Holidays!

Before I begin, I would like to give the not-so-long anticipated amendment to my answer regarding Christmas trees in the lowlands of Costa Rica. From what I see, they’re all plastic versions of the “normal” tree we associate with Christmas in the US. See the photo of our family’s Christmas tree below.

As for Christmas and the celebrations following, our family has dealt with the problem of being extremely large by giving everyone a single gift arranged through a “secret santa” type of system. This is nice as it seemed to take the “gimme!” spirit out of the children and got them more focused on giving than getting.

Christmas celebrations here seem to be largely held on Christmas eve as opposed to the familiar Christmas morning depictions often seen in the states. The kids stayed up until midnight and wished each other a Merry Christmas while setting off fireworks and swatting at a piñata that Melana and I purchased for the occasion.

In addition to the holidays, we have also had two birthdays over the course of the past week. (that’s a lot of parties!) Our host mom had her birthday, and the whole family came out to celebrate. Feeling extra creative, Melana baked a cake for the special night. The kids were very excited to help (and to lick the mixers after we were finished).

Inspired by my wife, I went ahead and tried out a bread recipe the next night. It came out something like funnel cake, or other fried dough concoction. The family loved it so much they they decided to forego dinner and fill up on fried dough or, as they liked to call them, pan orejas - bread ears.

New Site

These past couple of days Melana and I have been settling in to our new home in the the northern province of Alajuela. Melana’s host family was kind enough to drive us down to our new home and we stopped by the beach along the way for lunch. This also meant that we came the long way around Mt. Arenal (and the whole Vulcan Tenorio park) and had to swing up to Upala to in order to get to our site. It was a nice trip though, coming from the relatively cold San Jose province through the heat of Guanacaste and finally settling in the warm yet dry zone in the north. I’ve included a detailed map of Costa Rica in the link below. If you’d like to find out what the heck I’m going on about, you can do so here.

So far things have not stopped moving as we’ve made preparations for Christmas. We have been cooking non stop for the horde of people that will descend upon the house come Christmas Eve. On Wednesday, I watched my host dad and his neighbors butcher a newly slaughtered pig which we would later cook and make into chicharrones (fried pork fat) and other dishes. Chicharrones pictured here:

In the afternoon, I donned boots and made my way into the forest to chop down banana leaves which would be used to wrap tamales. We then held the banana leaves over a fire to soften them before cleaning them for wrapping tamales.

For the uninitiated, Tamales consist of a ground corn paste and rice with meat (in this case, from the pig) and some vegetables. The combination is then wrapped in a banana leaf (or corn husk in the US) and boiled for several hours. Tamales are pictured below!

I have been struggling in Spanish. Melana’s six years of diligent study are really putting my paltry three months to shame! I’m getting better every day, though! Hope everyone is having a great holiday season!

Answers to Sea Girt 7th Grader's questions #1

First of all, let me thank you for your wonderful, insightful and thought-provoking questions. A lot of these are really, really interesting! I will answer every one of them below and encourage you to keep them coming, though I may not always be so prompt in my replies due to internet access. Before I begin, I want to let everyone know that Melana and I graduated training this Friday. That means, as of Dec. 17th we are full fledged PCV's! We'll be traveling to our site on Monday! The graduation ceremony was held at the US Ambassador's house and we were received with grand pomp and circumstance... we even sang the Costa Rican national anthem (which is in Spanish - ahh!)

This also means that we said good-bye to our host families, who we've grown to love. The pictures posted below are of our family parties.

Melana with her family:

And me with my family!

We kicked off activities with a classic water balloon toss.After I hung the piñata, I kind of got stuck in the rafters. You could say it was a "hit".

Ok, questions!

Q #1

It looks like most of your daily routine outdoors. DO you eat outdoors? What are some stuff that you do outside that you wouldn't do outside here?

