Hokey Smoke!

On Sunday we went to the Volcano Irazú, which was beautiful, and amazing, and now I am sunburned. We organized our own trip to another of the training communities (it ended up just being my host mother's brother, driving my family's car), and once we got there we all got on board a bus. Apparently in every town around here someone owns a bus, and rents his services out on weekends, and on weekdays, he takes kids to school, and drives people to work in odd places. Well, it was a fairly long bus ride, and it was very enjoyable, driving through mountains, and past fields, and a ton of cows. When we got to the Volcano, we had to pay the National Park Entrance fee, but we said we were PC Trainees and Trainers (not entirely true, it was several trainees and about twice as many host families) and they let us in for 400 Colones, about eighty cents, when it should have been ten dollars. That was pretty exciting in itself, but when we got to the Volcano, there were strange mammals (Coati!) eating food out of trash cans (just like squirrels). Also, there was the caldera of the Volcano, which we could look down into, and it reeked of sulphur. Other exciting things include: giant leafed plants (that is Ken's hand)! a US Geographical Survey marker at the highest point of the Volcano! At that highest point on the Volcano, we could see the Pacific Ocean! On the way back all of the Tico families had the bus stop at every roadside market to find the prices for cheese and potatoes, which was pretty hilarious by the time we stopped for the fifth time.

This week I learned that during election season, everyone puts the flag of their party on their cars (and their houses) and since the elections were in May, only the flags of the winning party are still displayed. I'm settling in more with my host family, and learning more about them and why they do what they do, which is nice.

This weekend I am going to visit a volunteer way down south near the border with Panama, so I'll be on a bus most of Saturday, and the same on Tuesday, but I'm looking forward to it (if not the cold shower at 4 in the morning tomorrow).

And now for something you'll really like

This week training is starting in earnest, but it has been pretty fun so far. On Wednesday we had our first trip to San José, which took the form of a competition to visit certain sights, and be safe while doing so. I was appointed group leader, and much to my surprise, yesterday we found out that my group completed the activity perfectly. We found out where the medical center the Peace Corps uses is, where the national theatre, cathedral, and museum are, and later how to get to the Peace Corps office. The Peace Corps office is rather a splendid building, three stories high and very open in a nice part of town. The library was pretty extensive, and almost all of the trainees took a book, reading here is probably the main leisure activity, and following soon after are walking, and writing emails or blog posts.

On Tuesday upon arriving in my community, others realized that the bus was not going to their community, but continuing on in the opposite direction. Since it was dark, and a relatively short distance, one of my friends and I ultimately decided to walk them down the hill to their locations. Costa Rican roads are twisting, and Costa Rican fog is thick, and Costa Rican street lights are few and far between. It was a nice experience though, and now I know that walking along twisting and torturous mountain roads is pretty safe, even at night. Dogs are a problem, but ignoring them usually works, and if it doesn't, crouching down to pick up a rock usually reminds the dog that I am not going to its house, and it lets me pass.

Today we observed English teachers in classrooms, and then made a Costa Rican meal at one of the trainee's houses. Five of us were in one teacher's classroom, which was a little absurd, but then again so is classroom control here. Two kids were disrupting the entire classroom (I dubbed them Crabbe and Goyle), and the teacher had little recourse. He was doing a great job teaching though, and it seemed like the students who payed attention were learning quite a bit. Crabbe and Goyle were obviously at least two years older, which means they failed the class several times, and they knew many of the answers. This is going to be a difficult problem to deal with when I go into classrooms, but hopefully we'll get some training.

Cooking was a lot of fun, it was a just a beef soup, with every kind of carbohydrate known to Central America, but it still tasted amazing. I learned how to peel Yuca (Cassava root) although when I got home and told my hmom she explained that the best way is actually to peel it by hand, not using a knife. A drink which is very popular here is a 'fresco' which is the juice of any fruit (usually squeezed by hand) with water, and sugar. Its a little like lemonade, but more easy to make. I'm thinking about finding mint or sage to mix in.

Included below (hopefully) are some pictures of my two dogs, the views from walks around town, and the view from the training center we went to first.

