So after another week of soccer camp, I was keeping my fingers crossed that the swine flu scare would pass, school would reopen, and peace and order would be brought back to Quebradas. And when the good news was announced at home, I was definitely more thrilled than my two host siblings. After a quiet weekend at home (the family was at a retreat for Duglass' office) and a fun but sad going away party for Richie and Ines with their host families, I set off nervously for my first day of environmental education classes Monday morning. It didn't much help that the night before, I watched Episode 3 of Season 4 of the Wire, where Prez has his first day teaching math at an inner city high school, resulting in one kid stealing all the bathroom passes and a girl bleeding from the face...Okay my day wasn't THAT bad, but it was tough! I got there and the school director invited me for coffee with the other teachers, which was a nice gesture so I had to drink it of course even though I had just had a cup at home. Then they told me my schedule: start with first graders, then second, then sixth, then third. Thirty minutes for lunch. Then fourth grade, then another section of third, then fifth, then sixth. Forty minutes each. That took me from 8:40 am to 5pm! And the teachers didn't stay in the classroom with me, they just kind of handed off their kids to me so they could go grade papers or drink more coffee. So being new, not speaking great Spanish, and teaching a class that isn't graded gave me very little leverage. Luckily I had made some friends during soccer camp and just from being around the community, but even the kids that were nice to me refused to pay attention for 40 minutes straight! Anyways it was an exhausting day but I definitely learned a lot about how to cater my lesson plans in the future and that we should spend as much time outside doing activities as possible. I also have a newfound utmost respect for elementary school teachers...
Today was a first mini-success at the school: I got 8 cans donated from the municipality of San Isidro that we're going to use as recycling bins. I say cans and not trash cans because they are currently sealed shut with metal tops, so we need to find some man with a saw in town to take care of that issue. And I say mini because, as I learn more every day, everything here is poco a poco. I also went into the high school for the first time today, which isn't located in my community but about 3 km south, and introduced myself to the Assistant Director and met a teacher and some students who are working on a school newspaper project, which I am hoping I can tap into for a newspaper project I want to start in Quebradas. They were very receptive, respectful, and motivated, which both impressed and relieved me after tough times at elementary school.
Another highlight from last week was when the electricity went out during my evening English class. After all the girls stopped screaming, we continued the class in the dark, with everyone sharing cell phone lights to read their notes. That's the kind of resourcefulness that every Peace Corps volunteer needs!
Up later this week is more talking in circles with the local artisan group, an eco-tourism network meeting at FUDEBIOL, the opening ceremony of FOUR news shops in Quebradas (we might as well call it a mini-mall), and a surprise 73rd birthday party with a live band. Should provide for more entertaining stories next post!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Winter break in CR
The past two weeks have left me sun burnt and bug-bitten but content. After Dan left, I decided to try to focus more seriously on my CAT (Community Assessment Tool), our principal assignment from Peace Corps in our first three months of service. It’s basically a report we have to do on the history of our communities, demographics, health, social institutions, social problems, education, productive activities, etc., all leading up to our work plan for the next door years based on opportunities for development identified. So we are supposed to do formal interviews, surveys, document research, FODA’s, and general observation to write the report. It kind of feels like I’m doing my senior thesis all over again, except this time it all has to be in Spanish. Anyways it is kind of intimidating to start but it provides a good excuse to talk to people and explain a little more about my role as a Peace Corps volunteer, and I ended up having some really useful interviews and getting some good ideas for projects. The frustrating part is that I’m yet to identify anyone who’s really willing and able to work with me on those projects. Everyone says, “we need a youth group” or “FUDEBIOL needs to do more for the community,” but no one wants to be the one to lead the charge. So I can tell a big part of my task here is going to be as a motivator, slowly but surely…
Then this week was the beginning of soccer camp, an idea I had proposed to Ritchie, the Spanish volunteer who was a soccer coach in Spain, to do together during the kids’ “winter” vacation. I had made flyers two weeks before and a bunch of kids signed up, but come Monday we had zero equipment. So I went on a mission to the house of a man I had heard used to coach some of the kids in the neighborhood and to another house where the coach of the current men’s team lives and came up with three balls, three cones, and a whistle, which was a good start. The camp was Tuesday through Friday, from 7 to 11. Kids 9 and under were from 7 to 9 am and 10 and up were 9 to 11 am. No one was there at 7, and I was worried that everyone had forgotten about it, but Ritchie reminded me that we were on Tico time and they’d make it eventually. Sure enough, we had about 10 little tykes in the first session and 20 in the second! I was a little intimidated by the older group at first because it was mostly boys, many of whom were bigger and better than me at soccer, but they were all well-behaved for the most part and all seemed to want to be there and to like the organized nature of the camp, as otherwise they would probably be watching tv at home or just kicking the ball around with no real purpose. So we tried to do a mix of teaching technique and conditioning and discipline and playing games, and I think it went pretty well. Ritchie ended up only being able to come the first day, but some of the other volunteers helped the other days and Adrienne, another Peace Corps volunteer friend who lives nearby, came and helped on Friday, which was really fun. Anyways being out in the sun on my feet for four hours straight four days in a row was super exhausting, and I definitely got frustrated with the kids and spent a lot of time screaming with my voice which I think gets even squeakier in Spanish, but I was really happy with the turnout and enthusiasm, and it turns out that school in all of Costa Rica got canceled next week because there were a few more cases of the H1N1 virus, so we are going to do the camp again! Oh man. But today when I was running I passed a couple houses where some of the players were and they all screamed my name and waved, so I was excited to know that I had at least made some new friends.
