TeachPeaceDC

Completely unrelated to my adventures in Costa Rica, but something else I'm passionate about:

Help me out with my senior capstone project! I'm researching the use of peace education in DC Public Schools and need some input. If you are a DCPS educator or know a DCPS educator, please pass this survey along and take it yourself!

http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22DF3AHM2AC

Thanks everyone!

Home

And so the adventure comes to a close, after a week of traveling Costa Rica with my family (my real one) and too many goodbyes, I got on a plane and flew back to Texas... after 24 weeks and 1 day exactly.

It's very bittersweet, leaving a place I've grown to love so much, and the community I've come to depend on, somewhere so beautiful and different from my own country and cities, but just as comfortable and welcoming now. I've got plenty of souvenirs, pictures, and journal entries to remember that life and those experiences, and I know I'll be back in Costa Rica some day, at least to visit...but it's still sad to see that chapter close.

In those 6 months, I learned so much about myself and about the world. I struggled with questions I didn't even know I had, and found answers to some of them. I experienced overwhelming joy, and got to live out a little rebellious phase (how many times do you really get to run away from real life and live in a different country without any serious consequences?). I settled into who I am, and spent some quality time with the person I've become, a person I didn't really know all too well in January.

I immersed myself in a culture and a language that were still very uncomfortable to me, and grew to understand and love them, finding where I fit in the balance between where I come from and where I was. I accepted something that was outside of myself, and incorporated it into who I am. I built relationships and a community with people who come from a very different place in life, and in the world, and found out that they really weren't so different when it got down to the basics.

And so I'm sad, very sad, to leave the land of waterfalls, beaches, volcanoes, and mangos, where everyone kisses you on the cheek, and coffee flows abundantly. Where life is a little calmer and a little more "tranquilo", where relationships matter more than accomplishments. I miss it all.

Luckily, I had something wonderful to come back to...

Two cities, both vibrant and fun, filled with people I love who care about me and who will go with me to all my favorite restaurants and activities. A family just as big and crazy as my Tico family, who loves me dearly. Tex mex, asparagus, cherries, driving a car, corn on the cob, nights on the lake, little things that make me happy that you just can't find in Costa Rica. All of this has made the transition back into "real" life, a little easier.

And I'm about to start a new chapter, a wonderful, exciting, terrifying, stressful, fun chapter: senior year. After that, who knows...

Not too long ago, I wrote a post about where I was from, talking about how each place I've lived has influenced who I am and where I'm going in life, and I still think that's true. And now thanks to Costa Rica, I'm going to keep adding to that list. As if I didn't already have "the travel bug" before, after such a whirlwind success in Costa Rica, I can't wait to get back out in the world and keep exploring, seeing as many countries and cultures as possible, learning all I can about the history and life of the places I go, and building the relationships and making the impact in those communities that really make those places important. Hopefully somewhere along the way, I can make a difference for some of those people. I can't wait!

So stay tuned for more adventures, who knows where I'll be next!

Until then, this blog comes to a close:

Con amor, muchas gracias a todos que han leido esto y compartido en mis experiencias! Los quiero! (With love, thank you to all who have read this and shared my experiences, love you!)

Meche

"Sola"

According to Google translate: 

Solo(a) (spanish) = single, alone, one, lonely, sole, mere, all alone, lone, lonesome, singular, neat

I think it's interesting that in Spanish they use the same word for lonely and alone, because after my last week here, I may have to tell Spanish that I disagree. 

So I finished with my official program a little over a week ago and after many days of tearful goodbyes and "last ___'s " my program friends left to go home. A while back, I had decided that I wanted to stay and travel for a little after the program ended, and I knew this was going to mean that I would be on my own for a while, but I didn’t realize that leaving my program friends would be so hard.

For those of you who have lived overseas or studied abroad, you understand, these people are your life, your family, for however long you’re there. For those of you who don’t know what it’s like, just think of the most emotionally difficult thing you’ve ever done, something that involved constant self-reflection and questioning, a growing experience of some sort, and think about the people you experienced that with, then you’ve got an idea. I spent every single day with these 17 people, in class, at lunch, coffee, on trips, at bars. We helped each other with translations and homework questions, navigating problems with host families or friends or boys, cultural differences, homesickness, relationship questions, and all made a few bad decisions on the way to defining ourselves. It’s the kind of relationship where you have to get really honest with the people around you very fast, because you have to depend on them. As long as I live, these people will have a special place in my heart, I may not keep in great touch with all of them, but we shared Costa Rica, and you can’t take that away, which means our friendship will always pick up where we left off.

That being said, I was very sad for a few days. I couldn’t just call up a friend and ask them to meet me for coffee in half an hour, or ask if they wanted to go to a movie, or tell them some strange thing I saw that is normal for Ticos, but still out of the ordinary for us. But then something amazing happened…I found out I wasn’t alone after all…Sure my best friends were gone, but there was a whole new untapped community of love waiting to surround me.

I spent more time with my Tico family, eating father’s day lunch together, combing through old family photos, playing with my 3 year old host cousin. I spent time at the school where I teach English, and had my students run to greet me with hugs and yells of “Meri!!!!”. They wrote me letters to take home with me, and the teacher I have worked with all semester invited me over to have dinner at her house.  I found a bigger community of Tico friends than I knew I had, all of who wanted to spend time with me before I leave.  I took a trip on my own to one of my favorite beaches, and met a handful of people in the same situation and we formed weekend-long friendships, ate dinner, sat on the beach, went out dancing, watched movies, climbed waterfalls, and talked about life.

