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Volunteer
Costa Rica - insight from the road
 From
corporate to Costa Rica - marketing manager makes a move to make
a difference! IEP’s marketing manager Nathan McEwan was
looking for a new challenge and decided to combine his annual
holiday with a meaningful volunteering experience in Costa Rica.
So from pre-departure to homecoming, we’ll be giving you
regular updates on his adventures in the land of pura vida.*
Nathan’s most recent postings appear at the
top, so if you want the story from the start, scroll to the bottom
of the page. To talk to someone about how you can have the volunteering
adventure of a lifetime, call IEP on 1300 300 912.
Pura vida: A Costa Rican expression
meaning the desire to live a happy, carefree life.
Talk about a rough day at
work…
8 September 2006
I have finished at the orphanage
for the weekend and now I only have a few days left before I head
back home. This week has been great fun which makes it harder
to think about coming home, although the wet season is really
kicking in so that keeps me motivated to get back on the plane
for the 30 hour trip home.
Using my powers for good, not evil
All the boys have really improved their English which is great.
Apart from the basics of numbers, animals and family members (which
we usually cover while playing soccer on the pitch) the boys ask
me to teach them phrases. They say it in Spanish (so I can learn
it) and then I teach them in English. Everything they want to
learn is about meeting and talking to girls, so you can imagine
I have taken some creative licence with the translation. But the
stuff they come out with is the funniest part of all. Initially
I was nervous about what they might say and I was not keen on
teaching them rude words etc… but not once have they ask
me about those types of words. They ask me to teach them things
like "you have beautiful hair," "your eyes make
my breath stop" and "it was lovely to meet you."
I have only used my powers for good not evil so don’t worry,
all I have done is enhanced their success rate by adding some
valuable execution techniques. Things like adding a wink to "it
was lovely to meet you" and kissing the guns have proved
to be gold!! I think you get the picture. Hahaha… look out
Costa Rica, a new breed of Casanova is unleashed!
The hard reality
What made this week harder than others is that I have learnt a
lot more about the reasons why the boys are here and not with
their families. I have honestly avoided knowing because you are
talking to a guy that has been known to shed a tear at a fat person
losing ten kilos and getting a make over!! So this kind of stuff
is likely to make me a complete mess. One of the boys was telling
me that he doesn’t actually know exactly how old he is,
he doesn’t know his birth-date and has never "had a
birthday." When he came to the orphanage they took him to
the dentist to get an idea of his age. To hear them tell their
stories and still be so positive and grateful for life is really
amazing to me.
Well this weekend is my last in Costa Rica so it will be big.
I am not going away, instead I have arranged to meet up with some
other volunteers and some locals we have met along the way (and
who speak a little English) and we are going to hit the town!!
Look out Cuidad Quesada. I knew I packed "the good shoes"
for a reason!!!
Another long weekend
6 September 2006
I took an extra long weekend and headed down to
Quepos and Manuel Antonio. It’s on the central Pacific coast
of Costa Rica and the beaches are awesome!
I found a cool cheap place to stay - clean, private
bathroom with HOT water, cable TV and cheap!! Each morning the
sun was out and beaming down, the sky was clear and the town itself
not to busy as it was low season. There is also one of the most
beautiful National Parks I have ever been to, probably because
it had more than just walking trails, communal rotundas with coin-operated
BBQs… this park had heaps of wildlife and of course five
perfect beaches within it. Altogether the walking trail was about
10 kms.
Righto, the tourist thing is off the list, it is time to relax
and do nothing, nada- and that’s what I did for the next
three days. I woke up early had a breakfast of fresh fruit and
pancakes and headed for the beach. Found a spot and just watched
the waves roll in and the time pass while listening to my Ipod.
Well, until 3pm anyway, when in 5 minutes the sky turns black
and it pelts down for 3 hours. I worked out then why this time
of year is called "low season." Lesson learnt- start
heading back before 3pm next time.
Overall the weekend was great; it was probably my favourite place
so far. Probably one of the best parts of getting away for the
weekend is that I get to eat anything I want apart from Rice and
Beans and I get to have HOT showers.
Currently listening to: Boyz to men in the internet
Cafe
Currently feeling: Happy
Another great week... but
where’s the water?
30 August 2006
Just a short update today - I’m
heading to the Pacific Coast tomorrow to a place call Manuel Antonio.
It has been another great week - the usual fun and games with
the boys at the orphanage.
Well so far I’ve managed to survive with only cold showers...
I assumed I was in the clear, it can’t much worse? WRONG....
as per my previous entry NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING.... This morning
I woke up - already sweating - to the news that there is NO WATER
today (so no toilet either). SURPRISE!
Just randomly the water supply was turned off... imagine my face.
My shocked face turned to laughter when my family showed me to
the bathroom and waiting for me in the shower was a massive bucket
of water and an empty margarine container... classic.
Currently listening to: Defected
06! (Ministry of Sound)
Currently watching: Desperate Housewives in Spanish...
Currently feeling: Thirsty
Never assume anything...
29 August 2006
The past weekend has been fantastic;
visiting Puerto Viejo was certainly fun to say the least.
I generally live by the phrase "never assume anything"
especially when travelling in a non- English speaking country,
right?? I had studied the bus timetable like never before because
the trip involved 7.5 hours on buses and one connection. The first
leg was locked in; I had to leave my place by 5:45am. Surprisingly
mission accomplished. Basically to get anywhere from where I am
living it is a 2.5 hour ride back to San Jose, change bus terminals
and you are on your way. So I get to San Jose and I have a plan
to get a taxi to the next station and by this time it is getting
hot and extremely humid as always. Another success! I get to the
next terminal on time and buy the last ticket for that bus - phew!
