, now I talk about the weather a lot.

Costa Rica is kind of an exceptional place. Most people think of the beaches and volcanoes and tourist destinations. That is definitely here and it is spectacular. However, it is still the third world. The poverty here is, at times, overwhelming. It’s not as bad here as many, many other places in the world, but it is still here and often gets overlooked because it’s “not as bad as….” In December, my school hosted a 6th grade graduation in which two of the girls were pregnant. I can’t look at middle-aged gringos without wondering if they are here to have sex with children. Men cheating on their wives is so common that in some places doctors describe Chlamydia as a disease that “occurs naturally in some women.” Costa Rica has one of the lowest instances of HIV/AIDS in Latin America, yet 10% of my barrio is infected. The majority of the children that I am working with will continue the cycle that they were born into whether it be violence, addiction, hate, bitterness and/or apathy.

To say that the world-view is very different here is a massive understatement. I have discovered that there are a very few precious people that have the capacity to understand that their perception of the world is not universal. This is not a cultural or socio-economic trait; it is as prevalent in the states as it is here. They are the ones that are quickest with criticism and/or advice. I am assumed to be too stupid, too stubborn, too selfish, too gringa, too something to do what seems so obvious to those with their black and white world view.

At times I am overwhelmingly homesick. I daydream about using a kitchen that is not crawling with ants. I doubt I’ve had one truly sanitary meal since I’ve gotten here. I struggle daily to stay healthy; in every sense of the word. I miss quiet. I miss anonymous. Some days I swear I am going to pummel the next person that plows into me and doesn’t say a word. I miss family and friends. While I am gone my nieces and nephews will grow into wholly different people. My friends that were childless when I left will be parents of toddlers. My parents and grandparents will age and may slip from me. I live for messages from home: email, snail-mail, calls, postcards, blog-posts.

I want for this journal to be as realistic as possible. (Although I will be the first to admit that there is a fair amount of selective storytelling and artful exaggeration.) I love what I am doing. I’m not looking for pity or advice and especially not accolades or charges of altruism. I’m just telling this part of the story.

Feliz Nuevo Año

Happy New Year everyone. Quick update: spent New Year's in Cahuita with Maria and a 21 year old local. Good news: standards are still in tact and Maria and I rang in the New Year toasting (hoping) for better prospects in '06. Spent most of New Years day traveling. Holiday travel is even more exciting here since the buses barely run. I mean that both in the literal (bus died four times on the road between Limón and San José) and figurative (there were only about four internal buses running in San José) sense of the word. I finally made it back to my site at around 7pm.

I got some wonderful Christimas packages. Thank you family and friends. I will be trying to stretch them into the new year as far as I can.

On the home front, I am hosting a community meeting next week to officially introduce myself. I even made flyers with my pictures on it which I am sure will haunt me for the next 21 months. In the very least, I am hoping that when I run by in the mornings, people can say, "Ah, there goes that gringa" instead of "Who's that gringa?" Baby steps.

I am working on moving out of the house with the family and into a "cabina" out back. The PC rule is that all volunteers have to live with a family for the first year. My aptitude at finding loop-holes has not failed me and as long as I am in the same "yard" as a family, it counts as living with them. I am really excited even though it will not be unlike camping in that I will be sleeping, cooking, reading, etc. on the ground. I will also make a (hopefully) smooth transition into manually scrubbing my clothes and living without refrigeration. That should be fun. But, I do get to control my rice intake. Yeah! The big move should happen in February. I will keep you posted on contact information. It should all be the same except for the phone number, which I won't have.

Crocodile Christmas

I spent Christmas in Jaco with my friend Lynette from the states and her two friends; Erica and Alexandra from Columbia. Despite the lack of snow it was a very enjoyable Christmas. We saw Crocodiles which almost never happens back home. We played in the waves... I think I even "caught" a couple of them, but mostly they caught me and I ended up with sand in every crack and crevice. So worth it!

The 26th was Maria's birthday so we met back in San Jose and managed to find an Irish pub. We drank Irish Car Bombs in remembrance of Maria's time in Ireland. I had one of my favorite Peace Corps momments when I realized I was sitting in an Irish pub in Costa Rica looking at a picture of Che Guevera positioned next to a picture of Oprah. You just can't make this stuff up.

Hope everyone back home also had a Merry Christmas. I have to say that it wasn't home, but I really can't complain.

It's Begining To Look Nothing Like Christmas....

Well, things have slowed way down here. Hard to believe but there is really nothing going on. The school is closed. The PANI office is closed. And I am just about ready to get things started. I guess it can all wait til February. :)

I went to the Kindergarten and 6th grade graduation at my school. It was very much like our graduations, long and tedious and long. I think the fact that every kid here has four names may have had something to do with it. It was nice though. Two of the girls graduating from the 6th grade were pregnant. So, I guess that gives me something to focus on for next year.

I have been trying to get something set up to do in the schools for next year, but have been having a rough time. There just really isn't a whole lot of motivation to do anything toward the end of the year. Not very different than the states except that the attendance the last two weeks of school was riding at about 25%. That is pretty low. Hopefully, it will be better when we start school again in February. Who knows, maybe by then I will actually have an idea of what is going on. Wishful thinking? Quite possibly....

I thought I would give you a couple of culture details that will hopefully paint a clearly picture of Costa Rica. The first is the extremely laid back attitude that prevails here. More than once I have been on a bus when the driver deviates from the route to swing by his house so his wife or child can run out of the house with a cup of coffee or lunch. No one seems to mind so I guess that's fine.

Food is also a big issue here. The main course of every meal is rice. You have Gallo Pinto (rice and beans mix) for breakfast. At dinner you have rice with something and at dinner you have rice with something else. The next morning the rice is back in the Gallo Pinto. What is the perfect accompaniment to spaghetti? Yup... rice. The other day, I was packing a lunch to share with Andre and Scott and I was explaining to my host mom that we were all going to bring something. I was bringing salsa, Scott was bringing avocados and Andre was on chips. She looked at me the way you would look with great pitty at a poor little kitten stuck in the rain and asked me, "But who is going to bring the rice?"

