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Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » San José » San José
March 22nd 2010

Published: April 1st 2010

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bailey337

ID card for volunteer group. And only pic of the entire week I look halfway decent in!

So we met up at 8:30am with Nikki meeting us at the hostel. She was going to walk with us the 15 minuet walk to the i to i office for our orientation and introduction to the volunteer projects. It was a very pretty day, excellent weather. I was just happy to be feeling better, and starving!!!

The i to i "office" was actually a house, a very pretty house and we had our orientation on the patio of the backyard. I forgot whose house it actually is, but the woman works at i to i. Anyway, she gave us an intro to the program, and the country of Costa Rica and we watched a few videos of "culture shock"... in one particular video there was an American student who seemed very ignorant who kept saying he thought Latin America would be like an extention of the US and was very culture shocked....anyway, I just kept thinking "I hope we dont all seem like that when traveling abroad"

Well, a little before noon or so, we broke up into individual groups for our projects. Shen and I went with Nikki for some more info on the turtle project. The

park

Nikki kept calling this park "Central Park" it was VERY cute and perfect for people and pigeon watching!

two guys, Alex and Oliver were doing a teaching project w/ students (they were also staying a lot longer than I, just one week, they were staying one month and three months!) and Kristy was doing community work and went off to learn more info about her project.

Well, Nikki got me very excited! She showed us a power presentation of the area in Panama we would be staying at. We saw pics of turtles, the babies, the eggs, the crew we would be working with....I was beyond excited! she also walked us through the immigration process of what to expect upon crossing the border into Panama. I was excited and couldnt wait.

We had a very yummy lunch consistiting of sandwiches, and pineapples and other yummy fruits. After lunch, we walked around the immediate area, Shen and I going into a second hand clothing store to buy more long sleeve shirts and pants for the turtle patrols. I had also forgotten shampoo and conditioner and went to a grocery store to buy that. We also went to the "Central Park" area and just sat and talked, and got to know each other much better. Oliver had bought

British invasion

All the new volunteers starting! Alex, Kristy, Oliver, and Shen (she was doing the same turtle project as me)

a bag of chips and had asked me "would you like a crisp?" I was like "a what?" as it turns out....in England "crisps" are potato chips....I told him "do you mean a chip?" and then we had a laugh about the differences. Then he said "thats right, you call chips, FRIES" and I said "well, they are!" I also thought it was funny they kept referring to their school days as "university" like "when I graduated from university" .... LOL

We finished up around 3 or so, and dinner was at 6 again and we had a few hours at the hostel. I, excitedly went to use the internet at the hostel and update my status on facebook....because....you know....I am that darn exciting....lol

dinner was especially good. The woman who had given us the presentation earlier in the day, her mother had cooked for us. Chicken, beans and rice and a really good juice. And a good jello-kind of dessert.
Well it was rainy, they gave us a ride back to the hostel where we went to the bar and (they, not me) had a few drinks. Shen and I had to be on a bus at

fountain

fountain in park

exactly 5am the next day for our long trip to Panama so I was definatly not going to have a drink! We said good-bye to Alex, Oliver, and Kristy, it would be the last time we'd see them. We wished each other good luck on their projects and were on our way!

I went to my room, socialized w/ my room mates a bit, the two girls from NY with the M names were gone, and we had gotten a new German roomie which seemed nice, but I didnt get to know her very well, I spend the evening chit chatting w/ Victoria some more about her upcoming trip to Ecuador. I wish I had asked her for her contact info because I am curious to hear about how her trip is going! I think she mentioned she has a travel blog.

Next morning, it was time to jump on the bus....it was supposed to be a 5 hour journey which ended up taking us 9 hours to get to Panama.....

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Costa Rica is a Central American success story: since the late 19th century, only two brief periods of violence have marred its democratic development. Although still a largely agricultural country, it has expanded its economy to include strong techn...more history