These are some pictures from a trip I took with some other volunteer friends to a small beach town called Cahuita located on the Caribbean Coast.....

My Future Site!!!!

Huge News!!!! I just found out today where I will be living for my two years of service! My town is called Pejibaye de Turrialba, it is a small town of about 4,000 residents and it is located about an hour south of a more major town called Turrialba in the providence of Cartago. It is located in a small valley between mountains and forests. The major employment there is apparently agriculture and the major crops are sugar cane and coffee. There are several rivers nearby that are class 2 to 3 rafting. There are also two biological reserves. I am about a three hour bus ride from San Jose which is nice because it means I will have fairly easy access to all the resources of a big city. The packet of information that was given to me lists a few examples of possible groups that I could work with for projects. These include - an Association of Conservation that owns 190 hectares of forest, Ecological Association which is a group that works to promote conservation in the town, there is a high school that is called a ´colegio ecologista´ which means that the students take classes that focus on environmental conservation. There is also a womens group that plants and sells chile dulce (sweet chillies). There are also youth groups, sports committees, and the town does not have internet so an internet cafe could be another project.

From what I have read about the area so far I am so excited to start working! I will be going there for a visit in about a week. At this time I will get to meet with community groups, get to know my new host family, and get to know the community in general. There is a volunteer there right now who I will be taking over for. She is also in the CED program and will be leaving two weeks after I get there.

Tomorrow I am going to a beach town called Cahuita. It is on the Caribbean Coast in the Limon Province. This beach has come highly recommended by another volunteer so I am really excited to check it out! It will also be really cool to see Limon because I have heard that it is very different from the rest of Costa Rica. There is a lot of Jamaican influence there and people say it is like a different world. I am just excited to get to a beach and relax!

Hope all is well with everyone, keep the comments coming!

Jean - thank you soooo much for the letter! I sent you one back so you should get it soon!

Pura Vida

Emily

Arenal Volcano and La Fortuna

I am in a town called La Fortuna which is about a 5 hour bus ride north west of San Jose. Two other trainees and I decided to take our one night a month of vacation to visit the most active volcano in Costa Rica - Arenal. Here is a little bit of history on Arenal thanks to Wikipedia!

"Arenal is the youngest and most active of all the mountains in Costa Rica. Scientists have been able to date it back to more than 4000 years ago. The area remained largely unexplored until 1937, when a documented expedition took place to reach the summit. It was presumed extinct until July 29, 1968 when an earthquake caused it to erupt, after approximately 400 years of dormancy. The eruption wiped out the town of Arenal and killed 87 people. Arenal rises 1657 metres above sea level and overlooks Lake Arenal; both are part of Arenal Volcano National Park. The country's most active volcano, Arenal's eruptions are strombolian in type, being frequent but moderate and can be viewed without danger as long as the viewers are behind the safety perimeter."

We got here yesterday morning and went on a hike in the rainforest at the base of the volcano. The purpose of this hike was to see animals but it was raining pretty hard so most of them had taken cover....we did hear a monkey however! Then at night we were taken to a place where we could actually see the lava coming down the side of the volcano. We were really far away but since it was night time it was really easy to see the lava - this was really cool because I have yet to see real lava in action! After this we went to some hot springs near the base of the volcano where there were 25 different pools that got progressively hotter as you went up in elevation. This was amazing and we really enjoyed being able to just relax and hang out in the pools with the other people that were on the tour with us. We got back from this tour at about 9:30pm which was already wayyy past our bedtimes but we pushed ourselves and went out to dinner and had some drinks with the people we had met which was really fun. I dont think we could have asked for a better day! We slept in this morning and went and had breakfast. In about two hours we are going to head back to San Jose and possibly see a movie and then head back home.

Next weekend we are going on our second site visit. This time we are going by ourselves to visit another volunteer at their site for about four days. This will be another chance to observe volunteers in action and get a better idea of what my life will be like for the next two years! Exciting but also a bit scary!

Thats all for now! Pura Vida!

Emily

Last week we had two days of holiday. Thursday was Lady of the Angels Day which is a day when many people walk from all over Costa Rica to a town called Cartago. Many people take days and days to do the walk depending on how far away they start. A group of us decided to walk from Desamparados to Cartago which took us about 5 1/2 hours. It was definitely tough physically but it was so amazing once we got there. There were so many people packed into the city center of Cartago and there was music and food and fireworks and all kinds of things going on. Definitely one of the best experiences I have had so far!

This past weekend was more of the same festival to celebrate sant Ignacio in my town. On sunday, it culminated with a big parade of men riding on horses. A few of the other trainees who live in different communities came to hang out which was fun.

More to come soon!

Emily