Random Weird things

With the end of our San Gerardo adventure in sight we are working hard trying to work out what to do next. A few plans have come to mind but nothing concrete as of yet. As for life here, lots of interesting things have been happening. I have been helping out a bit with the coffee harvest. Its not back breaking work by any means, you basically just have to pick beans from a bush and put them in the basket in front of you, just like blackberry picking for grownups. The problems start when you get to a bush that is inhabited by a colony of ants. Like all insects in Costa Rica the ants here seem to have some super power that make their bites that bit more painful. Harvesting here involves whole families. This morning everyone from Rafa, the grandfather, down to little 3 year-old Gabbie were out picking. After about 31/2 hours of work I was told that the amount of beans I collected would have earned me 1000colones (about $2), yepeee!
I recently got involved with the local soccer team; I played a game about 2 weeks ago in torrential rain. Unfortunately I didn’t have football boots with me and no one else in the village had boots that would fit me so I had to play in my trainers. It wasn’t a good idea, breaking was impossible and every time I tried to stop I skid across the grass to the delight of the locals watching the game. After about 30 minutes and an injury to our goalkeeper I decided it might be better to go in goal. All went okay in goal, the Gaelic football skills came in handy and I was able to hold my own. In the meantime I have bought a pair of boots and I was training with the team yesterday in preparation for the big tournament next weekend.
Last weekend we got to take a trip to Eneidas home, which is a remote village about an hour from where we are at the moment. Before the trip we were told we would be visiting all her family in the area. I had expected a lot of time getting in and out of the car moving from one part of the town to another. However we discovered that they all lived pretty much within a five minute walk from each other. It was interesting to see how the family were so close and supportive of each other. Cousins were also best friends and a family dog was the whole family’s dog. Unfortunately it rained quite heavily while we were there, meaning that we didn’t get to see the whole area, but we were received very warmly by everyone we met.
Our days here are normally fairly relaxed and predictable however every now and then something strange happens that reminds us exactly where we are. For example last week we were walking along a road that we walk pretty much every day when we walked around a corner only to see a young bull flanked by a giant black eagle staring at us. It was like we had a caught them doing something. What exactly they were doing standing there together is beyond me. The bull looked at us we looked at it, both of us not quite sure what to do. Eventually we carefully passed it while it just as carefully passed us and the eagle flew away. It was kind of a weird moment. Another equally strange moment was when one of my students started breast feeding in one of my classes. I didn’t even realise she was doing it until I turned her way to ask her a question. It was another reminder of the differences in our cultures. We also have both come across people wearing clothes from our hometowns. A girl on the bus we were on last week was wearing a Cork GAA hat and a guy was wearing a t-shirt from “the cowgirl” in Santa Fe at the mass we attended in Eneidas home town. Both reminders of how small the world is.
With over two weeks left to go I am already thinking its going to be hard to say goodbye to San Gerardo. The people here are genuinely appreciative of us being here and the students are eager to learn. Hopefully the last two weeks here will be as enjoyable, interesting and memorable as the weeks before them.

BINGO!

October 22, 2009

We’ve reached two half-way points; half-way through our time in Costa Rica, and half way through our volunteer project in San Gerardo. We’ve finally settled in and are a bit more accustomed to life here, and I’m enjoying it more than ever. We had to just shed our old habits and comfort zones for new ones. I walked down the street (and by the street, there is only one in town) at dusk on my way home from teaching a great class, the river was rushing loudly, coyotes were starting to howl on the other side of the mountain, the few houses in view were glowing against the green, lush landscape. Colorful, exotic flowers lined the roads, as a man passed me on horseback, taking his child home from school. Costa Rica, especially the countryside, lives for the day light and accepts that when its pouring rain, cool, or dark, that you stay inside, have a big meal, and get in bed!

While we’ve grown more accustomed to the tranquility of San Gerardo, we’ve also been busier, which is great. This past weekend was the celebration of the patron saint of the village, San Gerardo. They celebrate with daily mass, soccer games, tons of food, and bingo games. Friday morning at 7 a.m., I was in the community kitchen with about a dozen women making tamales. I was in charge of putting a sliver of carrot, red bell pepper, and a green bean in each one of the 300 we made. The morning was full of banter and laughter from the women, and although I do believe my Spanish continues to improve, when there are a dozen women in the room, there is really little hope.

