First Week

I’m sick of emo entries and want to share a little of my current life, especially since tomorrow marks the fall of a long-standing record. One week and a day: the longest I’ll have ever spent at my site. The previous guy in Bodié (my Guinea site in the Fouta) had beaten me by two weeks, and he was actively trying to leave. Not sure how or if I’ll celebrate yet. I had originally been considering taking the half hour bus ride into town and buy a nice lunch, but I’ve been getting fed so much recently that I’d rather stroll the market stalls in search of a second-hand Ab-Roller.

I’ve been sent to Limón, along the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. My site is the closest to Puerto Limón, which houses two of the three major ports in the country and probably the most important when taking Costa Rican history into consideration. The neighborhood I’ll call home for two years is named Limón 2000. How baller is that? Many of the Tico 20 sites carry pretty interesting names, like 'Field 2 1/2' and 'The Fight', but I think Limón 2000 takes the cake. Fellow volunteer suggestions for future projects have been audaciously optimistic. I’ve settled on either creating a superhero headquarters there or forming a rap group.

A few of us were lucky enough to get a ride from headquarters on Monday. Dan, our outgoing (as in on his way out) boss had to get Donna down to Bribrí near the Panamanian border by nightfall, so we were lucky to beat the rains and take the main road from San José to Limón. This road—well constructed but poorly placed—experiences landslides so frequently that it often closes at night strictly as a precaution; so a closed road would've meant an extra 1.5 to 2 hours. I was the first stop of the afternoon, and Doña Ivonne was at her usual spot on the front porch waiting. My new host mom was happy to see me, unlocking the front porch´s steel gate before running to the kitchen to prep some coffee. Coffee. I couldn´t have asked for a better welcome. The rest of the afternoon was spent putting up my mosquito net and setting off what will likely be a two year food binge.

Don Carlos and Doña Ivonne are an older couple, both in their sixties. First impressions remind me of Marilyn and Bubs, albeit at higher volumes. The television’s usually blasting telenovelas or a daytime game show. If the phone rings, it switches to speaker phone, at which point it becomes a shouting match between Doña Ivonne and whatever soap characters are hogging the screen; Don Carlos joins in if he’s home from work. The two are filled with humor and dichos (proverbs and whatnot), so I’m doing my best to stay on my toes. Yesterday at a grandson’s birthday party Doña Ivonne had her cell phone out while Chino was blowing out the candles: “Damnit, I was trying to take a video on the phone! You know I can’t work this damn thing, now you’ll have to light the candles again. Go on, light ‘em!”

They’ve lived all over the country, as Don Carlos migrated often working farm labor. He later entered into construction work, and the couple settled down in Limón 2000 before the government housing projects began. I imagine it’s grueling work. He’s out the door by six and home no earlier than six. Evening ritual includes walking through the door grinning through his long-lost incisors, tearing off his shirt, and plopping onto the couch next to his ashtray.
Most of my time out of the house has thus far been split between the escuela and the cancha. My local counterpart (with whom I'll initially be working most closely) is the school's 'social planner'. Ada had already taken me room to room on my three day site visit in early May, so the kids were eagerly awaiting my re-arrival. So in addition to being completely overwhelmed with the steady current of students coming to visit in Ada's office,I have more soccer invitations than I have 10-year-olds to school me (and that number is already in the dozens).

I've recently moved things around on this site to better organize info. Telephone information and address information are now current. I expect to open up a P.O. Box in Puerto Limón sometime soon. That address will be for smaller packages and envelopes.

Thanks to all for the well-wishes and congratulations. It feels good to be a volunteer.

Love, Kevin