Me AGUAnté!*

My 5 seconds of fame

Finishing with a smile

The salida next to Parque Central

Pre-race in Pérez (you can't fully appreciate it here, but Henley is clad entirely in Nike Women's apparel)

Cappuccinos with the Scouts

COLLEGE!

Relieved survivors of a swim through crocodile-infested water

Drake with Jake

The survivors of what started as a 25-person English class

It has been an action-packed couple weeks, both work and fun. The rest of Ashley’s visit was great and included Tica pedicures, English class party, day trip to Dominical, lots of good cooking, a tour of the Thursday feria, and then a bus to San José where we met her brother, Colin, and parted ways the next day, the two of them to travel up north to La Fortuna and me to the dentist. And then the lab to get blood taken. And then the Peace Corps doctor. And then a micro-finance training session for Tico 21. Not as awesome, but all stuff I had to get done before COS-ing and things got better from there.

Friday night Brigitte and I went to her old host mom from Tarbaca, Jacky’s house for dinner and a sleepover with her and her two daughters Stephanie and Melanie, which was a blast since I hadn’t seen any of them for a loooooong time. They are crazy and energetic as ever, and we spent most of the night on Jacky’s cozy couch watching Miss Costa Rica.

The next morning I got up super early and took a bus all the way down to Palmar Norte, where I met Angelo and David and we were picked up by Jake in a turquoise Jeep. Yes, this is Jake Elliot from my early blogposts in Tarbaca. He lived with Mark on Gerardo’s compound and was a great friend but unfortunately left Peace Corps after a month of service. However, he came back to Costa Rica and has been working at a cool lodge called Poor Man’s Paradise in Drake’s Bay, which is on the northern end of the Osa Peninsula. He has been trying to get us to come visit for a while, and I’m so glad we were finally able to.

We picked up Chamisa and her mom in Sierpe and then took a cool boat ride down the river through lots of Mangroves to the town of Drake’s Bay, where we picked up Mark and Chase, and then our eclectic group of seven (plus Jake and some other tourists) made our way down to Poor Man’s Paradise, a beautiful spot right on the beach with cabins on stilts hidden in the rainforest and hammocks galore.

We spent the weekend swimming, tanning, eating, drinking, taking a hike with a crazy tour guide who convinced us to swim in an alligator-infested river and then left us to fend for ourselves coming back from a waterfall (we later found her passed out on the beach), spear-fishing and enjoying beautiful sunsets and evening bonfires. I wish we could have stayed longer, but it was a worthwhile trip and so nice to catch up with Jake and see him in his element there. He was a very good host and seems to have found a good life for himself there, though we still miss him and constantly wonder how much more interesting things would be if he were still a part of Tico 19.

Last week was spent preparing, both mentally and physically, for a big weekend in Quebradas. On Friday night we had our quarterly ECC asamblea. Our president officially resigned and we elected a new president and vice president to the board of directors. The behind-the-scenes build up to the resignation and reelection was a bit stressful, but I feel good about the end results, and most importantly the turnout at the meeting and the support the ECC is gaining from community members.

Friday night Adrienne and I went with some friends in San Isidro to the National University college night at a discoteca in town. It was a stoplight dance, meaning you dress in red, yellow or green according to your availability. Just like when I was in college, I think I was the only one to take the theme seriously and showed up in a green dress, red top underneath, and yellow sandals to send mixed signals. Nobody seemed to get it/care, but it was fun to check out the local college scene and try to fit in.