Saturday evening was the big town Bingo game. I’d say there were about 150 people there, nearly half the village. Men, women and children gathered, ate a big plate of rice and beans, and fiddled with their piles of dried corn (the bingo markers). There were 4 rounds, the second’s rule was to make an “O” on the board. Some kind of beginner’s luck stroke me as I heard Cinquenta-y-siete called, the last number I needed. I WON! If people didn’t know me as the only blond girl in town before, they sure do now. Although I’m not exactly sure if they were happy for the “gringa” or more disappointed for themselves. Either way, the 20 dollars will help me pay my rent for the monthJ

It was a busy week, including a squirrel and small tarantula making their way into our bedroom (!!) and the biggest rainstorm yet, turning the soccer game into a game of water polo. I’m thankful for the activity, and for the entire experience here so far. An adventure I’ll remember forever.

Life in the mountains

So life here goes on, classes have started days are getting a little busier and we have started to get used to the lack of information stimulation. The local shop doesn’t sell newspapers but the owner gets one for his own personal use, sometimes he’s kind enough to give me what he’s finished with. Getting access to the internet is also difficult, a number of the hotels in the area have access via satellite so we usually go every two or three days and try getting our fix in one sitting. The few people who have connections in there houses are all using dial up, which is painfully slow. To be honest, I haven’t really missed not having a TV, mobile phone or any of the other stuff, but the internet is something I definitely do miss.

Today we visited Cloudbridge rainforest reserve, its 220 hectares of pristine rainforest and has great trails for hiking and taking in the scenery. In my opinion its probably one of the highlights of the area, you could kill a day hiking there and you are bound to see some amazing plants and animals. The area was bought back in 2002 and is used to study the biodiversity of the highland rainforests of Central America. If anyone is heading this way sometime soon be sure to check it out!

A few days ago I visited the local city, San Isidro de General. The city is about 45min from the village and is located on a plateau. It’s much lower than San Gerardo and therefore much hotter. It was my first time in a city for more than 2 weeks and the noise, heat and congestion were definitely a culture shock. The sensory overload was similar to the first time I visited Vegas or New York. It was weird seeing that it’s a city about the same size as my home town of Cork, but after been hidden away in San Gerardo for so long I felt the difference. I was glad to get back to base after my few hours in the city

You might have read in my previous entry that Dominical was “hellish”, let me explain. Dominical is a small beach town on the pacific coast, beautiful beach, huge waves basically a surfer’s paradise. Like a lot of places I have visited I think Dominical was probably amazing once upon a time. Unfortunately, it is slowly developing into just another “once beautiful now overrun with drunk tourists” beach town. I think there are more Americans living there now than Costa Ricans. It’s a town that could one day develop into something like Torromolinos or Benidorm on the Spanish coast. If you visit Costa Rica and are looking for a party town with lots of holiday makers this is a good place to go and if I was in that mood I certainly would have spent longer there, but to be honest after two days I had enough. What did it for me was when I saw a drunk tourist do wheelies on his motorbike down the main street while confused locals looked on. Looking back, it was kind of funny, but at the time I wasn’t too impressed; probably because we had just missed our bus. It’s a shame to see a town disappear like that but I guess it's development and money for the people of Costa Rica.

San Gerardo de General, Week two

As we reach the end to our second week in San Gerardo, it’s becoming more comfortable. The first week was a mix of planning classes, meeting with Jenny, the Director of Proyecto San Gerardo and becoming accustomed to our new waking hours of the day. In Costa Rica, the sun shines for about 12 hours, year-round, from 5:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Therefore, all of the daily activities begin earlier than we’re accustomed to. Breakfast is at 6:30, where we sit at the counter in the kitchen sleepily drinking delicious coffee that was grown in the back yard. Breakfast varies from grilled plantains (also grown in the back yard), to other fruits or breads, to beans and rice, which meals are centered around about 80 percent of the time. We’re incredibly lucky to have a great host family, with a wonderful cook as the matriarch. She worked as a cook on Chirripo, the nearby mountain, (the tallest in Costa Rica) which San Gerardo provides the access to. The Fonseca’s also owned a small hotel where Dona Fonseca did all of the cooking and cleaning. Each meal she comes through the curtain, which serves as the kitchen door with a plate of food fit for a king. Granted, we usually have a few minutes of explanation of what vegetable it is, because more often than not, it doesn’t exist outside of this region. I never knew plantains could be cooked in salt water and then mixed with anything from tomatoes, to spinach, to beets with mayonnaise. It’s all quite delicious. Needless to say, we’re not going hungry. Most is grown on the family farm, and the only time we’ve had chicken, it was walking around earlier on the neighbor’s property.