Well... It is the 21st and it is raging hot and looking to get hotter. I got a little red at the beach the other day but it seems to be clearing up. It's a pretty rough life. I will keep you posted. I am headed to Jaco for Christmas. My friend Lynette and her friends from Columbia will be here to partake in Tico Navidad. Then I am headed to San Jose to hang with El Cinco for a night. Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Tico Snow

I am in San Jose and have ended up staying a little longer than I had planned. My friend Zoey is in town and her friend is visiting so I decided to stay to hang a bit. Time-wise I'm good to go, money-wise it's a little tight, but sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet.

Last night we stayed at the Bouli (Boulevard Hotel). It is right downtown off of Avenida Central. I had to run to the grocery store and inadvertantly ran into a Tico Snow storm. The equivalent of a U.S. quarter will buy you a bag of white hole-punches which one is able to sprinkel and/or hurl at fellow passers by. We got pelted. I am still picking paper out of everywhere. If you squinted a little, it almost seemed like snow. It was kind of cool if you didn't stop to think that it is actually a lot of litter.

Maybe it's best Dara and DeeDee skip this one....

I kicked a dog for the first time today.

Before you call me in to the humane society, let me just say that it is a "cultural thing." We even addressed this at staging. Seeing somebody kick a dog in one can communicate very different messages from one country to the next. For example, in the states, if you see someone kick a dog you think "That horrible, heartless asshole! Someone should kick him/her." Whereas, in Costa Rica, if you see someone kicking a dog you think "That yippy little bastard is lucky he/she wasn't carrying a gun!" It's subtle, but there is a big difference. I must say also, that it was totally in self defense. I was running down the street, minding my own business when a pack of (okay two)little yippy chihuahua dogs came after me. You must also keep in mind that the dogs here are taught to be guard dogs as in, it is perfectly acceptable for a dog to tear apart a guest because, that is the dogs job and it is not expected to be able to tell the difference between a guest and an intruder. So viscious barking and biting is generally encouraged. Add to that, that smaller dogs are not confined to their yard, so you don't have to be a guest or even anywhere near the property to be a target. I guess the philosophy behind that one is that if they are small enough to squeeze between the bars, how much damage can they really do? So, it got kicked, it wasn't hard. He didn't even yelp. Just enough to establish contact and send a message. That message being; "Oh shit! The gringa is acculturating!"

The wheels are startin' to turn....

I have already been back in my site a week. I think I have hit one of those times when the time actually starts to move. The week went by pretty fast. Not too much to update on. I have volunteered to be on the Cadena committee. The Cadena is the PC Newsletter. I am going to start on the editing comittee in February. I get a free, semi-expenses paid long weekend in San José. I am actually pretty excited. I have decided that one of my "personal projects" is to start writing mroe and to start trying to get stuff published... beyond the blog at least. If for no other reason than to give Grandma and the Professor something to talk about. :) It's good to have a fan base!

I had my first site visit. That means that my boss came out and spent some time at my site mostly just to touch base. It went pretty well. I actually learned that the school also has an after-hours program that I was not aware of. What's more, I guess the big lesson there is that I need to ask more, different, and/or better questions. Live and learn I guess.

December 1 was International AIDS awareness day. Hope you all were paying attention. I spent the morning at the hospital pinning red ribbons on people and handing out condoms... Don't tell the Pope. I spent the afternoon making home-made tamborines out of broomsticks, nails, and pop bottle tops with the Albergue kids. They actually turned out quite well.

Thought I would also throw in here that I am reading a couple of incredible books that have the potential to mold my work and experience here. They are "Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered" by E.F. Shumacher and "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman. Together, they have really got me plotting out new theories; and just in time for the holiday cocktail party season. :)

Acción de Gracias

"Acción de Gracias" is what they call "Thanksgiving" here even though they don't actually celebrate it. Those of you that refer to the day as "El Día de Gracias" are, in a word, wrong. :)

The VAC retreat was held at a boyscout camp in the mountains above Cartago, Southeast of San José. It was COLD. It wasn't just Costa Rica cold either, it was freezing-see-your-breath-cold. I was very THANKFUL that I decided to bring my sleeping bag because I was the only one that was not hording blankets like jailhouse cigarettes. It was actually a nice break from the increasingly hotter weather in Puntarenas and was the first time it actually felt like the holiday season.

The conference was a lot of fun. I got to hang out with people I havn't seen since training and met other PCV's I havn't had a chance to get to know yet. I learned that although I have found a host of small insects and reptiles in my room, it could definately be worse. One guy said he has trouble sleeping because the rats scurrying around his room at night are quite loud. He did say that he does have a little game he plays with them, when they run accross his chest he pulls the sheets tight and catapults them across the room. Now that would be something to see.

There was an "American Idol" style talent show on Wed night that was a riot. There was singing and dancing and an incredible impression of Simon, the "rude" judge (I've never seen the show but I understand he did quite well.) A group of Tico 13ers won with a powerful display of, if not talent then, creativity including a a guitar, a human beatbox, a guy doing yoga and headstands, two guys throwing verse, and two guys waving a blanket. They were called "Funky Shannon and the Magic Carpet." I think it was definately something you have to see to appreciate.

Thanksgiving dinner included the staples, turkey, stuffing (never as good as home), potatoes, cranberry sauce (shipped from the states) and salad. We had a bonfire afterwards, sang campfire songs and roasted 'smores. (Those of us who could still move anyways.) It was the most fun you could have in Costa Rica for Thanksgiving. As hard as it is to be away from home, it really reasserted my reasons for being here. There are a lot of incredible people here doing incredible things. This Thanksgiving, we were reminded that there are a lot of people in the world who don't have a fraction of what we do and that even though it feels like we are removed from most of it, what we carry with us, what we do, and what we stand for is beautiful.

La Fortuna

El Cinco reunited in La Fortuna this weekend. La Fortuna is the closest town to Volcan Arenal the volcano that has been errupting for the last few years. It was a pretty good time although we learned quickly that there is definately a tourism industry here and you have to pay to do anything. We were able to talk our hotel guy into a cheap tour of the volcano and a short hike. We were also able to swim in the thermal waters. There are a number of resorts set up but you have to pay $25+ to get into them, so we swam in the river next to the parking lot. It was perfect. I feel sorry for the saps that pay. Of coarse, we had to deal with Scott's uninvited skinny dipping, but I guess you get what you pay for...

