San Jose updates

Today is another free day.  I slept until 10, which was amazing!!

San Jose is not very lively on Sundays, so I took advantage of the lack of cars to go for a run.  I got to know the city a little better, at least around where I live.  The thing is, there are NO street names!  My address is actually based on landmarks!  Ex: by the supermarket, 50 meters south and 25 meters east.  These landmark directions are actually working to my advantage with my .... "unconventional" sense of direction (a win for visual acuity!) but I can't understand who thought unlabeled streets was a good idea!

My host family is nice.  My mama Tica talks with me a lot at breakfast and dinner, but her husband is a lot more quiet.  They’re an older couple, and they go to bed REALLY early.  This was discouraging the first few nights, but we’re so busy anyway that now I am either heading out an hour or so after dinner, or doing homework.  The meals are great – some examples of what I’ve had are empanadas, fresh pineapple/cantaloupe/banana every morning, these fried yucca patties which reminded me a lot of latkes, and mashed plantains.  Although I’m not adhering to veganism here, I’ve found that dairy products are really not as common here (although it’s impossible to avoid egg for breakfast, at least in my house). 

I can’t believe it has barely been two weeks in Costa Rica.  The weeks feel so long! (Hmmm, might have something to do with the fact that they’re six days).  I really like our group: although we kind of have to like each other, since the 13 of us are together all the time for 15 weeks, it’s a great mesh of people.  I’m loving it so far – San Vito to San Jose is a huge jump in different experiences, but it’s great to have one stretch where we feel like we live in and know our way around a city, and we aren’t just camping at research stations.

Last night we went to this Retro-bar – the theme was the 90’s, and along with some pretty fantastic music they had Tetris blocks as lights and a “Gameboy Lounge.”  It was really fun, although I have to say the 90’s music in the chill-and-talk-to-your-friends area was a LOT better than the disco/techno/dance area.  Which was literally the same beat for hours.  I’m glad that the program keeps us so busy these few weeks, because let’s face it, San Jose isn’t the prettiest city and it’s nice not to feel pressure to go out all the time.  

My Spanish class is great.  My teacher is really sweet and funny, and we literally just talk for hours.  No analyzing texts, no reading poetry, just talking and review of grammar and conjugations (very necessary!).   And she corrects us as we talk, which is great, because I didn’t realize how many errors I commonly make!  I have four other people in my class (it’s the Tufts class: Vanji and Kristen are in it), and we get to talk a LOT.  It's a really great class and five hours fly by!

Speaking of flying by, the drivers here are terrifying -- Boston drivers seem tame in comparison.  Not only do pedestrians not have the right of way (you will die without a well-executed street crossing), but I have seen many cars accelerate toward a pedestrian!  There aren’t a lot of traffic lights, or regulation at all, so there’s a whole lot of cutting off and beeping.  As for the bus transportation, it’s slow but convenient for getting back from CRLA.   I’ve managed to navigate my way around the buses last week without my host family guiding me, and I only messed up and got off a stop early once.

We went to the Museo Nacional yesterday, and had an assignment to complete that took us all around the Pre-Columbian/colonial/civil war exhibits.  The museum was small and quaint, and tied in to what we're studying.  Some tidbits (some from the museum, some from lectures): 

-Coffee and bananas, Costa Rica's two big exports, aren't native; coffee of course came from Ethiopia and bananas from Asia. 

-Cartago was the first capital of Costa Rica.  The country used to have an ambulatory capital, so that it would change every ...year I think?  And then when it got to San Jose, I the people in San Jose didn't want to let it go, so they conveniently decided that from now on the capital wouldn't be ambulatory.

-Costa Rica is ranked #26 in the world's most peaceful countries (it has no army and no military expenditure).  The US is ranked around #85.

I'm really digging the field trips (a good thing, because our program is one long field trip).

Also, while the city itself may not look so beautiful, San Jose is in the Central Valley and everywhere you look there are gorgeous mountains!  Even cooler, there are houses crawling up into the mountains, so at night when the city’s all lit up you can see trails of light heading into the mountains.  Not quite the same as the stars in San Vito, but at least a redeeming factor.

