Second Week At Site & Carnaval

In some ways, my second week at my site felt like my first, because it was the first time that I was fully healthy and able to conduct a full schedule. My site has never had a Peace Corps volunteer before, but I’m really lucky that my presence here has not only been welcomed, but that there are several people here ready to help me. 

On Monday, my counterparts at both the elementary and high schools helped me organize a joint meeting between leaders from each school. There, because I’m a first-time volunteer for my community, I gave a brief introductory presentation about myself, the organization, and my responsibilities as a volunteer to make sure we were all on the same page. After that, we had an extremely productive brainstorming session about future projects that we can collaborate on.

On Tuesday, I spent the morning at the elementary school. I need to conduct several class observations as part of my three-month diagnostic process to assess the needs and strengths of the community. So, my Tuesday was spent shadowing the English teacher at my school as he jumped from grade to grade teaching classes. Teaching English will not be one of my primary tasks as a Peace Corps volunteer; however, observing these classes was still extremely helpful to further understand the school and the students’ learning tendencies. That afternoon, I was visited at site by one of my friends from my Tico 44 cohort. We were able to get a short run in before getting caught in an absolute downpour, or an aguacero, as Ticos would say. I’m pretty sure that my Hokas are still drying as I write this update.

Wednesday, I returned to my elementary school. This was a special day as several students competed in a regional art competition. I spent the day helping chaperone a team of singers as they competed at a nearby park against around 40 other schools. The winners in each category will advance to a national platform, so this was a really cool opportunity for students and was a fun day for me too. Thursday was more of a chill day as I completed some class observations at the high school.

Friday was a particularly busy day for me. In the morning, I headed to the high school in my community to continue my “CASA” diagnostic report. I had an interview with a teacher and a class observation that morning, and also attended an assembly to celebrate Costa Rica’s different cultures. I then had a meeting with a Father in the local Catholic Church to learn more about the community and to brainstorm potential projects for the future.

The afternoon was a travel day. In the Peace Corps, we are permitted 2 “Out of Community” days a month in which we can spend the night somewhere domestically that isn’t our site. So, I headed with a group of 6 other Peace Corps volunteers in my cohort and we went to the province of Limón for the weekend. 

Limón is Costa Rica’s Caribbean part of the country and is very distinct from the rest of Costa Rica both culturally and demographically. Specifically, Limón boasts a large Afro-Costa Rican population. Many people in Limón trace their roots to Jamaica. Thus, the culinary, music, and arts scene in Limón is far different from areas in Costa Rica that many of us are serving in. In fact, every October, Limón celebrates Carnaval, and we were excited to see some of those celebrations this weekend. Our first night there, we all got in so late that we didn’t do anything else outside of a quick grocery run.

The next morning, after making breakfast in our Airbnb, we headed for the beach. None of us in this particular travel group serve at coastal sites, so we jumped at the opportunity to go to the beach. After catching some waves, we went back into downtown Limón and ate typical Costa Rican caribeño food. For me, this included a dish called “Rice and Beans” and a johnnycake. That evening, we headed to a carnival related to larger carnaval celebrations and ate some typical fair fare before checking out a Costa Rican rodeo. This event included everything from a Drag Queen emcee to classic bull riding to contestants in the crowd trying their hand at jumping over bulls running right at them. It was quite the experience and I’m really glad we went.

Sunday morning, our last in Limón, was spent walking around the city. We made our way to the waterfront before landing at a park where we were able to see a sloth in a tree. We had hoped to see a Carnaval parade slated to start at 12:00 before our 1:00 bus back to San José. But, as sometimes happens in Costa Rica, the parade hadn’t quite gotten rolling by our departure time. I’m chalking this up as a good excuse to come back to Limón next year.