I found that even though my best friends were gone, I was not alone, not even a little bit. And that’s when I knew that I really had found yet another home in this place. Yes, I’ve had lots of fun, traveled a bunch, and taken some classes, but the most important thing is that I became part of a new community, one very different from the ones I’m used to, but filled with the same love.

And even though I’m leaving here in a week and a half, I know I’ll always have a home here to come back to, and that’s a pretty amazing feeling. 


So thank you, to all of you who have been a part of that community, those in Austin, DC, and other parts of the world who kept me connected to my other homes and families, the IFSA crew who lived this with me and knows me better than just about anyone, the Tico friends and family who invited me in to be a part of their world, and those people I met in passing who showed me I wasn't the only one on this journey. It's been fun being a part of your communities, and I'm so excited to continue these relationships and see where they'll go. 


¡Te quiero mucho! (I love you so much!)

What I learned from telenovelas...

As some of you may know, the telenovela "Soy tu Dueña" ("I'm your boss", also translated as "Woman of Steel" for the US version) has become one of the staples of my time here in Costa Rica. In my first week here, my host mom invited me to watch with her, since she watches it every night at 9. I figured it would be another good way to practice my Spanish, would give me an opportunity to bond with my host mom, and would be something fun to look back on...but then I got involved. It's become kind of a running joke in the house that they know it's 9 o'clock when I sit down expectantly in front of the TV. Now don't worry, I'm not obsessed, and I know full well just how ridiculous this show is, but as today is the finale, I felt I owed it a tribute here on my blog.

To give a brief overview, the show is about Valentina, a smart, headstrong woman who in the very first episode gets left at the altar by Alonso (not a good guy). Heartbroken, Valentina leaves Mexico City where she's been living to move back to her family-owned cattle ranch with her aunt and cousin (the evil Ivana!). She takes over as the "dueña" or owner of the ranch, and basically manages it on her own, turning it into a successful business. She also wears lots of cowgirl outfits and spends a lot of time riding horses. Next door lives the handsome Jose Miguel, also a rancher, and the two of them fall madly in love. This of course is not enough to make a telenovela, a romantic comedy maybe, but it would be too simple of a story line if it ended here. Instead of ending up happy together right away, the couple's marriage plans are ruined when Alonso shows back up declaring his love for Valentina and Ivana (the cousin) declares that she's in love with Jose Miguel. Then there's Rosendo, the classic bad guy. He's in love with Valentina as well, and ends up doing a lot of terrible things (kidnappings, killings, burning things, etc.). Between all of the drama surrounding Valentina and her various love triangles (since pretty much every main character in the show has some sort of romantic history) and a few side stories with secondary characters, the show gets pretty dramatic, but is fun to watch and has captured the attention of not just Costa Rica, but also Mexico, the US and many more countries.

But between the bad acting, cheesy (and predictable) plot lines, and the slightly absurd modern-day cowboy theme, the novela had some good points and life lessons which I'd like to share with you:

1. It is perfectly natural for a man to take his shirt off for no apparent reason.

2. Bad guys are always bad, but they will pay for their actions and get what they deserve in the end.

3. Sleeping around is a bad idea. (There's always one or two women villains in telenovelas who are a bit promiscuous, and always pay for their actions. In this one, Ivana ends up suicidal and crazy, convinced that she's pregnant with an imaginary baby.)

4. Family is important, but a dysfunctional one can cause serious problems (that make for some very entertaining story-lines).

5. Men, even the good ones, have their flaws and are going to mess up...but then again, so do the good women. In the end, a strong couple can work it out.

6. Love is strong and can survive some pretty tough things. (It can also make people CRAZY, and I mean actually medically crazy with hallucinations and suicide attempts)

7.  A strong woman with self-confidence can achieve anything she puts her mind to. (She also may end up with half a small Mexican town in love with her, causing quite a bit of trouble, but she ends up with the right guy in the end).

So that's my plug for telenovelas...yes, they're absurd, but I must say that this has been one cultural experience I will remember fondly.

"I'm saving turtles this weekend"

This weekend, I witnessed a miracle. And I don't mean that to sound cheesy...there's just no other word to describe it.

As part of my study abroad program we had a weekend-long trip to the Pacuare Reserve, a 6 Km stretch of beach and jungle dedicated to saving leatherback sea turtles.

These turtles are endangered, and only about 1 in 1000 of the eggs laid makes it to be an adult. On the reserve, they try to make sure as many eggs survive as possible. You'd think this would be easy...who would want turtle eggs? Well...poachers who can sell them as a delicacy, raccoons and larvae like to get at the eggs before they hatch, and crabs, seagulls, the sun, and sharks are waiting for the babies before they can make it to the ocean.

A mother sea turtle (who is giant...if you take a six foot tall man and imagine him with a giant shell, that's about what you're looking at) comes up on to the beach at night, digs a nest, lays about 60 eggs, covers them back up, and makes her way back to the sea. About two months later, the babies hatch, and instinctively know which way to dig themselves out of the nest (which is about 2 feet underground) and once in the open, make a beeline for the ocean. These guys can fit in the palm of your hand. No parent is there to protect them or help them on their journey, they just set out on their own from their first seconds of life.

