Travelin Band

After 7 months in my community, it was time for a much needed vacation. I crossed the border into Costa Rica (not realizing I only live 2 hours from the border) and met with one of my best friends, Paz.  We went to Manuel Antonio National Park which lies on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.  The park consists of a few trails in the jungle but is most popular for its beaches. There are tons of guided tours that are available but it is also possible (but not very honest) to just follow a group  to check out the hidden animals and hear some cool facts. We saw plenty of monkeys, snakes, crabs, bats, frogs and raccoons…hungry very raccoons which will steal your lunch on the beach if you’re not careful. After checking out the park we spent 2 days (including Christmas) on the beach. For any interested travelers, we stayed in Hostel Plinio right outside of Quepos. We loved it! It was a very clean, tranquil hostel with a pool and full stocked kitchen.



The country of monkeys!

 

Manuel Antonio National Park

 

Can you see the frog?

Costa Rican Sunset

 It was the first time I had felt genuinely relaxed for a very long time because I was away from everything PC related. I was away from Panama, Panamanians, Panamanian food, PC paperwork, Ngäbere language, meetings, complaining community members and other volunteers. Don’t get me wrong, I love being here and sharing my experiences and support with other volunteers. However when PCVs get together, there’s always the pressure to talk about work or drink our livers off.

We returned to Santa Marta so Paz could get a hint of Peace Corps life. I have my eco-club every Saturday, so she was here to help me facilitate a recycling sessions. We made paper snowflakes and shared our American traditions of Christmas and cold weather. It was very refreshing having a non-PCV visitor. Generally when PCVs visit each other it is because a very exclusive English-speaking only mental break is needed. However Paz  was generally interested in meeting my community members. Her positive commentary on the beauty of my community and welcoming hospitality of the people make me stop and recognize the gratitude I had started to lose. She was a great inspiration when she was exposed to some of the challenges I have had to face (community specific and PC generally)

We also celebrated my birthday and New Year’s Eve in Santa Marta. A few fellow PCVs came to visit. We started the morning with a very successful soap-making class (It can be made out of used-cooking oil; since Panamanians fry everything is a great way to re-use the oil they would just otherwise throw out!). During the class the participants sang (very terribly but whole heartedly) Happy Birthday in English. We spent the rest of the day eating until we were going to explode.

Scuba diving

After visiting Santa Marta, we continued our vacation to Bocas Island where we got scuba certified (any visitors wanna come down to dive, I am all in!) then returned to Costa Rica on the Atlantic side. We visited the Sloth Sanctuary in Cahuita… sloths are actually really cool animals (despite that they spread leishmaniasis, a skin eating bacteria.. my heart goes out to the PCVs in Panama who have suffered from this)

Some awesome fun sloth facts:

They live in trees, but go on the ground once a week to poop/pee

There is no physical evidence of pregnancy; once birth is happening the female just reaches around her backside to catch the baby

Babies are born with a full body of hair and claws

Although slow, when necessary (like defense mechanisms) they can move as fast as a cheetah

The only known species of pygmy sloth lives on an island off of Panama!

Broken bones mend 7x faster than human bones

There is evolutionary evidence that suggests sloths were once the size of t-rexs

 

Buttercup, world's oldest captive sloth

 

I really enjoyed my time in Costa Rica and hope to see more of Latin America while I am down here. Thanks to Paz and the PCVs who joined me for this refreshing vacation!