Great question! Most of our daily routines are indoors to a large degree. This includes meetings, meals, time with the family, etc. In a lot of ways, Costa Ricans spend as much time inside as US Americans do. The difference is that when we in the US are inside, we're really, REALLY inside, as in, four wall that go to the ceiling with glass in our windows. In Costa Rica, a lot of the buildings are very open air, meaning that it can feel or look like you're outside even in your house (this means bugs are everywhere!) The other difference is that I walk everywhere, so I'm outside when I'm traveling (usually 1-4 hours a day just doing that.) One activity we do outside here that US Americans usually don't do outside is wash clothing. Most CR households have an outdoor sink where they wash their clothes by hand. This is usually under an overhang but, for all intents and purposes is outside. We usually eat inside too, unless we're grabbing a meal to go.

Q #2

Hey Peteman I was just wondering if the people down there are celebrating christmas and if so are you getting a real chrismas tree or a palm tree (because i've seen it done)or are you not getting any trees and just celebrating this great festive holiday!? please write back

They are definitely celebrating Christmas! Christmas here started back in October as far as decorations and music go. There are Spanish versions of Christmas carols everywhere. Most homes do have typical Christmas trees if the families can afford them. There is a Christmas tree farm on my way by bus to San Jose. Then again, we're high in the mountains here. When I get to my new home in the lowlands, I'll follow up and let you know!

Q#3

Is Peace Corps ever dangerous?

Yes. Next question...

Ha! I'm kidding! Peace Corps can be dangerous - but the US Government does everything it can to keep us from harm. Being in impoverished and underdeveloped areas, though, there is always at risk for certain natural disasters, crime and political instability. We are briefed weekly from the State Department about safety and security issues and the Peace Corps has a special Safety and Securities Officer responsible for training us on how to mitigate risks. The biggest natural threats in CR are earthquakes, landslides, flooding, volcanoes and tropical diseases!

Q#4

Wow! those are a lot of ants! Imagine if they could hold up something even bigger!

Ants can carry 10x their own body weight - or more!. Meaning that if you as strong as an ant, you could carry a car! The African lion ant, I've heard, can carry up to 50x its body weight!

Q#5

Does some of Costa Rica live in poverty? Eh?

Yes, this is why the Peace Corps still operates in this relatively developed nation. According to the CR government. 18.6 percent of CR households are impoverished. However, poverty is difficult to measure. There are both national and international poverty standards. For example, in the US, the US Census Bureau estimates poverty to hover somewhere around the 13 percent mark. However, an impoverished person in the US most likely still has access to roads, water, public schools and other resources that an impoverished person in CR does not. Still, poverty in all countries is something we must take initiatives to combat. In the US, the group that does the job of Peace Corps is called AmeriCorps.

Q#6

Was the earthquake horrifying or was it just a little shake? what happened when the earthquake came? Did you try to take cover or hit the ground?

Honestly, it felt like a cheap ride at a local amusement park. The kind where a platform shakes and an unenthusiastic ride operator says, “Oh no, earthquake!” Fortunately the earthquake was strong but very, very deep underground (5 miles, I think.) Earthquakes are especially dangerous in CR because they can cause landslides. This one did not. Also, because we were outside anyway, I just hung on and enjoyed the ride! If I were inside, I would hide under a door frame.

Q#7

Hello! You're adventures in Costa Rica seem very exciting! Did you want to be a PCV when you were younger? Also, do you plan to do peace corps projects for the rest of your life? Thank you.

I have always been a traveler, but I didn’t really know that much about Peace Corps until College. Your teacher can probably tell you stories of how I was as a student! I loved everything to do with nature, science and far-away lands. I always envisioned myself traveling, but I didn’t really know how I would be able to do that for a job. Would I do it for my whole life? Probably not because I need to make money at some point! What I would really like to do after I finish my Master’s is look for new ways to bring the international experience into classrooms like yours, much like I'm doing right now!

Q#8

hey Peteman,

I was pondering if you have to take some type of pills before you eat so you don't get sick.

Keep on pondering! That’s how Pinky and the Brain do it! Food here is relatively safe compared to the rest of the world. All I really have to do is look out for the same things you have to look out for in the States: uncooked meat, raw eggs, unwashed vegetables and stagnant or unclean water. I DO have to take special pills when I travel to Malaria zones in the country, but those are not for food.

Q#9

Those look a lot like the ants in "Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

This isn’t really a question but I’ll simply state that Indiana Jones has always been my hero and that I love all of those movies - especially the first 3, but that could be because I’m old.