This journey of about 30 feet can be one of the most dangerous things these babies do. Even a small stick in their way, or too deep of a footprint in the sand, can delay their trip to the ocean, and in those few seconds they can get snapped up by a crab, a seagull, or just get too hot to continue. Those that do make it, and survive a few decades in the ocean, come back to the SAME BEACH to lay their eggs about 25 years later.

So, volunteers at the preserve have a few jobs. All of which take place in all night beach patrols (going out in 4 hour shifts). The first job is to help study the turtles. Very little is known about what sea turtles do between being born and coming back to lay their eggs and why they choose the beaches they do, so any turtle sighting is immediately accompanied by a large number of measurements and tests to gather as much data as possible about the turtles. Second, is to protect the nests. When a mother turtle comes up to lay the nest, the volunteers make sure it is in a good location and make sure the tracks are hidden so that poachers can't come find the eggs the next day. Third, they make sure all of the hatchings go well. For this, volunteers clear out all the twigs and debris on the beach around the nest to make sure the baby turtles have a clear shot at the ocean. If the volunteers are actually there when the babies are born, they follow the baby turtles to the ocean, making sure their trip is as easy as possible. Finally, is the job of excavations. Once a nest is past it's hatching period, the nests get dug up to find out how many eggs hatched, and how many didn't, and if they didn't, why they didn't.

Amazingly, I got to participate in all of the above. We watched mother turtles come up onto the beach, watched babies break through the sand and find their way to the ocean, and I got to participate in an excavation where we actually found a few little turtles who hadn't made it out yet, and needed a little extra help. One of the mother turtles chose a poor location for her nest, in the middle of a bunch of plants, whose roots would have invaded the nest and killed the babies, so we had to move the nest! We took lots of measurements, found a new, safe location, and I got to dig the hole for the babies to live in, one that was as much like their mom's nest as possible.

I can't describe to you how powerful it is to watch nature at work, to watch these amazing creatures follow this invisible set of directions that they have from the moment they are born, and to get to participate, knowing that your work is allowing one more turtle to have a chance to survive. To know that those that do make it, will be back to the same place, to know the ones laying eggs now were born about the same time you were...it just made me remember how many incredible, wonderful things there are in the world, and how we don't make them happen, how we can only be thankful at the opportunity to participate. And if these little turtles that can fit in my hand can push on confidently with life, can follow a path that they don't know, but know they need to be on...I know I can do the same...

And so that y'all can have a taste of the experience, here's the beginning, middle, and end of one of our little turtle's journeys to the sea!

Breaking out of the nest

See that nice clear path we made for him...and that's the sun rising, not setting 

Here you can see his little tracks as he gets swept up in the waves and off into the ocean!

¡Feliz Pascua! (Happy Easter)

I had no idea what to expect celebrating Easter in another country, especially as a non-Catholic in a  country who's official religion is Catholicism.

The night of Good Friday, my host family took me to see the processionals. For those of you who've never seen one, it's basically a giant funeral for Jesus. All the participants are dressed in fancy clothes, and the participants include musicians, Mary Magdalene and the women at the tomb (women dressed in elaborate mourning outfits, holding spices for the body), angels (usually small children in costume), Jesus' body (dead, with blood, in a see-through coffin, covered with flowers) who is carried by 8-16 men, depending on the size of the procession, followed by Mary (the virgin, mother of Jesus), and John and Peter (the disciples). The procession can take hours, and as it passes, viewers on the side of the road join in and walk with Jesus to the church, it's actually kind of cool. We ended up going to three different processions, each from different neighborhoods, and each one was a little bit different. It was pretty powerful to watch my host brother carry Jesus' body up a hill, and the whole experience was reverent, sad and joyful all at the same time.

Saturday night is apparently one of the most dangerous nights of the year to leave the house. All over town people take to the streets to burn the body of Judas, and it kind of turns into mini-riots...this I don't really understand, and it kind of frightens me, I saw a few of the fires myself, and it was really easy for things to get out of control. I'm also not really sure how this contributes to the spirit of Easter, since not even Jesus tried to kill Judas, but I guess our traditions of easter eggs and bunnies don't make much more sense either.

Speaking of which, there are no bunnies or eggs on Sunday morning, there's no pastel candies or animal shaped chocolate, no egg hunt, and definitely no Peeps (how I missed them). In fact, it's just kind of a normal day...a lot of people don't even go to church...but it is one day that no one has to work.

We celebrated Easter morning with a family trip to the mountains. About ten minutes north of where I live are some beautiful, open, green mountains, with lakes for fishing, so my family brought a picnic (with a grill, folding chairs, and a coffee maker), and we spent the morning and afternoon lounging by the lake, fishing, and eating together. My WHOLE family went, host parents, brothers, sisters, brother's girlfriends, cousins, aunts, children of cousins, and it turned out to be quite the party.

The lake and fields where we were

My host brother, Joshua, with his first catch of the day!

My "Gringa sister", Danica, and our host cousin, José, eating watermelon

Sisters!!! Me, my host sister, Natalia, and Danica, the other student who lives in our house (aka my "gringa sister")

My host family! Danica, Natalia, my host mom-Ana, me, my host dad-Ronald, and in the back my host brothers Juan Pablo (left) and Joshua (right).

