Jan 24
On the eve of the Immaculate Conception in San Ramón there is a very unique tradition. It has been happening for over a hundred years.
The tradition started with a family in the rural district of Piedades Sur when a lady named Paula Mesén decided to give to her neighbor María Vargas “melcochas “. Paula gathered the children from the neighborhood to go to doña Maria’s house and shower her with candy. An interesting fact of this first event was that it was held indoors because it was raining outside.
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Dec 21
Who has lived in Costa Rica for more than three months is quite familiar with the infamous “visa run”. It has nothing to do with running a marathon or winning a race – it refers to renewing one’s visa so that you can return to Costa Rica and stay for another 90 days. Costa Rica is conveniently situated between Nicaragua and Panama, and so one can head to one of these countries for a quick weekend trip. So that’s exactly what I had to do a couple of weekends ago…
A friend and I decided to head to Nicaragua (I had been to Panama last time). We chose to go to San Juan del Sur since it is so close to the Nicaraguan border crossing at Peñas Blancas, and only about 5 – 6 hours by bus from San Ramon. At least that’s what we thought… ! When we arrived at the border after just 3 hours on the bus we were surprised by an enormous queue… at least 200 people were lining up to enter Nicaragua. It was hot and we were lining up at around 30 degrees Celsius in the sun. Read the rest of this entry »
Dec 15
Last week we celebrated the graduation party for the English community class. The class started in February and finished the last week of November.
The classes were held at night at the Universidad de Costa Rica, about half a mile away from the uVolunteer dorm. These classes are a part of the teaching English program and they are a great way to get involved in the local life and to make Costa Rican friends.
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Dec 05
This week was fun. Ligia (The new coordinator for Costa Rica), Hannah Thompson (a volunteer from New Zealand), and I visited San Rafael school on Thursday. The school is located in a very nice rural district of San Ramón.
We were invited by Nelson Abarca who is a music teacher at the school, and also one of the advanced students from the community English class.
The purpose of the visit was to get to know the school and give the sixth grade class a new intercultural experience. We started off by introducing ourselves, then Hannah talked about her country and explained fun facts like most people in New Zealand know how to swim, and it doesn’t matter where you live, you will always be about 10 minutes by car from the beach. The students asked her questions about the kiwi bird and the already extinct Haast eagle. She commented on the Maori war ritual presented to the adversaries before every sporting event when a national New Zealander team is competing.
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Nov 28
Marshall Owen ended his English teaching program yesterday. He worked there for 6 weeks and had a great time sharing time with the kids. Marshall worked at La Sabana kindergarten, which is just a couple of blocks from the volunteer dorm. La Sabana kindergarten is embellished with colorful painted murals, which make you remember your own childhood.
English teaching in Costa Rica is fundamental; Costa Rican students start getting English lessons as soon as they enter the public education system. The Costa Rican government understands the relevance of tourism and business for the economy, and for that reason tries to make sure its people are well educated and prepared for the future.
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Nov 18
On November the 8th I visited Karina Hammond at her construction site. This is her third week of volunteering and building a house for a single mom named Adaleidy. Karina works with a wonderful group of people: Jorge, also known as Goku for his long hair, Carlos, Rafael and Eduardo, the foreman. Jorge speaks English very well and practices with Karina. He struggles a bit with her Australian accent but he understands a little bit more every day. Eduardo himself lived in the US for a little while, so he knows a bit of English too.
The construction project is part of the Costa Rica-Canada foundation and the community development association for Piedades Norte in San Ramón. They provide subsidies to low income families so they can build a house in a rural area which also avoids the overpopulation of cities.
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Nov 15
This week is a very special week for uVolunteer. We are celebrating our fifth anniversary. The company started off in Costa Rica in 2006, after the founder of uVolunteer, Nathaniel Amposah-Manu, volunteered himself in Thailand. He thought that volunteering should not cost a fortune, and that is why uVolunteer offers one of the most affordable volunteer vacations currently on the market. Check out our website for more info: http://www.uvolunteer.org/about-us.php
We celebrated on Thursday, November 10th, because volunteer Marshall teaches the community evening classes from Monday to Wednesday, and that way he was able to be part of the celebrations. We started off having some ceviche at the volunteer dorm around 5:30pm. Ceviche is one of the common national dishes in Costa Rica. It is eaten cold, and consists of fish and a lemon based sauce. Karina, a volunteer from Australia, shared her vegemite with everyone. The reaction to its flavor was not as positive as she expected, but at least we had a taste of one of Australia’s favorite foods. Read the rest of this entry »
Nov 04
Madre Verde foundation is one of our project partners located close to San Ramón, where our main office in Costa Rica is situated. Madre Verde Foundation is a private initiative, but it is run so that everybody who wants to contribute can do so.The main goal of Madre Verde is to maintain a water reserve for future generations of Palmares and the Central Plateau.
The staff and volunteers also maintain the area, build new hiking trails, provide environmental education to the elementary school children and take care of the butterfly garden.
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Oct 28
Last Wednesday, on October 26th, volunteer Raili Marks, Karina Hammond and I visited Madre Verde Foundation in Palmares. The purpose of the visit was to be part of a bird watching activity held by two biology students from the Universidad de Costa Rica.
We got up really early to be at the reserve at 6am. Upon arrival we realized that the activity actually started at 6:30am, so we waited a little longer to start the bird watching a bit later. This delay in the scheduled start time is known as “Tico time”, a very common Costa Rican saying, which refers to the fact that Costa Ricans usually start any activity much later than originally planned.
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Oct 21
Last Monday, on October 17th, volunteers Karina Hammond, Marshall Owen, and Raili Marks and the uVolunteer coordinator of Costa Rica went to the community hall of Las Tres Marías in San Ramón.
The purpose was to take advantage of the national holiday and volunteer to paint the community hall. The Costa Rican government moved “Columbus Day” from the 12th to the 17th of October, aiming to increase the national tourism amongst Costa Ricans.
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