It´s my third day here in Costa Rica and it´s wonderful. I´ve been so busy the last few days that I haven´t had a chance to write and now I´m not sure where to start. I guess I´ll start at the beginning but this might end up a long post.
Okay, so my flight into Costa Rica was kinda hellish. I woke up at 4 in the morning to get through customs in time to catch my 7:45am flight. It was a really nice flight actually, decent breakfast (muffin and cereal) and they were playing Next as the movie although I just slept through it. Then I arrived at the George Bush airport in Houston. George Bush really deserves that airport since it is the worst airport I can imagine. There was absolutely nothing to do, everything was dirty and smelled like oil, and there were no quiet places to sit. The healthiest food I managed to find (ie. from a restaurant that didn´t give off the stench of fried foods from 10 ft away) was pasta salad coated in mayonnaise and there was a hair in it. I didn´t eat much. By the time my flight to Costa Rica got in (it was a bit delayed) I was so tired! I ended up sitting in a window seat with no one in the middle seat and a nice quiet girl in the aisle seat so I got a good nap in on that flight too.
When I arrived in Alajeula, Costa Rica I made my way through customs and immigration pretty easily thankfully. Then, I was supposed to find my name on a sign outside a glass window and find the person who would take me to Atenas. Well I found the window easily enough but there was no sign with my name on it! So I went outside anyways, which was very crowded with waiting families, taxi drivers and people with signs. I looked around for a while but I was sure I looked like an idiot or maybe a possible victim wandering around so I tried to call the woman who was supposed to pick me up. I did find some phones, but couldn´t figure out how to use them at all! Thankfully when I went back to the queue of people waiting, there were a few more people with signs including Hannia, who was picking me up.
I think my first mistake with her was to say hello in English. She smiled, motioned for me to follow her into a taxi and then she talked to the taxi driver in Spanish the whole way to Atenas. I began to have some serious doubts because I couldn´t understand a single word they said. Spanish is a very fast language and I was calculating the worst case scenario and how to manage it on the way to my host family´s. We arrived in the dark at my host family´s. (It gets dark here at about 7:30). After a quick demonstration that I speak terrible Spanish as I tried to ask her if I should take my shoes off inside, I was motioned into a cute little room dressed up with ruffly yellow pillows and I went to bed. First impressions were not good and all I could think was maybe I had made a big, big mistake.
I woke up the next morning at about 4am to the sounds of rooster crowing and about an hour later big trucks began driving down the street in front of my house. I finally got up at 6am to find everyone already awake and going about the day. The day was really overwhelming and I went to bed at 7:30 that night but it went much better than expected. At breakfast I met a French couple staying in the house who are here to learn Spanish and also speak some English. Since I speak some French as well, we have some very interesting tri-lingual conversations at the breakfast table trying to make ourselves understood. My host mom is very, very nice and after 2 days with her I understand her mas o menos (more or less). She is also trying to teach me Spanish words and does her best to speak simply with me. By dinner the first day she was calling me her daughter and patting my hair at the dinner table so I think we´re going to get along fine. Her husband Ulises and her son Estaban are also nice although I haven´t see them around as much.
Through my Spanish lessons in the morning I´ve met some other very nice Gringos and we´ve started making plans for weekend travel which is nice. The first trip will be to Manuel Antonio, which is a national park very close to the beach so I´m looking forward to it! There were 6 girls and a guy with varying levels of Spanish who arrived at the same time as me so it´s nice to have them around to talk to.
The first day I was there, lunch time was insane. Gina (my host mom) provides lunch to about 25 kids from the secondary school and college. I still haven´t been able to find much logic in her explanation of why which seems to be that the other families are all spread out... So unknowingly I sat down for lunch in her kitchen and a steady stream of kids entered (all dressed in uniform making it truly impossible to tell there age- they all look young). They mostly laughed and talked amongst themselves while occasionally looking at me. One of the kids who spoke English told me that these 2 girls wanted to take me to the Americano. All I really wanted to do was close my door on the insanity going in the kitchen but I went for the walk. We didn´t understand each other very one but one of the girls used some of her English and repeatedly used the English phrase "beautiful boys" which made me laugh. Then I got back home and got dressed for the orphanage.
Ah, the orphanage. It´s really wonderful there. Actually, it´s a bit of a sanctuary because after a day of attempting Spanish everyone, I feel like I fit in at the orphanage and am able to help out a little. There are a lot of people who speak English there, both the founders of the orphanage, some other volunteers, and members of a mission team here for a week who have come to do some painting on a new house they are building. After a long morning of overwhelming Spanish, it´s nice to be told what to do in English for a change. Of course the Tia´s, who look after the children, are Costa Rican but they are used to English speakers and are pretty good at using simple Spanish phrases with me. I am working in the afternoon shift at the "upstairs house" which is located on a little hill. There are 11 kids in my house from 1 month to about 9 years old, including 2 babies which were born prematurely. The kids are all different but all seem to be in need of some good quality attention. The Tia´s certainly do their best to give each one some individual attention everyday but running a home of that size with so many little ones makes that kind of attention all to brief. That´s where we volunteers come in. We are supposed to help the Tia´s with things that need to be done around the house and also try to single out a child or two to play with or talk to. The older ones are somewhat resistant to people who don´t speak Spanish and I don´t blame them. I think I have already attached myself to 2 kids who I´m going to try to make feel special while I´m here. I do love my underdogs so I was drawn immediately to Pamela, who is having a hard time adjusting at the orphanage and is about 5 years old, and Fabian who is 4 and very quiet and well behaved but often overlooked. Pamela loves negative attention. Everytime I have asked her name, she tells me Nada (Nothing), which is sort of a game now. Also, with the slightest bit of attention, she turns it into an escape trick and runs away from the house and onto their big property. I have seen her become unhappy with one of the Tia´s and start to run away only to stop when she sees they aren´t looking at her. So I have spent 2 days at the orphanage and have chased her about 5 times. I´m gonna have to work out a strategy for her I think. Fabian plays with me very nicely and talks steadily while I nod "si, si" or answer his "Es verdad?" (isn´t that right?) with a "si" as well. I am trying to learn Spanish as quickly as possible for him. I´ll write more about the rest of the kids another day but I think that´s enough for now.
I´m off to explore the town a litte before I head off to the orphange. It´s the first chance I´ve had since I got here. Hasta Leugo!
(Oh, and the title of the post is welcome to the pura vida (the pure life). It´s a common phrase Ticos use to describe their way of life.
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