National Emergency



Rio Conejo - the river rushing muddy through my town



11/08/10

 This has been a week of relaxation and patience.  On Tuesday when I got home they told me that one of my host-dad’s cousins had died as he was trying to dig a hole to prevent a loose boulder from falling on a house and was crushed when it fell.  So my host-grandmother Mamita , uncle and his wife came for the funeral on Wednesday and were not able to leave until Sunday because of what followed.  It did not stop raining from Tuesday until Friday.  Within these days various parts of Costa Rica were struck by mudslides and flash flooding since the land has not had a chance to dry up.   Everyone agrees that Costa Rica has not seen anything like this within the last 55 years. 

As of Thursday night we did not have electricity and most of my friends here that have water from the next town didn’t have for days.  We all got electricity back Friday afternoon though and it blinked in and out within the next few days. 

Mauricio, Virgita and I enjoying our cookies in our kitchen

The roadways out of Rio Conejo in all three directions were blocked in by fallen trees and mudslides.  In the town where all of Tico 21 meets up for training twice a week I’ve heard that a tower has fallen and still four days later that route to San Jose has not opened up.  I have a feeling that the road to Cartago is not fully clear but the one through San Juan has been running since Friday although pobrecita Mamita who headed back to Perez Zeledon on Sunday had to get off the bus and walk two blocks through over one of the mudslides in order to board another bus which took her to San Jose.  Then, their bus ride to Perez was delayed about five extra hours because of the care that all of the buses and trucks had to drive over the bad roads.  It was really tough to constantly be seeing the destruction on tv and not be able to do anything about it. 



Raque and I out celebrating her birthday!



Here at the house we’ve mostly been relaxing waiting for the rain to stop.  And since Saturday it has been gorgeous outside.  The sun is constantly out with a beautifully cold breeze blowing.  We’ve all spent a lot of time outside and living like the days after a hurricane in Miami without much mobility out of our town but with electricity and water.  So we’ve watched movies and entertained people.   Friday I even made Raquel chocolate chip cookies for her 18^th birthday and had a chance to share them with everyone who came to visit.  And Saturday we went out to celebrate her birthday with her friends from school which was tons of fun and added some normalcy to the weekend. 



Mamita, Raquel, Virgita and I



We finally have class tomorrow although not in Tarbaca.  It was so nice to have three additional days without class to catch up on our homework all though haven’t had a chance to interview an English teacher which was due tomorrow which I guess has to be postponed.   Hopefully off to the gym later. 

Relaxed and happy. 

Jenny





I will leave you with an image of Mau´s daughter (my niece!!) and I



Site Visit - Garabito de Aguas Zarcas -

11/02/10

My site visit was fun and relaxing.  I had to catch four buses to get to Garabito de Aguas Zarcas.  I met Daniela there who works with the Rural Community Development project.  As soon as I got there we went to an environmental fundraiser in which she and her friend dressed up as clowns and the three of us painted faces.  Later, we waited for the adult party to start and it was a full out Halloween party!  I was so excited to see everyone arriving was fully dressed for the occasion!  There were even 33 mineros de San Juan (which is the town we were in) with fresh statements on the backs of their shirts – so funny!

The next day we went to play soccer with Daniela’s neighborhood team the next barrio over.  We watched two men’s games and chatted with everyone who mostly knew everyone else and many of which are related as is very common in rural areas.  People watched drinking beers talking chiste, it was a great experience since I haven’t been out much with my family to events like this.  Then, their team didn’t have enough players so I played with them.  For it being my first time in about seven years playing I didn’t play all that badly, but of course hesitated when I had a chance to shoot and botched it.  I have a huge bruise a week later from these tough Tico women who are just as vicious as the men playing! 

We took a tour of her town the next day which is pretty rural.  It’s a tiny town but was cool to see where all the people I had met the day before lived and then we crossed the river on this huge tree laying from bank to bank.  She hopes that they can build a bridge there for cars to bring more opportunities to the town.  She also helped them create their own development organization within this last year and now they have to wait another year before they can get federal assistance which was great to see Peace Corps in action in a community, motivating a town to keep to it.  The trip back was long and rainy and when I got back to my area I could tell it had been raining tons with the river through Jerico flowing fast with muddy water.  It was so nice to get to relax this weekend!  And back to work tomorrow!

Excited to see my friends tomorrow!

Yenny

Comida Costarricense – Week 4 of Training

Buenas!

So I’ve gained some weight since I got here.  One volunteer assures me that everyone gains weight during training but I cannot handle it anymore.   My mom cooks so much!   I always walk in and I’ve finally convinced her that I can serve myself so she tells me to and I serve myself rice and black beans.  But here it comes… magically, she brings about eight different dishes from nooks and crannies all around the kitchen.  Salad and fresco from the fridge, yucca casserole from the orno de leña, picadillo de papas from the gas stove top and an egg from the pan.  This is exactly what we had for dinner tonight.  It was cool today because I traveled for about six hours on four different buses but on a normal Tuesday it’s just way too much food for lunch!  

That’s enough complaining because I love the food so much!!!  The other day I got home to Arroz con Leche, and Mom (in the states)… you have some competition.  Virga made it just like yours but it was just a little more liquidy and had more big chunks of canela rather than just some sprinkled on top of each serving.  To make clear Momma – I still prefer yours!!!

Gallo Pinto, papas and tortillas are my main diet and eaten at least once a day.  Can you imagine how heavy I feel?   But constantly being full might be the reason why I still haven’t come down from the honeymoon phase of getting here so I’m not quite sure when I’ll actually start serving myself smaller portions.  For now though, you might not get as many pictures of myself!         

I can´t figure out where else to put this... The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

Bienvenidos a Rio Conejo, Costa Rica (Notice: not on google maps but you can find Rosario)

Hey all!

So this is my first blog!  I only have access to the internet for about an hour every week so I will try to keep this up to date and keep up to date with my e-mails.

Costa Rica is… gorgeous if you hadn’t heard already.  I live about two hours south of San Jose about mid-way up in these mountains so it gets chilly but some of my friends are in chillier places.  We get lots of fog that rolls through which is SO cool and I’m still not used to it.  It rains pretty regularly but the rainy season should be ending soon and it’ll be getting hotter.  Enough about the weather!

My family is amazing and it’s so nice to have a good foundation to come home to and talk out my day. 

Training Site Host Family includes:

• Mom – Virgita or “Virga"
• House wife, sweetheart and amazing chef!
• Dad – Jeremia or “Jema”"
• Works his fields which are mostly coffee
• Turns out he acts in an improve troupe which I never could never have guessed!
• Oldest Brother – Juan Carlos or “Juanca” – 31 years old
• But he lives with his girlfriend in Heredia
• Is a great artist and art teacher
• Next Brother – Mauricio or “Mau” – 29 years old
• He and his girlfriend have the only granddaughter in the family, the oh so adorable Fabiola who is currently in her terrible two’s so she’s pretty chiniada but still adorable!
• He also lived in New Jersey for about three years working so he can chat a little in English
• Drives a chapulin for the next town’s coffee factory
• Youngest Brother – Josue or “Tatu” – 24 years old
• Works as a mechanic about 15 minutes from here
• Long-term girlfriend, kind of quiet and loves novellas
• Only and Youngest Sister – Raquel or “Raque” – 17 years old
• Is in 11^th grade – no boyfriend and doesn’t talk about boys very much
• Studious and hopes to go to Universidad de Costa Rica after she finishes high school

I love my family so much, especially my mom who is always here and loves talking to me and asking me my opinion on everything.  Ok this blog is getting long!  That’s all for now!

Adios from Rio Conejo, Costa Rica!!!