Where did March go?

My second week on trail was sea kayaking across the Golfo Dulce which is on the Southern Pacific coast. We kayaked about 35 km the whole trip (14 km the first day!). It was hard for all of us and really hot and buggy down there but so beautiful. Another affirmation of my theory that for really beautiful stuff you've got to work hard  to see it. We were guided by this gentleman named Alberto who was a local expert in edible plants. We picked limes, mangos, starfruit, and papaya off the trees and collected coconuts, lemongrass, sugarcane and cilantro from the ground. We also went fishing! I caught 4 fish: 3 mackerels and a baracuda! Which we fried up with garlic and salt--the best fish I've ever had! We just used a lure we made out of a piece of white rope and glue attached to a fishing line that you would roll back up on a wooden spool type thingy. Very simple--Alberto style. He was getting a doctorate in Theology and seemed very wise and would always say slowly, "Wwwooonnderfuuul." with a sage smile. The students continue to say this all the time haha.

My third week was the same itinerary as the first: rock climbing and rafting with a homestay. We had mixed up the groups so I had some different students and it was a pretty fun week. The hardest part about this job so far has been when the students complain. I can't fathom how someone could be ungrateful to be doing what we are doing! I need to be patient and hope that at the end of their time here they will have learned something and hopefully appreciate life back at home more than they used to. The students are 18 to 22 and it's pretty amazing to see the difference of 4 years. I guess thinking back to when I was 18 and 22 a lot changed and I gained a lot of life experience. A lot of the 18 year olds are here for not finishing high school and drug abuse. Very entitled in thinking they are adults and know everything. The older students are mainly here for motivational issues and dropping out of college and think they know nothing.

I was pretty tired by the end of 3 weeks and didn't realize until Sunday and Monday when I was soon to be off (freedom!). It all came crashing down on me. But I headed to the beach with my friend Tevra who also works here. She helped me get a local cell phone in San Isidro (the nearest city) and then we navigated public transportation to the coast. Really easy and only a few bucks. It's funny how certain things are really expensive here. My cell phone (including months worth of minutes) only cost $60 (about 27,000 colones). We were walking around San Isidro looking at some shops and a pair of shorts cost the same as my phone! And cheese is really expensive here. Fresh fruit is super cheap and I got a pair of sunglasses for under $2 (less than 1,000 colones). And the bus is about $1-$2. Hey, atleast here I'm making thousands!

Tuesday we headed to a local farmers/craft market in Tinamastes (the closest little town--about a 40 minute walk up a gravel road or a 10 minute ride by friend's car). I'm planning on going this week and getting locally made coconut oil, chocolate, fresh juice and some gallo pinto made Carribean style (with coconut milk). Another 40 minute bus ride to Dominical and we were at the beach!

We stayed 3 nights at a hostel (private room with shower/bathroom for only $25 a night!). We took advantage of the free wifi, kitchen, and cool fan in our room, spent time on the beach, walked around and enjoyed a few cervezas. We met the surf instructor for our students (Gabriel) and took a lesson from him. Man is surfing scary! I managed to stand up 4 times (definitely not catching the wave without Grabriel's help) which felt satisfying, but maybe since it's still such a foreign thing for me it's still so scary. But, as Gabriel said, you can't surf if you're scared or negative. I guess I'll just have to get over that. There were so many tourists who spoke so many languages other than Spanish/English is was surprising. A definite tourist spot even though the town is literally one dirt road and the beach. I even spoke french twice!
After enough of the humidity (I can only stand constantly sweating for so long), Tevra headed to Panama and I was on my own! I couldn't rely on Tevra to communicate for me anymore. So I kicked up my courage and decided to try to speak to one person a day in Spanish. First test...asking where to buy stamps. Success!
I took the bus back (alone and successfully!) to San Isidro where my new friend/co-worker Roy and his wife Carla picked me up. Roy drives our group around during the week since driving is scary/intense here. I spent 2 days at their house/farm enjoying the quiet, practicing my spanish and walking around their property. They built the house and cleared the land to plant lots of stuff. It was cool to see how much work they put into it. They also live next to a pineapple plantation. Pineapples for days! Probably millions of pineapples. And in case you didn't know (I didn't until I came here--pineapples grow on the ground not in trees!). Roy's mother also lives on the property and she loves to garden and plant flowers. She's only lived there a year, but already there are tons of orchids, edible flowers, a veggie garden and it's really beautiful. I asked in very basic spanish if I could take pictures and she said, "Claro que si!!!" and proceeded to give me a tour and explanation of all the flowers in spanish (I was able to understand some of it haha, mostly I just nodded and said, "claro!") and tell me I could take a picture of this one, and this one, and this one...so now I have more pictures of flowers than I know what to do with :) When I went for a walk around the property, in case I met anyone Roy told me to say "Soy amiga de Roy". That made me smile--atleast I have one friend in the country!

