Volunteering

In San Jose there was a bit of confusion and my plans had to change. I was expecting to volunteer at a school, but was told the organisation don’t send volunteers until March because classes only start in February. There was the option to work at an orphanage or daycare in San Jose, but I felt I couldn’t make much impact in only one week and I wanted to see more of the country.

In the end I decided on a community project working on a farm in the mountains so I could see what Costa Rican life in a small community is like.

La Paz Waterfall

On Saturday I went on the recommended combo tour with my friend Sara and it was really interesting. First we visited Doka Coffee Estate to see how coffee is produced and have breakfast. It was cool to see all the different stages and I learnt that density is an indicator of quality so they use water to separate good beans from bad.

Then we visited Poás volcano and walked to the crater. Apparently it is really impressive, but sadly it was cloudy for the entirety of our 20 minute slot, so all we could see was whiteness.

We ended the tour with a visit to La Paz waterfall and gardens, which was amazing! We had a delicious lunch (at which I ate way too much!), saw loads of animals in the rescue centre zoo, and marveled at the beautiful waterfalls.

Jacó

On Sunday we went to the seaside town of Jacó. It has a reputation for being very touristy, but (given that we are tourists) that didn’t matter too much.

I had found out online about a series of waterfalls you can jump into called Las Pilas. After a bus journey and a bit of difficulty finding a taxi we were dropped off at a random woman’s house and told just to follow the path into the woods. We were both slightly on edge as there was no-one else around, but when we arrived we found a magical spot of peace and tranquility in the woods. Jumping in was really fun and the water was so cool and refreshing.

The only slight hiccup is that at one point I was sitting and slipped down into a pool, hitting my coccyx on a rock. It was very painful and still hasn’t fully recovered, which is very frustrating.

In the evening we spent a while on the beach jumping the massive waves (Jacó is famous for surfing) and then spent the night at a hostel.

Agrozapotal

On Monday I got the bus to Miramar, a small town in the Arenal region, and met the daughter of the lady with whom I was going to volunteer. She instructed me to take another bus through the mountains to a smaller town where I would be picked up and driven to an even smaller town (sound remote enough yet?). I arrived in the evening and met the family: Betty runs the farm and works with the volunteers, her husband Chichi has a job in Miramar. There were also three volunteers there and I had been told that two were staying another week, but they all left the morning after I got there.

It was a very interesting experience to spend the week on a farm. I helped feed the animals and clean out their pens, I got to milk the cows and learnt how to make cheese. Life there was a lot more slow-paced than I’m used to and everyone seems more relaxed. Neighbours would pop round for breakfast and one helped us kill and pluck the chickens. I found it relaxing but also slightly lonely.

On Tuesday evening some French tourists arrived. They did a tour of the farm and I discovered that Betty is somewhat of a trail-blazer: she helped start an eco- and agro-tourism project in their town of Zapotal and later received funding to continue the project on her own farm (she was the first woman to manage to get funding for such a project); and she has received many awards and become a role model for female entrepreneurs. She is a lovely woman who cooks amazing food and treated me like one of the family, and I’m glad she has been recognised for her work.

I ended up tagging along with the French group for the rest of their activities. We visited another farm where they grow sugar cane and learnt how they make trapiche (from boiled sugar cane juice) and walked through the fields to an amazing view of the valley and ocean. Then Betty taught us how to cook a traditional Costa Rican dish.

At the weekend Betty and Chichi took me to a river where their family was gathering to create a dam and pool for a party there the following week. It was an unusual experience to see the inner workings of a Costa Rican family and I’m grateful to the family for being so generous and letting me stay with them.

The way to San Jose

I had one final day in San Jose during which I visited the Jade Museum which contains fascinating displays of many pre-Columbian objects. In my hostel I spent the evening with an interesting selection of people from all over the world before flying to LA.

4th March, 2019