We ended the day as all good Easters should end, with the Heredia/Alajuela soccer game (it's the semi-finals, and my family is split between the two teams) Heredia, the team that Juan Pablo and I like, and the city where we live, won, so next Sunday is the final game! Juan set off fireworks to celebrate and we ate some chinese food (since apparently that's still open on Easter). So not exactly your typical Easter celebration, but still filled with the family and love that I was missing back home (the fishing and fireworks added a little bit more familiarity to the day as well).

So, a day late, Happy Easter, or ¡Feliz Pascua! from Costa Rica!

Semana Santa

In Central America, Semana Santa (aka Holy Week) is the equivalent to Spring Break in the US, except everyone gets a vacation, not just students. Everyone has the whole week off to be with friends, family, travel, and relax. My friends and I jumped on this extra vacation time by heading somewhere that would be impossible to get to over a weekend...Panama.

Now most of you are probably thinking...Panama...canal...and that's about it. Little did you know that Panama is home to what I now believe is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Just think Hawaii...but with fewer people and not as developed, and you'll have Bocas del Toro, the archipelago/national park/small town where we spent our week.

It's much easier to do the rest of this with photos:

First Stop: Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. The trip to Panama is pretty long, so we broke it up with a few beautiful days on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. This beach, Playa Cochles, is a national park, so it's beach/jungle wilderness beauty is still well preserved!

My Traveling Buddies! Sarah, Lizzie and Kaelyn! Our second day in Puerto Viejo we rented bikes and went exploring along the coast. The weather was perfect and we had so much fun!

The Panama Border Crossing: You get out of your bus and walk across this very rickety old bridge.  And if you fall into the river below...there's crocodiles, so be careful. On the other side, we waited in a long line for our passport stamps, it was fun to mark another country off the list!

Our Hostel/Hotel: Casa Max. I would HIGHLY recommend this place to anyone traveling to Bocas del Toro, it was cheap, clean, cute, and we had our own room, bathroom and balcony (with hammock!) You can see our room there in the top right, with the towels hanging off the side. 

This restaurant kind of sums up the feeling of Bocas, it's a bunch of tiny islands, and so many of them just have small restaurants or hotels on stilts painted pretty colors. We also went snorkeling with the fish right below the restaurant!

The Golden Grill: Cheap diner food, we went so often during the week that the waitstaff knew who we were...but really who can resist 85 cent ice cream?

Me at Red Frog Beach. On our first full day in Bocas, we went on an all-day island-hopping tour. Red Frog was a beautiful beach that is home to little red frogs! We didn't see any hopping around, but a small Panamanian child did show us one she had caught in a leaf...in exchange for a quarter and a cookie. 

Playa Bluff: a beautiful beach on the main island that is better for surfing than swimming (we learned this the hard way). As you can see, this place was DESERTED, we had this entire beautiful beach to ourselves!

Wizard Beach: this one is on Isla Bastamientos, which is a national park, which means that the jungle comes right up to the sand, and the ocean is pure, transparent blue water perfect for swimming! This beach was also deserted, leaving us to create our own "Pirates of the Caribbean" adventures :)

And that was our trip! We met some amazing people, had a great time relaxing on the beach, and got a much needed break from our school work (I do actually go to school here)...all in all, a success!

Where are you from?

I cannot even count how many times I get asked that question...

Sometimes they just assume an answer, "you're from the US, right?" or "What part of the US are you from?". Other times it's a little more hesitant, as if maybe I could be Canadian or German, or maybe a "blonde" Tica (wishfull thinking). But without a doubt, every person I meet here asks me some version of this question. 

My first answer is always, "From the US, from Texas!" and sometimes that's enough. Other times it's the long version "Well, I'm from Texas, Austin actually, but I go to school in Washington, DC. I'm here for six months with an exchange program, so right now I live in San Rafael and go to UNA". That's usually a little confusing for them, and honestly for me too, especially in Spanish. 

But this all got me thinking, as someone who has moved around a lot in the past 21 years, where am I really from? I mean, I have had 12 different bedrooms, all of which were "my home" at the time, and which I still remember fondly and call my own. At the moment, I have roots in three different cities, all of which I love and feel at home in. That kind of feeling isn't summed up in an answer as simple as "I'm from Texas". 

And really, when I think about it, each place had an effect on me, something different to teach me, something to add to my life...

Dallas, I can't speak much for, since I was two when we left, but it did ensure that I knew from the very beginning that I was a Texan, and that that would always be home and where my family was. Japan doesn't really merit much of an influence either, since I was only there for about 2 months, however it was there that I made my first friend who didn't speak my language. 

Singapore, taught me about acceptance, adventure, and the importance of good friends. At age 7 I knew about Ramadan, Diwali, and the Moon Cake festival.  It was normal for kids to come and go from school, to live in every part of the world, and to speak other languages.  It taught me that the world was huge, and diverse, but that it was also accessible and open for me to explore. I also learned that family can be people you're not related to by blood. Sometimes friendships can be so strong and survive so much that they become your support structure, and really, if you can find this community, you'll always have a home. 

