Almost There...

Hello from the lovely town of Cañas! We’ve spent the last 2 nights here with the Ramos family, who staffed at the base with me back in 2008. Javier is a travelling pastor who is off in Guatemala at the moment, Catalina is his loud, quirky, and hilarious wife, and they have two daughters – Mariela, who works in a clothes shop, and Saray, who is almost done with a degree in physical therapy. Since 2008, they moved from Nicoya to Cañas and got 2 yappy little dogs, Luna and Quita, who are constantly play-fighting with each other.

On Monday we said goodbye to the base and staff and cowboy team, and took 2 buses here. That night during dinner Ina said she’d like to visit a Costa Rican nursing home. The next morning Catalina called one where Saray had worked, we hopped on a bus, and went to a “hogar de ancianos” in Tilaran, a nearby town on an old volcano. (These are the sorts of things that happen when you travel with a social worker.) We arrived just in time to feed a table full of very old and disabled people their lunchtime soup. This proved to be quite the test for my Spanish, and too big of a test for Ina, who resorted to speaking loudly with everyone in Finnish, making most of them more confused than they already were. An old man at a nearby table said he’d like to run away with both of us, and an old German guy gave me an ‘endearing’ bum smack with his walker. All in all, however, it was such a good experience. I’m including a picture of a slightly less enamoured old man who tended the nursing home garden the entire time we were there. It was precious and he was so happy doing it. Ina and I found it so interesting that old people are really the same everywhere. The language may differ, but both of us could pick out the confused and perturbed ones, the content ones who sleep all the time, the quiet ones who pace back and forth, the happy, social ones who chat with the visitors like they’re family and of course the paranoid sons and daughters who stop by every 5 minutes to check up on Mum or Dad and bother the staff. You could’ve nearly matched them person-to-person with each of the characters we’ve worked with in nursing homes back in the US and Finland.

Today we ‘took some sun’, as it translates from Spanish, in Ramos’ lusciously green backyard (also pictured).  A last-ditch effort to get a little colour before the flight home, inevitably resulting in getting uncomfortably fried. We will go and get our nails painted later, stock up on water and peanuts from the Super Compro, have one last amazing Tico meal, and hop on a 9pm bus to San Jose. After a few amazingly refreshing hours of sleep there, we board our respective flights to Miami and Houston. To everyone who said a month in Costa Rica would just fly by, you were very wrong and it feels like it’s been at least 6. Nonetheless, it has been a full and challenging and productive time that I’m thankful for, and it’s been so good to see familiar old faces again.Looking forward to seeing all of your faces soon!

Cañas town centre, with the mosaic Catholic church in the
background.

Precious little gardening man at the
nursing home.

En route back from Tilaran. Could almost pass for Scotland...

Sunbathing. You can't see it, but there's a goat chilling with
us in the middle of the field..

Talking to Old People About Sex.

                                        

This is where Ina and I spent most of the last week working on drug presentations – one for parents and one for kids. At one point, the following dialogue occurred between us:

Ina: Please, please don’t do marijuana! I’m doing it and I have so much good stuff!
Andrea: Okay! That’s fine, I’ll do heroin instead.

It’s probably not a good sign that after all our research, we also decided what our drug of choice would be IF we ever became druggies.

Wednesday we returned to the base via a series of long and arduous bus rides. At one point I was standing up, holding on to the ceiling with one hand, talking to Salla on the phone with the other, balancing someone’s surfboard between my legs, with an old man breathing down my back, while the driver cruised along at a lackadaisical 100 kmph.

Our trusty agent Salla ‘booked us’ at several venues, and on Thursday we gave 3 presentations at a high school in La Junta (an hour away). The school principal thought it was necessary to close easch presentation by asking for a show of hands from the abstinent in the class, which was mildly awkward. Yesterday, we gave a pregnancy prevention talk to 4^th and 5^th graders at a nearby school, drove to Nicoya for an STD talk at a high school, and returned to nearby Quebrada Honda, to give the STD talk to a group of young/middle aged women who meet for PE and health classes each week. At least that’s what we were told. We burst into the community centre a few minutes late, and were joyfully greeted by a room full of old people. Seriously old people. I think several women were at least 90, nearly everyone had dentures, and half of them were men. Salla looked at me and whispered “improvise!”. I pulled up a nearly-finished presentation for parents on talking with teens about sex, and was about to start when the power went out and my computer died.  This inspired a whole new level of improvisation, and we went ahead and did the glitter-spreading handshakes, just as an ice breaker to talk about STDs. They loved this almost as much as the high schoolers. Then we started talking about how important it is that young people have adults – parents AND grandparents – that are involved in their lives and open resources for them about sexual health and decisions. They were incredibly receptive and open to this, and had lots of great questions and comments at the end. It was a very unanticipated success.

