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!
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