Connecticut, whether the place or the timing in my life (4th grade girls are pretty tough everywhere), taught me about defining myself. I spent a lot of time learning to discern what was and what wasn't something I was, supported, or agreed with, and what I wanted to be like. I also learned how other people saw me, what it meant to "fit in", and whether or not that was important to me. But, this was also where I started to learn about the importance of imagination and creativity, after all, you don't really need to think "outside of the box" until you've learned how to create one for yourself. To this day, "Appleseed Farms", "Beach House" and "Dogsled" are some of my favorite memories with my brothers, and those games really gave my 9-year-old self a chance to imagine what the world and my future were going to be like. 

Then there's Austin. With about 10 years of my life, Austin holds the prize for greatest influence, and the most variety of influences in one place. Here is where I learned what it means to be a family, and how to take care of others. Texas tradition taught me the importance of loyalty, pride in yourself, being polite, and not compromising who you are. Westlake taught me how to be a leader, how to succeed in heavy competition, and that the only real way to survive a cut-throat environment is to find a group of people to help carry you through. Austin taught me how to be a little "out there", and that different can be good,  and that individuality is important and should be valued. All pretty important lessons for a teenager. 

DC, an animal all to itself, hectic and powerful, has trained me how to fight for something I believe in with all my strength. Everyone who goes to DC is passionate about something, and willing to dedicate their lives to it. Working and learning in this environment gave me the confidence and skills to actually get things done in the world, which is a pretty wonderful feeling, but it also showed me that all that fighting can be exhausting and alienating, and while I know I'll always have a strong social justice streak, there may be other things in life that are also important. 

And now Costa Rica, the laid-back, pure opposite of ambition-driven DC, is teaching me everyday how to enjoy the journey and to let life happen. Sometimes you just have to relax and enjoy the experience instead of planning and controlling. When I get just the littlest bit stressed, over a project, or a trip, or something else, without a doubt someone tells me "Tranquila!" (litterally, "be tranquil", but used more like "don't worry about it") and I realize, that my stress and worry are not worth it, that my time here is too precious to waste it on that. Maybe that's another lesson, appreciating what you have and savoring every moment, because you know it's not going to last forever, and finding beauty, community, and joy in little, everyday experiences. I cannot count the times I have thought to myself "Of course I'm (fill in the blank...playing music on a beach at sunset, having a conversation about "typical Americans" with two French education majors (in Spanish), singing one of the few Spanish songs I know on a bus with a group of people I love being around, trying to convince my 4th grade student that it is not a good idea for her 12-year-old brother to be my boyfriend, etc., etc.). These experiences have been full and wonderful and rich, and I had nothing to do with making them happen, I just accepted where I was and what was happening instead of trying to control every detail, and they turned out better than I could have imagined them. 

So, here I am...12 bedrooms, 3 continents, 7 cities, 5 languages attempted, (only 2 successfully), a city girl, who likes being outside, music, bright colors, traveling, mexican food and sundresses. Maybe if you really want to know where I'm from, you should get to know me, because where I've lived has made me who I am, and right now, I'm really happy with who that person is, where she's been, and where she's going.  

"This can't be real life..."

Well, it's been a little while since my last post. I guess I've finally settled into a routine during my weeks here, and have also been traveling like crazy on the weekends. In short, life couldn't be better right now... and I never want to leave.

Three weekends ago we went on a trip with my study abroad program to Palmichal, a rural farming village that is starting to break into the rural/eco-tourism business. We hiked through coffee fields to a small dairy where we got to milk a cow and learned how to make cheese (which we then ate, of course). We also got to grind coffee and learn how to make tortillas (not just any tortillas, these were filled with sour cream and cheese, ¡que rico!), all out of a little farm house settled into the rainforest. After that stop, we toured a coffee processing plant, and let me tell you, I will always appreciate my coffee from now on. I had no idea how many steps and different roastings, dryings and separatings take place just to make coffee beans! We finished off the day with a stop at a little fair of women who own their own micro-businesses making crafts. Living in Heredia, which is pretty urban, it's easy to forget what the rest of this country is like, and getting a taste of small town life was good for all of us.

The next weekend, we took a trip with our History of Costa Rica class. First stop, Cartago, one of the colonial powerhouses, and home to one of the most beautiful cathedrals I have ever seen. During colonialism, as a ploy to help convert non-believers, the church made sure that their cathedrals were so awe-inspiring, that you couldn't walk in without believing in God. And let me tell you, they did a good job on this one. The entire interior is beautifully carved wood. Different colors, textures, patterns, mosaics, pictures, it's overwhelming. This cathedral is also home to "La Virgin de Los Angeles" the patron saint of Costa Rica. According to the story, this virgin figure appeared to an indigenous woman on a rock that now sits under the cathedral. Today, people bring trinkets and charms and leave them for the virgin asking for blessings or giving thanks for healing. Every year people walk...on their knees...from all over the country to pay homage to her and pray for their loved ones.

After Cartago, it was on to Guayabo, the largest, best preserved archaeological indigenous site in Costa Rica. This town was abandoned about 100 years before the Spanish arrived, and because of this, not much is known about the people that lived there. What is known is that they had a highly developed system of living, including two different water purification systems, complicated petroglyphs and monoliths, and a complex roadway system that connected them to nearby villages. This part of the trip reignited my childhood desire to become an archaeologist, and it was so much fun learning about different theories on the Guayabo people.

But that was all just Friday...

