Chepe Chronicles

Wishing everyone back home a happy and safe holiday season. This year's festivities have been a bit different for me (and quite a bit warmer). Although I’ve experienced Christmas abroad before when my family lived in Australia, we were all together for the holidays. This was the first time in my life I’ve spent Christmas without them. Fortunately, 2024’s technology means they’re just a zoom call away, but it was still a little strange spending the holidays without my biological family. However, as someone interested in a career in international relations and/or foreign service, spending holidays alone may become my new reality someday, so I’m grateful to have had this experience. As Peace Corps Volunteers, we are not permitted to leave the country until a full three months after arriving in our communities. Given that we officially swore in on September 27, the earliest we could return stateside for the holidays was December 27th. Some of my peers will head home that day but given ...

Shocker: Costa Rica is generally pretty warm. However, Costa Rica has a ton of geographical and topographical diversity, so this can vary quite a bit. In my Peace Corps cohort alone, we have volunteers located in every corner of the country. I’d say the majority of us are located in hot and tropical sites. But on the other hand, there are areas in Costa Rica which are much more mountainous. For example, in the province of Cartago, temperatures can be quite a bit cooler. It’s never going to snow in Costa Rica, but not everywhere is a tropical, sunny paradise one hundred percent of the time. Because of the large variation in weather and geography, seasonal patterns differ drastically depending on where in the country you are. So, I can really only speak to the Valle Central area around San Jose, where most of the population resides. This is not the hottest part of the country, but it doesn’t ever get that cold here either. Technically, they have an invierno (winter) and verano (summer)...

Although the previous week marked the final week of classes, I still went to the escuela to begin my week to attend sixth grade and preschool graduations of the students I work with. It was a nice way to culminate the year, even though I’ve only been at the school for around three months. Teachers and students are now on Summer Break and will return in February. Since working in the schools is my primary role, this will also be a “Summer Break” of sorts for me. However, Peace Corps reminds us that our role as a volunteer is 24/7/365, meaning I’ll take on other projects in the community outside of the classroom during this time. I’ll also continue working on my diagnostic report that’s due mid-January. For example, Tuesday was spent almost entirely working on this report since I didn’t have class. After a fairly tame start to the week, the rest of my schedule got quite a bit busy with travel and Peace Corps events. On Wednesday, a friend from Peace Corps came into San Jose from his sit...

The lead up to Christmas marks the end of the school year for Costa Rican students. This week was the last week of classes, and unlike in the United States where schooling culminates with finals, there wasn’t a ton going on this week as students had already completed their exams earlier. This week served primarily as an opportunity to make-up exams they’d missed or needed to re-do. Fortunately, this meant the teachers had more availability to chat with me and plan for the future. I spent Monday and Tuesday at the colegio. There, I met with counterparts to discuss and finalize the project ideas that I’ll present to Peace Corps in January. Most of these teachers don’t live in my town and will probably be hard to reach until classes resume in February, so it was great to pick their brains while I still could. I spent the remainder of the week at the escuela . Wednesday, there weren’t really students in (other than some practicing for graduation celebrations), so this was mainly a work day...

Stemming from my background in international relations and my time in DC, I’m a political junkie and love discussing government. However, because of my role as a Peace Corps volunteer, I have to keep any commentary on the Costa Rican government objective, so that’s what I’ll try to do here. Costa Rica is unequivocally the strongest consolidated democracy in Central America, something Ticos are incredibly proud of, and rightfully so. It is an incredibly peaceful country, one that seldom finds itself in war and eliminated its military in order to put more money into education. Costa Ricans boast that they have “an army of teachers”, something I referenced in a previous sidebar. Costa Rica is also home to a United Nations university, UPeace, and many regional companies. Additionally, Costa Rica has an incredibly robust welfare system. Citizens have access to the Caja , or social security system, and a really strong healthcare infrastructure.  Rodrigo Chaves Robles is the incumbent pre...

Despite an uninspiring performance in my half marathon the day before, I woke up pretty sore and tired on Monday. Fortunately, I only had to go into the escuela in the afternoon. That afternoon, I visited several 4th and 5th grade classes to interact with students and to collect more data for my report about the community. Specifically, I conducted a “mapping” activity in which I asked students to share places in our town where they feel the most and least secure. The Costa Rican academic calendar is much different from what we follow in the US. In Costa Rica, the school year ends right before Christmas in accordance with the calendar year and starts up again in February. Because of this, classes are winding down right now. Tuesday was a prime example of this. There were no formal classes that day; rather, the day was dedicated to various Christmas parties or fiestas navideñas . Students and their families descended upon the school for various singing, dancing, and acting performances...

Coffee, aka un cafecito , is serious business in Costa Rica. Coffee is one of the country’s biggest exports and Ticos believe they have the best in the world. Several regions within Costa Rica boast that their coffee is the best, and this is a topic that is fiercely debated nationwide. Cafecito is also an important part of the social fabric of Costa Rica. A cafecito is often an invitation extended to friends or family as a means to catch up, or as a way to meet someone new. For example, I’ve been offered a few cafecitos since moving to my community so that I can learn more about my town. This isn’t a completely foreign concept for me - while living in DC, a “coffee chat” was frequently proposed as a networking tool. Sometimes coffee was consumed, but oftentimes it was coffee in name only. However, in Costa Rica, yes a cafecito is social, but it is guaranteed that there will be coffee present, commonly served with bread or something sweet like a cookie or cake. When served cafecito ,...

During PST, or Pre-Service Training, Peace Corps staff preached the importance of adaptability, flexibility, and resilience during service. Thus far in my time in Costa Rica, I’ve had pretty smooth sailing all things considered. I’m near the capital city, I have very nice living accommodations, and my counterparts at site are excellent partners and advocates for me in the community. However, for the first time in my service, I’ve been thrown a bit of a curveball. On Monday, Peace Corps staff came to my site for a routine check-in visit. These visits are actually quite a lot for the volunteer to plan. A member of Peace Corps staff has to meet with counterparts at each institution both with and without the volunteer present, has to visit the home and talk with the host family both with and without the volunteer, and must observe the volunteer completing some kind of facilitation. All of this must be conducted in a four-hour span. It’s great administrative practice for any relevant career...