We also ran into a Peace Corps Volunteer from Nicarague and ended up hanging out with her one night. It was really cool to get perspective on what PC is like in other countries. We also have someone to stay with when we travel in Nicaragua.

We got back to San Jose last night and Maria and I opted to stay in a hostel rather than the usual hotel down town. Good call. The hostel is much nicer than the hotel, has free coffee and internet, the ambiance is incredible, and we saved a buck. Doesn't get much better than that.

This afternoon we are headed to the VAC retreat. We are excited that the weather is "cold." The temperature has dropped down to 20 degrees C (68 degrees F) so we are bundled up.

Happy Turkey Day all!

Costa Rica Small Animal Zoo a.k.a Kelley's room

Last night I went into my room and discoved a new roommate. He was actually smaller and less creepy than the last house guest but he still had to go. He was a little frog. I am not sure how he got in there. I was able to snap a photo before I coaxed him out of my room with a manilla folder. Sorry, Dara, no standing on the bed but I still couldn't bring myself to touch him. He was quite the jumper though.

I am working on getting some ground work done so that I can start some projects after the holidays. I have been told over and over that NO ONE works here until about February. So I have decided it is vital to my assimilation process that I hold out and take it easy for a couple more months. I did get a lead today though. I attended an AIDS (SIDA) charla and found out that of the 2000 residents in my barrio, there are 32 diagnosed cases of SIDA. So, I spoke with the presenters and they seemed really excited that I am here and willing to help out. Sounds like fun. In the least, sounds like a great health topic that will most likely be riddled with political overtones. My "especialidad!"

Friday I am headed to check out the volcanos. The Jack man gave me strict instructions to send home pictures of lava. Specifically from INSIDE the volcano. That sounds rather uncomfortable so I think he will have to settle for pictures from a "reasonable distance."

Tuesday is our VAC conference at a boy scout camp outside of San José. It is suppose to be cold so I am thinking it may just drop down into the low 60's. I will probably freeze. The other day as I caught a chill from the air conditioning, I starting thinking that my re-acclimation process when I get home may be kind of heinous. Anyway, I will be out in the jungle for Turkey Day and I'm not sure I will have communication access so Happy Turkey Day to all!

Moving right along...

Well, in a surprising twist... I was actually kinda, sorta busy there for a while. Looks like it might even carry into next week. Let me pause here a momment and explain that though I have things to do, meetings and workshops to attend, I am lost and confused approximately 85% of the time. So, to say the least, not so much has changed.

I did present my first Charla. The good news is that, with the possible exception of them throwing rotten things at me, I can't see it getting much worse so there is no where to go but up. They basically looked at me like I was from another planet, clammed up during questions and talked among themselves during the presentation. So, all in all, they are exactly the same as 5th graders in the states. Yehaw!

I did think of a "culture" thing that I thought would be fun to share. I'm not sure I am ever going to get used to this one, but in Costa Rica it is perfectly acceptable for cell phones not only to be turned on but to ring, be answered and have a conversation during any sort of meeting. I have even been at a workshop where the speaker interupted their own presentation to anwer the phone. Very, very interesting.

Big Spider... HUGE!

Well, I had my first run in with icky wildlife. There was a huge spider in my room last night. My family assured me that it is friendly and only eats other insects. So I guess the most danger I was in was that I nearly took (another) digger and fell off my bed trying to avoid the spider. It was really, really big... and hairy.

Today I had three meetings scheduled with my PANI office. So, what happened was that I showed at the office and found out that two of the three had been cancelled. All except for the last one of coarse. For future reference, it is always best to call and confirm all meetings. Just because you havn't received a cancelation notice/call does not mean the meeting is still going to happen. Oh, Ticos...

Tick, Tock

Things are still moving pretty slowly here. It's getting better though. I actually have some things to do this week. I actually have my first charla or workshop on Thursday. I am doing a self-esteem charla with 50 6th graders. I'm a little nervous and may be wishing for a return of my days of boredom, but it'll be fine.

Other than that, not a whole lot to report. There is an All-Volunteer conference at the end of the month in San Jose that I will be going to. It is scheduled over the Thanksgiving holiday so we will even get to eat turkey. I'm looing forward to it. I will also be visiting La Fortuna the weekend before that and checking out Volcan Arenal. That should be pretty exciting.

I did get a flu shot last Friday. That was pretty exciting stuff. My first ever. I'm sure there is a shortage back there again. So I feel good that I took the dose that could have gone to a young child or old person that really needs it. I don't really believe in them anyway, but I wasn't asked either... just injected. I guess that's all for now...

Oh... I almost forgot. The Esteban relationship did not survive the move. It was fun, but now it's done. I guess the deal-breaker for me was that he LOVES Vanilla Ice and thinks that Eric Clapton sucks. That's just not gonna fly in my world. So... if you were worried that I would never come home due to meeting a man (Pa-lease!) you can rest assured.

I thought that I would start sharing some of the weird cultural stuff that goes on down here that is really hard to adjust to. The problem is that I am drawing a blank right now and can't think of much. I must be overdosing on the air conditioning. I guess one thing is that I generally go months between meals that I eat with a fork. I eat most of my meals out of a bowl with a spoon. That includes any meats or things that need to be cut (read: torn).

I will try to come up with something better for the next entry...

Meeting Maria

Well, I have had quite the logistical adventure in the last week. Maria and I had planned to meet in Cahuita to get away and have some "girl time." We were supposed to go on Thur. but I had to put off until Friday because my PANI office scheduled a meeting and gave me one day notice. I tried to reschedule but as the meeting was my Bienvenidos Party (Welcome) I kind of looked like an asshole trying to reschedule. So I cussed and cried and then moved on with rescheduling. Then Thursday afternoon, PC called a "Stand Firm" due to Huricane Beta coming our way. That means we are not allowed to leave our sites. More cussing, crying and broken-heartedly trying to reschedule with Maria. The rescheduling takes on a whole new meeting with Maria because there is only one phone in her town and the people whose house it is in are kind of snooty. She also has no access to cell phones, pagers or email.

