Chepe Chronicles

Unlike most positions, Peace Corps is a little bit unique in that there is a ticking clock - it's not a career for most volunteers. Service is a 27-month stint, meaning that upon finishing service, it is important for volunteers to have an idea for what's next. For a lot of volunteers, grad school is an extremely viable option. In fact, many grad schools offer what's known as a "Coverdell Fellowship" which gives certain financial benefits to students who are Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs). Other volunteers pursue the job market. Since I've already completed my graduate degree, I fall into this bucket. Although the job search has been a little bit difficult to navigate from Costa Rica, I'm hoping to announce my next steps soon. Finally, some other volunteers may look into Peace Corps response positions or may use their readjustment allowance to travel before reintegrating to life in the US once again. There isn't one single path that volunteers...

This week started in my community but really revolved around my cohort's final gathering as Peace Corps Volunteers, known as the Close of Service conference. On Monday and Tuesday, I was at the colegio and escuela , respecitively. At the colegio, I did some administrative work related to my community service projects and also met with the principal and vice principal. On Tuesday, I facilitated 6 PE classes at the escuela before taking off in the afternoon for the suburb of Escazu, where Peace Corps Costa Rica hosts its trainings. The conference itself took place from Wednesday through Friday. We received trainings on topics including saying goodbye to our communities, readjusting to life in the US, job searches, and reflecting upon 2 years of service. Lots of the Peace Corps trainings can be pretty technical, and thus exhausting, but this week's sessions were much more relaxing and reflective, which was a great way to end our chapter in Costa Rica, although most of us still ...

Peace Corps has a rule that we aren’t supposed to publicly reveal the exact name of our community until after our service ends. Although lots of volunteers break this rule, I’ve tried to follow it as much as possible. When describing where I serve, I describe my location as “Desamparados”. Desamparados is the canton (which is one step below the province) my community is located in. Desamparados is also a city and serves as the namesake of the canton. I served, alongside 2 other volunteers in my cohort, as one of the first Peace Corps volunteers in this part of the country. Although Desamparados (affectionately known as “Desampa”) is much more urban than other Peace Corps sites, there is undoubtedly a need for development here. For right or for wrong, Desamparados has long had a reputation as one of Costa Rica’s most high-risk and violent zones. In fact, when I mention I live in Desamparados to other Ticos , oftentimes they will make a retort that I live in “DesamPakistan”. (They intend...

This was another week split between countries… and a quite exhausting one at that. I began the week at home in Missouri for the World Cup. After going to the Wonders of Wildlife aquarium with my cousin and getting a haircut on Monday, Tuesday was the big day for the World Cup. My parents and I took off at about lunchtime from SWMO to Kansas City. Despite arriving 3 hours before kick off, (as soon as gates were scheduled to open) lines were so bad that we didn’t make it to our seats until a couple hours later. However, despite the chaos getting in, we were blessed to witness a historic game. Argentina beat Algeria 3-0 in a game in which the GOAT, Lionel Messi, scored a hat trick. It was a dream come true to attend a World Cup game, and those are memories with my parents that I’ll carry forever. On Wednesday, it was time to head back to Costa Rica. After a very sleep deprived night following the World Cup game, I left Springfield for Dallas. However, due to unexplained mechanical issues ...

I nspired by my recent trip to the States to attend a World Cup match, I wanted to talk about the World Cup experience in Costa Rica. Although the US is hosting the 2026 version of the Men's tournament, along with Canada and Mexico, and the US Men’s National Team is in the field (Costa Rica is not), the World Cup is a FAR bigger deal in Costa Rica than it is in the US. Last week, the class schedule was modified so students could celebrate the “inauguration” of the tournament. I couldn’t ever see that happening in the States. Additionally, almost every student of mine has a photo trading card-like album of all of the international rosters in the tournament.   Whereas soccer competes against many other sports in the US, soccer is King in Costa Rica, meaning that the quadrennial World Cup is quite literally the Super Bowl here.  I n 2014, Costa Rica made the quaterfinals of the World Cup. Despite none of my elementary school kids being alive in 2014, it's something that they...

This was certainly a week which was dominated by sports. The World Cup kicked off on Thursday and it set the tone for my entire schedule. In fact, I’m writing this blog from home in Missouri as I prepare to attend a World Cup match in Kansas City on Tuesday. At both the escuela and colegio , I similarly leaned into sports. For PE classes, I continued with soccer (because of the World Cup) and at the colegio, I continued to organize and track community service hours and activities for my students. (I also attended a couple of basketball games at the colegio as they are in the midst of a tournament).  On Thursday, as I mentioned, the 2026 World Cup started in Mexico. The Ministry of Public Education (MEP) actually encouraged Costa Rican academic institutions to lean into this. So, the entire day, normal classes were suspended in lieu of games and activities related to the World Cup (think trivia, juggling competitions, and watching the game itself). It was a fun day, but unfortunat...