Well, there you have it, 9 great questions! Keep ‘em coming and be sure to ask your teacher about any words or concepts that you didn’t fully understand and discuss them in class! If you need to ask a follow-up question, I’ll be happy to answer it! Also, be sure to research topics you find interesting on your own either online or in the resource center (library) in Sea Girt School!

Site Visit

This week, Melana and I visited our new site where we be living for the next two years- or at least the next six months. I'll break any suspense that you may have by saying up front that it was wonderful.

The region of Guatuso is very different from where we have been living the last few months. The area outside of San Jose are magnificently mountainous with climates ranging from cool to warm during the day to cool to cold at night. There is a lot of fog as the clouds pass right by our homes on there ascent up the mountain and it is generally humid and rainy in the evenings and afternoons.
You also get magnificent. Views like this one:


And this one:


The new Location, however, is flat - very flat. We're not talking midwest-I've-been-driving-for-six-hours-with-only-billboards-for-company flat, but it's flat for Costa Rica.
It's also much warmer

Our new home is on a little farm set among other pineapple and sugar cane farms. It is surrounded by orange, lemon and lime trees that are populated by a very pretty assortment of tropical birds... and monkeys. Yes, there are monkeys at our new site, howler monkeys to be specific. They like to yell at trucks when they go by (it is THEIR turf after all). Though I haven't seen them, we are also supposed to have smaller capuchins and toucans. According to the family, there are NO tarantulas at our site... which is awesome! It almost makes the 3-4 inch cockroaches easier to bear. There are also chickens, cows and horses about as well as a number of dogs and other critters.
Our whole house seems to be more of an ecosystem than simply a house for people. I'll tell you what I mean, on our second day there our mom killed one of the chickens that was walking around outside, cleaned it and served it to us for dinner. the feathers went into a pile out back, a bunch of the bones went to the dogs (dogs seem to eat chicken bones here without a problem, I don't know what's wrong with our snooty US dogs) and a good deal of the organs were put out back for the vultures and eagles to keep them around so that they would eat the mice in the area. The dogs run loose next to the chickens and protect them from local predators and, in return, are fed milk from the cows every day plus all the scraps from the house. What the dogs don't eat, the chicken or buzzards do. It's pretty amazing.
We also have a pet parrot that walks about the house and will occasionally sneak up on us and squawk very, very loudly.
As far as the family goes, they are a charming old couple, a retired farmer who still busies himself with farm work and a grandmother who is content just being a grandmother. I should also mention that there are 15 grandkids, almost all of whom appear in the house on a daily basis. Our mother cooks for all of the grandkids and a good deal of her five children and their spouses in addition to some friends that occasionally show up. The result of all this activity is a house that looks a lot like a restaurant a lot of the time with piles of dishes and food cooking at an industrial scale. Melana also noted that the children tend to descend upon the kitchen like a swarm of locusts leaving only empty spinning plates settling amid an eerie calm as the dust slowly settles from the recent rush of activity.

I've gone on long enough for now. I'll document more about my site when I'm actually living there. Until then, here are some pictures!

Birthdays!

We recently had two parties for both my host parents, so here are some pictures!

Here's a picture from Sandra's birthday that I just love!





And here are two of my Tico cousins awaiting cake.

Thanksgiving cont.

On Sunday, Melana and I (both still fighting colds, mind you) prepared for a thanksgiving meal with the rest of the PCT community. There had been a similar gathering in my community on Friday, but I had missed It due to the fact that I was still running a fever. Fortunately, two of my friends were kind enough to walk over a plate of food that I could enjoy while busying myself with fighting a virus. Thanks Roxanna and Audrey!

Pictures of Melana's event below!





The turkey wasn't quite done so we wound up microwaving it to make sure no one got food poisoning (take note peace corps!)


With everyone waiting for food it was up to Melana to teach the boys how to carve a bird.


As the event waned to a close, dancing commenced...


With Megan still washing dishes.




Later on... Limbo!

This mission, should you choose to accept it...