This weekend was the VAC (Volunteer Activity Committee) reunion for all the Peace Corps volunteers in the Southern Zone. Every three months, we get a free night out of site and reimbursement for travel and one meal to have a “meeting” with all the volunteers in our region to discuss projects and go over Peace Corps-related news and announcements. But it’s also just an excuse to get together in a cool place and have fun for a weekend, which is definitely where the focus was. We all met up at this mansion in the mountains on the road to Dominical that a gringo rents out to groups, and it was pretty ridiculous. There were 25 of us, a pool, a Jacuzzi, a home theater, and a human-sized chess court. Enough said. It was cool to meet some of the older Peace Corps volunteers and hear about their communities as well as to see the other Tico 19ers from my group and hear about their first month and a half in their sites. And yesterday afternoon we had brownies fresh out of the oven! It wouldn’t be a complete blog entry without at least one food reference…
Then this week was the beginning of soccer camp, an idea I had proposed to Ritchie, the Spanish volunteer who was a soccer coach in Spain, to do together during the kids’ “winter” vacation. I had made flyers two weeks before and a bunch of kids signed up, but come Monday we had zero equipment. So I went on a mission to the house of a man I had heard used to coach some of the kids in the neighborhood and to another house where the coach of the current men’s team lives and came up with three balls, three cones, and a whistle, which was a good start. The camp was Tuesday through Friday, from 7 to 11. Kids 9 and under were from 7 to 9 am and 10 and up were 9 to 11 am. No one was there at 7, and I was worried that everyone had forgotten about it, but Ritchie reminded me that we were on Tico time and they’d make it eventually. Sure enough, we had about 10 little tykes in the first session and 20 in the second! I was a little intimidated by the older group at first because it was mostly boys, many of whom were bigger and better than me at soccer, but they were all well-behaved for the most part and all seemed to want to be there and to like the organized nature of the camp, as otherwise they would probably be watching tv at home or just kicking the ball around with no real purpose. So we tried to do a mix of teaching technique and conditioning and discipline and playing games, and I think it went pretty well. Ritchie ended up only being able to come the first day, but some of the other volunteers helped the other days and Adrienne, another Peace Corps volunteer friend who lives nearby, came and helped on Friday, which was really fun. Anyways being out in the sun on my feet for four hours straight four days in a row was super exhausting, and I definitely got frustrated with the kids and spent a lot of time screaming with my voice which I think gets even squeakier in Spanish, but I was really happy with the turnout and enthusiasm, and it turns out that school in all of Costa Rica got canceled next week because there were a few more cases of the H1N1 virus, so we are going to do the camp again! Oh man. But today when I was running I passed a couple houses where some of the players were and they all screamed my name and waved, so I was excited to know that I had at least made some new friends.