So, Fri monrning I am taking my time wondering what the hell I am going to do with myself all weekend. 8 am Maria calls says the hurricane shifted North and we can go. 8:15 I am packed and out the door. 2 taxi's, 3 buses and 6 hours later we are in Cahuita. The place we end up staying is beautiful and perfect. The weather is perfect. We hiked in Cahuita National Park and saw monkeys and even a baby. (I will post pictures on Friday.) Anyway, I think I will be able to make it through the next three weeks until we go to the Volcanos and the weeklong Thanksgiving VAC conference.

On Sunday, before heading back to Puntarenas, I welcomed Lisa and Kevin for their honeymoon. It was wonderful to see her and fun to show them some of San Jose. I also got a wonderful package from friends and family back home that should sustain me and keep some of the homesickness at bay for a while.

Now, it's back to the grindstone. (HA!) I wondered into the school and am trying to figure out what I am going to do here. The wheels are turning very, very slowly. I figure at some point things will start to fall into place. Veteran volunteers say that is what Year Two is for.

Surviving Wilma

Well, with all of the weather excitement going on around here, I finally have a story to tell. Not really that exciting but, as weather goes, the really exciting stuff seems to be pretty devestating as well so I think I'll stick with boring. Anyway, I was in San José on Friday and barely caught a bus back to Puntarenas. It is generally a 2 hour ride but this one stretched out more than a bit due to excessive rains. Although we are generally geographically sheltered from the brunt of the hurricanes, we sometimes catch the tail end of them and get a lot of rain. As in, "¡Que lluvia!" It's a good thing I can swim. The bus drops me off about 1/2 mile from my house. I have to walk across an airstrip. (I thought it was abandoned but I was informed that every once in a while a plane lands there. I will keep an eye out.) The airstrip resembled what we call in English a "river." There was really only about 4 inches of water so it was more wading than swimming but I thought it would make a better story. Either way, I was soaked by the time I got home.

As drainage is generally a problem even when we are not experiencing hurricane-inspired rains, the streets also resembled rivers, as did our kitchen. There were a few inches in the house, but it was isolated and I only had to put down a few newspapers to absorb the moisture in my room. My tico dad informed me that raising the floor in the house would be a good summer Peace Corps project. So, I should have something to do in just a few more months. It was worse in other parts of the country though. A part of the Pan American Interstate washed away in the Southern part of the country. ¡Que torta!

Other than that it has been pretty "tranquilo" around here. You may be interested to know that Costa Rica has qualified for the World Cup. That was a big day. For those of you who are American; The World Cup is the world championship of Soccer. Soccer is the game with the black and white ball that you kick. It is a very popular sport everywhere else in the world.

Another one rides the bus

I am back from my weekend "paseo". Nothing too exciting to report, although I did watch a French film with Spanish subtitles and understood it. Yeah!! Other than that the visit with Zoey went well. We mostly hung out and caught up. Her site is gorgeous. She is in the middle of coffee country, so lots of rolling, green, green hills. The bus ride back was pretty exciting. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get on the bus because it was a holiday and the office was closed so I couldn't buy a ticket. When I got to the stop there were about 25 people waiting for the bus and only about 10 of them had tickets. But... this is Costa Rica. We all got on. There were about 7 of us that didn't have seats, but I was just glad to be moving. I figured standing on the bus was better than standing at the bus stop. The only problem was that at the next towns, there were people with tickets so we ended up doing a lot of shuffling and about 15-20 of us ended up standing in the aisles. I am sure it was all up to code. :) So the big lesson I learned is that there is no Spanish translation for "The bus is full, you cannot get on."

Carnage and Moral Decay

Well, I've nearly made it through week two. Only 102 weeks to go, but who's counting? It's not that I'm ready to leave, it's just that I have an incredible amount of free time in which to calculate such things.

Making some progress... I was able to go to the Albergues (residential centers) this week. It was fun. There is a little girl there that is going to be incredibly hard not to adopt when I leave, but I guess I have two years to get attached to her before I leave. Yeah! The albergue was very similar to those we have in the states. As in that the experienced staff is over-worked, under-paid, under-appreciated and when they quit they are replaced by employees that meet the bare minimum requirement... they possess a pulse. I guess I can't criticize too much as that is how I got my start, but it did seem to be a precipitating factor in arriving at the albergue to discover one of the kids on the roof, refusing to come down. My co-volunteer André eventually talked him down but ended up in a wrestling match and the police had to be called. Traumatization all around.

The other exciting thing that happened this week is that I took a digger getting off the bus Wednesday night. I have a HUGE scrape and welt on my right shin. It was pretty cool. I actually have pictures because, yup you guessed it, I have lots of time in which to take digital fotos from multiple angles of my battle wounds. I'll try to get those posted ASAP as I am sure you are all chomping at the bit to see some carnage. :)

I'm taking a break and going to San José and San Marco this weekend. It is a 3 day weekend for "el día de la cultura." Esteban has dengue so I may not spend too much time in San José as that doesn't sound like much fun. My friend Zoey is in San Marco so I will initiate the series of PCV site visits. That's about it for me...

What to do....

Well, after the initial excitement of nearly being eaten by one dog and passing out watching another lose his testies... the rest of the week was pretty, damn dull. As in... how do I fill my time between naps? I was warned about this repeatedly, but it still is a toughie. Basically, we are sent to our sites with these instructions: "Go do good, Do-Gooder!"

So.... here I am. I'm going to go hang out at the Albergue (Residential Center for kids removed from homes) this afternoon and maybe do some shopping. I am going to buy peanutbutter. I wasn't a big peanutbutter eater in the states but I think it's going to happen for me here.

It's raining. It does that a lot here. Oh... here's a fun and exciting fact about living at sea level: When the water table rises, as it is wont to do as it is not very far down to begin with and it rains a lot, the toilets don't flush. Yup, stuff just sort of hangs around and waits for dryer conditions. That's pretty cool. :)

Well, I'm off! I've got this thing...at this place...in Spanish...

