Puerto Viejo, Puerto Viejo, Manuel Antonio, Adventure Tour

To say that this summer has been mellow in any way would be a lie. From being thrown in charge of

an organization (which was awesome, by the way) to being the guide of a cross-country weeklong adventure tour (more to come on that), this summer has been one of the most exciting, interesting, and fulfilling thus far.

I will try to keep it brief: Since the last update I have been doing much more hands-on things around Su Espacio and town now that the director is back. The things I am doing range anywhere from delivering money and information to host families, conducting orientation and orientation tours, going to airport pick-ups, organizing volunteer arrivals and drop-offs, bringing volunteers to their project sites, and as of late

being the tour guide for the adventure tour. Although I am still pulling ten to twelve hour days I am enjoying myself much more that I am not stuck behind the desk answering the phone all day (although I still do that on occasion).

This is my third time spending a pretty significant amount of time here in Costa Rica, in this area specifically, so it certainly gave me a leg up when I got here. I had the chance to dive right into work with no adjustment period to the town or language, and I still know a ton of people here so really I could just start work without any setbacks. Because of this, the director has allowed me to take on a lot of the responsibility around the community center, and since her husband has been very ill and unable to help out at all (taking up a lot of her time as well) a lot has fallen onto my shoulders. Although stressful at first it has become routine now and I really enjoy what I do, and I am also learning a lot about what needs to be avoided in an organization such as this, which is a unique perspective I didn’t necessarily think I would gain, but I am so glad I am getting to see the full scope of the organization.

One of the really neat things that I had the pleasure of running this week was the “adventure tour” for

seven of the volunteers. This tour is an option, mostly for the younger volunteers, to see more of the country with the guidance of someone who is familiar with the areas (aka me) and what they hold. We visited five different places all around the country in five days. I actually just arrived home from the last day. It was exhausting but so fulfilling. I got to show off my knowledge a bit of the country and also had the chance to re-visit some of my favorite places. It was a really nice break from the office and town and gave me great perspective of the spectrum of activities and opportunities that come along with a volunteer center such as this.

I am taking this weekend to recoup from the tour and hang out with my host mom a bit (my host sisters are with their dad this weekend so it’s just me and my mom here), and then will be getting back into the

groove at the office starting on Monday. With only four more weeks I can hardly believe the summer is flying by so quickly, I am not looking forward to leaving, although I am excited to be back in Maine; it is such a conflicting feeling. However, I have been networking and keeping my ears open so if all goes well I think I will be back here sooner rather than later, and hopefully with a paycheck this time!

Anyways, I’m sure there will be lots to update SPIA followers on in the coming weeks, I will be sure to take better notes so my next post will not be so brief. Perhaps an in-between post about life in Atenas is in store, that might be interesting.

So I am realizing now that I haven’t written anything since I went to Jaco, so I suppose I will give a

little update as to the shenanigans I have been up to in my free time.

After Playa Jaco, which is a dirty beach, although a beach nonetheless so I can’t really complain that much, I headed to Manuel Antonio, my favorite place in the entire world, for the weekend with both the Sarah’s and Taylor. It was a blast, we went to the beach every day and out to have some fun at night and just had a marvelous time overall. I got to take surfing lessons from one of my friends, which was great! I actually stood up way more times than I though I was going to and it was an absolute blast. It was a pretty relaxing weekend overall, though, I try to keep it as chill as possible because the week tends to get a little crazy.

So the next weekend Taylor, Matt, and I (along with “lost niños, aka some of the younger volunteers who we didn’t really go with but more like they tagged along) headed to Puerto Viejo, which is another one of my favorite places. Now, Puerto Viejo is also a beach town, but much more Rasta and way more nightlife, so we did spend a bit of time on the beach, but more of our days were spent sleeping in

preparations for the long nights. Overall, though, this weekend was pretty mellow, we did go out for quite a while on Friday, hitting up the reggae bar and getting our dace on for quite a while, but overall we were just looking to have a chill time so we hung out a lot, played cards, laid in hammocks, took the bus to the beach, cooked family style dinners, that sort of thing. It was lovely.