Then I decided to head back to base for a day or two to do laundry and plan an adventure for next week. On the way, I stopped in San Isidro again to get some groceries. Then I had a while before the bus so I stopped at a little cafe to wait. I tried to order a watermelon juice, but the woman said they didn't have that (in spanish). "Ok, mango?" "No." "Ok frio?" (cold?) and she said the only cold drinks they had were reallyfastspanishword or reallyfastspanishword. So I just ordered "el primero" and had no idea what I was getting. It turned out to be this really sweet pink drink that kind of tasted like grenadine with chia seeds floating around in there. Porque no? Sometimes ya just gotta try random new things, right? And then there were 2 gringos sitting behind me so I decided to be a daring traveler and start up a conversation. They are studying abroad here from California. They also happened to be on the same bus as me so we started talking and it turns out the girl is living in a homestay at a soda (cafe type restaurant) just up the road from basecamp! How cool! Maybe I will see her again in the future.

I got off the bus feeling proud for talking to them, when I truck offered me a ride down the dirt road to basecamp (otherwise it's a 40 minute walk). I jumped in and met Rob, a neighbor who moved here from England 8 years ago and now makes bamboo furniture who then proceeded to give another family a ride too. I like how in the area I live it seems everyone knows everyone and they all help each other out.
So I'm proud of how I've grown in the 4 weeks of being here. It's definitely tiring never being comfortable, always being hot, not being able to say certain thoughts because I don't know enough words, being very obviously an outsider, and not having much privacy (I don't think I've yet slept in a building where the walls go all the way up to the ceiling and I always have to call people using the internet i.e. very public places), but it's a good kind of uncomfortable. One that I know I will get through, learn from, and maybe even surpass. Quiza una dia.

la pura vida

My first week on trail was pretty good! I was co-guiding with Carlos (or Carlitos as it's common in Costa Rica to add itos to the end of words for fun). He is a local tico and grew up in the jungle and is amazingly learning english and guiding and had guided for outward bound programs the last 4 years. He's awesome and funny and a good co-guide. He also has an adorable 2 year old son!

We went climbing for 2 days and white water rafting for 2 days and stayed with a host family. They cooked us amazing food (gallo pinto is the national dish here--rice and beans which you add things like a scrambled egg or plaintains to spice it up).

The group was 6 students and 2 guides which was really nice and manageable. I didn't bring my camera this week because I was afraid of the humidity but I will take some pictures when I'm off shift and post them.

I'm actually going to be working 3 weeks in a row. This coming week will be sea kayaking with 5 students so it should be fun! Not sure what I'll be up to my last week. Then I'll have 2 weeks off and some time to relax and take pictures and post some more! I just thought an update would be good now since I got up early and have my computer handy.

Ok until next week!
La pura vida!
Rose (or Rosita :)

**I wrote this post a week ago when I was at basecamp. Right when I was going to post it I lost internet! I've been out on my first week and now back at basecamp so I thought I'd post it anyway!

I made it to Costa Rica! 3 flights, 2 layovers and about 24 hours of travel time and I made it safe and sound to the Las Tumbas valley where our basecamp and my home base is. I actually had a wonderful trip! I had an exit row seat with lots of room my first leg, the entire row to myself the second, and a short 1 hour flight the last leg. Then Christian, a really nice guy who works for Pure Life picked me up from the airport (he even held a sign with my name!), drove 20 minutes and dropped me off at the bus station. I took a greyhound sort of bus for 3 hours across the country to San Isidro (one of the 2 nearest towns from our base) and then Andrew (our program director), picked me up and we drove about half an hour to base.

Christian helped me buy my bus ticket (first time using colones!) and board but right after getting on I had one of my first scary spanish moments! The woman next to me was really nice and was trying to help me out to find a place to put my backpack. There were people in the aisles...not sure if they bought a cheaper ticket or what but she talked and gestured at me and I had no idea what she was saying! I had an idea it was about my bag so I just nodded and put it where she pointed but I was so tired and hungry and dehydrated and overwhelmed by being alone in a foreign country where I don't speak the language and trying to communicate that I got scared! I started thinking about if I got off at the wrong stop or something! But as the time passed I realized nothing was going to happen and all went well.

This country is beautiful and green and my new home is a group of buildings meant for yoga retreats...all open air wood buildings with wood floors and fans. It also used to be a banana plantation so there are banana trees everywhere! We can literally have fresh bananas anytime we want! And the fruit here is so fresh and cheap...apparently you can get an entire fresh pineapple for less than a dollar. I will have to take advantage of that for sure. We usually have fresh mango, pineapple and papaya for breakfast. The staff housing is some bunkbeds in a room with screens for walls and feels kind of like a tree house. It's fun. The last few days I've had a chance to get to know the program and the students and get my bearings.

And tomorrow I go out for a 2 week shift! We will come back to basecamp next Monday but this week we are rafting and climbing and visiting a national park. Hopefully it will go well!

I haven't had time to take any pictures but I definitely will take some on my time off and post them.

Much love and I miss you all!
Love,
Rose