Well, it’s official. Melana and I finally have our site assignment. On Wednesday, Melana and I received our very Mission Impossible style folders containing the details of our assignments. Though I am disallowed from disclosing the exact location of the site (clearly if I told you, I’d have to kill you), I can say that it is fairly close to the town of San Rafael de Guatuso in the northern province of Alajuela. I will be working with a women’s cooperative of cocoa growers and with high school and middle school students, though I won’t know more details until I actually get to to site and assess the community. Melana will be working with a local high school acting as an English teacher. As far as more details about her assignment, we’ll find out more on Tuesday. Due to some clerical error, Melana’s folder was a little.. erm... blank.

The site is about as far as you can get from the beach, but the good news is that that’s only about 3 hours in Costa Rica. Melana and I will be living on a farm amidst cocoa and pineapple fields. More details will come later, as I get them. Next week, Melana and I will be traveling out to meed our new family and to survey our site. Below you’ll see a picture of one of the locations that is supposably near our town. I’m psyched!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

The Peace Corps Trainees and Staff celebrated with a Thanksgiving lunch yesterday. There were mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing and even pumpkin pie. Unfortunately, there was also some very bacteria filled juice of some sort and today, everyone has food poisoning - and I mean everyone. I'm writing this between trips to the bathroom and everyone got out of class early today.

Melana really commented best on this when she said, "you know... of all the opportunities to get sick from the water and food of Costa Rica, who would have thought the Peace Corps would be the ones to wind up poisoning us."

Happy Thanksgiving!

CED Training

It has occured to me that, with all the things that I write on here, there is not that much information on what we're doing on a day to day basis. So, today I wanted to fill you in on what I've been up to for the past couple of weeks. Normally, I have Spanish class in my community with two other trainees three times a week. On Tues. and Thurs., however, we hike to the neighboring town of Tarbaca (there's a bus, but where's the fun in that?) To study business and economic development stuff specific to Costa Rica along with safety, security and medical procedures generic to Peace Corps. With the flooding and landslides throughout the country, though, things have NOT been normal.

Usually, at this point in training, the trainees would be sent to another volunteer's community to study the technical aspects of their projects. It is normally an intensive and challenging week that incorporates business theory with Spanish and cultural immersion. Sadly, the normal tech training that we normally had planned was canceled and replaced with a condensed week of business theory.

For this past week, our CED group was in Tarbaca for the whole week. During this time we conducted a market survey and started

a mock company. For most of the week we went over the technical specifics of a business plan. That means, roughly 6 hours of marketing followed by 6 hours of accounting and so on... We basically covered what a normal JA program would cover in 18 weeks. What's JA you ask? Well...

This is actually a great place to plug the JA program. The Junior Achievement program is a program designed to educate young people about the world of business and entrepreneurship. If you want to learn more specifics, you can check it out at www.JA.org.

We also recently had another birthday, and this time - thanks to the internet, the entire Diaz family was in attendance.

A Special Welcome

I would like to extend a special welcome to the students of Sea Girt School who are now following my blog! Please feel free to leave comments!

Here's a view out the window of the internet cafe I'm at!

Nicaraguan Border Dispute

Read all about the latest in international disputes. This one has been ramping up recently and is a very hot topic among Ticos at the moment. You can read about it here.

Ants!

Specifically Leaf-cutter ants. They're outside my house!

Landslide

I couldn't seem to get a good picture, this wad the best I could do.


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Aftermath

As you may have heard, the rain last week turned out to be more than dreary weather for the people of Central America. In addition to the flooding that the lowlands experienced, landslides throughout the isthmus caused our president to declare a national emergency as much of the Costa Rican infrastructure was damaged, cutting off transportation and communications throughout the country. Beyond damage to highways, power lines and water pipes, hundreds of people lost their homes and at least 23 Ticos lost their lives. This is considered one of the worst disasters in recent Costa Rican history. Just before the rain finally let up, I received a call to be prepared to evacuate within the hour, due to the landslides that cut off my community and those beyond it. Fortunately, we did not have to be evacuated as the weather let up.

