Lots of lasts

Three months of training have finally come to an end, and there were lots of events to commemorate the experience this past week. We spent Saturday at the feria in Asseri, this time not selling huevos but as big-time consumers. We had to shop for all the fruits and vegetables for our family party on Sunday, which would include all 17 CED volunteers and their families. We estimated this to be about 100 people and purchased accordingly. We came home with a car full of kilos and kilos of tomatoes, cabbage, avocados, papaya, pineapples, onions, chile dulces, bananas and apples all for 40 mil colones! We spent the afternoon on initial preparations (and by we I mean Brigitte and I while the boys napped) and then had Jake’s little sister’s birthday party and a night out in San Jose with Jackie, Brigitte’s mom. We went salsa/merengue/other Latin forms of dancing at a popular place called Castro’s, which I enjoyed because the dance floor was so crowded no one could see that I had little idea what I was doing.

Sunday morning we got up early to start cutting and cooking. We prepared three giant bowls of fruit salad, guacamole, and grilled onions and peppers. The other communities were responsible for the ground chicken for tacos and cookies and brownies for dessert. All the “gringo” food was a BIG hit, as were the various activities: musical chairs, limbo, and water balloon toss. For a party that was hardly planned with some last minute kinks including a call from the owners of the event space we hosted it at to say we couldn’t use their chairs, bathrooms, or electricity, it was quite a success and a good time was had by all.

Our final week of classes consisted of tying up some loose ends, ice cream, and movie watching, kind of like the final week of high school – wait, no, elementary school. Today for our last day with the whole CED group, we went to this beautiful finca in Jorco owned by a Tico that some volunteers befriended. He was born here but grew up in the US and then inherited this huge piece of land from his grandparents where he constructed a house made entirely of local wood, and he has a coffee farm, lots of hiking trails, and a zip line! We played there all morning and ate delicious food prepared by our Spanish teachers. No tearful goodbyes until tomorrow, though. Tonight we are making tamales with Jake’s family and then tomorrow at 9 am, we will be sworn in at official Peace Corps volunteers at the US Ambassador’s house. Then Saturday I leave Tarbaca for good and the real fun begins…