27 Months of La Pura Vida

April 6th, 2015

I don't really have an excuse for why its taken so long to write another update, honestly I was just lazy this past weekend.  However, now seems as good a time as any to write an update on the past week and a half.

I'll start with the site visit to Mantabu.  It was the first opportunity to see firsthand the life and work of a PCV who has been in site for almost a year, how much he has integrated and get an idea of some of the projects he has been working on the past year.  Derek seems to be very well integrated, focused on a number of projects across different age groups and genders and seems to be living very comfortably with a host family still.  When he arrived he spoke "little to no Spanish" but was now able to hold conversations and understand fairly easily which definitely gave me a little more confidence.  As for his projects, he is helping secure grants and funding to build a computer lab and library in the community school, assisting a group of woman artisans with the business side of their hobbies and finally holding English and math tutoring hours for those interested.  However, Mantambu, like the rest of Gaunacaste, gets HOTTT and quickly.  It was literally 95 degrees by 10:00am and as soon as I left the shade I would immediately start sweating.  Because of the heat and busy schedules of many of the people in the town, it was hard to do pretty much anything during sunlight let alone try to motivate people to attend meetings.  Derek had to find hours during the early morning before the sun rose and after 5ish to hold meetings and speak with townspeople.  Luckily, he seemed to have the scheduling process down pretty well and Jon and I got lucky enough to be able to attend a town meeting that only happens once a year where all the committees of the town come together and speak about problems, solutions and future projects they want to complete.  All in all, it was a pretty incredible experience and gave me a little insight into a community and what work may involve.

This past week was also Semana Santa which is a very holy, religious week in all of Latin America.  However, because it was very religious, it meant it was almost always awkward for me; never knowing what to do, what to say, when to kneel, etc.  I did however, for the sake of integration and for the experience, attend a number of processions, reenactments and even a mass that lasted from 9pm - 2am (even though I only stayed until 11).  Even though I understood very little, I must admit it was a very interesting experience and I got to participate in one of the processions with my host dad.

Other than Semana Santa and the site visit, there's not much else to report other than training updates.  We had our first technical training last week which really was still only a very general introduction to CED and Peace Corps approach to development in Costa Rica.  However, tomorrow we will begin to get more specific and more technical topics.  Spanish class at this point is kicking all our butts.  First we have a 20 minute presentation teaching a random topic to the class this Friday.  Then we have an individual 30 minute presentation on an assigned topic pertaining to Costa Rican culture.  Then as a group of three, we have to meet with two separate community groups to do separate activities with both by next week.  Finally, we have to interview a business owner in San Rafael and ask questions about the community...not his/her business (which makes no sense to me)...

Anyway, certainly staying busy with classes and projects outside of class.  We are meeting with a group of 18-22 year old competitive dancers this Saturday and then attending a meeting of Cub Scouts in the afternoon which unfortunately means I cannot go on a trip to Volcan Arenal with a bunch of other volunteers.  Hopefully more next week if there is something to write about.

PS...the internet seems too slow to upload photos (at least in bulk) so I will try to add photos individually but this will mean that there will be substantially less than I hoped.