Saturday morning we hopped on a bus to Playa Hermosa, the great part about living in a country the size of West Virginia with two full coastlines is that a beach never more than 2 hours away. After a long day of sun and fun, I was sitting with a few of my friends in a restaurant drinking smoothies. All at the same time, we realized just how happy we were...that there wasn't anything that could make that particular moment any better. And the "we're living in a movie" feeling didn't end there...the night ended up with a bonfire, a guitar, and a drum on the beach under the stars...as you can imagine, I was in heaven. 

I'm also to the point where I've spent enough time here and my Spanish is good enough that I actually have friends who are Tico (Costa Rican), which means that when we go to the beach, it's not just the kids from our group anymore, but a rag-tag bunch of college age kids of all different nationalities. For instance, this past weekend, in Santa Teresa (yes, another beach), I ended up eating dinner with people from Germany, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Mexico, and the US...and one of them is a juggler by trade, as in used to work in a circus, and juggled fire after dinner. You really just never know around here who you're going to meet or where you're going to end up. And I LOVE it. I feel like every moment here is a chance to meet new people and do new things and I am eating it all up! It's so much fun figuring out what I'm passionate about, what I like to do, and where I want to be. Not to mention that this country is so laid-back and accepting that it creates the perfect environment for finding yourself. 

The only problem is that I know I have to leave...I'm already coming up on 2 months here, and I know that these next 4 are going to FLY by. I know I'll be back though, once you've got Costa Rica in your blood you don't get it out, maybe that's why I've met so many American ex-pats who ran away from life in the US to live here. I don't plan on doing that, but I'll find a "legitimate" excuse to get back here...in fact, there's a master's program at my university here called "Human Rights and Education for Peace"...that sounds pretty cool...who knows :)

Ask and you shall be given...

One reason that this particular program appealed to me, (apart from its location in Costa Rica) was the availability of "on the ground staff". This means that, although we're mostly on our own, we do have two people dedicated to full-time support of us here in Heredia and they help us figure everything out from immigration documents to homesickness. Teresita, our program director, is everyone's second mother, she is fabulous and always seems to know what we need, even when we're not sure ourselves. Yanori, the assistant director has connections with everyone and everything, and after this week I believe she can make anything happen.

So, as many of you may know, there are a few things in the world that bring me a lot of joy. The first is music...pretty much in any form, singing, drumming, dancing, even just listening to it. The second one is being with kids, and having the chance to teach and give back. Thanks to Yanori, I'm now doing both!

Last Thursday she called up the director of the "Rondalla",  small choral group that does mostly traditional Costa Rican and Latin American music, is incredibly laid-back, and was looking for someone to play hand drums and small percussion for them. Next thing I knew, I was in rehearsal having the chance to sing and play drums, and the director has promised to teach me some typical Latino rhythms to accompany them! The group is also filled with really wonderful people who have been very friendly to this semi-lost "gringa".

On Friday, Yanori called my house to tell me that she had my volunteer opportunity all lined up as well. Across the street from my house is an elementary school, Escuela Manuel Camancho, and there was an English teacher there that needed some help. I spent this Monday and Wednesday morning at the school with Marcella, the teacher, working with her and about four of her classes, ages 7-11, who are absolutely precious! The kids think I'm some sort of alien because I'm from the US, one kid even asked me if there was water where I was from. And although I'm supposed to be there to help them learn English, they've been teaching me plenty of new Spanish words, and are a blast to hang out with.

So now my life consists of classes, hanging out with cute kids, playing music, and hanging out and traveling with my friends...hmm, that sounds exactly like the life I want to be living right now.  Just a lesson for me on the amazing things that can happen if you just ask the right people for help.

A Cure for Culture Shock...

So let's be honest, a full load of classes in a foreign language, along with the realization that you are going to be in a foreign country for another 5 months, with people you don't really know yet, in a house that's not yours, unable to actually communicate your feelings, and having your body finally react to the incredible amount of stress you've been putting it through does not make for a good week. More of a...curl up on your bed and read a book or watch a movie kind of week. Luckily, we had been warned that culture shock would be creeping up on us about this time, and although it wasn't any fun, I knew not to worry. Luckily I found the perfect cure, and am now fully in the swing of Tico life.

For any of you planning on spending a good deal of time in a foreign country, here's my recommendation for culture shock...go to the beach.

Preferably with some people you really like. And pick a beach that's not too crowded or touristy.

Spend your first afternoon lounging on the beach and playing in the waves, to help get rid of that stress and really let it hit you that you're in an amazing place. Top that off with a good dinner, and then head to the only bar in town. It helps if you know how to dance,  or at least enjoy attempting to dance, because you can plan on spending the next few hours with regaton, salsa, and meringue music and some exceptional dancers...they live in a small beach town and have lots of time to practice.

Don't stay out too late though, because the next step is to take surf lessons. If you're in Montezuma, Costa Rica, like I was, I highly recommend Chris, a fifty-something hippie who had a mid-life crisis and decided to move to Costa Rica and become a surf instructor. He'll pile you and your friend into his car, drive you along a beautiful coastline, feed you delicious snacks, teach you how to surf, and ensure that you get a couple of pictures looking good on a board.

