Chepe Chronicles

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 ...

This was another solid, fairly normal week in my community. I spent most of the week in the classrooms, and despite a couple of curveballs, things went really well during the week. At the colegio, many students had exams, and at the escuela, some teachers were occupied with anti-drug trainings (Costa Rica’s version of DARE), and thus their classes were out. However, I was able to navigate these schedule changes to help out where I could. At the escuela, students played capture the flag. This was the first time many of them had ever played it (it’s not as popular of a game here compared to PE classes in the States. Every activity I’m facilitating in my PE classes this year is going to revolve around the larger theme of teamwork, and I think Capture the Flag was a great way to practice that. Students got the hang of it pretty easily and seemed to have a good time with it. On the other hand, lots of my counterparts at the colegio were pretty busy proctoring exams; however, I was able to s...

Cartago is the smallest of Costa Rica’s 7 provinces. However, its capital, Cartago, is the country’s oldest city. Cartago was the original capital of Costa Rica before the nation's capital was relocated in San Jose. Cartago city is roughly 30 minutes from San Jose, depending on traffic. The province lies east and southeast from San Jose. Although there is not a lot of old colonial history to see in Costa Rica, the city of Cartago has ruins in its downtown center. Cartago is a mountainous and largely rural province that is known throughout Costa Rica for its heavy rains. This results in it also being a primary coffee growing region, specifically in the Tarrazú area. Cartago is also known for being the religious center of Costa Rica. Each year, thousands of Ticos participate in “ La Romeria ”, which is a pilgrimage on foot to the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles. A fun fact about Cartago, is that despite being Costa Rica's most religious province, it was the only provi...

I bid farewell to my friends visiting Costa Rica last Sunday, and quickly got ready to settle back into reality. On Monday, classes were back in session. At the colegio this week, things still weren't that busy. On both of my regularly scheduled days at the high school, at least some teachers were out for teachers' union days. So, hardly any students and teachers were there those days, although I was able to help out with a special education English class on Monday. On the other hand, I had an incredibly productive week at my elementary school, or escuela . Prior to last week's school break for Easter, the site visit from my Peace Corps supervisor provided a substantial breakthrough: my counterparts agreed to help me create a more consistent, weekly schedule for my workshops. Previously, I'd been on my own to schedule classes with each teacher. Under this new routine, I'll be able to conduct a PE class for each student on a weekly basis, which is a marked improveme...

Puntarenas is, without a doubt, the most geographically diverse province in Costa Rica. Puntarenas extends all the way from the Nicoya Peninsula near Guanacaste to the Monteverde Cloud Forest in the north to the southern border with Panama. It hugs much of the Pacific coastline in Costa Rica.  Due to its diverse and coastal nature, Puntarenas is home to a number of travel hotspots. These include the aforementioned Monteverde Cloud Forest, but also places like Manuel Antonio National Park, the Osa Peninsula & Corcovado National Park, as well as famous surf towns like Jaco, Dominical, and Santa Teresa. Outside of Guanacaste, Puntarenas is probably the province in Costa Rica most synonymous with tourism. Because of its large geographic area, I wouldn’t say that Puntarenas has as distinct of an identity as some of Costa Rica’s other provinces. However, Puntarenas is known for seafood, especially ceviche, and a traditional shaved ice-esque dessert called a Churchill or Granizado. Pu...

This week in Costa Rica marks “ Semana Santa ”, or Holy Week. As a culturally Catholic country, Semana Santa tends to be a much bigger deal in Costa Rica than in the US. Classes are out all week, and Thursday and Friday are considered federal holidays. Thus, Semana Santa is the biggest domestic travel week for Ticos. As a volunteer in Youth Development, I also had the entire week off of school, so this was an ideal week to travel. Fortunately, a lot of my friends and teammates took advantage of my week off to visit me in Costa Rica, and I had a blast showing them a small slice of my host country.  My friends began arriving on Monday. Two of them came in a day earlier to spend some extra time in San Jose, the capital. We didn’t do a ton of activities, but I spent the day showing them around on a walking tour of sorts. We checked out coffee shops in Barrio Escalante and grabbed a casado for lunch at Mercado Central . On Tuesday, the remaining 3 friends arrived in San Jose. I start...