Oh, Peace Corps....

I guess one of the best things about my "job" is that you never know what the day is going to bring. Yesterday morning I woke up wondering what in the hell I was going to do with myself for the next 12-14 hours before I was back in bed. Little did I know.

I happened across a group of people that called themselves (roughly translated)the 'Organization for Saving the Animals of Puntarenas.' Apparently their main project is castrating pets and strays at a massive discount for marginal barrios. I'd heard of these campaigns before, and there are many people who think efforts should be focused on people before animals, but as I wake nearly nightly to the sounds of mangy, half-starved canines viciously tearing one another apart, the idea pro-people project.

The doctors volunteer their time as do their assistants. Many of the volunteers are from the local University as every student is required to complete 30 hours of community service to earn their degree. I think this is great! So, I stop at the booth and ask for some info about the group and the minute I mention that "I am a volunteer for....¨" I am whisked away to help out. I don't have anything better to do so I play along. I end up in the 'operating room' which consists of a folding table in what seems to have been someones office just hours before. When I go in, a small cat is sprawled out and tied to the table while the doctor performs the opperation. I am introduced all around with the expectation that I learn to assist the opperation. Boy Howdy! So, I hang out, watching the opperation, chuckling to myself about the turn my day has taken. I watch a cat get her tubes tied and a dog get clipped. The doctor was working on the second cat when I passed out.

Yup... I must have turned green or started to swoon or something, cuz the last thing I remember the doctor's eyes got really big and he was saying "Aye! Ella, Ella!" and people literally got up from the operating table to take me out of the room. I fell to one knee trying to get out of the room, but managed to make it to a little couch in the next room dragging my shredded dignity behind me. At least I keep telling myself there were shreds left. So, I guess there is no future for me in Veterinary Medicine. Sorry Dara.

So that was Day 2.

Day One

Let me just assure you that as much fun as moving normally is, it is even more fun to do when you have to carry (or drag) everything you own. Even more fun when you do it in the rain! Thus begins my Puntarenas adventure... A little known fact about Puntarenas; it is probably the only city in Costa Rica whose main national bus station is eerily taxi-free. Generally I have to weave through over anxious taxi drivers to get out of a bus station, but not here. So I got to drag my 80+lb. suitcase through the rainy streets of Puntarenas, after dark, in the rain. Some guy ran out from a bar and offered to help me. He offered in English, too. (I'm not sure what gave me away.) All ended well. I got a taxi and got "home."

This morning I went for a run. Due to the rains last night, there's a ton of standing water everywhere, including the path I was on between the abandoned airstrip and the main road. These are wonderful conditions to breed Dengue-carrying mosquitos but less fun to run through. As I was calf deep in water, trying to walk on plants and watching a million bugs fly up to bite me, I started to think that this too, may be something that could be used to identify me as a foreigner. My suspicions were confirmed when a tica passed me on her bike and looked at me as if to say, "Que pinche gringa." I responded with something witty like "Sure is wet, ain't it?"

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my family has a very protective dog that nearly wets himself trying to jump over the back fence to, assumably, rip me to pieces. I say "assumably" because I went into the kitchen by myself this morning and the back gate was not locked and "Binky" came tearing out, barking and growling. I had only a broom to defend myself and I held him at bay for about .03 seconds when he broke free and began foroutiously licking my hand. To say the least, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that his bark is, in fact, worse than his bite. I then thought of doing laundry as I was curiously in need of a change of clothes.

I spent the rest of the morning, getting settled, doing laundry, etc. I then caught the bus into Puntarenas to run some errands, which brings us up to date in hour 31 of my Peace Corps Service.

Pura Vida

730 Days and counting...

The swearing in ceremony seemed to take on the air of a graduation or wedding as we all posed and smiled and looked like Botox had been slipped into our vaccination regime. The Ambassador's home is massive and elaborate. The ambassador has not yet arrived so he/she was not at the ceremony. The Charge d'Affairs is a RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer). We chose Constance and Mike to speak at the ceremony to represent us. Constance delivered a beautiful and very moving speach. She is from New Orleans and was able to go home for 5 days after the floods. When she returned, she was invited to a party at a discotech in San José on a night when all the benefits from the evening were donated to relief efforts in New Orleans. She said the experience has defined her service as an exchange rather than a gift.

My first full day as a volunteer. We stayed in San José last night to celebrate the end of training and the beginning of our volunteer service. Tomorrow we disperse to our sites. We stayed out late and got up early, reunited for breakfast and coffee to gorge ourselves on the chisme (gossip) from the previous night knowing the picking will be slim for quite a while. Saying goodbye to everyone this morning seemed to hasten the reality of our futures. We've had three months to bond and rely on one another and now we are setting out alone. That's a lot of reality over coffee. We said our goodbyes with reluctance and excitements and set off to pack our things.

Here we go...

Swearing In

A quick entry before our swearing in ceremony. Today I will transition into an official Peace Corps volunteer. Pretty exciting stuff. The ceremony is being held at the home of the U.S. Ambassador. That's right... tons of security and marines with no necks or expressions.

The last week has been pretty busy wraping things up. The primary focus has seemed to be restating what we have been hearing for the last three months. It's all good though, starting Sunday I will have plenty of time to think about and miss having something to do.

I thought I should also mention something about the weather. It is the rainy season, or as some say, the "wet" season. I havn't looked into it thouroughly but I believe the naming was derived from the fact that the weather has been rainy and wet everyday. I have experienced what is called and "aguacerra" which means that it is raining so hard that everything, EVERYTHING becomes soaking wet. When it rains in the afternoon, it is so loud in my house that I often can't hear the phone ring or hear music I've got cranked while I'm sitting next to the speaker. There was also quite a bit of flooding last weekend. Many roads were closed and people's houses were flooded. Apparently Puntarenas Central experienced some flooding but I called my new family and they told me they didn't get much where they are at. That's good. So begins the drama of living 10' above sea level. Ten feet is good, as long as the sea doesn't come to you.