Last week I offered some recommendations for my favorite places to visit in Costa Rica. This week I’ll do the opposite - I’ll write about some places that perhaps aren’t as high on my list. With that being said, it’s truly hard to go wrong anywhere in Costa Rica - the entire country is absolutely beautiful. More often than not, the destinations listed below are really touristy and overcrowded, and that’s why they aren’t my personal favorites.  Jaco Jaco is the closest major beach and surfing town to San Jose. Because of that, it receives lots of foreign and domestic visitors. There’s lots of great tourist infrastructure, but it’s almost too much. The traffic to arrive in Jaco is some of the worst in Costa Rica (where the traffic is already notoriously bad nationwide). There’s construction everywhere, the area is incredibly commercialized, and there’s a reputation for alcohol, drugs, and prostitution in Jaco. It still has some beautiful beaches and waves, but Jaco wouldn’t be my fir...

On the heels of an extremely busy week, I felt like this one was productive, yet not quite as involved as the week prior. At the escuela , I didn't have any clubs or any additional activities this week, so I was singularly focused on PE classes. My students have been begging all year long to play soccer although I've tried to introduce them to other sports and games as an alternative. However, my convenient excuse was always that "We'll play soccer in June", due to the World Cup. I'm a man of my word, so as the calendar turned to June, I finally let my students go all in on soccer. Although I was a bit hesitant to let them jump into mejengas (pick-up games), they behaved well enough in drills that I let them play some intra-class matches. Fortunately, everyone was on their best behavior and the  mejengas  went on without any problemas. Everyone has World Cup Fever, despite Costa Rica not qualifying, and it's been exciting to share that passion with them. ...

Although I love taking advantage of these sidebar blogs to highlight certain cultural idiosyncracies about Costa Rica, I'm also aware that most of my networks' interest in Costa Rica probably lies as a vacation destination. And Costa Rica is a spectacular vacation spot: from beaches to volcanoes to cloud forests to adrenaline adventures and ecotourism, pretty much any type of traveler can have a great time here. However, Costa Rica's tourism industry is so well-developed that it can be difficult to decide where to go. With this blog, I will highlight some of my favorite places in the country.  Puerto Viejo, Limon If you sampled Ticos (and Peace Corps Volunteers) their favorite destination within Costa Rica, I have little doubt Puerto Viejo would receive the most votes. However, it isn't a place most American visitors have on their radar. The whole Limon province stands out from the rest of the country culturally. Due to an influx of Jamaican immigrants in the late 19th...

As the school year rolls on and my close of service date inches closer and closer, my weeks seem to be getting increasingly busy in my Costa Rican community. I think this is for a couple of reasons. First, now that I've been in the community for almost 2 years, I have a greater sense of independence, and my counterparts in the schools trust me more to handle projects on my own. And then, because I haven't yet secured a job, lots of my free time is filled with trying to figure out my next steps, and that was a major theme this week as well. In the escuela , lots of students are beginning to contract World Cup fever and all they want to do is play soccer. I've tried to lean into that as much as possible without giving them total leeway to jump into a highly competitive soccer game. So, this week, I introduced a "Monkey in the Middle" version of soccer to continue promoting teamwork and to satiate their desire to do something related to soccer. Additionally, at the e...

One thing that really stands out to me about Costa Rica and Ticos is how clean and hygienic of a society it is, particularly compared to other countries I’ve traveled to around the world, including the US. One major difference between Costa Rica and the United States is that pretty much everyone here brings their toothbrush and toothpaste EVERYWHERE. They brush their teeth after every single meal, snack, and coffee. Every student at my escuela and my colegio also brings their toiletries to school. Although American dentists would probably recommend the same practice, I seldom see Americans following through with that like  Ticos do. Additionally, most Ticos I know are constantly cleaning their homes and workspaces to an almost pristine level. I generally think I do a decent job of keeping my living areas neat; however, I know that it wouldn’t be close to my host mom’s standards. At least once a week my host family does a deep clean of the house and it's always spotless. The sta...

After coming back in the middle of last week from El Salvador, it was great to have a full week back in Costa Rica and back in my community. This week was a busy one, but it was also an incredibly fulfilling one. At the elementary school, or escuela , I continued on with PE classes. My theme for all of my PE classes this year has been team work, so I try really hard to incorporate those ideals into everything I do. Several students had requested to play volleyball, so this week I had them play a game related to teamwork with a volleyball I recently purchased. If the students could keep the volleyball in the air for 20 straight touches between classmates, they'd get to choose the next activity. This gave them some positive incentive to work together on a common goal and to support one another. On Friday, I returned to the escuela to help out with FEA, or Festival Estudiantil de Las Artes . This is a government-sponsored competition for all kinds of art: visual, singing, dance, etc....

An interesting aspect of my service is that I have been my community’s first ever Peace Corps Volunteer. This isn’t the case for several of my peers. Many are the second, third, or another generation of volunteers at their sites. Generally, the plan is that each community will receive up to 3 Peace Corps volunteers, each serving 2-year terms, in succession. However, after each two years, communities can opt out of having a Peace Corps volunteer, or they can request another one. Eventually, after the third volunteer in succession, at an individual Peace Corps site, communities are expected to adopt some of the sustainable projects facilitated by volunteers, and thus become self-dependent. This is part of Peace Corps’ sustainable approach to development. Being a first time volunteer comes with a decent amount of pressure. Quite literally, my community’s perspective on the agency, and for some, the United States as a whole, could be shaped largely by my service. Yes, I want to facilitate ...

