Bball camp

Cheeringfor Laura...Siempre en adelante!

Accepting my "Mas chispa" award

Team Kotex del Sur...I take no responsibility for that name

Beating up on little kids in Knock-Out

This week was more camp counseling and more fun. For the past five years, a group of Peace Corps Volunteers have gotten together to run a basketball camp in the big sports complex in San Isidro for kids of all ages from the area. There were about 10-15 of us there every day and 60-70 campers. I was with the 9-12 year-olds, and fortunately most of my basketball basics came back to me from middle school. Many of these kids have never played basketball before because everyone here grows up just playing soccer and generally don’t have basketball courts in their communities, so we really didn’t get too far beyond the very basics…

It was pretty exhausting to run around all morning with little kids since it has gotten SO hot here recently, but super fun to get to hang out with volunteers all day. One afternoon we went back to Quebradas and jumped in the river and cooked at my place, and we also went to a movie, went dancing, and went to a free concert put on by Laura Chinchilla, the frontrunner for the Feb. 7 presidential election.

Also yesterday I went to a big fair in a neighboring community to see my friend sing. Afterwards we went to the rodeo, which was quite a cultural experience. Instead of doing a real bullfight, a bunch of guys just jump in the ring and taunt the bull and then run away from it, many of them scaling the walls to escape. Also, an event entirely new to me was the rock and roll horse dance, which entailed each team doing a race to 50’s American rock and roll music. So all in all a lot more action than a typical week!