Fotos

Okay... I finally got the fotos to load. I know you all have been breathlessly awaiting pictures of the architecture in the National Theater. Wait no more...

No Fotos

You have noticed that there are not, in fact, any photos on the next entry... having technical dificulties... will have to get back to you with those. Grrrrr.....!

Pepe Romero

Things are slowing down here a little bit... and when I say that I mean that my entries are beginning to slow because I have been quite busy but none of it really seems worth "writing home" about. The MAJOR exception being that we went to a concert at the National Theatre and saw Pepe Romero who is a flemenco guitarist from Spain. He is very, very "conocido" in Spain. Tickets to see him in New York go for $100 a pop. I was able to see him for $8 and unlike if I were in New York, I actually got to see him and didn't have to watch a speck producing music. He was really amazing. I posted a picture of the theater. It's a little blurry cuz I couldn't use my flash and I am not really suppose to take pictures, but the theater is very impressive as well.

You may have also noticed that, by popular demand, I posted a picture of myself and Esteban. So far, so good, still hanging out. We'll see what happens when I move again. He's very sweet though and we have fun trying to figure out what the heck the other is trying to say. I think he gets a kick out of teaching me "pachuco" (slang) and bad words... I get a kick out of his English vocabulary which consists mostly of song lyrics... "Ice, Ice Baby" being one of his favorites. (Sometimes U.S. exports are shamefully shameful.)

We have just over a week of training left. We have come to the conclusion that they are helping us to get excited for our sites by making the last weeks of training as excruciatingly painful as possible. It is working. Let me give you an example... today we started the morning watching a movie (Maria Llena de Gracia - Maria Full of Grace). Wonderful movie. I was very excited that I was able to understand it in Spanish. (We also had Spanish subtitles, which helped immensely.) We watched about 85% of it when they said "sorry not enough time... gotta move on to the next session." We then spent the next hour hearing presentations about our program. This would have been pretty okay the first week, but after two and a half months of training, I feel like I have a pretty good idea about the program I am in. I'm more than ready to go. It will be hard to not be able to hang out with "el Cinco" but I think it is time... It will just make it that much more fun to travel and visit each other's sites.

I would like to take a quick momment to say a big WELCOME to Annalyse Kathleen Brenzikofer. Annalyse was born at 1:37 am on Sept. 16, 2005 to Chad and Allison. I'm very happy for you both and am very excited to meet her. She should be just old enough to begin the corrupting process when I return. :) Congratulations and much love!

Back in the Cuidad

Okay-

I made it back to San Jose yesterday. Am trying to get back into the swing of things. Which means that we are back in sessions... long, long Friday sessions. Not so bad so far, we all have lots of stories about our sites. One guy got to watch pigs mate. So it has been interesting. We have sessions again tomorrow and then we will be out on the town again. Should be fun. I'll keep you posted.

Also wanted to send out a big public congrats to Lisa and Kevin for their BIG day tomorrow. I am thinking of you much and love you both. Any word on honeymooning here?

Como se dice "hooked up"?!

Wow! I have got to say that I am spending quite a bit of time pinching myself. So far, I absolutely adore my site. I feel incredibly spoiled. I can walk to the beach (granted it's poluted but heh...), my new family is really awsome, my room is huge, I have my own bathroom AND cable TV. I get to watch the news in English! I am bloggin from the school... yes... there is free internet access in my barrio! I am amazed. I am totally cheating... most people join Peace Corps and end up in B.F.E. Africa... I get paradise.

All that aside... I know there is balance in the universe so I am expecting some really rough projects. The barrio is pretty rough and has a huge drug problem. So... there is actual work here as well. But in the very least... I'll have a comfortable 'home base' from which to deal with all that.

Yesterday, I rode the bus into Puntarenas Central to meet Scott and Andre. (Andre is a current volunteer that has been living in the area for the last year. He is super cool.) I got on the bus and the driver asked me if I was the one running through the barrio that morning. I told him I was and he said it was better to run on the beach. "Welcome to the fishbowl," I thought.

Houka Lessons....

Apparently some Houka clarification/education is in order. The houka is a middle eastern water pipe for smoking TOBACCO. And by "tobacco" I mean that no drugs are involved. It is all perfectly legal and took place in a public Lebanese Restaurant. They are also available in the US if you are open to exploring Middle Eastern cultures. I highly recomend doing so.

Quintiscencial Peace Corps

The foto is a picture of Zoey and I in front of the "Food Court" (That's a Spanish term meaning "American food like items"). That's right, we decided we did not have enough time to bus anywhere natural and still have time and money to relax so we opted to go to the mall. You scoff... but let me just say that I had my first glass of wine since being in country and IT WAS WONDERFUL! Zoey is also really, really cool so a weekend full of hanging and partaking in great conversation was exactly what I needed. We watched a movie, and saw a Brazilian and a Cuban band. We danced met lots of international people which was kind of cool because we all had to converse outside of our native languages. Zoey nearly died as she stepped in front of a car trying to avoid a sketchy homeless guy, but she did't so we considered that a plus for the evening. We rounded the night out by stopping at a 24 hour chicken place and then stayed in a hostel whose entrance is only slightly less conspicuous than that of the bat cave. Thouroughly enjoyable weekend.

Monday and Tuesday we were at a retreat above Tres Ríos just outside of San José. It was held at a monestary and the grounds were huge and gorgeous. We met our counterparts, which are the agency and community representatives we will be working with in our sites. I had two counterparts at the retreat, one was a teacher from 20 Noviembre and the other is a worker in the PANI (Social Services)office in Puntarenas. It was a good experience although I had a moment of panic when the realization surfaced that I will have to be doing everything in Spanish. It's better now that I have repressed that reality.

I was in a hurry packing my things when we left and I forgot my journal at the retreat. I called and they said they couldn't find it so I spent most of Tuesday evening in a deep and dark depression. I called again on Wednesday and they had found it so I feel much better now.... assuming that it was my journal and not some other book. I will know on Friday when I get it back.

