¡Pura Vida!

As of tomorrow I will have been in Zapotal for 1 week, and things are going really well. I am starting to get into the routine of getting up early and having breakfast with the family, then feeding and milking the cows, then returning to the house for a morning snack. After the snack I basically have the afternoon to myself and I spend it differently everyday; a few days ago Chichi and I went ot the nature reserve near by, which is actually a cloud rainforest! It was really cool to see all the different trees and plants, and boy they

weren't kidding when they said "Cloud

Rainforest" it is so thick with clouds that at some points you can hardly see what is in front of you! We hiked around for a while until we reached a lagoon, and then turned back. I was hoping to see some animals but unfortunately I didn't. The time went by so fast I didn't realise how long we had been gone (3 and half hours!).

Yesterday, Betty and Chichi took me to a near by pueblo (town) where Betty's mom lives. I met lots of her family, and then we went to Chichi's brothers house where we spent most of the afternoon, while all the men left to go and slaughter a cow. They brought the cow back and slaughtered it under a tree near the house (no I didn't watch, although they kept asking me to.) I could see enough of the action from where I was sitting far away, and as beef is my favourite meat I chose to stay away. It took 4 or 5 men and several hours to portion out the cow, and then they cooked some for us to eat for lunch. I must say it was very tasty, in fact it was almost kobe-beef-tasty. It was really nice weather in this town so I spent most of the afternoon enjoying the sun near the river.

Today I am in Miramar again, because Betty and Chichi needed to do some arrands. So I am using the computer at Chichi's younger brothers house. It is pretty hot here in Miramar, however in Zapotal the weather is still pretty cold. Hopefully I will be able to blog again next week, so until then adios!

xoxo Amira

Zapotal

Hello! I have finally reached my first placement in Zapotal, which is small agricultural village in the "Montes de Oro" which translates as Mountain of Gold. I have been here for two nights, and I started my first day this past Sunday. The family I am staying with, the Chavez family, are very nice and have been very kind to me. The family is: Betty (the project coordinator), and Chichi (Betty's husband). They have two kids, one who I met for the first time today but I sadly cannot remember his name, and a daughter Margie who lives in Miramar (about 1 hour away, where I am currently writing from).

The trip up to Zapotal was a very interesting one to put it mildly, it took a total of 9 1/2 hours to get here, 5 of which were spent waiting for my second bus here in Miramar. The buses here are pretty old, and they get very hot, very fast. However, that is not the worst part. The worst part is the roads here, which are very narrow and twisty turny because we are in the mountains here. The drive from San Jose to Miramar was nothing compared to the second bus ride, which was like riding on a rusty old roller coaster that never ceases to stop bumping up and down. Luckily, I am not prone to car sickness, or else I would have been in big trouble. Waiting in Miramar was pretty boring, because I had to much stuff to carry to really be able to venture around town much. So the majority of the 5 hours here I spent sitting in the shade (which didn't prevent me from getting a bad sun burn on the back on my arms), reading, and writing in my journal.

Once I made it to my stop at the entrance to Zapotal, Chichi was there waiting for me, and we drove for about 20 minutes until we reached the Chavez house. Zapotal is quite high up in the mountains so it is not very warm here, and for the past few days has been cloudy and very windy. The wind is so strong here I wear ear plugs at night to block out the sound (and the dogs barking at it), and once and a while you get a huge gust and it shakes the entire house. I live in a nice sized room above the garage which is just beside the main house. It is bright and clean, and the bonus is I have my own bathroom.

My first day of work mostly consisted of feeding the animals (cows, pigs, and chickens), helping to spray down the animal pens, and cutting down sugar cane and alfalfa which is ground into feed for the cows and pigs. I also stopped by the community cheese factory (although calling it a factory is a bit of a stretch), where I worked with a man named Frankie who runs it. They use the milk from the cows to make the cheese, and it is a pretty tasty soft cheese that they eat at breakfast and dinner in grilled sandwhiches, or just on its own. Everyone here is very nice, and tries to converse with me as much as possible.

I eat all of my meals with Betty and Chichi, which are pretty tasty. In the morning they usually eat fruit (melon, pinapple, and papaya), and for lunch a salad with tomato and cucumber, and dinner is usually chicken, potatoes, and salad. There is always rice and beans served with every meal, which is a Costa Rican staple.

Overall things are going really well, and I am starting to adjust to it here. I will probably be here for about two weeks, and then head back to San Jose and go on to another project from there. I will try to post some pictures this weekend if I come back to Miramar.

Hopefully I will write again soon!
xoxo Amira.

I´m off once again!

I thought I would write again today, as I probably won´t have internet access until next weekend. Today I had my meeting with Luis (my ASVO advisor) and he gave me the instructions for getting to my posting in Zapotal. I will have to get up early tomorrow to catch the 7am bus to a town called Miramar which should take around 3-4 hours. Once I arrive in Miramar, I will unfortunately have to wait for about 4 hours until my second bus comes taking me to my final stop, and where my host family will meet me....It´s gonna be a long day. After my meeting with Luis I went to the bank which was an interesting experience, however despite my lame-o attempts to speak spanish I got what I came for and left. Then I went to the grocery store, or "supermercado" and bought a calling card which I later found out was only good for about 4 minutes of talk time. However, I was able to call my parents, who thankfully were able to call me back and we spoke for a while which was really great. Well, that about sums up my last day in San Jose. I am off to bed early now, so wish me luck on my great bus journey, and I will hopefully be able to blog again next weekend!
Amira

I finally made it!

Well, after more than 10 hours of travelling I finally made it to Costa Rica!
I don´t have too much to report yet, because I was picked up from the airport at 9:30pm by ASVO (the organization I am volunteering with) and went straight to bed. The hostel I am staying at is very nice, and the family that runs it has been really helpful, although it is hard to communicate other than just the basics. This morning I am supposed to have a meeting with one of my ASVO advisors, and he is going to help me go to the bank, and buy a phone card. He is also going to give me instructions on how to get to Zapotal, which is where my first volunteer posting is. I am hoping that it won´t be too confusing how to get there- will keep you posted.
So far the weather is really nice, I am not sure what the temp is, but there is a nice cool breeze where I am sitting at the computer. Hopefully, it won´t be too hot tomorrow when I have to do some more travelling. Anyway, that is really all I have to tell at the moment. I will try to blog again tomorrow before I leave, with some more details!