Rafa Fonseca, the father, is 65 years old and an avid mountaineer and runner. Yesterday morning he ran further than half way up Mount Chirripo to meet his daughter, a guide, who was descending from a trekking trip. The trip takes a ‘normal’ person about 6 hours to walk up the steep incline, Rafa ran up and was back down in 3 hours, in time for lunch and a nice afternoon siesta. On non-rainy afternoons (good luck finding one of those during this time of year) he runs to the nearby city, and by nearby, I mean 15 miles on a steep, rocky, dirt road. Kevin mentioned last night that there must be something in the vegetables!

We’ve started teaching this week and all is going well. We have everything from people that can’t speak a word, to children with American parents. The education system has really shifted in the last 10 years, because everyone before that basically finished elementary school and went to work on the farm. Most families in the previous generation had at least 6 or 8 kids, all who now have family houses on large farm plots where they all work. They work hard, hence the 7 p.m. bedtime most days.

I’m really enjoying the time here, and I think over the next 6 weeks, (we’ll be here for 8 weeks total) we’ll continue to not only teach, but also learn a lot.

San Gerardo

The journey to San Gerardo de Rivas wasn’t as straight forward as we thought it would be. According to the schedules, the bus was due to arrive at 730 but after 3 weeks in Costa Rica we knew that meant it could arrive anywhere between 710 and 750. We woke at 650 a little behind time, no problem we would make it for 710, no big deal. We rushed down to the bus stop and arrived at 712 to find out that the bus had just left. uhoh. The next bus wasn’t till 130 and our connecting bus was at 2. So what to do? Stay another night in the hellish Dominical or leave? That was a no brainer, leave we did.
We made it to San Isidro and after a little bartering we got a taxi to bring us to San Gerardo for about 20$. The journey from San Isidro to San Gerardo took about 45mins and it we went from dirt track to tarred road and back to dirt track. We went up into clouds and back down through them again. The further we went the fewer the houses and fields we saw and the further into the Jungle we found ourselves. We eventually arrived to a small misty village overlooking the mountains; this was to be our home for the next six weeks. Right in the centre of the village I saw a football pitch. Brilliant! At one end of the football pitch was the church and the school, at the other end was the community centre, in between was a shop and a hotel called the Roca Dura (the hard rock).
Soon after we arrived, a tattered blue pick up truck pulled up and out jumped Jenny, the founder and director of Proyecto San Gerardo. After introductions we went to the Roca dura for a couple of beers and a chat. My initial feelings were good, the people all seemed really nice, and everyone smiled and saluted us. The manager of the hotel who had himself built the place gave us a discount on our room when he found out that we were volunteers. The landscape surrounding the village was breathtaking.
The following day we met the family we are staying with for the duration of the programme. We are staying with Rafa and Ineida both locals who have lived in San Gerardo all their live. They live with their son Sylvianny and are also regularly visited by children, grandchildren, cousins, brothers, sisters and in laws. The family is huge and they are all delighted to meet us. Remembering everyone’s name is probably the biggest challenge of the moment.
This morning I went with Ineida and Gabriel her grandson to the fish farm. At the entrance to the fish farm were three dogs that immediately started growling and barking as we approached. One looked more like a wolf than a dog so I decided it wouldn’t be wise to try and make friends. Their owner soon came out and shushed them, and explained they were there to keep the coyotes away from the fish. He led as down a path where there were a number of ponds, the first had small fish; the second were a little bigger and so on and so forth till we got to the 5th and final pond. Inside this pond were large trout waiting to be caught, the owner produced palm sized sticks with fishing line wrapped around them, these were the fishing rods. We started throwing our lines into the pond to see what we would catch. A few moments after the first baited hook was put in the water there was a fish pulled out flapping, the owner grabbed the fish and killed it instantly with his hands. Id like to say it didn’t bother me in the slightest but the truth is I’m from the city, I’m used to buying fish from the supermarket, the blood and guts unsettled me a little. I decided to give it a go anyways. The first few attempt yielded no reward but a few attempts later I felt a pull, I caught my very first fish at 25 years of age, picture below. It tasted even better than it looks.
Life here is slow and simple and a million miles away from what I was used to in Dublin and Madrid. The day starts early, almost everyone is out of bed by 6.The morning is spent working and in the afternoon it usually rains, this is the time for relaxation. People usually go to bed at 8 as it’s completely dark by then. Television doesn’t have a prominent place here, we don’t have a television in our house and I’ve been told that you can only get two channels and to change the channel you need to move the antenna. Thankfully I brought a good stock of books. Most people don’t have mobile phones either as there is no signal in the village. Only a few people in town have the internet and all the connections are dial up. Our family get their food from their own farm, what we eat at night is usually picked during the day. Although life here takes a little getting used to I must say I’m very happy here, people are nice and are willing to spend time to talking to you and to getting to know you. They want to know who you are and were you’re from and are very appreciative of the fact that you’re volunteering in their village. And although the days aren’t action packed there’s always something to do. Tomorrow is the fair in the neighbouring village and on Sunday I’m playing football with some of the locals. We have only been here for three days, but we have learnt and seen so much in this time it feels like we’ve been here a year! Imagine what it will be like after 6 weeks,