Tomorrow we're going to Grano de Oro, and back to San Jose and CRLA on Wednesday.  This program is pulling us in so many cool directions that it's impossible to keep track of it all the time, but there's something great about heading out and exploring all the time and not really settling in for extended periods.

Hasta luego!

Anya

Back in San Jose

Well, here I am, in my homestay.  First of all, I don’t have Internet, so my blog posts may become more sparse.  The miraculous fact that I am able to post now is because I wrote this entry in a Word Document and am transferring it to my blog in the CRLA, which has wireless.  I did this because my host mom bid me buenas noches at 8:45 last night.  8:45!  While I would have welcomed this last week in Las Cruces, tomorrow I get to sleep in until the leisurely hour of 6:45.  So I have a bit of time to kill. 

The journey here was not easy.  In fact, it was a travel day to rival my journey from Boston to Costa Rica!  While that took 11 hours, this took...11 hours.  Although what better way to say adios to everyone we’ve been with 24/7 in the same building for a week than to be on a bus with them for the entire day?  Ok, so our group is still going to see each other EVERY DAY for class and hang out at lunch/in the evenings, but now there will be a strange segment of time where we won’t constantly be all up in each other’s business. 

I’m excited for the university experience of the next few weeks (although an intensive Spanish course of 5 hours of Spanish class a day is a bit off from typical), but I will miss the camp-like experience with a bunch of bio nerds and the beauty of the botanical gardens.  Until we meet again, Las Cruces...

So, about the trip.  We boarded the bus at 7:30 am, and a couple of hours of interrupted slumber later, had lunch at a restaurant (I had spaghetti.  I love the abundance of fruits and vegetables here at every meal, but damn I miss carbs).  A little while later, as we’re peacefully listening to Disney remixes, the bus broke down.  Conveniently, the bus decided to break down near a soda (small restaurante/store), and we got some drinks, paid for by the bus company!   

Might I add that was my only coffee cup of the day.  I’m adjusting!

A second bus came along to rescue us, and we made it back to the CRLA around 5:30 pm.  The process of dropping us off one by one at our homestays then ensued.  

So, about my homestay!  Here’s my room:

My host mom, Amalia, is a retired teacher, and her husband is a businessman.  She introduced me as Anya Price-como-Precio, or Anya Price, dueña de "Price-Mart" (owner of Price-Mart) which is really cute.  They’re in their 60’s and have two daughters and grandchildren.  The husband is quiet, but Amalia talks to me (not too fast, thankfully).  She showed me around the neighborhood, including the bus stops for CRLA and her camino secreto (secret walkway) to get to the OTS building.  I met one of the grandchildren, Ella, last night.  She talks so fast!  And, from what I can gather, very wittily too, for an eight-year-old.

The transition to total Spanish has been eased by the few occasional interactions we’ve had with people in San Vito, but whew it’s surprisingly mentally taxing to talk, even when I know what to say.  I managed to ask some questions, and I found out that they’ve hosted a student from Needham before! (Needham is an almost-neighbor of Natick – small world)

Hasta luego,

Anya

P.S. here's my room from Las Cruces, per parental request:

Next up...homestays

It's our last night in Las Cruces, for now.  We're coming back later (this is the site that we seem to spend the most time at), but for now we're heading to San Jose in the morning to meet our homestay family (eek!) and take intensive Spanish at the Costa Rican Language Academy. 

It's going to be nice only thinking about one class and be in a city where we can hang out, meet other students, and get to experience culture away from the biological station!  I do like Las Cruces, especially our fantastic meals (mangoes again the other day!) but it does feel like research summer camp a lot.  We have our whole days planned out for us and we always stick together as a group.  This is really great most of the time, but not in terms of the typical "study abroad experience" when we're all speaking English and on a mountain in a rural area.  I will miss looking down from the mountain:


Anyway, here's what's been going on. We toured an EBAIS in the town of Agua Buena on Monday. EBAIS stands for Equipo Básicos de Atención Integral en Salud, the meat and potatoes of the Costa Rican healthcare system.  EBAIS are primary care facilities, and although there is not as much choice and specialization as in the US, it is much cheaper (pretty much all services are free with the Caja social security, mandatory for all workers), and very accessible.

