Chepe Chronicles

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...