After this, spend some time taking care of yourself, I recommend a big lunch and a nap on a porch overlooking the ocean. Some afternoon ice cream may be in order, and then find a nice spot on some beach rocks to watch the sun set over the ocean. When you get hungry again, bring your dinner out to the same spot and spend a few hours talking with your friends.

After a good night's sleep, head out the next morning to walk to the waterfall and enjoy the beauty around you. In the event that you have a 2 o'clock bus back to reality, like I did, finish off your weekend with a round of fresh fish tacos and pack up and head for the bus stop.

You will know if you've adjusted to culture shock by your ability to handle the ride home. If you miss the first bus, but are able to communicate and find a taxi to the next town up the street, and are able to get home with no other major setbacks, this is a good sign. It also helps to make some new friends, such as a Lebanese philosophy professor on a speaking tour and an Australian prosthetic's specialist in town for a conference. People like this help to keep the 8 hour journey home a little more bearable.

Arrive home, happy, and not too sunburned, eat a big dinner and go to bed. You'll find that when you wake up for your class the next morning that you're still faced with the same problems you had the week before, but this time, you've got it under control.

At least, that's what worked for me...

Tica/Tejana

So, one of my goals for this trip is to attempt to live my life like a Costa Rican (a Tico...or in my case, Tica, since I'm a girl), while I know that I'll always be a "Gringa" and a "Tejana" (meaning both Texan and Cowgirl...) I have made some significant strides in achieving "La Vida Tica".

1. I know, and can follow, every plot line on "Soy tu Dueña" (I'm your boss), a primetime telenovela with a semi cowboy theme, starring a prominent Mexican singer.

2. I have gone to the bank and the post office, communicated only in Spanish, and successfully accomplished my errands.

3. I can now navigate my city. This involves a strong knowledge of landmarks, because instead of using street names here, everyone and everything is located 1 block (100 metros) south/north/east/west of a church or a school or a park. For instance, my Texas address is 406 Riley Rd, but my Heredia address is: 25 meters south of the school, in the neighborhood "la suiza".

4. I can successfully ride the city bus! And when in a taxi, if the driver asks me for directions, I can give them to him.

5. Starting tomorrow, I attend the local university, and I already have a few Tico friends that I can only speak to in Spanish.

6. I know the appropriate times to use phrases like "Que Tuanis", which more or less means "cool". I also know that "Mae" means "Man" or "Dude".

7. I know the names of the prominent Costa Rican soccer teams, and can now more or less understand a game of soccer.

8. I drank starfruit juice today, which was awesome.

9. I went to the neighborhood farmers market to buy produce with my host mom and now know the names of more fruits.

10. A car driving down the street stopped to ask me for directions, which must mean that I look like I know where I'm going...and I knew where to send them and how to tell them that in Spanish!

So the adventure continues...I think I lose Tica points for this afternoon, as my plan is to go to a bar and watch the Superbowl with some other Americans...but oh well, there's still some Texas in there :)

Tomorrow I start classes, so more to come on that front!

Ciao!
Meche

La Fortuna and Heredia

So, to wrap up our orientation fun, we went on a little vacation to a town called La Fortuna. This adorable tourist town is located at the base of the volcano Arenal, and is best known for it's natural hot springs and outdoors activities. After a week cramming Spanish back into our heads and trying to adjust to Tico life, a weekend vacation was wonderful.

To get to La Fortuna, we had an hour and a half bus ride, mostly on unpaved roads, followed by a ferry ride across a huge lake! Saturday we had a chance to wander around La Fortuna and enjoy the town and then we went to the hot springs. They were beautiful and warm and we had fun as a whole group of 16 taking up the majority of one of the pools.

The next morning, we hiked to the La Fortuna waterfall! It was so incredibly beautiful (I feel like I've been saying that a lot this last week and a half) and we got to go swimming in the pool at the bottom of the falls. The water was perfect, the weather was perfect, the scenery was incredible, and I was in heaven :) Great people, beautiful things to see, Spanish and new experiences everyday...this is my kind of country!

By Sunday night, it was time to approach reality...we will have to go to school eventually. The exciting part was we were able to meet our real host families (the Monteverde families were only for a week, this one is for 5 months)! Mine is wonderful. Ana, my mom, takes such good care of me, and has spent the past two days cooking for me and showing me the bus route to school. Ronald, the dad, is hilarious and a generally happy guy. I have two host brothers Juan Pablo (25) and Joshua (21), I haven't been able to spend much time with either of them though, since they work and go to school at hours off of mine. Natalia is 16 and our rooms are across the hall from each other. She is really sweet and fun, and it's nice to have another girl in the house (not that I don't love you Clayton and Travis). Also, my host mom's two sisters live in the two houses next door, so there's a constant stream of people in and out that are all related someho, I haven't figured all that out yet.

This week, we are getting to know our city, and our school, we also bought Costa Rican cell phones, and have had some less exciting classes on safety, health, and class registration. Next week we actually start class, so we'll see how that goes!

Pictures from Monteverde!

Thought those of you not of Facebook might want to see some pictures of my adventures in Monteverde

Here's Brittney and the waterfall

Getting ready for ziplining!

Sarah landing on a zip line

Waiting for the next line, everyone looking adventurous 

Look at how beautiful the rainforest is!

Eating with my host brothers, Luis and Fernando. Fernando didn't want to participate in the picture taking process. 

Me with my host mom and sister in Monteverde

Dance class with Javier!

