Que Rico!

So, I´ve made it through my first month as a volunteer here in Sarapiqui. There were a few bumps in the road, but all in all I´m really proud of the way I´ve managed to adjust and even flourish here. Hard to believe a whole 1/6 of my time in Costa Rica has gone by already.

The staff here at SCLC are just incredibly dedicated; they welcomed me into the fold, and I found myself working alongside them almost immediately. June was an unbeleiveably busy month - the busiest tourism season of the year, in fact. After a brief orientation to the Center, I was put to work as the interim Tourism Coordinator - the person who serves as a liason between the local community and the eco-tourists who come to explore it.

The position was a natural fit for me, which I had expected, since I like working with groups. What I had not expected was that the eco-tourists we hosted would be so hardworking, so ready to get their hands dirty while participating in local service projects.

For example, I lead a group of students from NY in building a ´´bio-digestor,´´ basically a low-cost, underground machine that converts cow excrement into methane gas for home cooking and heating. We had to dig a huge 8 x 10 x 8 trench for the digestor tank, and another shallower, narrower trench connecting the tank to a farmhouse. After a crude safety valve was assembled, the unit had to be connected to the house by yards and yards of PVC pipe. It was unbelievably hard work, but we managed to get it all done in just one day.

On another day, I led a group of teachers from the US in an effort to further extend the sidewalk that the SCLC has been building along the local highway. Where there is no sidewalk, local kids have no choice but to walk on the highway itself, taking their chances with the trucks and cars that race by at 50+ mph. So, this project was very important to me on a personal level. It was also very labor-intensive, because we had to do all of the cement mixing manually using shovels and wheelbarrows. A lot of the teachers were older ladies, but they worked so amazingly hard to get the job done. I could barely keep up with them.

I also assist with less rigorous tourism activities, such as cooking and dance classes. The cooking classes are my favorite. I´ve already learned how to make some delicious Costa Rican dishes, especially enjucadas (en-joo-kah-das). I´m also getting used to preparing and eating unusual fruits such as platanos (plantains) and fruta de pan (breadfruit).

Now that the tourism season is winding down, I´m shifting my focus toward what I initially came here to do: teach English! I´ve already begun to design lesson plans for the English classes I´ll begin teaching in a few weeks. Until then, I´m going to try to use my free time to do some hiking and exploring in Sarapiqui.

- Sarah ¨Dos¨