Most volunteers were without water, electricity and telephone services for at least a couple of hours. In my community, we lost water for about a week and a half. Melana’s home only recently got power and water back. It was an experience to have to physically gather all the water that I would be drinking, cooking with and bathing in for the time between. Much of the water was collected from containers we put out in the rain, however, extra water for dishes and toilet flushing was gathered from humanitarian water trucks that were sent up the mountain to help out the isolated towns. For my town and those beyond it, there is a single highway that had to be dug out by hand in order to let the relief vehicles up the pass. For more immediate support, helicopters surveyed the areas by the river to search for missing persons.

In addition, Ticos have been on edge due to the recent tension on the Nicaraguan border. You can read more about that here.

So, an eventful week for those of us down here in Costa Rica. Most of the roads are busted up pretty badly. My bus basically needs to go down steps to get me back to my community from the training site. Today, my friends and I were waiting for the bus for about an hour and a half before we learned that there had been a crash up the road and that no buses would be running for the rest of the night due to the fear that the road would collapse. So, we hired a taxi.

To end with a positive story. This weekend Melana and I also hit up the local farmer’s market in the somewhat larger town of Assari and had a great time. Shopping in the farmer’s market reminded me that soon Melana and I would be pretty much on our own as full fledged volunteers.

My address

Peace Corps office headquarters
Apartol Postal 1266-1000
San Jose, Costa Rica

Last address clearly didn't post.

Rain, rain....

It has been raining here for over 4 days straight now. “but, Pete,” you may say, “you live in a rain forest, why is this of any interest to me?” Well, normally it rains here in the afternoons and evenings and clears up by morning. We live on a mountain and, normaly, as the clouds ascend for the day, everyone up the mountain gets fog followed by rain. That’s how it normally goes. This is something completely different.

In fact, the whole of Costa Rica has received what is normally the entire cumulative rainfall for November and most of December in the last 96 hours. I used to think that this was due to now Hurricane Tomas as it passed by, but I’m beginning to think that there is another system at play here.

I say that I THINK that because information is not too easy to come by here. Internet is spotty, as is electricity and access to water. The entire country is in a state of emergency. We will likely be fine, and by “we” I mean those of us nestled securely in the mountains. Those outlying, however, are experiencing landslides and flooding. The lower lying areas by the Panamanian border and Limon seem hit hardest. I shutter to think what’s going on in Haiti as Hurricane (class 1) Tomas is sitting just outside of Port-au-Prince. While we’re at it, I hope Cuba’s doing alright.

I think pretty strange for a Hurricane/Tropical storm to be on the western side of Hispaniola without going through the Dominican Republic to get there.

So, here’s the scene. We are sitting at home, waiting it out running around the house catching leaks with buckets. That’s about it. Last night I went ahead and made bread with the family as a rainy day activity. Tonight, we’re sitting - I want to venture out into the town and get some playing cards but the rain is just too hard tonight.

The main road to my town is apparently completely blocked off. Which means that they’ll have to send in a helicopter to get us out of here if it comes to that. Not that there’s anywhere it can land as the ground is saturated. Anyway, it won’t come to that as all of us good volunteers are hunkered down with our families translating news broadcasts from Spanish. Miraculously, I have internet, so I’m letting everyone know that, as far as I can tell, every volunteer is absolutely fine. Melana is also doing alright, occasionally I get about 2 minutes to talk to her before she looses phone service again.

All PCV/Ts are on an alert known as “Standfast”, formerly “Cod

e Yellow”. Which means we are restricted from leaving our communities and must be ready to move to a safer location at a moment’s notice. I don’t think it will come to that, if we moved up to “code orange” it would be the first time in the history of Peace Corps that Costa Rica hit above standfast. Unfortunately though, the standfast order does mean that the PCV picnic was canceled, so I hope that get’s rescheduled.

Oh well, I could use a few days of rest anyhoo.

For more on the storm, you can read about it here (that means click on the pink "here" for my less computer savvy readers!)

Proof!

Here's that picture I promised. The handshake is obscured... but that's TOTALLY me with the president of Costa Rica!

Birds!

I've been getting some requests for animal pictures. Well, I don't have any, but Google Image was kind enough to give me the above picture! I see this occasionally at my site or on hikes.