This weekend was the VAC (Volunteer Activity Committee) reunion for all the Peace Corps volunteers in the Southern Zone. Every three months, we get a free night out of site and reimbursement for travel and one meal to have a “meeting” with all the volunteers in our region to discuss projects and go over Peace Corps-related news and announcements. But it’s also just an excuse to get together in a cool place and have fun for a weekend, which is definitely where the focus was. We all met up at this mansion in the mountains on the road to Dominical that a gringo rents out to groups, and it was pretty ridiculous. There were 25 of us, a pool, a Jacuzzi, a home theater, and a human-sized chess court. Enough said. It was cool to meet some of the older Peace Corps volunteers and hear about their communities as well as to see the other Tico 19ers from my group and hear about their first month and a half in their sites. And yesterday afternoon we had brownies fresh out of the oven! It wouldn’t be a complete blog entry without at least one food reference…
Monday, July 6, 2009
Adventures with Dan
6/7/09
As promised, it has been an action-packed and fun-filled week. Before the adventure with Dan even began last Friday, I spent the afternoon at the local elementary school “observing” English classes so I could get a better sense of how they are taught if I am going to help the kids. Or at least this is what I had explained to the teacher beforehand. But he decided it was an opportunity for me to teach the English classes, so I had to come up with some activities on the spot, including telling an American legend in Spanish and translating. The only legends that came to mind were Paul Bunion and Johnny Appleseed, and I realized I didn’t actually know the story of either, so I went with Goldi-locks and the Three Bears, which about halfway through I realized I also didn’t know how it ended. I had the bears come home and eat Goldilocks, but that didn’t seem quite right. Anyways, that is now the Costa Rican version of the fairytale…Friday night I was invited to Christian families night at home. My host parents hosted four other families and their kids for a biweekly discussion of an important issue in family life. This week was money management. It started with some Bible reading of key passages that discuss saving and giving, and then we got to going around in a circle and answering questions about who should make the big decisions regarding spending in a household. Let’s just say the answers and reasoning were a little different than I would expect to hear back at home, but it made for a very interesting discussion.
Saturday I passed the time helping a local entrepreneur sell her jam to a visiting student group, taking a long hike into the mountains, and going to the mall with the other volunteers to see Up in Spanish, most of which I actually understood. Sunday morning there was a parade in town that everyone marched through with their animals. It was mostly horses and cows, but my family and I did, indeed, join the parade with Luna, our three month old toy poodle. And she was wearing a ribbon in her hair.
Then it was finally time to pick up my visitor, and the real fun began. Dan survived the three hour bus ride through the Mountain of Death (whose name I did not inform him of until after the trip), and we were reunited in the big city of San Isidro. We spent our first night at a nearby mountain lodge, where we were the only guests and had our own personal river to swim in, fruit grove to pick from, array of hammocks to lie in, and dining room to be served in (we decided the ratio of staff to guests was about 3 to 1, though they didn’t seem to be working too hard). The next morning we decided to try one of the activities offered in the hotel booklet, a hike through a cloud forest reserve and a dip in the natural hot springs. Our cab driver, Carlos, picked us up at 8 and we negotiated a price for the trip ahead of time. He did NOT know what he was getting himself into. We headed down the road that leads to Chirripo, the tallest mountain in Costa Rica. I realized we could be passing through Canaan, the site of another Tico 19 CED Peace Corps volunteer, and what do you know she is the first person I see as we arrive at the soccer field. So we stopped to say hi and see her new home and then made plans to meet in a couple hours at the hot springs. Then Carlos took us on our way to Coudbrige, the reserve, which proved more elusive than the hotel suggested. It was WAY up in the mountains off a road that a taxi had no business being on (luckily his was an SUV) and there were only two tiny signs on the whole trip pointing us toward the reserve. So when we finally arrived, Carlos knew he wasn’t going to have time to go back into town and do any more business, which was the original plan, so he joined us for the hike. It turned out to not be awkward at all. He was pleasant company, knew a lot about nature, and spoke some English because he had lived in New Jersey a couple of years driving a garbage truck. The big question he stumped us with was whether there is a difference between the words “trash” and “garbage” in English. Thoughts? After seeing some waterfalls and very old trees, we headed back and met Adrienne at the hot springs, which were not so refreshing after a sweaty hike, but cool that they are natural I guess. Then it was back to town for a late pizza lunch before heading up to Quebradas where my third family that Dan has had to meet was anxiously awaiting our arrival.
Our time in Quebradas was wonderful. My family was excited to have a visitor and did their best to make Dan feel comfortable despite the language barrier. I gave him my room, Winnie the Pooh comforter included, and slept in Nazareth’s room while he was here. He helped me teach my English class on Monday night, and Tuesday he accompanied me on the long trek up to FUDEBIOL for a day of cleaning, sandpapering, and painting with cold rice and beans for lunch. The best part was that we decided to spend the night up there, so when everyone left after English class in the pouring rain, it was just the two of us surrounded by a LOT of nature. We cooked spaghetti for dinner after the slight setback of finding a giant toad in the kitchen and realizing there was no practical way to get rid of him. We ate by candlelight under a tin roof and fell asleep (kind of) to the sounds of a lot of rain and a lot of living creatures.