It was really cool.  The EBAIS is assigned to a certain population size in the surrounding area (I believe around 8,000 people).  Again, anything medically necessary is free, including prescriptions.  Even Tylenol and Ibuprofen is free, with a prescription, and as we saw in the pharmacy in the EBAIS, all the drugs are available right there.  Furthermore, despite being one of the few countries with Catholicism as an official denomination, any type of birth control short of a hysterectomy is free and confidential after the age of 14, which was impressive.

We took a trip to the Ngobe territory today, crossing a precarious bridge to get there.



  The Ngobe are an indigenous people in the isthmus, and we'll be visiting them in Panama as well.  One of our professors, Hector, had stayed with a couple during his research on ethnobiology, and we spent some time talking to them.  The woman, María, is a midwife and had some handcrafts that we looked through.  I got some great armadillo earrings, score.

We also took a look at the Ngobe EBAIS.  It was a stranger experience than going to the EBAIS in Agua Buena, since this one was in an indigenous territory and nonindigenous citizens aren't supposed to live there.  That being the case, we stood out a whole lot more than when we were in Agua Buena, and the looks of people in the waiting room while we were conspicuously taking notes were more noticeable.  Maybe this kind of visiting happens a lot in this territory, but it felt awkward -- I can't imagine someone coming and taking notes while I'm waiting for my primary care doctor.

It was quite a tumultuous road to get there, as evidenced by this photo:

By the time we got back up and over those bumpy roads (and my faith in the Safari vehicle we were in has been completely and utterly affirmed), we had some lunch and then it was time for lectures.  We're into the area of microbiology now, ahhhh, my comfort zone.

Here's a picture of all of us in the Ngobe territory:

Hasta luego!

Anya

Día Libre!

Saturday was a rough day.  The lack of sleep is really starting to hit me.  7 hours a night is very good for a lot of people, and unheard of for a lot of people in college, but I definitely need my 9 hours.  Not only am I tired and sore from running up and down the hills, but alertness and attention was imperative because we had seven hours of lecture yesterday!  Yes, that's right.  Seven hours of class on a Saturday.  OTS means business.  I was struggling on Friday, but I've managed to make it with only one cup of coffee today -- Caroline, you would be proud of what I've become.

The topics were interesting: healthcare system of Costa Rica (cliffnotes: every working person is legally required to have social security health care, nicknamed 'Caja,' and employers are responsible for paying this out of pocket if they are not insured.  Also, med school costs about 200 USD/semester); types of ethniobiological studies; the history and culture of the Ngobe people (an indigenous group we will be visiting next week and when we go to Panama); and an introduction to epidemiology.  Lectures went on because we had lengthy discussions (really, what else are we going to do with our day?) and giant pots of coffee were as exhausted as our bodies.

I was proud of myself for making two calls last night: 1) going out and 2) going on a hike this morning with Hector, our Ethnobiology professor.  I didn't think I would make it out last night, but luckily I was able to rally post-shower and we headed to San Vito to a bar called S'Lugar.  The town was dead, as we saw when we conga-lined out to the balcony (yeah, that happened, and it was led by a Tico -- we're not that corny), leaving only a handful of people at the bar to stare bewilderingly at us gringos dancing to Madonna and Grease mixed among other Latin songs.  But lo and behold, we walked two blocks down to find a CARNIVAL!  Complete with a Ferris wheel, that about half of us rode on.  There were apparently toros as well, but none of us saw them.  We headed to the bar tent to dance some more (again, lots of stares -- blending in is going to be a bigger challenge than staying awake in 1:30 lecture) ate some churros, and practiced our Spanish in the cab ride back to Las Cruces.

 Vanji and me.  ON THE FERRIS WHEEL.  Which incidentally turned out to be scarier than many rollercoasters I've gone on

                                 View from the Ferris Wheel
Six hours later, we were somewhat alive, awake, alert, and very enthusiastic.  The best word for the hike today is probably...green.  There is actually nothing else that can describe it as well.  There are leaves everywhere, grass everywhere, moss on the leaves and moss on the bark and grass on the bark and leaves on the bark and leaves on the moss.  The whole rainforest is just one smothering web of verde.  There are some spots of grayish brown, like this strangler fig tree, otherwise known as the "Fern Gully tree."  We were able to climb inside -- it was awesome despite the apparent lack of forest-saving fairies.