Okay.... I don't think Lisa is going to let me off the hook on this one so I will make it official. I have been dating a Tico. His name is Esteban. He doesn't speak any English which is good for advancing my Spanish but may not turn out so well if we find out that once we are able to understand completely what the other is saying, we don't like what we hear. Last night, we watched the Costa Rica v. Domincan Republic soccer game at one of his friend's house. It was a lot of fun and definately a cultural experience. Costa Rica is the playoffs for the World Cup. So it was quite exciting.

On Saturday I go on my site visit. I spend six days in Puntarenas and then return on the 15th. One of my objectives is to check out community resources a.k.a. find internet cafe so I should be able to write before I get back.

Logistics...

I have titled this entry logistics, which I think is very appropriate as it tends to occupy much of my time. There are the things that you plan, and there are the things that actually happen. It is definately the number one area in which cultural adjustments must be made. For example...

Today I was planning on going to class in the morning, getting on the bus and going to the Peace Corps Office (PCO) to 1) Get a check-up (routine) 2) get a credit card out of the safety deposit envelope (!) so that I will have some money to go on a short trip this weekend 3) Upload pictures (for free) onto the internet so that I can send them to anxious friends and family and 4)turn in receipts.

But....

The check-up is not at the PCO, it is at a hospital, which means that I will need to figure out where the hospital is, and most likely spring for a cab. Okay do-able. So I will just got to the hospital from the PCO, I still have a couple of hours of free internet. I call early so that I will be able to have access to my valuables. Hmmmm.... Luis won't be in the office til Thursday and he's the only one with access. So we're down to internet time... still pretty okay. I mention this to a fellow PCT and she tells me I'd better think again because the current PCV's are working on "La Cadena" the PC newsletter and they have reserved the computers and have made it quite clear that PCT's are not welcome. So, that leaves me at the internet cafe, paying for access and trying to figure out what would be the best (aka cheapest) bus/taxi combo to get me to my doctor's appoitment. Flexibility will beat out efficiency any day.

More about my site....

To give you a peek into PCV life, the second most important factor in site selection, after the proximity to the beach, who are the closest PCVs. In this area I have also lucked out. I will be one of the very few PCVs to have a site mate. That means that there is another volunteer within minutes of my site. His name is André and he has been there for about a year. I will also be very close to Scott, who is in my language group and is in the "in" crowd (Scott, Adam, Kelley, Mike and Maria). So that is very, very good. Less fun is the fact that Maria will practically be on the other side of the world. She has to take a couple of buses, a boat and swing across a river to get to her site. It will be great for her, but will mean we will not be able to hang out as easily, but we are making plans to take trips. Mike is near Maria, so he's pretty far. Adam is floating around in the middle. Spreads us out quite a bit, but the good part is that give us a lot to work with when we are ready to start visiting each other's sites.

I guess that's it for now... Keep sending emails and making comments... I love hearing from you!!!

Y me voy...

On October 1, I will be moving to Puntarenas. I am pretty excited. It is the site I would have picked out of all available so I guess you really can't ask for any more than that. Now I just have to hope I like what I asked for. I like this site because it is VERY urban, ie. it is very inner city. It is a very tough site I have been told over and over but that is what I asked for so...

Puntarenas is about 2 hours by bus from San Jose. It is a port city. It is also located very near many beautiful beaches so that should provide a pretty okay escape when things get overbearing. I will poste more details later, but for now I need to go to San Jose for a tour of a drug rehab center.

Hasta...

Dia del campo

Okay, today is the big day we find out where we are going. We are headed to a Country Club to spend the day recreating. We were told that in the past, they would hand out assignments and then send us to classes but they learned quickly that that really doesn't work out very well. So we get the day off. I am anxious to see where I will go. I had an inside line on where I was going to go, but the word on the street indicates that may not happen. I have learned very quickly that there are no secrets in the Peace Corps. It's all good though. I will post when I know what is going on next.

Better get moving so I don't miss my bus!!

And I'm back...

Okay, as you may have guessed I have made it back from Sabalito. The first picture is from the VAC dinner. More about that below. The second picture I took on the way to Sabalito.

Sabalito was very nice and very relaxing. It was good to be able to talk to a current volunteer about their day to day stuff. I also got to participate in a senior's aerobics group with her. It was a lot of fun and surprisingly turned into a geriatric dance party. The Zona Sur is also extremely beautiful. I am hoping to get some pictures up soon, but it may be a while.

We also went to the VAC dinner Saturday night. We ate at a Lebanese restaurant and had the whole place to ourselves. The food was very good. We ended the night at "El Pueblo" which is a small village of tourist stores by day which turn to bars at night. It was a TON of fun, probably too much. But the best stories generally begin with the words, "You're not gonna believe this... " Let me just say that a houka (sp?) was involved, booties were shaken and the rumor mill is a buzzin'. Let me reassure that no laws were broken. :)

I also got a tip on my site assignment. Word on the street (La palabra en la calle) is that I will be placed in Puntarenas. I would be very, very happy with this assignment but I am not yet banking on it because things can change, and my director had indicated that that site was going to my buddy, Mike. I am also experiencing a little guilt for stealing his site, but hey, he'll get over it!! It does indicate some major beach time.

That's all for now...

One more thing before I go....

Well... I found a minute to update again before I leave. I do at least know where I am going now. I am going to a small town in very, very south Costa Rica called Sabalito. It is almost in Panama and is a 7 hour bus ride. So I will be spending a good part of Sunday and Tuesday on a bus. It's not nearly as much fun as it sounds as there are not many buses in this part of the world built for people over 5' tall. I am excited though to get out of town a little bit and have some down time.

Thanks everyone for you love and support. I appreciate it. :)

Day in the vida...

Wow... I guess it's been a while since I posted... Debrah Jo must be going nuts!! So here's the skinny...

It is Thursday. I am finished with my language class and am supporting the local internet cafe. We had interviews with our program director today and it is, I think, the last one before we know our site assignments on the 29th. To update you on the issue of site assignments, let it be known that it is a subject much talked about... okay, much OBSESSED about in PCT (Peace Corps Trainee) circles. I have researched, guessed, speculated, hoped, prayed, second-guessed and finally exhausted myself of the subject. So, now I am going to wait ten more days until I actually know. At that point, I can begin to research, guess, speculate, hope, pray, second-guess and exhaust myself over something more relevant, like figuring out how to get as much beach time as possible on a PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) salary.