Presentation at La Junta College.

Guava (so said the the avocado salesman who gave us one for free).
It was like eating sweet mothballs with a big smooth seed inside.

On the road. Again. In a stick shift with a broken speedometer
and the check engine light always on.

Chicks. 

Rip Van Winkle Syndrome.

That's what it feels like being back in old Santa Rosa. In 2005, some of these girls and I started a soccer team. I also taught English at the school behind us. 

One of my favourite students was Wilmer. The kids called him "jirafa" (giraffe) because of his long neck, and I think we bonded over our physical similarity..

 

Nat and I came back in 2008 for a visit and played a long hot soccer game with the kids. Here she is with Wilmer and his cousin Kevin, and another little cousin of theirs. 

The sweaty boys..

 

 On Sunday, Ina and I walked the familiar road to Santa Rosa. It was so surreal. This was the 'pulperia' where I used to get my groceries...

 The school... (mostly the same)... 

 And this is Wilmer and Kevin. They are both finishing up high school. Wilmer is hoping to study chemical engineering in university, and Kevin wants to study civil engineering. Last night I helped them study for their English final. 

I've kept in touch a bit with these two, but lost contact with the other students I had. It's been bizarre walking to town, meandering through the grocery store, driving Sarah to and from school, and seeing these vaguely familiar faces that are now basically adults. One former student I recognized in the grocery store was at least 6 months pregnant. A lot of the kids have moved away, to better schools and bigger cities, and a lot of things have changed in Santa Rosa -- there is an internet cafe (would've killed for that in 2005), a big-ish grocery store, and the bridge over the currently-dry river doesn't have huge holes in it anymore. But overall things still look just the same as when I left 8 years ago. And I feel mostly the same as I did 8 years ago. So it's weird that the kids have changed and grown up and aren't the same.

I  had a total grandma moment last night, when I asked Wilmer if he could write down his address so I could mail him the photos we took. Then an ingenious thought crossed my mind and I asked if he had .... (drumroll) an e.mail address. He laughed and said uhhhh, of course he had an e.mail address, did I have facebook? And he promptly pulled out his phone, looked me up, and added me. Technology is crazy and makes the world feel so much smaller, which I like.

One thing I forgot about living here 8 years ago is how vibrant the neighbours are. The house I'm in is enormous and yellow, sits on a hillside, and is surrounded by scrappy, typical Costa Rican shanties or small cement homes. Most of the inhabitants of the homes on the hill to the left are family or know each other well, so there is constant yelling up and down the hill... (translated for your convenience)

"MANUEL!" (silence) "MAAAANUEL!" "WHAT??" "DO YOU NEED SOME RICE? " WHAT???" "DO!  YOU! NEED! RICE???" "YES! GET 3 BAGS!" "WHAT?" "THREEEEE! BAAAAAGS!" "OKAY!"

It's like the Costa Rican version of my family.

On the other side, there's some very dry forest, and an Aztec-ish looking home of an old American white guy, who LOVES singing karaoke. From early in the morning til late at night, he has the music playing and is singing loudly and slightly off tune. We've enjoyed such classics as 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun', Sinatra's 'My Way', and several love ballads from Elvis. On top of this there is some kind of dog pack living nearby that yelps and howls every 5 or 10 minutes and occasionally sounds like they are killing one of the less popular canine members. There are cat fights, parrots squawking, kids wailing after being punished, and chickens clucking. From 2am in the morning on, there are a few demented roosters that crow very loudly. This morning one was incorporated into my dream of a hurt child screaming "MAAAMAAA"... that was weird.

This morning the car stalled only 4 times getting Sarah to school, and I was relieved to park it in the driveway and know that I would not have to go near it again. We're taking several buses back to Corral de Piedra tonight and have 2 intense days of presentations before the last weekend at the base, and then making our way to San Jose to depart.

