27 Months of La Pura Vida

Well its almost November and it feels like the middle of July here; hot, humid and dry for the most part (although there are definitely some strong rainstorms every now and again).  I think this is the first time I have been abroad during this time of the year and it feels so completely different than it does back home.  Even when I was in Barcelona, it still got cold and the seasons were definitely noticeably different from Summer to Fall...it feels so strange to see all the photos on Facebook and social media about Pumpkins, changing leaves, Halloween etc and to be experiencing none of it.  It kind of hit me the other day when I was biking around a couple of the surrounding communities, how lucky I am to be here and in such a beautiful community and culture but also how much I am missing back home.  Life here just feels so different from the life I had back home and the changing of the seasons and lack thereof here just really exemplified that; so many of the worries, all the day to day activities, the interactions with people....really EVERYTHING!

Courts for Kids Update

I made some pretty decent progress with moving forward with the Courts for Kids project.  After sitting down with the contractor i'll be working with and deciding on the quantities of materials we will need, we crossed Rio Jimenez in a downpour in a tiny boat with a large stick as our only method of steering and pushing the boat across the river, quite the experience.  However, I did finally learn how I can get out of the community and return everyday if I want as long as there is someone to help me push the boat across.  We went into another larger town called Guacimo to go to 3 different construction supply stores to fill out bids for CFK.  We managed to fill out 2 with a third waiting for us to pick up sometime this coming week.  Only problem is when I emailed CFK with the 2 bids, they were quick to say that our amount of concrete was entirely too low (90 bags for a court size of 23m x 13m with a depth of 10cm) and that for a full sized court (28m x 15m) they normally use almost 4 times that quantity!  But at least we got the rest of the materials correctly submitted and the cost for all the materials is right around the $5000 mark including transportation of all the materials and paying the contractor and the skilled workers meaning the community wouldn't have to raise too much money.  The next step is to revise the concrete amount and see how the price will be affected, submit the final bid and then wait to hear from CFK.

New Project???

I am very excited about this project and the implications of successfully completing this is the coming 2 years.  During the hour and a half trip to Guacimo with the contractor, Jorge, we started talking about business ideas in the community and once again, the idea of starting a river boat tour came up (probably the fourth person to approach me with the idea) but he not only showed interest in the idea, but real desire to start the river tours.  He has experience making boats our of wood but lack the necessary funds to buy some of the materials, most notably a motor which can cost $3000 - $5000.  The more we started talking about it, the more I could tell that Jorge had really thought about what it would take to start should a business in a place as rural as Linea Vieja.  When we got home that day, we spoke with Ligia, my host mom, my other neighbor about the idea and to see if they had interest.  Ligia had already approached me earlier about the idea so she clearly had interest in supporting the idea and our other neighbor apparently had already spoken with Jorge about a similar idea.  Our initial idea is to include 4 houses along the river and 2 on the other side of the road to start a rural tourism business that would offer tourists the opportunity for river tours up to Tortugero, sport fishing along the river and horseback tours of the fincas and mountain trails behind the high school.  After doing some research into what organizations could possibly support an idea like this, I ended up emailing almost 10 different organizations that offer resources ranging from teams of students, to small sums of money to just educational resources about financial and environmental responsibility.  Also after contacting the CED team of Peace Corps, I learned that there are a variety of grants that I could write that would support a project like this but that we would have to show a very thought our process, how we will care for the environment and promote environmental consciousness etc.

The next step is to continue talking with potential project partners, communicate with the international organizations and in 3 weeks, we are planning to have our first group meeting to begin writing a business plan, starting with a SWOT analysis and feasibility study of the idea. (Finally something business related!!!)  Very exciting!

Water

There isn't a whole lot to report on this end as the ADI hasn't offered to sit down with me to discuss their plans to get potable water for the community but a fellow CED volunteer did message me about an organization based out of his home state of Kentucky that donates water filters to small communities around the world and after doing more research into similar organizations, I began contacting a few to see how their process works but have yet to hear back from any.  Fingers crossed something will come through.

The coming month

It is incredible to think that I have already been in county, or really out of the United States, for 8 months and am ready to begin my 9th month abroad...almost 3/4 of a year!  And this coming month will go quick between classes, the basketball court project, continuing to pester the ADI about the water project,  hopefully beginning to plan out the river tour business, a regional meeting from the 6th till the 9th and then a week off for IST II and Thanksgiving...not too much down time and it feels good.  

Only 8 weeks until the rest of the Maryland Farrells come to visit.  Thanks for reading.

-Conor