Semana Santa is Guatemala's spring break. We got a week off of work so I decided to head to Costa Rica to volunteer with a wildlife sanctuary there. I went through an organization called the Amistad Institute. With the program, volunteers stay with a host family for the first few days of the placement.
I stayed with the really amazing Gonzalez family who lived in Heredia a suburb area outside of San Jose. The mom, Virginia, was very patient with my Spanish (Nobody in the family spoke any English). She was good at changing up how she phrased things and on the rare occasion we couldn't work something out, she had a dictionary to refer to. The father, Victor, was a stereotypical cheesy dad. He would make silly jokes and then yuk it up and kinda nudge at you to join in. When we came back from a trip into town one day, he asked me if I spotted any handsome men. I laughed and told him, "Mas o menos". The daughter, who was 18, was very friendly and has a great relationship with her parents. They have a son as well, who is my age, but he lives in a different country with his wife.
Heredia itself was gorgeous. It was extremely green with super twisty and hilly roads. In a way it reminded me of Tanzania only a bit less dusty and cleaner. Heredia was also extremely safe. On most nights we went over to family friends houses and would walk back to the house as late at 10:30 or 11pm and it was entirely ok.
Everyday I ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the family. We usually ate some kind of meat with rice and beans. Sometimes for breakfast there would be fried plantains (my fave breakfast in Guatemala) and eggs. For lunch there was always salad and sometimes soup. We also usually had a coffee and snack about twice a day. I never went hungry. One time they made "nieve" (snow in spanish) It was made with shaved ice, red snowcone syrup, condensed milk and powdered milk. It was really good!
While I was with them, we were very busy everyday. On the first day, a friend of the family came over to take me, the mom and sister shopping in town. We window shopped for shoes and clothes and then wandered into the market, which was the usual cacophony of noises, smells and people. I was, once again, struck with how safe it was in Costa Rica. We walked all over the city and didn't worry at all. Other people were sitting around, teenagers were strolling about.
After shopping, I went with the family to church. We got there a bit late (typical Latin American) and the chursh was super filled. Me and the daughter actually spent the whole service in the hallway. After church we headed down the street to a neighbors house where we ate, and chatted in Spanish (I worked on my listening) and watched a soccer game while drinking (I had some whisky, not my fav, the beer of Costa Rica, Imperial, and something called Tequila Rose which was pink and creamy and supposedly had tequila in it.)
I slept in a little the next day and had a great breakfast. After that, I hung out in the front yard in the sun. The 7 year old neighbor kid came over to hang out with me. He brought out his sunglasses and notebook to match mine and carefully arranged them right next to my notebook and glasses. At first he just monologued in rapid fire spanish at me. Every now and then a family member would walk by and call out, "She doesn't understand you!" in Spanish. Eventually he switched to shorter easier sentences and we could actually have a real conversation. He told me that he loves cars and he wanted to know if I had any cars on my tablet. He was super curious about the names of different colors in English, so we traded and he carefully wrote them down in his book. Later, we all set off to Maria's house to hang out on her porch with all her animals (millions of cats, some dogs, parrots etc). Later we went to a different church service and had dinner before heading back to the house.
On my last day with my family I went to the Amistad Institute early to do some orientation stuff. It was a short and beautiful walk from the house. I met a German girl and we had a Spanish lesson together in the morning and then later in the afternoon. I made my way back to my host family for dinner and then we all (me, my host family, and two of the neighbor families) all piled in a mini-bus and headed back to Marias house to have a Latino dance night. They brought speakers, music and a young dance instructor dude (who, i'm convinced, could move his hips in 4 dimensions). It was, by turns, the most fun and embarrassing activity.
The next morning I got up early and headed back to the Amistad Center to hop into the taxi to take me to the bus station to get me to Limon. Nicki, a girl from Germany was also heading to the Wildlife Sanctuary in Limon. The drive was fabulously beautiful, going straight through tropical jungle and over many, many different rivers and streams.
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| Host family house |
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| Space between the two houses |
Heredia itself was gorgeous. It was extremely green with super twisty and hilly roads. In a way it reminded me of Tanzania only a bit less dusty and cleaner. Heredia was also extremely safe. On most nights we went over to family friends houses and would walk back to the house as late at 10:30 or 11pm and it was entirely ok.
Everyday I ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the family. We usually ate some kind of meat with rice and beans. Sometimes for breakfast there would be fried plantains (my fave breakfast in Guatemala) and eggs. For lunch there was always salad and sometimes soup. We also usually had a coffee and snack about twice a day. I never went hungry. One time they made "nieve" (snow in spanish) It was made with shaved ice, red snowcone syrup, condensed milk and powdered milk. It was really good!
While I was with them, we were very busy everyday. On the first day, a friend of the family came over to take me, the mom and sister shopping in town. We window shopped for shoes and clothes and then wandered into the market, which was the usual cacophony of noises, smells and people. I was, once again, struck with how safe it was in Costa Rica. We walked all over the city and didn't worry at all. Other people were sitting around, teenagers were strolling about.
After shopping, I went with the family to church. We got there a bit late (typical Latin American) and the chursh was super filled. Me and the daughter actually spent the whole service in the hallway. After church we headed down the street to a neighbors house where we ate, and chatted in Spanish (I worked on my listening) and watched a soccer game while drinking (I had some whisky, not my fav, the beer of Costa Rica, Imperial, and something called Tequila Rose which was pink and creamy and supposedly had tequila in it.)
I slept in a little the next day and had a great breakfast. After that, I hung out in the front yard in the sun. The 7 year old neighbor kid came over to hang out with me. He brought out his sunglasses and notebook to match mine and carefully arranged them right next to my notebook and glasses. At first he just monologued in rapid fire spanish at me. Every now and then a family member would walk by and call out, "She doesn't understand you!" in Spanish. Eventually he switched to shorter easier sentences and we could actually have a real conversation. He told me that he loves cars and he wanted to know if I had any cars on my tablet. He was super curious about the names of different colors in English, so we traded and he carefully wrote them down in his book. Later, we all set off to Maria's house to hang out on her porch with all her animals (millions of cats, some dogs, parrots etc). Later we went to a different church service and had dinner before heading back to the house.
On my last day with my family I went to the Amistad Institute early to do some orientation stuff. It was a short and beautiful walk from the house. I met a German girl and we had a Spanish lesson together in the morning and then later in the afternoon. I made my way back to my host family for dinner and then we all (me, my host family, and two of the neighbor families) all piled in a mini-bus and headed back to Marias house to have a Latino dance night. They brought speakers, music and a young dance instructor dude (who, i'm convinced, could move his hips in 4 dimensions). It was, by turns, the most fun and embarrassing activity.
The next morning I got up early and headed back to the Amistad Center to hop into the taxi to take me to the bus station to get me to Limon. Nicki, a girl from Germany was also heading to the Wildlife Sanctuary in Limon. The drive was fabulously beautiful, going straight through tropical jungle and over many, many different rivers and streams.
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| In the bus going to Limon! |
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