Wednesday morning we had coffee with Jesus before heading back down for a recycling charla at the school which ended up not happening because the kids were not in class for no apparent reason, so it ended up being a low key day. I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for the family and for my first English office hours, which three people showed up to. Nonetheless, all the cookies were gone before dinner. I had an artesan group meeting that evening, and Dan wisely decided to pass on trekking 15 minutes through the rain to a meeting that only three other people showed up to, so I left him at home to have family dinner without me, and apparently there was enough communication to get by, much of which centered on Michael Jackson, everyone’s favorite topic in this country.
Thursday morning began our real vacation. We took the bus to Uvita, a beach town about two hours down the coast. We got off at the tourist center and what do you know but we run into another Peace Corps volunteer from Tico 17 who is living there. She got us a cab to our hotel as well as a discount on a boat trip we took Friday. EVERYone we met for the rest of the trip asked if I knew Kirsty. Small, small country…We arrived at our eco-lodge, La Cusinga, and it was more beautiful than I had even imagined from the website. All the wood is this heavy, sleek-looking local teak and every structure consists of teak and stones. Very simple and natural but beautiful. From just about every spot in the hotel, including our room, you can see the bay, which is met at the shore by rainforest. The lodge is nestled up against Mario Ballena national park, so the entire coastline is undeveloped. There were cool-looking birds and butterflies right outside our back porch, and we could hear some crazy howler monkeys in the forest, though they refused to show their faces. We hiked down about 15 minutes to what appeared to be our own private beach, except for the hundreds of thousands of little crabs scurrying around. But once we picked a spot on the sand they seemed to leave us alone. The ocean was clean and clear and warm, and everything was pretty perfect for about a half an hour before the rain started. We hurried back to our room and escaped the downpour that soon followed. At dinner we met David, the hotel chef who buys all his ingredients fresh and organic. He served us chilled carrot ginger soup, red snapper caught that morning with some delicious sauce, and the most delicious chocolate cake and home made cacao ice cream. The man is living proof that healthy, delicious food can indeed be prepared from the ingredients available in this country. Maybe he can come to Quebradas and give some lessons…
Friday morning we went on a boat and snorkeling tour. We saw some beautiful coastline but it got a little tiresome as our driver went further and further out into the open water searching for the dolphins we were promised to see. Their company, after all, was called Dolphin Tour. We had pretty much given up and were more than ready to be back on shore when he started speeding up and we found ourselves in the middle of a pack of spotted dolphins who started showing off for us, coming right up to the boat and jumping around and swimming under the boat and then popping up again. It was pretty cool. In the afternoon I got a tour of the organic garden and compost they do at the hotel as I am searching for ideas for my own environmental projects in Quebradas. My conclusion is that it is pretty complicated and my best bet is to partner with someone who already knows what they’re doing. Then Dan and I checked out some of the other hotel trails, one of which led to a natural swimming whole. On our way, we ran into a bunch of monkeys snacking in the trees. They, too, are playful creatures that did not seem to be afraid of us. We attempted to catch the rumored amazing sunset over the bay, but unfortunately it was pretty cloudy and didn’t amount to much. Dinner was fresh sea shrimp and mandarin cake with berry ice cream. Didn’t match up to the night before, but no complaints here.
Saturday we took one last hike and dip in the ocean and then packed up and headed into town, where we ate lunch at a local soda run by a Colombian woman before boarding the bus back to San Isidro, only to board another bus back to San Jose. I thought we had gotten pretty lucky to make the next bus because sometimes they are full, until we realized we had the very last seats in the back of the bus next to a window that didn’t open and a family with a pregnant mother who spent the first half of the trip throwing up in a bag. Not the highlight of the vacation, but it could have been worse. We got to San Jose by 7:30 and arrived at our fancy hotel in time for an 8:30 4th of July dinner. Everyone there spoke English and most of the guests seemed to be American, but there were no fireworks or red, white and blue (which happen to be Costa Rican colors as well). But it was a lovely final evening, though sad to know it was our last together for a while. The next morning we were off before 6 for Dan to make is 8 am flight and I caught a bus back to San Isidro.
