Our bed"room" at the Yoga Farm
View from the yoga deck
My special candle placed, appropriately, in my home-welded menorah
As my dad and Lynne filled me in on who was coming to Passover dinner this year, I was reminded of my invitation on the second night of Passover to participate in a religious march through Quebradas, and some members of the church group had even made me a special candle to carry, so I kind of had to show up. There was no charoset or matzah, but lots of singing and hugging, so at least there was that similarity between my past Passovers and this year’s Holy Tuesday. That was one of many activities planned in Quebradas for Semana Santa. All the kids are off school and most people have Thursday and Friday off work, so it is kind of like spring break with a lot of praying and eating.
But for Peace Corps Volunteers, Semana Santa usually means a great time to pasear and aprovechar the last days of summer, which is exactly what I did. It is also a time to reflect, which seemed appropriate since I’m about at my halfway point now and want to make the most of my next year here. So Brigitte, Adrienne, Chamisa and I headed down to Golfito, where we picked up Katie McKinstry, who had flown down, and all shared a 4x4 taxi to Punta Banco, which is super far south right by Panama on the west coast. There we spent three days in paradise at the Yoga Farm, interpret name as you will. It is basically a retreat center for really beautiful, healthy people (mostly women) who all talk really slow and smile a lot. Us being the obvious misfits…Nevertheless, we were immediately welcomed into the community and got quickly sucked into the lifestyle. Wake up, yoga, eat, beach, eat, read, yoga, eat [insert game of Bananagrams if we had energy], sleep. The “farm” basically consists of an open kitchen and dining area, wooden lodge with yoga deck and a few bedrooms, two composting toilets, two showers and an organic garden. All with an amazing view of the ocean down below and a soft breeze. Meals were healthy and light, and I was a little disappointed when I first realized there would be no chocolate cake or ice cream for three days, but the rest of the experience made up for that. So it was a great spot to just kind of cleanse and think and be with friends and really truly relax. When we left, one of the guys who runs the place told us we brought a great energy to the farm, which we took as the utmost compliment from this crowd.
Then it was of course back to work and a VERY busy week, which was made infinitely easier and more fun by Katie’s presence. She was a serious asset working in the school garden, proctoring my English test, proving to Tico’s in my community that I am not the only crazy person that runs for fun, but most amazingly pretty much being my housewife for the week. I arrived home every night exhausted after class or meetings to delicious, healthy food on the table (she even made matzah balls one night from Lynne's mix so now actually qualifies as a Jewish housewife), clean dishes, and even clean laundry! Now I can definitely see what the machista men her are hanging onto…We also got to do some of her favorite activities from home with a Costa Rican twist, including jam-making with a local women’s business, shopping at the farmer’s market in San Isidro, planting my own mini herb garden and hiking up a giant mountain. She also got her first every pedicure with my neighbor, and it was Tica-fabulous with French tips and a painted flower for less than $4! That deal is hard to beat in NYC.
On Saturday morning we switched gears and took a super early bus to San José, where we were picked up by my Assistant Program Director and taken to Tarbaca, my original training community, where I gave a presentation on how to start a community newsletter and working strategically with community organizations to the 19 new Tico 20 CED Trainees. It was really fun to see their group dynamic, remember how I felt a year ago in their shoes (and how happy I am I’m not there anymore), and to feel like I actually now have something of value to say and impart on the next generation. Mark and Brigitte were there too, so afterwards we headed down to the family compound where Mark and Jake used to live and hung out with their old host families, which was SO much fun because of course they haven’t changed at all and are as crazy and wonderful and welcoming as ever. After being fed twice and hearing a lot of bad jokes, we finally made our way back down to San José and checked into our various hotels and rested a bit before the annual all-Volunteer dinner/dance party, which was at a bar/restaurant nearby. Since by then Katie had learned all the Peace Corps acronyms and project goals after sitting through our four hour presentation that morning, she fit in at the dinner with no problem. It was a really fun night and I saw a lot of people I haven’t seen in a long time and met some more of the new Trainees and got to say goodbye to some of the Tico 18ers, who are leaving in less than a month. Weird.
Then this morning Katie and I enjoyed San José’s best complimentary breakfast at Hotel Aranjuez, walked around the city a bit, and parted ways as she went on to Monteverde and I headed back to Quebradas. I couldn’t have asked for a more open-minded and adventurous visitor, and it is sad to not hear her shifting around on my deflated air mattress outside tonight, but it was so fun to have her and I suppose I will just have to readjust to taking care of myself again…
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