Recouping lost posts

So, I discovered to my horror today that several of my posts over the last several days have been lost to the cavernous maw of cyber space. I'm currently attempting to track them down, but, in the meantime, I figure I should update you, my loyal readers. (all 3 of you)

This weekend, Melana and I were sent to a small town just outside of San Isidro to observe another couple and get a taste for what PCV life is like. The bus ride took about 3 hours though a mountain pass that was surprisingly cool. I took the opportunity to pick up some candied figs for our guests.... apparently they either pick them or make them up there because they were really cheap.

The town we were sent to is considered "urban" for your average Tico (Costa Rican) town that is not a major city. This means that most of the residents there had homes to live in, and more than 40% of the roads in town were paved.

At this point I should say that I am referring to the town we went to as “the town” on purpose. For security purposes we (that is PCV/Ts with blogs or access to social media) are to avoid mentioning the exact sites that current PCVs are assigned to.

Anyway, the town we went to had a interesting economy. Because of its proximity to the larger city of San Isidro, the town contained very few of its own services save for a single soda (a soda is like a small grocery and snack shop) which is directly across from the school and only open during school hours.

What the town DOES have in terms of income generation is a large dump that serves the nearby urban areas. Unfortunately, this is also a source of a lot of social hardships as the dump serves as a staging ground for a lot of unsavory characters who scavenge through the waste to salvage metals and other such items of value from the detritus. This, would not seem like such an unsavory way to make a living if the revenue from these activities was not supporting the drug habits of many of these individuals. This makes the town a bit of an unsafe place in the way of petty crime, particularly after dark.

There is also a sugar can plantation and a lot of trees that are completely saturated with an enormous population of vultures and other scavenging birds that live off the dump. Seriously, there are about 5 in every tree with branches to support them.

So, despite the description I’ve given of the place, I really liked it. Our hosts, Jared and Morgan, were wonderful and really gave us the rundown of what it’s like to be a PCV. We discussed strategies for community development and generally what it’s like to be married and in Peace Corps.

I should also mention that they HAVE to be two of the most positive people I’ve met since I’ve been here, which is saying a lot considering how positive most of the people here are.

While we were there we got to attend a Halloween party that they threw for some of the local children. This is quite a feat as most of the local Ticos believe that Halloween is the work of the devil. The kids did some bobbing for apples, then Melana helped with some face painting and I helped carve pumpkins before having them go around to all the doors in the house and Trick-or-treat.

While there, we also visited the school across the street and got to see the choir that Jared had been working with and the world map project that Morgan has nearly completed (fix Korea!)

On the last night there, I taught Morgan, and their host mom, who is totally awesome, to make flat bread. In total, I had a really good time and didn’t want to leave!

All of the above had been written on a broken down bus as Melana and I attempted to get back to our training communities in the pouring rain. Speaking of rain, we’re really feeling Tropical Depression Tomas at the moment. I put a couple buckets around the house tonight to catch the leaks.

Tonight, I also got a call telling me that we’re on alert for rain, and, more specifically, that I’m not allowed to hike to class tomorrow. oh well!

Time for bed!

btw - Internet access has been VERY spotty, so who knows when this will go up!

How many foreign leaders have you met today?

This picture was taken just before meeting la presidenta de Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla. I managed to introduce myself as a PCV in Spanish. At least... I think I did... Still looking for a picture of the handshake! Exciting!

My fellow Spanish classmates and I then attended her speech in the main church in Acosta, pictured below.






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Pictures incoming!

Having some technical difficulties with the Internet here. I can't seem to hold a connection to upload normally. Going to try another way.

First week summary

Classes are going well. I have Spanish classes three days a week for six hours a day. They’re tough, but I’m really enjoying going full throttle on the language learning. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, all of the PC Trainees meet together to take classes (called tech training) that are either considered “core” or “technical.” Core classes center around the general mission of PC and the KSA’s (Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes) that all PCVs need to know. This includes both information about the global mission but also practical information like how not to get pick-pocketed on the bus and the recent political history of Costa Rica.

