It has been two weeks since I arrived in Costa Rica. I spent the first week in guide training camp in la Fourtuna at the base of the volcano arenal. The area was beautiful. We stayed in some of the dorms that students doing the volcano program will stay in. There was no hot water, and our "class room" was open air. Everything is so green and alive. Training days were fun. We had lessons about budget and allowance managment, coordinating activities, Rustic Pathways policies, and behavioral, environmental and medical risks specific to Costa Rica and our type of travel work. Between sessions we played lots of fun ice breaker games that we can use with our students, swam in the pool (which was located right next to the main building and had a stream running along side it.) I also played barefoot soccer with other guides and ultimate frisbee. My job has been like summer camp so far! I will be stationed in Turrialba, a small city in a mountainous area of Costa Rica where I will be in charge of kids in the Language program. I have been keeping a detailed journal since access to internet is limited. My second week I had some time off and after Mass one day approached the people in the office to find out information about volunteering, they gave me a number for an organization which I called and went in the next day. I volunteered at a place called Asociacion del Obras del Espiritu Santo located in Cristo Rey, a part of San Jose. Since there are no real addresses or zip codes around here navegating can be complicated... for example my directions to the place i was volunteering were "From La Merced 1 km south and 200 meters west." Everything is based on landmarks and assumes you know where the landmarks are. I worked at a day care for low income families. I was in la guarderia with kids under age two. There were times that I was by myself with 9 or more babies and it was exhausting! The room we were in was very small and filled with 11 cribs and limited toys. The kids were sometimes very sweet but at other times they bit eachother, pulled hair, and hit eachother. Lunch time was the craziest. Espeically since the high chairs available were so dangerous. There was some that were hand crafted from wood with nails exposed, and none had belts so I had to watch to make sure the kids didn't slide out! A goal for this summer is to talk to the students I work with and see if each week the group would sponsor one high chair for the group because even though the conditions were very bad overall it will be good to make some improvements.
While I am healthy and well a lot of the other guides have HUGE bug bites. Two girl has bites all over their legs that are as big as chicken pox. I have been good with sunscreen too! It rains everyd day and is so moist. When I wash my hair it takes about a day and a half or more to dry. As part of m y on site training I got to do many of the activities we will do with the students each week. Turrialba we went horseback riding, visited a butterfly gardin, a serpentarium, a national park of old ruins, and met our bus driver and host families. We will also be taking them white water rafting every other week, zip lining every friday, and coordinating salsa lessons, soccer games, and volunteering. For two weeks of the program I will leave Turrialba and work for "Costa Rican Adventurer" Which includes, but is not limited to: an overnight white water rafting trip, surf lessons, zip lining, bungee jumping, sailing and snorkling, rappelling down a waterfall (and sleeping in a cave behind the waterfall), and visiting the volcano national park. I can hardly believe the beauty of the experiance I have had thus far, and am just taking it in day by day.
Yesterday I had the day off and rented and rode bikes to a beach called punta uva. It was stunning, but I enjoyed the bikeride more than swimming. The water is like bathwater, and in some areas the currents are very dangerous. Tomorrow I go back to San Jose to begin real work! Hope the kids are good!!! I am glad that I am in the Language program because it is the one program offered by Rustic Pathways that gives the guides Sundays off. I was able to go to mass almost every day last week... in a different church each time... one more stunning than the next.
Love you all and thinking of you!
Blessings <3
Still praying that the road is long, full of adventure full of knowledge. (I'll post pictures when I figure out how!!)
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