So the Wednesday after that my bestest friend in the whole world, my soul person who I have missed ever so much, FINALLY made it to Costa Rica! I went to pick up Tori with Greiven (our trusted cab driver) and got her settled into our house (we have the same host family) and then just jumped right back into Atenas life, with my partner in crime by my side. I seriously missed her so much and it is SO nice to have her here. I get along fine on my own but it is just so easy when someone from home is with you, especially someone who I spend so much time with regularly. So Tori fits in perfectly here, as everyone knew she would, and has already adjusted to life here, not that it’s hard to adjust to at all. So she arrived on Wednesday and Manfred rented a car and we (Tori, Taylor, me, and Manfred) headed out to Puerto Viejo Thursday afternoon for round two. This weekend was a bit more, umm, we will say busy, as the three girls and Manfred were ready to just let loose, dance our hearts out, and go wherever the wind took us. Tori and I decided to stay up all Saturday night and watch the sun rise on the beach, which was just absolutely stunning. And events

before and after that basically consisted of us having the time of our lives, making lifelong friends, enjoying the rainy rainy weather, and just letting lose and forgetting for a minute that we have so much responsibilities to worry about back at work and home and just lived the “pura vida” life for the weekend. Of course it came to an end way too fast, but while it was happening it was just awesome.

So after a pretty fantastic weekend, perhaps the best weekend I’ve ever had, it was time to be the guide for the adventure tour. I took seven volunteers to five different places, like I mentioned before. These places were: San Jose, Volcan Poas and La Paz, Curu, La Fortuna and Arenal, and Manuel Antonio. San Jose we went to the National Theater (where we got to see an opera rehearsing, it was awesome), and then the Jade museum (which was also amazing), and then spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around a market (which is actually where I am headed tomorrow!). Volcan Poas, well, we couldn’t see it because it was raining, BUT we went to La Paz Gardens and it was AWESOME! We got to see all sorts of animals, from hummingbirds to

Volcan Arenal

monkeys to birds (I got to hold a toucan) to big cats (we got to see them get fed) to butterflies to snakes and more! The highlight of my day, though, was the waterfalls. The trails and bridges brought us right to them and they were spectacular. Taylor and I definitely got a fair few photo ops. Also tied for best thing that happened that day was I got to hold and snuggle with a baby bunny, so obviously that was awesome. We also got to eat the most delicious strawberries I have ever tasted. Apparently they love to grow in the high altitude of the volcano. Curu on Wednesday kind of sucked, it was sketchy and deserted and also cloudy, but Taylor and I rented kayaks and went out in those for a bit so that was nice, but other than that and missing the ferry it was pretty uneventful. La Fortuna and Arenal was super fun. We got to hike through the rainforest, in the pouring rain, with a guide that pointed out all sorts of edible plants and medicinal plants to us, we got to see a waterfall, and then as we emerged from the forest it cleared and we could see the entire volcano and lake. Then we went up to the observatory to see the volcano

closer and our guide gave us all mud masks and then took us to the natural hot springs where we lounged around for an hour or so relaxing before we headed back. It was awesome. And then today we went to Manuel Antonio, which, like I mentioned before, is my favorite place ever. It was the most perfect beach day, we soaked up the sun and Taylor and I went shopping and at the end we snuck into my favorite hostel so we could shower before the long ride home. Such a solid week!

So that’s pretty much what is going on here. Tori is here so that is wonderful, Taylor is leaving tomorrow so I am pretty bummed about that, BUT Muna gets here this week so I am STOKED. Lots of emotions, and the heat just escalates them, but all is well here, I do miss Maine but I am going to be devastated when I leave this place. I am already making plans to come back as soon as I can!

I have a bunch more to say but I will save it for my journal; I won’t bore you any further with my blithering. Hope everyone’s summer is going swell and I will post again soon!

Today, my life is just Shelby.