Monteverde (The Green Mountain)

Monteverde is home to a strange meterological event. In the mountains of Costa Rica, the winds from the Pacific and the Carribean meet and form a cloud forest on top of the mountains. In short, there is a beautiful rain forest on top of a mountain, and you actually get to be IN the clouds.

For this week of orientation, we have been living with host families. Mine is VERY sweet. There´s a mom, a dad, and three kids, a 16-year-old girl, a 14-year-old boy, and a 4-year-old boy. They have been nothing but wonderful to me, and so welcoming, the littlest one even put on a dance show for me!

Speaking of dancing, during the day we have two classes as part of orientation, one is a Latin dance class, with our instructor Javier (yes, I have a dance instructor named Javier, and he´s exactly what you are probably picturing right now). So far we´ve learned Salsa and Merengue and tomorrow we are performing a dance for our families at a fiesta! Our other class is an intensive Spanish class, with Gaby, our fabulous Spanish instructor, that manages to keep us interested for 4 hours straight.

Let me take this chance to appologize in advance for any spelling or grammar errors that may occur, switching constantly between two languages is really difficult, and I´m at the point where I don´t really know which language is going to come out when I open my mouth. Luckily everyone in my group is going through the same thing, and we have spent the past few days communicating in a strange Spanglish mix. Also, I´m typing on a Spanish computer, so spell check is absolutely no help!

Yesterday, we had a free afternoon to explore Monteverde, we went to the Cheese Factory, the founding business of this town, where we had delicious ice cream! After that, we went to explore a waterfall! It was so incredibly beautiful, and all of us kept looking at each other and saying "are we really here?!?". Afterwards, we meandered our way down the winding mountain road to a coffee shop/restaurant that had a tree growing in the middle!!! It was awesome, and it was fun to just hang out as a group and get to know each other.

Today, we got to experience the main tourist attraction of Monteverde, zip-lining through the cloud forest! We were strapped into rock-climbing harnesses, and attached to a pully/handle which we rode above vast expanses of green forests. It was exciting and so much fun! There will be pictures to come as soon as I can get them!

Today, I also had the chance to interview someone who works at the Monteverde Institute (the place where we are currently taking classes). I had a long conversation (in Spanish) with a woman who is in charge of all of the Institue´s logistics and got to know a little bit about the person that she is and the work she does. I was struck with a feeling of such respect and connection to her, and she just confirmed that this was the place I want to be right now, meeting people like her. It was a good feeling to have a couple days into the trip, just as it´s hitting us all that we´re going to be here for a while.

I love the people I´m here with too, we all seem to be in similar frames of mind, even though we come from all over the US and have all sorts of different experiences. I´m excited to spend more time with them, and more time in this incredible country!

Tomorrow night, we have a goodbye party with our host families, then this weekend it´s off to Arenal (a volcano!). On Sunday, we return to Heredia, and get to meet our long-term  host families! More to come soon!

Con Mucho Amor,
Meche

Welcome to Heredia!

It's actually here!

I am currently sitting in the Hotel Bouganvillea in Heredia Costa Rica!

The flight was pretty simple, made even better by the fact that I found two other girls on my program on the flight! We stuck together to get through customs and to the hotel.

After a few hours of exploring our hotel and a taxi drive from the airport, I can officially say that this country is insanely beautiful!

There are flowers everywhere and the weather is incredible (yay for skirts in January!)

Tomorrow we head off to Monteverde (the rainforest) for a week-long orientation full of fun activities. The week after that, we are back in Heredia, meet our host families and start school the week after that!

If you can't tell, I'm incredibly excited to be here, and can't wait to continue the adventure.

~Meche

Also for your entertainment, some pictures from our hotel and our favorite billboard so far...

That's right, the McPinto, rice, beans, plantains, eggs, sausage, etc. 

Alyssa (a girl in my program) and I in the garden at the hotel

Pretty flowers!

Hello World!

This blog is for me to document my own adventures on my study abroad trip to Heredia, Costa Rica, but also, to keep the people I care about updated on my life!

I leave for Costa Rica at 9 AM on Sunday, and I can't believe it's finally here! I'll be gone until about July, and will spend the next few months studying at Universidad Nacional (UNA), living with a host family, traveling, having fun and getting to know a new part of the world!

Now some of you may have been wondering about the title that I chose for this blog, "Meche's Pura Vida". Meche (or Merche in some places) is a Spanish nickname for Mercedes, which is just about as close to Meredith as you can get, and I usually use it when I'm talking to Spanish-speakers (something I'll be doing a lot of!). Even English-speaking people that have traveled with me to Mexico and Chile have taken to calling me Meche, and it's one of my favorite nicknames, short, sweet, and a little spunky. As for the "Pura Vida" part, "Pura Vida" is Costa Rica's catch phrase of sorts, literally, it translates to "Pure Life" but in practice, it's more like "Super" or "Awesome" or "Way to Go". (How cool is it that I'm going to a country who has a catch phrase of "pure life"!). Anyway, that phrase kind of sums up how Costa Ricans (Ticos) feel about their own lives and the world, and it's an attitude I'm looking forward to adopting!

I'm hoping that this trip will be a real chance to explore the world, myself, and have a really good time! Feel free to check in from time to time and get an update on what's going on.

With Love,
Meche/Meredith