Now it’s back to “work” for me. After being away for a few days and speaking mostly English and getting to spend every second with Dan, I am feeling a little down and lost, but I know I will get back on track and things will keep moving, slowly but surely. And if I have the opportunity every once in a while to get away and go on adventures like that, I’m sure I will be just fine.
As promised, it has been an action-packed and fun-filled week. Before the adventure with Dan even began last Friday, I spent the afternoon at the local elementary school “observing” English classes so I could get a better sense of how they are taught if I am going to help the kids. Or at least this is what I had explained to the teacher beforehand. But he decided it was an opportunity for me to teach the English classes, so I had to come up with some activities on the spot, including telling an American legend in Spanish and translating. The only legends that came to mind were Paul Bunion and Johnny Appleseed, and I realized I didn’t actually know the story of either, so I went with Goldi-locks and the Three Bears, which about halfway through I realized I also didn’t know how it ended. I had the bears come home and eat Goldilocks, but that didn’t seem quite right. Anyways, that is now the Costa Rican version of the fairytale…Friday night I was invited to Christian families night at home. My host parents hosted four other families and their kids for a biweekly discussion of an important issue in family life. This week was money management. It started with some Bible reading of key passages that discuss saving and giving, and then we got to going around in a circle and answering questions about who should make the big decisions regarding spending in a household. Let’s just say the answers and reasoning were a little different than I would expect to hear back at home, but it made for a very interesting discussion.
Saturday I passed the time helping a local entrepreneur sell her jam to a visiting student group, taking a long hike into the mountains, and going to the mall with the other volunteers to see Up in Spanish, most of which I actually understood. Sunday morning there was a parade in town that everyone marched through with their animals. It was mostly horses and cows, but my family and I did, indeed, join the parade with Luna, our three month old toy poodle. And she was wearing a ribbon in her hair.
Then it was finally time to pick up my visitor, and the real fun began. Dan survived the three hour bus ride through the Mountain of Death (whose name I did not inform him of until after the trip), and we were reunited in the big city of San Isidro. We spent our first night at a nearby mountain lodge, where we were the only guests and had our own personal river to swim in, fruit grove to pick from, array of hammocks to lie in, and dining room to be served in (we decided the ratio of staff to guests was about 3 to 1, though they didn’t seem to be working too hard). The next morning we decided to try one of the activities offered in the hotel booklet, a hike through a cloud forest reserve and a dip in the natural hot springs. Our cab driver, Carlos, picked us up at 8 and we negotiated a price for the trip ahead of time. He did NOT know what he was getting himself into. We headed down the road that leads to Chirripo, the tallest mountain in Costa Rica. I realized we could be passing through Canaan, the site of another Tico 19 CED Peace Corps volunteer, and what do you know she is the first person I see as we arrive at the soccer field. So we stopped to say hi and see her new home and then made plans to meet in a couple hours at the hot springs. Then Carlos took us on our way to Coudbrige, the reserve, which proved more elusive than the hotel suggested. It was WAY up in the mountains off a road that a taxi had no business being on (luckily his was an SUV) and there were only two tiny signs on the whole trip pointing us toward the reserve. So when we finally arrived, Carlos knew he wasn’t going to have time to go back into town and do any more business, which was the original plan, so he joined us for the hike. It turned out to not be awkward at all. He was pleasant company, knew a lot about nature, and spoke some English because he had lived in New Jersey a couple of years driving a garbage truck. The big question he stumped us with was whether there is a difference between the words “trash” and “garbage” in English. Thoughts? After seeing some waterfalls and very old trees, we headed back and met Adrienne at the hot springs, which were not so refreshing after a sweaty hike, but cool that they are natural I guess. Then it was back to town for a late pizza lunch before heading up to Quebradas where my third family that Dan has had to meet was anxiously awaiting our arrival.
Our time in Quebradas was wonderful. My family was excited to have a visitor and did their best to make Dan feel comfortable despite the language barrier. I gave him my room, Winnie the Pooh comforter included, and slept in Nazareth’s room while he was here. He helped me teach my English class on Monday night, and Tuesday he accompanied me on the long trek up to FUDEBIOL for a day of cleaning, sandpapering, and painting with cold rice and beans for lunch. The best part was that we decided to spend the night up there, so when everyone left after English class in the pouring rain, it was just the two of us surrounded by a LOT of nature. We cooked spaghetti for dinner after the slight setback of finding a giant toad in the kitchen and realizing there was no practical way to get rid of him. We ate by candlelight under a tin roof and fell asleep (kind of) to the sounds of a lot of rain and a lot of living creatures.
