Thought it was time for an entry in my blog and seeing as it's a lazy rainy Sunday, I don't have an excuse or distraction from writing. Rainy season has officially begun here in La Gloria and most parts of Costa Rica. As of today, we have had 9 DAYS STRAIGHT of rain. Yesterday it stopped for about a total of 2 hours the whole day. Everytime it stops I think this must be the end, it can't possibly rain any more. And soon I am proven wrong as the cold wind and rain returns just as I am putting my solar panel out or attempting to dry my clothes. Luckily and surprisingly I have only lost power for a few hours during one of the rainy days and water was not potable for a ... read more

Yesterday was a big day, not only was it my 25th birthday, but it was also site assignment day which is when we all find out where we're going to live for the next year or two years for most people. To make the day more interesting and enjoyable Peace Corps was kind enough to bring us all to a nice country club outside of San Jose. This club was equipped with several swimming pools, lounge chairs, hot tub and sports facilities and it was a beautiful sunny day. So I got to spend my birthday basking in the sun by the pool, couldnt ask for a better day (Thanks Posh Corps). At lunch, we had a delicious thanksgiving meal that the staff made for us with turkey, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. The only ... read more

I recently arrived in Costa Rica from Vanuatu, with a 48 hour layover as you might call it in CT. It´s been kind of a whirlwind of emotions and culture change for me going from the Pacific Islands to Costa Rica. I started in Vanuatu, a place where i've learned to adjust to my simple life in my village, then to home in america, where i returned to the family, friends, and lifestyle i'd known before that life, and finally here in costa rica where i'm immersed in both american and costa rican culture being around americans and now living in a costa rican household surrounded by spanish. It´s a lot to process and take in and it's going to take a little while to adjust. Compared to PC Vanuatu this kind of feels like PC ... read more

There's this word in Bislama: "Manbus", pronounced man bush and it refers to someone who's been in the bush too long. In the village they call people manbush when they like dont know how to work something or haven't been out of the rural area much. Like if theres a kid staring at me because im white, they'll be like stop staring, manbush! Well turns out ive only been in Vanuatu a year but manbus tumas. I arrived in Brisbane on Monday night and my journey here and time here so far has been a little overwhelming and I realize how manbus I've become. I'm really glad I was able to spend some time here before coming to the US so I can adjust a little bit and wont have quite the culture shock. When I ... read more

It's a good thing I've learned not to keep my expectations too high here. The first leg of the journey went pretty much as planned. But after that, pretty much all the plans to visit various bungalows and custom dances started falling through. The tourism office developed their budget for this trip based on the assumption that I would be traveling on the cameraman's yacht without talking with him and on the assumption that the yacht would reach each place in very little time. So turns out after visiting Southwest Bay, Walarano, and the bungalows in Norsup and Lakatoro there was no longer funding for me to go to Ambrym and Paama. I was traveling with Laura and we got to meet some interesting people on our journey to southwest bay. On the way down to ... read more