In: Costa Rica

A day in the life of a Volunteer
February 15, 2007

Hola! I am doing wonderfully. It has been such an amazing experience. I spent two weeks up in the Watsi indigenous reservation in the Talamanca region. My host family is amazing and the land is beyond perfect and beautiful. Rivers, streams, creaks, WATERFALLS and swimming holes…SOO of course I am loving it, being around my serenity source. My family is sooo sweet and SOOO poor. They live in a wood box basically. I bathed in the river and went to the bathroom in the woods!! (There is a toilet accross the street and up a little hill but without water it can not be used) AND I WANT TO GO BACK if you can believe that!

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Ujarras Ruins
February 6, 2007

These ruins are right in my backyard, but of course it took me a year-and-a-half to get there to see them. However, it was worth the wait! The remains of this old church sit in the Orosi Valley (Cartago Province) facing the Tapanti Mountains.

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Kachabri
January 26, 2007

Wow. I thought that Uatsi was pretty cool, but Kachabri (“Kachabri Arriba” to be exact) was unbelievable. It’s also located on the Talamanca indigenous reservation in Costa Rica, but much further into the jungle mountain range.

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Uatsi
January 20, 2007

As most of you know, I work for a volunteer adventure company, Tropical Adventures, here in Costa Rica. At the moment I’m on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica working with some of our volunteers and organizations. We have two volunteers currently working on the indigenous reservation with a community called Uatsi.

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Change
December 10, 2006

We all know that change is constant. I guess as we get older we have more experience with this concept. Doesn’t that mean that we get used to change and facing it should be easier? No, it seems to be just the opposite. Maybe we get tired of change? Just plain ole’ tired of dealing with it day in and day out.
Personally, I feel like I’ve had to handle a lot of change in my life and normally do okay with it. But some days it doesn’t take much to push me beyond my limits. I mean, let’s face it. I moved to Costa Rica. That’s a big change. Change in language, change in cost of living, change in availability of creature comforts. But more so — a change in culture. This change in culture I believe was the hardest for me — and almost 3 years later — continues to be a challenge.

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Thirsty? Too bad!
December 2, 2006

When I was in the military in the US and had the opportunity to live in many other states, I was shocked to learn how different some of the alcohol laws were in “dry” cities, counties and states. Very naively I thought the laws were the same all over.
People drink a lot in Costa Rica. That’s my experience anyhow. I’m not judging that (I participate of course), but am making an observation. And it doesn’t surprise me. What does surprise me is that there are times of the year here when Ticos are prevented from drinking. This includes a portion of Easter Week and election time.

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Marketing Experience?
December 2, 2006

Some of the women in one of our indigenous tribes living in a community called Shiroles took it upon themselves about 17 years ago to generate an income for their families and community. They maintain crops of cacao, process it and turn it into chocolate bars, liquid chocolate, cookies and other delectable delights.
They have a great system down now through production, but they could really use some more help with the post-production process. They don’t have much experience in getting their product to the marketplace. With the right help, these women could be marketing their products to local stores, restaurants and hotels and boosting their income by leaps-and-bounds.

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Gay Adoption
November 20, 2006

The Costa Rican legislature has initiated an accelerated process with the objective of creating a law preventing gays and lesbians from adopting children in Costa Rica.
Gay adoption is nothing new. Gays and lesbians have been adopting for a long time, but only recently have gay adoptions been done openly. In the past, and perhaps in some areas of the country still today, gay couples have lied in order to adopt. Usually with one partner adopting and the other pretending to be a roommate or a friend.

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Help Prevent Hatred
November 20, 2006

These are the instructions that follow from a blog entry I wrote about the Legislature of Costa Rica trying to create…

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Cafe Cristina
November 19, 2006

I finally made it over to the farm of one of my neighbors to check it out. They are gringos who have lived here almost 30 years. And they have been growing coffee for over 20 of those years. Cafe Cristina (named after their kids, Cris and Tina) was one of the first organic coffee farms in Costa Rica. In addition to not using any chemicals, they use natural anti-erosion methods, hand-pick their coffee and sun dry it as well. They are incredibly environmentally conscious — and nice people too!

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