1 Month Down, 23 To Go

After a month in my new home, it seems like time has gone by so quick, and has been laid-back yet busy. I have been very pleasantly surprised at how my initial time here has already been full of new friends, projects, and nature. See below for examples of said fullness.

Projects:

English in El Jardin
Ryan and my new Australian friend, Pippa, have been teaching English classes in the escuela in the barrio El Jardin every Friday. They teach 3rd through 6th grade. I have been tagging along and done a few of the activities, slowly feeling a little less awkward.

El Jardin Greenhouse
In the same escuela, Ryan helped get a greenhouse started with the kids. Thanks to some great donations and lots of hard work, it’s already looking pretty green. It is really exciting to think of all the good that could come out of this project, especially since it is organic. It encourages local agriculture, will generate some income for local families, make healthier options available at school, and give the kids some great business and agriculture skills not to mention some pride.

Tourism Farmers’ Market
This is just starting up with meetings and planning, but should be something really great for the whole community. The agricultural products will give small farmers a place to sell their product, encourage local food, and make cheaper produce available to the community. The art will allow local artisans to sell their works and attract tourists. Tourist stands will allow the local business to promote their business and draw tourists. I really think this could be an amazing project, but it will also be a big challenge to do it right.

Computer Lab
A computer lab with 6 computers donated by the government opened up 2 weeks ago. They run on Linux, which I hadn’t ever really used before, but have always been interested in open source programs. After playing around a bit, it looks like most of the programs are almost identical to Windows. I’m watching the lab and tutoring people at least one afternoon per week. I already had my first lesson with my host dad, Rafa, who had never even touched a computer before. And I’ve helped people open their email and search the internet. I’m excited about this project for all the possibility that exists to teach, not to mention the free (although slow) internet I will get.

Community Credit Enterprise (Agua y Sol)
Of course I will also be working with my counterpart, Agua y Sol. They are doing pretty good, but there’s still plenty of potential for improvement. Helping to keep all the socios buying acciones to grow the business, getting higher quantity and diversity of loans out, growing the kids program, and enhancing the capacities of the members are just some of the possibilities.

Camp Green
I will be helping Pippa put on a day camp for kids in 3rd to 6th grade during their vacations during the next two weeks. It should be a great camp, combining some English with environmental topics. We’ll be taking them on nature hikes, to a butterfly garden, a local farm, a sports day, and planting some trees, all here in Bijagua. It’s already past the 60 kid capacity that was set. It should be a really fun project.

Fun Stuff:

Hanging Bridges
I’ve gone a few times to the hanging bridges nearby. I have to figure out how to talk my US family members with a slight dislike of heights into crossing the bridges that hang about 90 feet in the air when (not if) they come visit. It’s awesome to look around on the same level as the treetops. I haven’t seen the monkeys that are apparently common. But I did see a sloth with her baby once and another time a boa snake.

Laguna Danta
There’s a longer trail up by the hanging bridges trails that leads up to an extinct crater on the Tenorio volcano. It is completely overgrown with trees, so you can’t tell it’s a crater, but it is still awesome. It is completely different depending on the rain. The first time I went up there, it was full. The second time, it was just a few puddles. It was neat when it was dry since we could see a ridiculous number of tadpoles that looked like some sort of huge single organism. We also found tapir tracks, which is where the laguna gets its name (danta is tapir in Spanish). My friend also saw a coral snake on the trail. The trail itself is pretty impressive. There are times when I felt like I was rock climbing, except it was tree roots instead of rocks.

Bijagua Waterfalls
I finally got to make it out to one of the local waterfalls. I set off one morning with Ryan and the French volunteer, Justine (who is working with a local hotel on sustainable tourism for 3 months). It took us a little less than an hour to arrive at the entrance to the trail. On the trail itself, I probably would have turned back quite a few times if it weren’t for Ryan insisting there was a trail beyond the huge fallen trees, figuring out which of the forks would lead us to the waterfalls, and deciding that after crossing the river, there would be a trail of some sort. And luckily I trusted him enough, since we did finally end up arriving at the first cascades. There was a nice little swimming hole and the freezing water was great after the long trail. Then as we explored in different directions, we only found more and more gorgeous nature. We walked up to the biggest waterfall that was made even more beautiful by the tree that had fallen in the middle of it. Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of this one since we had to swim to it. Then we rock/waterfall climbed shoeless and cameraless to another waterfall on the other side. With some exploring, we found a trail that led up to the top of the big waterfall which revealed the rest of the series of cascades and waterfalls. There was an amazing wall of small cascading waterfalls along the way that was beautiful. Then we followed the least trail-like walk of the day to see yet 2 or 3 more cascades. It was a work out to get to all of the waterfalls, but it was all very much worth it. No picture could do all of that beauty justice. I am most definitely planning on returning (who wants to join me?).

And I still haven’t seen the most well known Rio Celeste nor the other waterfall in Rio Zapote. Yep. I’m spoiled.

Fiesta
The other weekend was a Bijagua fiesta to raise money for the high school. So while all of you San Diegans were enjoying the Del Mar Fair with its concerts, corn on the cobs, and deep fried everything, I went to a surprisingly hoppin dance, saw a rodeo, and ate delicious tamales and ice cream, and not so delicious churros. The dance was a very encouraging event. Even though I had been told that most dances would have nothing but cumbia, the night featured salsa, merengue, hip hop, reggaeton, techno, and only a little bit of cumbia. And there were quite a few good dancers, even though I only got to dance with 2 partners. But the place was packed, and it apparently went until way past 3, much longer than I lasted. So perhaps once I make a few more friends, these occasional dances can keep me going on the salsa front.

The rodeo was an interesting cultural experience. I had been to a rodeo in the US, but in a huge stadium, in the nosebleed section. The nosebleed section doesn’t exist in Bijagua and every other tiny community that may not have a bank, but it has a small rodeo stadium. So everyone is right above the action. So I got a really good view of two guys being trampled by the bulls (one left in an ambulance). Then after the cowboy is bucked off, there are dozens of guys waiting to prove their manhood by jumping into the ring and trying to get the bull to chase them, then jumping up the side of the stands to get away from it when it comes after them. It was an interesting experience, but even though they don’t kill the bulls, they don’t treat them very well, so I’m not sure if I will be attending in the future.

I’m happy with the family I’m living with, love all the nature, am slowly making more friends, love the community, and am already staying pretty busy. So with 1/24 of my time in Bijagua (4/27 in Costa Rica) done, I am pretty content.