Stand-In Director

The plants are larger than life here! 

What an exciting week and a half it’s been! The director’s husband of the organization I am interning for has been very ill and went into exploratory surgery on Friday in an attempt to correct an old surgery that was causing complications. Because of this, the director has been absent since then. She comes in the morning to answer a few emails and to teach a dance class and then leaves me in charge. Being thrown into the mix on my second day (last Tuesday), has been ad adventure to say the least. In no way was I prepared for the responsibility that came with being the director, but I think it has been going well and I am finally getting the hang of it. My Spanish is coming back with much more fluency which is great because I am the only one answering the phone and giving people information about the classes offered, prices, times, etc. This week I am on my own again, her husband is still sick and also her

Lazy Saturday Afternoon

family is visiting from the states and so she will be out for most of the week.

Yesterday was the most hectic day by far. We had eight new volunteers come and every single one needed an orientation, a tour of the town, and then they needed to be shown how to get to their projects (as in I had to take each one of them to every corner of the town and beyond via bus, taxi, and foot), and on top of all that I also had to deliver donation money to five organizations as well as three host families. It was crazy! And not to mention it is in the high eighties and so humid you could almost see the droplets hanging in the air! It has been a fantastic experience so far; I do have to say I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I wanted to come to see if I had what it takes and wanted to run my own organization, and I am absolutely loving every minute of it!  Tina (the director) is gone again for most of today so I am finishing up delivering money to projects and making sure the phone gets answered, the peace is kept at Su Espacio, and all the volunteers are happy and at their projects.

View from Our Hike

I have gotten more out of this internship in the short week and two days that I’ve been here than I though I would in three months. I can only imagine what it has to bring for the rest of the summer! I am looking forward to my Spanish improving even more and becoming more comfortable finding the projects and introducing volunteers. Practice makes perfect and what better way to learn than to just be thrown into the mix! We shall see what this week brings!

So Manuel Antonio was interesting. I had an absolute blast and I can’t wait to go back again and again. The only downside was this creeper would NOT leave me the hell alone! I introduced myself to be nice and then he followed me around like an annoying little puppy for the rest of the evening until I caught a taxi while he wasn’t looking and went back to my hostel. Besides that, though, we spent a ton of time at the beach, I signed up for surfing lessons but then while learning how to break dance on the beach I broke one of my toes and then while playing beach volleyball I burst a blood vessel in my wrist, which swelled up like an egg, and not my whole wrist and most of my hand is black and blue. So surfing is going to have to wait until I go back, hopefully in early July! We got to explore the beach, which I have been to twice before so it

Manuel Antonio Sunset

was wonderful to go back and have the familiar sights. My friend Alex, who was a volunteer at Su Espacio for a week and is not teaching English at an elementary school, had just spent three weeks in Quepos, which is the town that is right beside Manuel Antonio, so she was so familiar with the area! We got to go meet her host family (who had the cutest puppies on the entire planet), and then headed to the beach for most of the weekend. We went out in Quepos, but that’s when that creeper was following me so I didn’t stay out long and just headed back with my friend Will to play cards with a kid named Sam that we had met (who is an EXACT replica of my friend Mike Knowles, WEIRD!).  Will and I went to the park on Sunday morning and then spent the day at the beach that the park trail spits out of. We got to see a bunch of really cool spiders, bats, a sloth, capuchin monkeys, raccoons, spider monkeys, and we heard the howler monkeys in the distance. It was a lovely walk and the nap on the beach was beyond wonderful! I seriously can’t wait to return in a few weeks!

I am thoroughly enjoying my time here, although I can hardly wait until Muna and Tori get here; Muna is coming in three short weeks and Tori in four and a half! I love my new friends and family but it is

Intern and Volunteers Weekend at Manuel Antonio!

just not the same. I am super excited to share the country with them and to continue the adventure. I can only imagine the shenanigans that will follow. Anyways, this upcoming weekend I am trying to go to Montezuma, which is another beach town, in a frivolous attempt to get rid of this pasty white completion. Also because I love the ocean and I actually haven’t been there before so that should be an adventure. I met a few people in Manuel Antonio who are headed there this weekend so hopefully I can meet up with them there! That’s the plan anyways.

Plant that plays dead when you touch it! 

Alright, well back to work I go, lots to do as I am still the only one here, but I am sure the rest of this week and this weekend will prove to be very eventful!

¡Hasta luego!

Today, my life is just Shelby.