Welcome to Chilamate

Hey everyone,

I hope you’re all doing well and staying warm! I’m writing from Chilamate, Costa Rica, where I have spent the past month as a volunteer for the Sarapiqui Conservation Learning Center. I arrived at the beginning of March, after a five week trip through South America, then a wonderful week vacationing on the west coast of Costa Rica with my family. Here in Chilamate I have spent the past month living with a family, working at the center, and learning more about life in the rainforest than I ever thought I would. It’s been a fantastic experience, through which I’ve improved my Spanish, made new friends, and embraced “la pura vida,” (pure life) as they say here in Costa Rica.

Before I catch you up on the past few months, I’ll let you know what’s coming up next. I return to Minnesota next Tuesday, where my stepdad Brent will be graciously waiting to pick me up around midnight. (Thanks again Brent!) From there I’ll be spending a week in the Cities, to attend one of my best friend’s weddings and catch up with some other friends. After that, I take off for New York City to visit an old friend and tour some potential graduate schools. From New York I’ll be leaving the country once again to explore South Africa for a couple of months. This will be the final stop in my around-the-world trip, as I return to Minnesota in early July to enjoy the summer at home, then I’ll head back out into the working world. Where will I be teaching next? That’s to be determined – as of now I have two potential locations; both will start this fall and will finish in May, leaving me a free summer before returning to the States to begin graduate school. Provided I get in somewhere, of course. Fingers crossed. I should find out any day now about the teaching job.

So that’s my life. A little crazy, yes, but all I can hope is that I continue to make the most of my opportunities and appreciate each new day, no matter what it brings.

So what does a new day bring in Chilamate, Costa Rica? It typically starts around 6 AM, when the sun is already up and the roosters right outside my door start crowing. After lazing in bed for a little while I get up and get ready – I try to go running if the weather allows it, but more often than not it’s been raining in the mornings. After taking my shower (only cold water) and getting dressed in my little cabina (pictured – basically a room with a bathroom included, in the other picture I'm the door on the left) I head over to Rosy’s house for breakfast.

Meet Rosy, my host mom. She is always full of energy, smiling, and usually found singing around the house. The past two months she has been pretty occupied by…Baby. His name is Gael, but we all call him Baby. Every morning it is essential that we have Baby time, even if it is just sitting on the bed and staring at him. He is just far too adorable not to. Rosie has two other teenage sons that live with her, Kenneth and Pancho, but they are either sleeping or at school by the time I go to breakfast, so I usually see them in the evenings. This is how they typically spend their time when I see them. 

 Breakfast is always gallo pinto, the typical Costa Rican dish of black beans, rice, onions, and spices. Not quite like our typical Fruit Loops and Cocoa Puffs, but this breakfast is delicious, and usually accompanied by the local white cheese – very soft and mild. Rosie always has a pot of strong, delicious, Costa Rican coffee brewed for us in the morning as well. Meet Yazmin (left), my next door neighbor, fellow coworker at the Center, and other occupant at Rosy’s house. The three of us (plus Baby) usually enjoy our breakfast and coffee in a mixture of Spanish and English. That baby will be bilingual before he knows it.

The Center opens every day at 9 AM, where there are about seven of us working on a daily basis. It is just a ten minute walk down from the little neighborhood where I and most of the other volunteers live. There are four long term volunteers, two short term volunteers, the director, and Yazmin, the volunteer coordinator. Two are from Canada, five from the States, and one is from Germany.  We make a very nice and multinational team.

I’ll write more about the Center and its specific role in the community later, so for now all you need to know is that some days are busier than others, and I am usually at liberty to choose what I want to work on each day, depending on what needs to be done when. For the past two weeks my project has been working on organizing the library, which has been fun and manageable to do as a short term volunteer. If you remember, I originally came with the intention to work as an ESL volunteer, but when I arrived it turned out there were already three long term volunteer ESL teachers, so because March is a busy month for eco-tourism at the Center, I ended up helping with more of the tourism activities and adopted the library project.

 

So, between the library, the occasional cooking duty (terrifying), reception desk duty, general cleaning up and maintenance, weekly staff meetings, and tourism activities, I manage to keep myself busy at the Center. After the Center closes at 5, I usually stay a little later to do some Internet work or Skype, and sometimes stop in to observe and help out with the evening adult English classes. We are encouraged to return to our homes before dark, which happens around 6 PM. My evenings consist of eating dinner at Rosy’s, then spending a couple of hours reading books, catching up on my long lost American TV shows, and relaxing before an early bedtime – I’m usually under the covers by 9 PM. Early to bed, early to rise, and so begins another day in Chilamate. I'll be sad to leave this little place I've called home for the past few weeks!

So now let me take you back a few months to when I first left home in January – I’ve finally gotten my act together and can share my experiences with you over the next few weeks. First stop: Ecuador and Peru.