Sorry for the delay on the blog, it's been quite the busy last couple of weeks. Although a lot has happened spending it in two different countries, I'll try to be as brief as possible so that the blog doesn't turn into a novel.  My last two weeks in my community sandwiched a week-long trip to El Salvador. My activities at the schools weren't too different from the weeks prior. At the escuela, I facilitated several PE classes. A couple of weeks earlier, I'd gone in to San Jose to purchase some additional PE equipment for my students. I'd wanted to teach my students Dodgeball for a long time, so I'd been on the hunt to find some softer sports balls to play it. In Costa Rica, Dodgeball is known as " Quemados " or "Burned". (I guess someone who is hit by the ball is "burned"). In any sense, Dodgeball was a big hit with the students. Also at the escuela, I co-led an International Club session with my students about Nicaragua. This wa...

Without a doubt, Costa Rica has a burgeoning arts scene, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if we see more and more artists emerge from Costa Rica in the near future. It’s clear that this is a priority of the government. During the past month or so alone, I attended 2 major art festivals in San José, both of which features free concerts and markets. Furthermore, students participate in the FEA competition (Festival Estudiantil de las Artes) and a couple of Costa Rica’s most famous landmarks are theatres. ( Teatro Nacional and Teatro Melico Salazar ) There are a growing number of museums as well, particularly in  San José , dedicated to showing off Tico fine art.  As it relates to music, I read an article recently that stated that Costa Rica possesses one of the world’s lowest percentages of domestically-produced musicians. There isn’t really a Costa Rican “Bad Bunny”. For whatever reason, Ticos primarily listen to artists from other neighboring countries and territories lik...

Last week was so busy that I couldn’t even get a blog out on Sunday! I had a full week both in the classroom and outside it. As usual, last week was jamp-packed with PE classes at the escuela , but there were some other breakthroughs too. For PE, I continued rotating through classes with a new activity - handball (aka “balónmano” in Spanish). Although some had heard of it before, handball was a pretty foreign concept to most of my students. However, they quickly caught on and enjoyed it. Additionally, at the escuela , I kicked off two different clubs for students. The first one, Amigos sin Fronteras , is a repeat of a club I co-led with the librarian last year focused on learning about various countries and cultures. This week, we “traveled” to the United States and I more or less recycled the same lesson as last year. The other club, a reading club, was a first. When my Peace Corps boss visited my site a couple months ago, they encouraged the escuela to think about more projects a v...

A recent development from the Trump administration that may have flown under the radar due to other global events was the announcement of a “Tech Corps” within the Peace Corps. Details are still somewhat thin on what exactly a Tech Corps will entail; however, we do know that the agency will seek to matriculate volunteers with a background in STEM and/or technology to promote American AI interests.  There has been a varied response from the peace Corps community since the announcement. Some think that it’s a bold way to adapt to the times and to ensure that the Peace Corps stays relevant in the diplomatic and development spheres, particularly vis-a-vis a growing Chinese influence. Others think it strays too far from Peace Corps’ approach to development and doesn’t reflect how they perceive the agency. No doubt, it will be fascinating to observe how the introduction of a Tech Corps shapes the future and identity of the Peace Corps going forward. Personally, I don't know exactly how i...

I was grateful to spend another productive week at site despite a chaotic schedule. I hadn't had a ton of work at the colegio over the last few weeks, but fortunately there was a bit of an uptick in my workload there this week. The highlight of the week ocurred on Wednesday, when I met with students I'll be working with on a community-wide running club - the same community service project I ushered in with 11th grade students last year. Last year our running club only had 8 students; this year we have over 20. On Wednesday, I went over the basic expectations for the project, we came up with a club name, (" Dejando Huellas " or "Leaving Footprints") and we scheduled our first practice for next Friday. Over the course of the week, I also popped into a couple English classes at the  colegio  to assist the teachers. Meanwhile, at the escuela , I was only able to conduct about half of my normal classes because of exams. However, I tried to be as flexible as poss...

I saved Heredia for the final provincial sidebar, because if I’m being honest, it’s the province in which I have the least familiarity. Heredia lies directly north and to the northeast of San Jose and extends north until the Nicaraguan border. Its capital is the namesake city of Heredia, which is one of Costa Rica’s most historic and colonial cities. Because of its history, architecture, and accessibility, Heredia city tends to be one of the most popular study abroad destinations for students coming to Costa Rica to learn Spanish. (Heredia is where my parents were based for a couple of weeks while they came to Costa Rica to visit me and take Spanish lessons.) The Fort in Heredia city, El Fortín, is one of the country’s national landmarks. One of the recent champions of Costa Rica’s domestic soccer league, Club Sport Herediano, calls Heredia home. Outside of Heredia city, there aren’t too many major tourist destinations. However, the Britt Coffee Farm and Cafe in Barva is an especially ...