Wednesday morning we had coffee with Jesus before heading back down for a recycling charla at the school which ended up not happening because the kids were not in class for no apparent reason, so it ended up being a low key day. I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for the family and for my first English office hours, which three people showed up to. Nonetheless, all the cookies were gone before dinner. I had an artesan group meeting that evening, and Dan wisely decided to pass on trekking 15 minutes through the rain to a meeting that only three other people showed up to, so I left him at home to have family dinner without me, and apparently there was enough communication to get by, much of which centered on Michael Jackson, everyone’s favorite topic in this country.
Thursday morning began our real vacation. We took the bus to Uvita, a beach town about two hours down the coast. We got off at the tourist center and what do you know but we run into another Peace Corps volunteer from Tico 17 who is living there. She got us a cab to our hotel as well as a discount on a boat trip we took Friday. EVERYone we met for the rest of the trip asked if I knew Kirsty. Small, small country…We arrived at our eco-lodge, La Cusinga, and it was more beautiful than I had even imagined from the website. All the wood is this heavy, sleek-looking local teak and every structure consists of teak and stones. Very simple and natural but beautiful. From just about every spot in the hotel, including our room, you can see the bay, which is met at the shore by rainforest. The lodge is nestled up against Mario Ballena national park, so the entire coastline is undeveloped. There were cool-looking birds and butterflies right outside our back porch, and we could hear some crazy howler monkeys in the forest, though they refused to show their faces. We hiked down about 15 minutes to what appeared to be our own private beach, except for the hundreds of thousands of little crabs scurrying around. But once we picked a spot on the sand they seemed to leave us alone. The ocean was clean and clear and warm, and everything was pretty perfect for about a half an hour before the rain started. We hurried back to our room and escaped the downpour that soon followed. At dinner we met David, the hotel chef who buys all his ingredients fresh and organic. He served us chilled carrot ginger soup, red snapper caught that morning with some delicious sauce, and the most delicious chocolate cake and home made cacao ice cream. The man is living proof that healthy, delicious food can indeed be prepared from the ingredients available in this country. Maybe he can come to Quebradas and give some lessons…
Friday morning we went on a boat and snorkeling tour. We saw some beautiful coastline but it got a little tiresome as our driver went further and further out into the open water searching for the dolphins we were promised to see. Their company, after all, was called Dolphin Tour. We had pretty much given up and were more than ready to be back on shore when he started speeding up and we found ourselves in the middle of a pack of spotted dolphins who started showing off for us, coming right up to the boat and jumping around and swimming under the boat and then popping up again. It was pretty cool. In the afternoon I got a tour of the organic garden and compost they do at the hotel as I am searching for ideas for my own environmental projects in Quebradas. My conclusion is that it is pretty complicated and my best bet is to partner with someone who already knows what they’re doing. Then Dan and I checked out some of the other hotel trails, one of which led to a natural swimming whole. On our way, we ran into a bunch of monkeys snacking in the trees. They, too, are playful creatures that did not seem to be afraid of us. We attempted to catch the rumored amazing sunset over the bay, but unfortunately it was pretty cloudy and didn’t amount to much. Dinner was fresh sea shrimp and mandarin cake with berry ice cream. Didn’t match up to the night before, but no complaints here.
Saturday we took one last hike and dip in the ocean and then packed up and headed into town, where we ate lunch at a local soda run by a Colombian woman before boarding the bus back to San Isidro, only to board another bus back to San Jose. I thought we had gotten pretty lucky to make the next bus because sometimes they are full, until we realized we had the very last seats in the back of the bus next to a window that didn’t open and a family with a pregnant mother who spent the first half of the trip throwing up in a bag. Not the highlight of the vacation, but it could have been worse. We got to San Jose by 7:30 and arrived at our fancy hotel in time for an 8:30 4th of July dinner. Everyone there spoke English and most of the guests seemed to be American, but there were no fireworks or red, white and blue (which happen to be Costa Rican colors as well). But it was a lovely final evening, though sad to know it was our last together for a while. The next morning we were off before 6 for Dan to make is 8 am flight and I caught a bus back to San Isidro.
Now it’s back to “work” for me. After being away for a few days and speaking mostly English and getting to spend every second with Dan, I am feeling a little down and lost, but I know I will get back on track and things will keep moving, slowly but surely. And if I have the opportunity every once in a while to get away and go on adventures like that, I’m sure I will be just fine.
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