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
niƱos, 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 |
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.