                                          Us climbing INSIDE THE TREE
Our goal for the hike was to head to San Vito and hit up the shops and stores, but as it turns out, the trail to San Vito was so overgrown that even Hector's machete couldn't clear it.  Instead, we turned around and took another trail to a river with lots of cool, feet-dippingly perfect pools (including one that definitely must have been deeper than I am tall).  We had lunch there amongst the tadpoles, and trekked back to the Station.  

We did eventually make it to San Vito to stock up on chocolate/pastries/floss.  And now it's time for dinner.  Hasta luego!

Anya

Wake up in the morning feeling like P-DEETy

Yesterday we hit up the town of San Vito, a couple miles down the mountain (and my recent running destination.  Much easier on the hamstrings to take a bus). 

                                   Downtown San Vito.  Check out the mountains!
 
We went to a supermarket, a bakery, and then walked around for a bit.  I was excited to see these signs that said "Veterinaria," but instead of a clinic it was more of a pet shop with collars, leashes, and only chicks (pollitos), and occasionally bunnies (conejitos).  Pets may not have been the final destination of the pollitos, but I can pretend.....then three introductory lectures in the afternoon, and watching a really cool and thought-provoking documentary, The Shaman's Apprentice.

This morning we woke up in a cloud.  It apparently rained lots last night, the first time so far, but it was perfect sunny weather by the time we took a tour around the botanical garden (yes Mom, I was looking super fly in my field pants).  We saw some orchids, pineapples, bananas with leaves bigger than me (of particular interest to me because I'm writing a plant paper on that family) and funky bugs.  The agoutis remain elusive of my camera.

                Pineapple!  The juice of this kind is much more abrasive than the commercial variety

                                                       Bananas! (Musa family)

We had fresh mangoes for breakfast today!  Only five days into the program and already my dreams have been fulfilled.

Also, although I mentioned our horario tipico, we definitely do not have a semblence of a predictable schedule.  The one predictable thing is meal times -- again, my dreams are fulfilled.  But we are traveling to different sites constantly, and as our professors remind us, field trips are subject to weather and the schedules of the clinics and communities we visit, so things can be shifted around on short notice.

Classes started on Thursday, and we've had a lot of PDFs to read since then (urrg...no highlighting...).  It's a lot of anthropology studies in ethnobiology, and although they're scientific papers this is going to be the more difficult part of the program for me, since I'm not used to analyzing these kinds of social problems as opposed to problems with physiology and biological processes.   The tropical medicine and global health class functions as the public health course I never took, so that's great -- definitely valuable for a veterinary career.

This afternoon we have a lecture on tropical medicine and a group bonding activity (please, anything but human knot).

Hasta luego!

Anya

Las Cruces at last

Today began with waking up at 6 am and boarding a bus.  And this time, it wasn't a 22-hour trek to the charming town of Waverly, Iowa, but a 6-hour drive to Las Cruces in San Vito.  We stopped for breakfast (gallo pinto and fried plantains) at a roadside stand, and got to Las Cruces in time for lunch: lentils, squash, sauteed green beans, watermelon, and starfruit juice.  I'm really thrilled about Costa Rican cuisine: it's full of vegetables and fruit and lacking bread, forcing me to actually eat green things.

While walking around the deck we saw some cool critters, including an agouti (not my photo, but hopefully I'll get some of my own pictures soon). I'm really excited to see pecaries (small pig-like creatures), which apparently abound here.

 I also went on my first run today!  It was a relief, after sitting in planes and airports for 11 hours on Monday, sitting in a classroom for 7 hours on Tuesday, and of course lying half-conscious in a bus for 6 hours today.  The elevation here (~1200 m) helps with the humidity too.  My quads were in for a rude awakening when I turned around after about 3 miles of going downhill -- or more appropriately, downmountain -- and began to thigh-burning journey back.  It was a gorgeous view though!