This week went by pretty quick. Monday was a holiday so we had the day off. Just in case any of you are thinking that this is a cakewalk, I will also add that I had a pretty good bought of homesickness and culture shock. There is a reason that 99% of the population doesn't do this... it's not because we're any better or stronger or smarter than anyone else... the general consensus is that it's because we are slightly more masochistic than your average Joe. Let's just say that I no longer laugh when I hear stories about volunteers breaking down and crying trying to buy a coke. I no longer take for granted all the little things that I did without thinking because it was familiar. Things like walking, talking, bathing, laundry... It's tough to go from 29 years old to 3. But...

That being said... I'm not going home. I have absolutely no intentions of leaving before my service is up. We've lost two girls is the last two weeks and granted we have been extremely jealous that they are currently sleeping in their own beds and eating familiar foods, but there is a whole lot of reality there that isn't much fun either. So... here I am. Wouldn't be anywhere else. Just wanna be able to order a coke without having an emotional breakdown. It's coming.

Bueno... the itinerary for this week is classes in San Jose on Friday. We are going to a VAC (Volunteer Action Committee) dinner on Saturday. Basically it is a welcome party for Tico 13 (my group) and a headed home party for Tico 9. I am excited to meet more volunteers and to have a night off. Sunday I am headed somewhere (I don't know where yet) and I am going to stay with a volunteer at their site until Tuesday. I will be going on my own and I am excited to travel a little less conspicuously than the Gringo Bus has allowed. I am also hoping to have a couple of days to do "something real." I'm not sure exactly what that is yet, but I am hoping to get a lead on it. At some point, I'll realize that it is ALL real, but I'm keeping that reality at arms length.

Poco a Poco

Well, I am officially four weeks into my training. If you are one of those counting types, yes, I have actually been gone for five weeks but they don't count the first one since we spent three days in D.C. and four at a resort. So we're at week four. Our language facilitator will change next week which is a bummer because she is super cool. When I can speak Spanish better I can forsee us kickin´it.

My language groiup is down to three people. We started with five. One girl left last week to be with her boyfriend and another girl is headed out soon cuz she just found out she is pregnant. It is really too bad because we had a really great group and I got along with both of them really well. So now it is down to me and the two guys. I have assured them that I will be much harder to shake.

Other than that, the big news is that we have discovered a great coffee spot. It is actually a "soda" which is basically a restaurant/cafe type place. They serve typical Costa Rica dishes and, of course, coffee. The owner is a wonderfully sweet woman named Conchita that has already adopted us and continually reminds us to speak Spanish so that we can learn quicker. She is a lot of fun.

Speaking of which... it is time to go drink said coffee.

Límon

Phew!! What a trip!! I was in the province of Lí­mon for four days visiting sites of current volunteers. It was a pretty good trip, saw a lot of stuff but was also totally exhausting! We stayed with three different families all three nights. We left on Monday and went to Bananito. It is a town that is actually owned by United Fruit or the Dole company. We referred to it as "Pleasantville" because it appears very suburban. All of the houses are the same. There is a soccer field, basketball courts, gym, etc. It is considered a rural site and is very picturesque. By that I mean that it is constructed as part of the tour given to gringos who want to see where bananas come from. Even a lot of the signs are in English. It is actually kinda creepy in that everything looks too perfect and you know that if you scratch the surface at all, it ain't so pretty.

The family I stayed with was very nice. My mom was what we call here a "chismosa." It's kind of like a "reporter." She sits on her porch and watches the goings one and then reports them to whoever will listen. I got updates on the comings and goings of everyone in town. We did N.F.E's (Non-Formal Education) with some of the kids. Basically, we played games with them andstumbledd through explanations in Spanish. We also watched a soccer and baseball game.

The second site we went to was in Límon Central. This site was much, much less picturesque. It is called Los Lidios and was originally a squatter town. It was built on a swamp so the mosquitoes were applenty. The house I stayed in was made out of plank boards and consisted of two rooms, one of which was divided by a hanging rug. I slept on the top bunk of a bunkbed which I shared with a colony of ants that feasted on me for most of the night. I'm not complaining though cuz the girl next door shared her's with a rat. My family was incredibly warm and hospitable. Límon has a significant Afro-Caribbean culture. My family actually spoke English in the house although it is a form of patoi, very similar to Jamaican English. I spoke Spanish most of the time because it was easier to understand.

We spent the day in the school and learned to make Beans and Rice, a very distict Caribbean dish. They also attempted to teach us to dance Carribé but quickly learned that we are very gringo. Some of us got our hair braided and we drank fresh coconut milk. It was my favorite site. The hospitality of the people far outshadowed their poverty.

The last site we went to was in Guacimo. It is about an hour drive from the coast back toward San José. By the time we got there we were all pretty exhausted and unfortunately were not nearly as excited to meet yet another family as they were to meet us. We were able to go out that night, have a couple of beers and sing Kareoke. To say the least, it was not pretty. I did get to salsa dance a little though so I was happy. The singing did not go so well, but it was fun.

We spent our last day in an "albergue" whish is basically a foster home. The main government agency that we work with is called PANI and it is the equivalent of Social Services in the states. Except that they are even more overworked that the caseworkers in the states. There are up to five people in each office and they serve a population of over 200,000. It is pretty out of control. The big issues they deal with are domestic violence, child abuse and the sexual exploitation of children. Kids that are removed from their homes for any of these reasons are placed in an albergue. They are set up to hold about 10 kids, the one we visited has 20 living there. I am hoping that there will be one near my permanent site as they need a lot of help.

We were back home Thursday afternoon and I couldn't have been happier. I had cafecito with my tica mom and spent the rest of the day reading a book. I did watch "The Exorcist" that night, not the wisest choice as I am really a big baby when it comes to scary movies, but I wanted to be social. So that's the extent of it. I have the weekend off and am going to learn to make tortillas tomorrow. Yeah!

I'll get some pictures sent out soon.