Saturday morning I took the Scouts to an organic coffee processor on the Cerro de la Muerte. They gave us an interesting tour that ended with cappuccinos and iced coffee for all in a beautiful wooden cafeteria overlooking all of San Isidro. This was definitely the most exciting part, and we ended up walking all the way home down the mountain hyped up on caffeine.
That afternoon was the annual Scouts assembly for our group. There was even more drama leading up to the elections for this meeting, as our president and treasurer had both resigned in December and we have kind of been struggling to keep the group together since then. There was an okay turnout, but I was pretty worried there wasn’t going to be anyone willing to fill their spaces. But amazingly, when the time came, people began to step up and say things about the importance of strengthening this group for the future of the community and volunteer to be a part of it. There was some shifting around of current positions and inventing of new ones, but we ended up with a very strong and motivated board of directors and others interested in helping out as dirigentes working with the kids, which is more than I could have hoped for.

So both of these meetings provided me with some closure around the two projects I helped start up and have devoted most of my time to in the past year. There have been various points along the way when I felt so frustrated and disillusioned by the politics of the groups that I lost motivation and didn’t even care if the groups continued on or not, but I am so glad that I am leaving at a point where both groups have been strengthened and decided to carry on not because I am pushing it or they feel like they owe me something but because the community recognizes their value. To me, the most important part of my job was getting them to that point, and I have to trust that they can take it from here.

Saturday night Angelo and Henley came over and we made a big carbo-loading meal of pasta and garlic bread in preparation for the all uphill 12K I had somehow convinced them to run with me on Sunday from the central park in San Isidro all the way up to FUDEBIOL. It was the first annual Carrera del Agua, organized by the Pérez Zeledón Sports Committee, as part of the continuing celebrations around International Water Day. My counterparts were very excited that they had chosen FUDEBIOL to end the race, as it would provide another opportunity to do publicity for all the new amenities at the reserve and would begin what will hopefully be an annual tradition with lots of new visitors. They also told me from the beginning that I had to run it and I had to win, seeing as I run 45 minutes a few times a week so it would be easy enough to complete an entirely uphill 12K race.
But anyone who knows my running style knows that I am much happier on flat surfaces, and I pretty much could not have designed a more hellish race for myself at that distance. Not only was it full of unrelenting hills, but it started at 9am, which is already peak sun time.

Anyways there were about 100 people in the race, and I ran into a lot of people I recognized from running in Quebradas. As soon as the gun went off I of course jetted ahead of Angelo and Henley, even though I had asked them to help set an even pace and told myself not to get overly excited early on, as it would make for a long, slow death at the end. But I kept spotting the few women who were in the race and then wanting to pass them, so off I went.

About 35 minutes into the run, when I thought the uphill would never end and the sun couldn’t get any hotter, we finally got a long downhill in the shade and then turned back onto the main road in the center of Quebradas. All of a sudden I heard all these people shouting my name, and for the next 500 meters or so I felt like a celebrity as everyone was cheering for me, and I even mustered a smile. The last 2.5 kilomters up to FUDEBIOL were the worst of all, but I was reenergized by the cheering and knowing I was close-ish to the end of my pain. Henley caught up to me and pulled me along for a while, and he finished just ahead of me and Angelo just behind, which was pretty cool despite us not running much of the race together.

Lightheaded and nauseous, I was greeted with big hugs from my counterparts and cameras and microphones from the local news channels. Apparently I was the second woman to finish, and everyone wanted to know how to spell my name, which takes more breath to explain in Spanish than one might imagine. I didn’t finish in a particularly fast time and it wasn’t a very competitive field, but nobody there really knew that and they were all just very excited that I was the second woman and first in my age group. I got to go on stage to accept my award, which was 70 thousand colones (about $140!) and a certificate for a free lab test at the local health clinic…hmmmmm.

I was mostly relieved that I hadn’t let down my counterparts or totally hit a wall halfway through the race, as I have known to do from time to time. It was really cool to have so many people cheering for me and to feel like they were proud of me for representing Quebradas and being a strong woman. It was also really nice to have my Peace Corps friends there to run with and enjoy the post-race meal and festivities. And tonight I have invited everyone in town to Bar Pelos for a celebratory drink with my newfound cash flow…

*Copyright Angelo Coclanis, bi-lingual pun-master