The “Technical” classes focus on our respective programs. Melana and I are separated here because were are in different PC programs. She focuses primarily on TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and I go to class for CED (Community Economic Development). The technical classes are intensive and last for roughly nine hours minus lunch. We don't have a crazy amount of homework, but there is a bunch of reading. Grad school makes this look like a cake walk, though.

This week we will have an additional tech session where everyone will learn the ins and outs of the US State Dept. computer system as well as getting some visa stuff finalized (fingerprinting and what not). For that, we will travel to the capital, San Jose.

Until then though...

here are some pictures from Costa Rica!

Specifically, these are pictures of our training site. Everywhere we go there are mountains - it's a lot to take in!

Shaking things up with a host family!

Friday:

With orientation over, everyone settled into a relaxed mood to enjoy a send off BBQ before we met up with our host families the next day. In the midst of all the festivities (and wonderful food) we were all caught off guard by a slight rocking sensation. You know - the kind that goes on at a bad theme park ride. Well, it seems that we all experienced our first Costa Rican earthquake - measuring at around 5.6 - it was one of the strongest tremors our instructors had felt.

Not to be shaken up completely (haha!) - everyone then settled in for a night of dancing and festivities - tomorrow, families!

Saturday:

After saying good-bye to Melana for a couple of days (we have to live in separate communities for the first three months) I found myself on a bus headed for my host family in Vuelta de Jorco, which is in the mountains outside of San Jose. And when I say in the mountains, I mean there are multi thousand foot drops in all directions. The roads were pretty intense and I found myself often grabbing hold of my seat a little harder than intended. A dry pair of pants was also in order.

It is also fun to note that the bus carrying Melana's group got totally lost and had to make a harrowing set of multi-point turns on a very narrow road. As we passed them, I caught a brief glimpse of my better half whipping around in her seat in what seemed like a small panic. Hope you're ok, honey!

Familia del Diaz: If first impressions are everything, than I love everything about this family. The father, Marco, is intelligent and hilarious, clearly the life of any party he comes across. while the other families were waiting patiently for their participants, Marco rushed the bus to see if he could chat up the driver and figure out where I was. After Marco led me back to their glorious home in the mountains, I met Sandra, my host mother, who is just a glowing source of hospitality and affection. Additionally, I live with a host sister, Cindy, and her daughter, Nicky, (I guess she'd be my host-niece?) who are both balls of sunshine and enthusiasm.

I have to say that I couldn't be happier with my host family - they are all truly wonderful people, and I've only been here a day!

Pictures to come when I get my camera back! (Melana has it at the moment)

Rebirth of a Blog

It has been a long time since I updated this blog. Since then I have married a beautiful and amazing woman named Melana and gone to grad school at SIT in Brattleboro, VT. For the last two years we have also been applyIng for the US Peace Corps. After mountains of paperwork, doctors appointments and setbacks, we finally received our assignment many updates. Melana and I were informed that we would be leaving for Costa Rica at the beginning of October.

Now that it is nearly mid-October - I am proud to say that Melana and I are safely in Costa Rica and our Peace Corps training is well underway. So far, I'm loving it. Nearly all of the Peace Corps training is similar to if not identical to the training I received at SIT. There is a lot of potential to directly apply what I have learned in the past year. Most of the training staff has had at least one class at SIT and everyone I've talked to knows at least one of my former professors. This makes me very happy as I found myself doubting the value of my education before arriving here.

That said, we spent the first week of training in a facility high up on a mountain and away from other communities. The purpose of this was to sequester us for meetings and initial training without us having the distraction of leaving the training facility. After a week of exhaustive prep - we are finally going to meet our host families. I am currently making notes on my ipod rather than carrying my computer around with me. This is one electronic toy that I think I actually feel smart for buying - rather than all that guilt I usually feel about being indulgent.

Henceforth (hopefully) this blog will contain updated regarding the experiences of PeteMan in Costa Rica. I'll also make an effort to fill in the blanks of the past couple of years so as to enthrall the interested. The lack of internet here means that often my posts will be short, possibly misspelled (ever type on an ipod?) and in all sorts of strange fonts. It also means that posts may be out of order or 5 at a time.

Knowing that, welcome again, to the continued adventures of PeteMan!