Adios electricity, hot water and internet

Based on how regularly I post, I could probably be without internet for a week and no one would know the difference, nevertheless, I thought I’d tell you a bit about where I’ll be next week and what I’ll be doing.

Tomorrow morning we leave bright and early for Las Alturas—a rural community about 2.5 hours from Las Cruces.  We will all (students, professors and cooks) be staying in one large 30 person house with two bunk rooms and no electricity. While I’m not looking forward to the close quarters and cold showers, I am excited for what we’ll be doing in Las Alturas. Tuesday and Wednesday we will be opening the clinic in Las Alturas with us serving as nurses and medical records technicians while one of our professors acts as the doctor. When we aren’t at the clinic (we won’t all fit at once), we will go house to house with one of our other professors filling out “fichas familiares” or family surveys. These surveys note the condition of each family’s house, their water supply source, how they cook, how many people live in the house, whether or not they’ve had all their vaccines, etc.. These surveys then become part of their medical records and help the healthcare providers monitor health risks.

After our three days in Las Alturas, we’ll be heading to the Boruca territory (a group of indigenous people). There we’ll be doing homestays, some research and we’ll get to participate in some cultural activities like dying fabric using natural dyes.

Saturday we head back to Las Cruces, and then next week we go on to Nicaragua to renew our visas and explore a new country! Our weeks are still packed, but I’m looking forward to having more hands on experience and fewer lectures!

Riding on the struggle bus

I write a lot about buses don't I?  Despite all my previous stories, I think this past weekend takes the cake. But first the non-struggle part of the trip.

Since we had two days off this weekend, Allison, Bre and took a quick trip up to Monte Verde--a could forest about five hours away by bus. We arrived around noon, checked into our hostel (super cute with a kitchen!) and explored the small town of Monte Verde. It's mostly a destination for backpackers, so even though it's a tourist destination, it's mostly hostels, locally owned restaurants and adventure companies. We at lunch at soda (little restaurant that cooks typical food) and the owner's two-year-old daughter brought us our silverware. It was so cute!

Now some pictures to summarize:

The trip was not devoid of work...the 3000 page Tropical Disease book also made the trip

Our hostel had a kitchen, so we got to cook dinner and breakfast for ourselves! 

We spent the evening playing cards, but went to bed at 9:00 like old ladies!

Sunday morning we walked through the canopy of the cloud forest on suspension bridges...it was a long way down!

After our hike/walk, we were soaked because in a rain forest it tends to RAIN! So we made it back to town and went to buy our bus tickets. There was a small problem, however...when we asked for tickets back to San Jose the man selling them told us there were no spots left! He suggested a different route, through another town but couldn't guarantee that we could make it back Sunday night. The only other option we had was to take a five hour bus ride standing room only. So stand we did...out in the rain waiting for the bus, eating our lunch, and then on the bus. Fortunately, there was space to put our backpacks down and sit on them. It was an adventure...a very damp adventure, but we made it back to San Jose!

Now we're back in Las Cruces doing lots of classroom work before spending a week living without electricity in a more rural area...more on that next time!

As seen on the Cedros bus

Since I'm a city girl and take the bus to and from school every day, I've had my share of interesting experiences...some have made me smile, others have made me laugh, still others have made me cringe. So here they are:

• A man carrying a trash bag full of individually packaged plantain chips who has apparently decided that buses are a great customer base. With a captive audience, I suppose he's right.
• After the chip incident, I was suspicious of anyone walking on the bus with more than a backpack. I didn't really think a drum was anything to be concerned about, but when the man carrying it decided to stop right next to my seat and proceeded to launch into a soliloquy and song about life on the banana plantations I was clearly proven wrong. 
• More soliloquizing later in the week when a woman got on the bus, stood in front and told the sad, sad tale of how she was from Chile, but shortly after arriving in Costa Rica had all of her belongings stolen. I guess I have to give credit for creative panhandling. 
• A more smile-worthy observation was the morning that two men got up to give their seats to middle aged women. 
• On the more laughable end of the spectrum is the German student (also taking Spanish at CRLA) in manpris and popped collar awkwardly trying to stand up on the bus.
• And finally on the weird end are the couples I see EVERY DAY blatantly making out on the bus. Apparently PDA is acceptable here? Let's just say it's kind of awkward when that's going on in the seat in front of you and in the seat behind you. 

Ahhh...city life. I'm not so sure I'll miss it when we back at Las Cruces.

Schedules!

To make up for my lack of posting last week and what I'm sure will be limited posting next week, here's a picture of my schedule for next week. (Because if there's anything I like more than a list, it's a schedule. 

City Life Week 2

After a long week of intermittent internet access, it is finally fixed at our house! (and yes, I am again using that as my excuse for not posting all week.)  It’s been a very full week with Spanish classes, research classes, a birthday party and a visit to the central market. Because my thoughts are scattered and I like lists, here is my week in bullets:

• I’ve finally cracked my Tropical Diseases book and now know more than I ever wanted to about diarrhea and the pathogens that cause it! 
• I'm a big fan of writing 400 word essays for Spanish class
• Sleeping 9 hours every night is amazing
• I am absolutely shocked that I have not gotten sick yet. Leftovers here get left out for HOURS and the reserved. I'm kind of wishing we hadn't talked about food safety this summer with HSM teams!
• The city life, while kind of fun, is not really my thing. An hour long bus ride on the way home for a trip that takes 10 minutes on the way to school is not my idea of a good time.
• They celebrate 60th birthdays very differently here! We surprised my host mom with a birthday party last night...complete with a DJ, flashing lights, a fog machine and lots of loud music. It was a very fun evening full of yummy food and dancing! 
• There's nothing quite like an overpriced bagel sandwich when you're feeling homesick for American food. 
• Where can you buy a scarf for $3, a pallet full of 20lb bags of rice, a futon, a kids bowling set, undergarments for your whole family and a really cute recycling bin? Why Pequeño Mundo of course! As Bre described it, it's like a Costco and a Dollar Store squished into one tiny store.  
• In a completely unrelated story, my MCAT scores are still not posted...and it's been almost a month! I'm going a little crazy. 

Now for some pictures! 

Tina, another girl staying at our house, my host mom and I

Ligia with most of her family while a mariachi band plays Feliz Cumpleaños

This little fellow was my dance partner for the evening!

Blowing out the candles

Tina, Helen and I

Highs and Lows

It's been a long week...we've only been in San Jose since Wednesday, but it already feels like a long time. Internet has been spotty and classes have been long, so I haven't really had time to update, but I thought I'd try to sum up the week in a list of highs and lows.

First the not-so-fun stuff:

• 20 minute bus rides into school that turn into hour bus rides on the way home
• Getting off at the wrong bus stop and walking for half an hour in the rain, getting soaked in the process
• The way my backpack smells after said soaking
• Class on Saturdays. booooo
• Trying to communicate with 22 other people without having a cell phone or consistent internet access 
• Water that trickles out of the shower head
• Feeling overwhelmed by the amount of time spent around people

Now the thing's that make me happy:

• Actually making it home after getting off at the wrong bus stop in the rain
• Being able to unpack and organize
• My super sweet host family
• Learning to salsa (no it's not pretty, but I know how to do it now)
• House-warming parties Costa Rican style--including a Mariachi Band playing/praying the rosary
• Grilling out on the upstairs terrace with friends
• Laughing uncontrollably about silly things
• Being able to video skype people 

Now some pictures of the happier things! (It's hard to take a picture of being lost in the rain.)

Trunk Monkey likes his new digs

yay organization!

With Allison

And Helen!

My adorable host siblings!