Miss all of you greatly! Will write more from the base.

¡Vamos a La Playa!

hi dear ones!
on wednesday ina and i got up at 5am and got on a bus to nicoya, and ina sat by a darling little old Tico farmer who gave her a mint. in nicoya we got on a bus to santa cruz, and ina sat by the same darling little farmer again. we got off the bus in santa cruz and i tripped on the last step and fell into a crowd of old ladies waiting to get on. that was embarrassing. we walked to the maxi pali (a new supermarket chain here run by the creators of walmart), got some breakfast, and met darwin and kristi in the parking lot. (i lived with their family in santa rosa back in 2005.) we all drove together to the liberia airport, and after dropping them off, ina and i drove back to their home in santa rosa, which we are house-sitting and playing Mum(s) to their teenage daughter Sarah, who i take to and from school each day. driving their aging isuzu trooper is quite the adventure. it loves to stall at the most inopportune times, and on day #2 the gas tank was past empty, even though they'd filled it before leaving. come to find out, the gas gauge is broken, and you need to calculate kilometers driven to figure out how close you are to needing gas. in the last 24 hours we also discovered the basement had flooded and one of the cats has a large, mysterious hole in his side. the joys of being a home/pet owner in costa rica...

in other news, after dropping sarah off at school yesterday, we went to Playa Conchal for the morning. it's named after the Conch shell because instead of sand, the majority of the beach is made up of tiny broken shells. i'd been before but forgot how gorgeous it was, especially when you have it all to yourself at 7 in the morning! we ate breakfast, swam, read, swam, napped, swam, and i spent the last hour snorkeling which was amazing: puffer fish, all different colours of angel fish, those fish that bury/camouflage themselves in the sand, huge circular fish, fish over a foot long, and transparent white fish in schools so big and long, i couldn't see the end of them. so beautiful.

today, we are nursing bad sunburns in spite of being generous with the sunblock. we decided they need to invent a sunblock that's like a glue stick: blue or purple when you put it on, so you can see exactly where you have/haven't applied it, and then it goes clear as it dries. sunburns + looming clouds mean time to get some work done.

love to you all!

Later that night, we dropped Sarah off at Tamarindo Beach,
just after it rained. I love how you can still see the rain coming
down over the ocean.

Sunburnt feet and washed up shells. 

Open face tacos... we've eaten these for the last 5 meals and
have yet to get sick of them. 

What language do they speak in heaven?

Finnish, because it takes an eternity to learn.

(A joke I’ve heard no less than 20 times this week.)

Things are going alright here. The cowboy outreach team from Wyoming arrived yesterday and are out doing cowboy things today. One of their jobs is to break in a horse down the road that just got castrated on Saturday. Everyone went to watch and it was quite the community event. In lieu of sedatives, they tie a rope to each of the horse’s legs and four guys stand and pull in all directions while vet (aka ‘guy with the knife’.. highly dubious he is actually a vet) does the cutting. A rather bloody event, to say the least.

Last week after putting in long hours on the sex ed power points, we went to present at a Catholic high school. They were really receptive, asked great questions, and loved a little educational joke we played; we told them it was a tradition in Ina’s country of Finland to shake hands with everyone in the room. Unbeknownst to them, Ina, Vivi, and I had gold glitter on our hands, so after we shook everyone’s else’s hands, it was spread everywhere. We used it as an example of how fast and easily STDs spread, and the kids were making jokes long after the presentation ended about having ‘manos infectados’. We did another presentation at a community centre that afternoon; thanks to a less-than-stellar social worker who organized it, we had only a few people show up, but one of them was a woman whose cousin had HIV, so we got some good information from her on how that’s handled here. Friday we were supposed to do several presentations at a private school in Nicoya, but they were flaky and post-poned at the last minute. It has been much easier to work with the public schools here, who are pretty desperate for outside input and information, and are often up for having us present 20 minutes after we call!

Today we are using the hallowed wi-fi router and quiet base building to create another presentation on drug use and one on parental communication about sex. There is a lot of research and mundane computer work involved but it’s rewarding to produce a finished product and know how used and useful it can be here.

Tragically, it seems mosquito season started today. Ina and I went on a run this morning and got eaten alive while we were running.  Maybe this says something about our speed, but it seemed like everywhere you stood you were in a grey cloud of them. Mosquitoes + heat = new levels of mental stamina.