Tomorrow our horario típico (normal schedule) begins with breakfast at 6:30 am.  As much as I cherish my ten hours of sleep (which have been gradually drifting toward 11 or 12 hours over winter break), its easier to be a morning person here since coffee is more common than water.  I'm relieved that we're not on the Spanish schedule -- dinner at 10 pm and staying out until 4 am is just not my thing. 

Now it's time for homework for tomorrow.  Hasta luego!

Anya

Orientación

Today was a loooonnnng day full of sitting around.

First, we boarded the bus at 8 am and went to the Universidad de Costa Rica, which is near the language academy where we'll have our intensive Spanish course.  The classrooms and university in general is very nice-looking, but the best part was lunch, where we finally got a break from all the strenuous sitting and got to eat outside under a tree with a faint view of the mountains.

The day consisted of lots of powerpoints of the syllabi, talking about rules and regulations, lunch, and then more soporific powerpoints in a dark room with the recent rise in blood sugar slowly lulling us to sleep.  Unfortunately we had to arise from our drowsy state and take the oral part of our Spanish placement exam.  I don't know what level I'm in because they still have to factor in our written test, but my exam went on for a while, which I think means that they were testing more advanced grammar questions, or maybe trying to force me to use subjunctive more often.

That took up most of the day, so we went back to our hotel and then back on the bus to go to this restaurant by the Costa Rican congress building.  It also had a view of the Penitenciaria (penitentiary), which now happens to be a children's museum! (photo below)  Que precioso.  The restaurant was very cheesy and touristy (it also reminded Vanji and me of a pirate ship), but it was cute and had some delicious fried plantains with a pesto-like condiment.

We headed out later to Mac's American Bar near our hotel for the most authentic Costa Rican experience (I wish there was a sarcasm font).  It was the first one we could find, and really more of an excuse to stretch our legs than to stay out late, since we're leaving at the crack of dawn for Las Cruces tomorrow, a six hour drive. 

Also, most people I've encountered so far in San Jose say mucho gusto (much pleasure) here instead of de nada in response to gracias.  I like that a lot better, so cheery!

Sorry about the lack of animal pictures as promised!  We've been mostly in a classroom all day, so there's nothing very interesting to post as of yet.  Tomorrow we're heading to the Las Cruces biological station in San Vito, and I'm sure there will be lots of flora and fauna to fill my next entry.

Hasta luego,

Anya

Adios, USA

I'm here!!  The plane rides were actually very nice, the worst part was the in-flight movie they chose (You Again - never see it).

First impressions:  hot, sticky, lots of palm trees.  It may be humid, but at least there's WARM weather and clear skies. 

San Jose is full of signs in English and McDonald's, so its not exactly jungle territory yet.  I've managed some timid phrases in Spanish to the customs workers and the driver who took me to the hotel where we're staying tonight; I'm hoping I can be less shy about it once it's not as common to speak in English.  Tomorrow we're visiting the Universidad de Costa Rica for our orientation!

I've only been outside of a moving vehicle (plane or taxi) for about 90 minutes to quickly drop my stuff off and meet people, and that was long enough for our group to decide that it was bedtime, a decision I could not agree with more.  It's all quiet at the hotel at the wee hour of 8:30 pm. 

Buenas noches!

Anya

Familia nueva

I received information about my host family today!!

We will be staying with our host families in March during an intensive Spanish language course by the CRLA, the Costa Rican Language Academy (as students at CRLA we get free Latin dance lessons, cooking classes, and we "learn about Latin American culture through music," a flashback to Señor Karetskiy's cultural Fridays at Natick High).  I'll be living with the Rojas-Montero family in Vargas Araya (Google Maps has failed me in locating Vargas Araya, but I think it's in San Pedro), which is supposedly a short bus ride from the CRLA.  We'll see how the Costa Rican bus system compares to the green line....
My host parents are older, in their 60's, but their daughters and granddaughters live next door and are in the house frequently, so I'm sure there will be a lot going on.

I also have my first homework assignment: a Spanish placement test.  It doesn't look too bad though; after trudging reluctantly through fifteenth century Spanish primary source texts last fall, questions like "where are you from?" and "what did you do last month?" are much more welcome.

T-minus six days until I leave the United States.  IT'S ACTUALLY HAPPENING!!!