I miss you all very much
-Barton

C is for Coffee

Hello poetry lovers,

Well the first week of training has come and gone, and I am pretty exhausted. Adapting to life with a host family is pretty tiring on its own, and we've also be having a lot of classes. The daily schedule here is interesting so I'll delve into it for a while. It is essentially based around the sun, which rises around 5 (maybe a little before?) and sets around 6. the cloud cover however can make things dark far before their time, so that on Saturday, by 4:30 it was already evening, tending towards darkness. My host family basically operates around the sun schedule, waking up by 5:30, and going to bed around 9 (that is a household average), the teenage son and I can skew it quite heavily. My host mom is very nice, forces me to eat far too much, and is full of suggestions on how to fit in better. I think she enjoys having someone around to talk to in the afternoons, and its fun to practice my Spanish while drinking amazing coffee. The town I am staying in is right in the middle of coffee country, and today I went on a walk with some other trainees and one of their mom's down through a coffee farm to a 'mirador' and then to a 'beneficio' where they transform coffee from a berry to a powder. Almost everywhere you turn here there are extensive coffee fields, and the views from nearly every point are incredible. Bits of cloud and fog float about the area all day, and as many are below our elevation as above. The hills around are rather drastic, with sharp ridges and towns nestled around crevices almost everywhere. The coffee fields are regularly located at improbable angles along slopes that would give pause to big horn sheep. We are in the heart of winter in Costa Rica, meaning that big rain storms are predicted every day, but they have so far manifested themselves in rather paltry mists and bursts of heavy rain. I'll take this time to apologize for the complete chaos of this post, I have not yet had a lot of time to plan out or write in any order. The town I am in is of about 3,000 people, and it is becoming a center of commerce at a crossroads on the way to what were once larger towns. There are nine other trainees here, and we train in the same place but in two different groups. On other days we take the bus up to a different town and all the trainees (45) have classes at the same training center. There is a completely different microclimate up there, such that it is almost always raining when we take the bus back, and sometimes the visibility is down below one hundred feet. So far everyone here is really nice, and I am having a wonderful time.

Sincerely,
-Barton

Host Family

I'm with my host family now, and they are very nice, and so amazing. The host mom is incredibly sweet, and they have two dogs, and one of them is exactly like Sadie! After I got in today my host mom took me and her two sons (and the dogs) out for a walk through their neighborhood, and almost everyone who lives there is a relative. There are acres and acres of coffee around, and the school where I'll be having Spanish training is just around the corner. Also, the town we have to travel to do training all together is only about ten minutes away. I'm very overwhelmed right now, but I got all of my luggage into my room, and now I feel bad about using their internet (an unexpected boon) so I'll wrap this up. I miss you all very much!

-Barton

Cartago

Today we went on our first training excursion to the town of Cartago, we were given 3,000 Colones and four tasks, but my group lucked out. We bought phone cards and made calls, then learned about the ruins of a church that dominated the central plaza. The next place we had to discover was the 'Capitanía General' which had recently been turned into a museum of culture for the region. As we progressed through the museum, we found a large wall and a scaffolding where three woman were painting a mural. We were looking at the mural (scenes of natives, emphasizing women and animals) when one of the women offered to give us a tour. It turned out that she was the muralist, and that this painting was to debut on the International Day of Women as the largest mural created by women in Central America. She walked us through the images, pointing out the gods and the characters, and explaining what would fill in the blank spaces (about 3 fifths of the wall). She told us a lot of history, and it proved a very enlightening experience.

-Barton

Escuela Juan XXIII

Well, the 'retreat' location is gorgeous, although I haven't seen a glint of sunshine since I left LA, but the rain here is pretty amazing, coming in fits and spurts, yesterday it started pouring all of a sudden, and this morning it was misting, which was beautiful. It is pretty high up in the mountains over San José, and the views of the city are stunning, especially at night. There is a basketball court, a grassy green, and a soccer field. The cafeteria serves mostly Gallo Pinto with assorted meat, which is quite filling, though we are all still hungry for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Also, in the wildlife report, I've seen squirrels (with really long tails), parrots (green and quite loud), flycatchers (gorgeous yellow bellies), sparrows, and at least one vulture. Not much is happening here besides classes and learning (important for me, but not really for my fanbase) so I'll probably get back to this after I move in with my 'training' host family on Saturday.

-Barton

Introductory Post

Well, I don't know how often I'll be able to update this, but hopefully it will be fairly frequently. I'm in Costa Rica at a training center right now, and its very nice. The weather is just about perfect now, at 8 PM, its humid and beautiful, it didn't get very hot, which I'm sure will change once we get out of the mountains.

I miss you all very much, and I'll write again soon!

-Barton