A few photos from lately.

After-dark bug infestations.
This is a table outside we usually dry dishes on.

Julia, Robin, and Isabel, at baby Oliver's dedication party. 

At the dedication, a farmer brought over a baby iguana,
which instantly bonded with Diego. 

Ina competed in a 24 kilometre bike race yesterday!
She and Julia stopped by the base for water on the way to the finish line.
They were at the back of the pack so that's a big police truck in the background, waiting for them. 

Happy Vappu!

Today we celebrated Costa Rican Labour Day, and Finnish Labour Day (Vappu), which was yesterday. In true Finnish fashion, we drank a fermented lime juice that Laura made, and ate sugared donuts, which we had to do without licking the sugar off our lips until we were completely done. Where do the Finns get these crazy traditions?! 

Here are a few photos from the last week. 

Drawing a blank on Mother's Day gifts?
How about this lacy and charming washing machine cover?
...So no one has to look at your hideous white washer underneath.

My friend Carolina and I went on a hike to an old tree house.
The view looked just like the African Savannah. 

Howler monkeys in the trees.
They sound like bears or lions, and then you get up
close and they are so shy and quiet and small.

A cactus in the front yard, with at least 3 or 4 birds
nests in it. 

The view from the base before a 6am run. 

Sunset! Things finally start cooling off..

Then There Were 3.

Hi! So a Canadian lady staying at the base left last Saturday, two South African boys who enjoyed killing and barbecuing iguanas left on Sunday, and on Monday, Ina finally arrived! She caught a few buses from San Jose and made it to the little old Quebrada Honda bomba (gas station) which is about 30 minutes away from the base on very a rocky road. We didn’t know she had made it until after she arrived at the gas station, so she waited for us on the side of the road like a good little hitch hiker, and made friends with a rogue cow in the meantime. I drove, for the first time in Costa Rica. And a stick shift no less! We didn’t crash once.

In the car, Ina recounted the highlights of her long journey to Vivi and I , which are just too good not to share. 

On the flight to Miami, Ina gets ‘surrounded by greatness’, in her words. On one side, there is a Ukrainian man who fell asleep and stayed asleep the whole flight, with his mouth wide open. His breath smelled, according to Ina, ‘like pumpkin pie’.  Two male flight attendants tried to wake him up for the drink service, but couldn’t.  On the other side are two German lesbian teenagers who don’t speak a word of English. They started the flight in good humour but eventually a fight started and things escalated so severely that they were crying and yelling at each other for approximately an hour, with everyone around them looking on. By the time the flight was preparing for landing, however, they’d worked things out and were hugging and kissing and one began singing “Welcome to Miami!”, so apparently she did know some English.. 

Because Ina’s flight arrived in the evening, she stayed the night at a hostel called Charly’s Place. After getting there, she meets the owner’s daughter, Connie, a 50-something Costa Rican woman who comes out in her pajamas and asks Ina if she has a cigarette. Ina leaves to go get water and comes back to find two American guys outside the hostel who ask her if she wants mota (weed). Ina sweetly declines, and one of the guys tells her about losing his left flip flop earlier that day. Later he was walking on the street, and suddenly a flip flop flew out of a nearby window, landed right next to him: it was the left flip flop AND the right size. What?! Ina goes to bed. She gets up in the morning to enjoy the continental breakfast, and is joined by Connie, still in her pajamas. (Ina wants to note they are bright pink with green frogs on them.) Connie talks with a lisp, and her bottom lip hangs down, and she proceeds to tell Ina, “I took LSD for 7 years, and then I got really depressed. But it could be because I’m schizophrenic.” Also, her Dad is the infamous “Charly”, who is currently in Miami with her mum who is having surgery. He doesn’t allow smoking in the hostel, but while Connie is in charge, Ina gets a nice little (huge) helping of smoke with her breakfast. When Ina eventually leaves, Connie gives her a hug and a ‘big sucky kiss’ on the cheek.

The end. 

Now there is just Ina, Vivi (base staff), and me here, working away. Yesterday we did a few interviews at the hospital, picked up massive amounts of groceries for the cowboy team coming from Wyoming this weekend, and cooked up some African peanut soup, which would've been really delicious had it not been a bajillion degrees when we were trying to eat it.