First impressions

Last winter as I sat near the fireplace at home in Santa Fe, coming in from a snowy evening out, I dreamed of being somewhere away from the cold. Somewhere tropical. Somewhere quiet and tranquil with a different pace of life. I was visiting Santa Fe, but living in Spain. Who was I to complain? Living a great life in Europe, learning Spanish and teaching English, making very decent money for such an easy lifestyle. However, after a year and a half, the city life was wearing on me. For the first time since I left, I truly did feel home sick and by the time I left Spain in July, I couldn't wait for the next adventure. I will always treasure my memories of Madrid, and will definitely go back one day, but having purchased one way tickets to Costa Rica following a month at home and me on the track to the tropics. And, I wasn't looking back.

Kevin and I arrived in San Jose on September 1st after flying over the lush green mountains, and through some very dark and ominous clouds. Rainy season? Oh we'll just pack a raincoat.

Our first 3 days were spent in Sarchi at a dear family friend's house. It was quite an introduction to real Costa Rican life. A small house perched on the side of a hill, with lush greenery and vibrant flowers. However we must admit that the tranquility was stripped by loud, fuming engines from the street below, as well as a 6 am aerobics class at the attic-turned-gym next door. Although it is on the exact same time zone as Santa Fe, I felt like I was on a new planet, and completely exhausted from only a 4 hour journey. Nevertheless we enjoyed the first few days, learning accupressure methods from Dale, a dear friend of my aunt Robbie. We also visited a beautiful river and waterfall which was breathtaking.

From Sarchi we journeyed back to San Jose, a big, dirty and loud city to the bus terminal. Just in time for the daily thunderstorm, we took shelter and watched men preach the bible and sell fresh, raw fish hanging from bicycle handlebars. We boarded the bus to Manuel Antonio National Park on the Pacific coast.

Manuel Antonio was beautiful. The park itself was completely worth the trip. We walked along a muddy, overgrown trail and monkeys and sloths climbed the trees above. We swam in the ocean and hiked out onto a small peninsula where the view was worth the "death defying" encounters with large iguanas and mystery rodents. The day after the park we watched the sun set from a restaurant on the cusp of a valley, overlooking the dewey palm leaves and glowing western sky.  We had a lovely, quiet dinner at the Agave Grill at Hotel La Colina.  We enjoyed amazing nachos with homemade chips, and fresh, zesty ceviche.

We're now on day 10 and it feels like it's been months. We're growing accustomed to the heat and humidity, to the bugs and to the daily storms. However, we're feeling very far from home at the same time. We're on an adventure, and enjoying the challenges that face us. We're spending 10 days or so at Hotel Tucan, volunteering in exchange for bed and breakfast. It's a great spot, though remote, with a mellow vibe. If there's no work to be done, we run around with the two month old chihuahua puppies and swim in the river or hike to the beach. Trying to take the tranquility in stride...after all, that's what I was dreaming of sitting by the fire just 8 months ago.