The bus debacle
The bus leaves in 15 minutes and I need some food to eat and to
take on the 5 hour bus ride, heaps to choose to from, no problem,
again I get what I need. Feeling pretty organised at this point
and on top of everything I hear over the PA system something about
Puerto Viejo. I make a dash for the platform just to be safe,
and sure enough they are about to pull away 10 minutes early.
Pretty pissed off, I make it on the bus.
NUMBER 1 Reason To Never Assume Anything: Buses
in Costa Rica can leave whenever really, especially when the driver
"considers" 80% of the passengers are on board he can
make tracks!! I later found out.
NUMBER 2 Reason To Never Assume Anything: Clearly people
in this world have issues with allocated seating and this is my
pet hate. So regardless of allocation if you don’t want
to total crap seat anywhere always get there early.
NUMBER 3 Reason To Never Assume Anything: Just because
you are in Costa Rica and it is 32 degrees with high humidity
and the journey is 5 hours - never assume you will have a bus
that looks anything close to a coach or in fact will have air
conditioning. Such assumptions will only result in disappointment.
Despite the hilarity of my situation I still managed to meet some
friendly people on the bus that helped pass the time. The crazy
thing is the Puerto Viejo is only about 275kms from San Jose but
because of the conditions of the road and or lack of it takes
forever.
The last hour or so of the trip was fantastic, the road or track
(we would call it in Australia) was along the Caribbean coast
line. There were miles and miles of beach mostly untouched and
unmanicured - just natural. This certainly reminded me why I want
to come to Costa Rica, and bucked me up for arriving in Puerto
Viejo.
Paradise…
As soon as we arrived I checked into the nearest "Cabinas"
and headed for the beach, it was really relaxing and quiet. Just
what I needed to have for an afternoon nap. The place where I
stayed was clean and simple- had a queen bed, fans and a private
bathroom and was attached to a cafe that served real coffee free
to guests. Bingo- I was in paradise.
The town itself obviously has a large reggae influence being on
the Caribbean so it has a blended Costs Rican feel about it. On
the Saturday I got a bicycle and went adventuring. I rode the
bike for a few hours along the coast and through a few more towns.
There were really beautiful forests and beaches all around. In
particular a part of the coast has a black sand beach which was
interesting to see and also in many places you can go snorkelling
from the beach.
An Australian, a Spaniard, a German and an Irishman all
sitting in a bar…
Saturday we went out to eat and met some German guys who spoke
English. At one stage when we were eating dinner it reminded me
of those jokes we used to tell..."There was an Australian,
a Spaniard, a German and an Irishman all sitting in bar....."
Sunday morning nursing a mild hangover I got my arse to the bus
station an hour early as I was determined for a window seat so
I could sleep and have fresh air!! Despite being early 10 other
people were already there. Finally got home about 7pm after a
long day on the road I pretty much hit the sack.... I had to work
in the morning!
The best day at the orphanage
Monday at the orphanage was probably one of the best yet, the
kids were very excited as usual and the sun was shining. Because
of the fantastic weather the boys asked if I would take them to
the river as they can't go unsupervised.
The forest that has the leopards
Sounds simple enough take the boys to some (probably dirty) river
and watch them for a while and then bring them back - too easy....
My calm attitude quickly changed when we headed for the forest
... YEAH, THE FORREST THAT HAS THE LEOPARDS... In the spirit of
adventure and "giving it a go" I continued on.
After 10 minutes of climbing over
trees and swinging from vines and slipping in mud (I was like
Huckleberry Fin meets The Jungle Book) the forest opened to the
river. WOW!!!!!
Totally amazing, it was a flowing fresh water stream, with big
swimming spaces then a few mini waterfalls. The boys just jumped
off the river bank into the river. Again, I got into the spirit
of it and thought I would give it a crack too. I did keep the
old Dunlop Volleys on though - don’t like it when I can’t
see the bottom. hahaha!! I worked out then why the kids can’t
go there by themselves: the nice little stream had a decent current.
We were there all afternoon swimming and catching things. I did
have heaps of photos...
NUMBER 4 Reason To Never Assume Anything: When
playing with your digital camera and showing the photos of one
of the best days of the entire trip, apparently there is more
ways to delete the photos than to use the delete function. The
"format" function is just “delete” in disguise.
I thought "format" referred to fancy borders and smoky
effects. So when it read do you want to format? I said yes.
So I have NO photos of my weekend away and of me in the river
frolicking like I am in a Rexona commercial. I will do my best
to take the boys there again. Somehow I don’t think it will
be too hard...
Currently listening to: Defected - Minister of Sound
Currently watching: The Simpsons in Spanish
The backyard blitz continues...
24 August
2006
Leopards, soccer and fixing
the chicken coop
The week has been great; the weather has improved a lot
which has made it all the more enjoyable. Although tonight as
I walk home from here it is likely to bucket down but only for
a short time.
Things at the orphanage have been great too; each of the boys
is really starting to show their true personality and characteristics.
I do have two favourites at this stage but I am certainly not
allowed to tell them!
By the time I get back to Melbourne I will be ready to try out
for the Melbourne Victory soccer team. We have been playing heaps
of soccer lately despite the humidity being above 80%. What makes
it bearable is that the kids think I am good!! (But really, any
six foot guy could beat a 4'10" 40kg kid). I have to say
I do enjoy the fame and glory.
Apart from playing games and helping with English lessons, today
I repaired the chicken coop. The other night two chickens got
eaten by a leopard. I felt all the more comfortable knowing wild
leopards come from the forest right by the orphanage. The repairs
were done with only natural materials - i.e. stuff from the junk
heap or the forest. Afterwards one of the boys - Henry - wanted
to make some type of drainage system to help move the water away
from the coop, so he whipped out a machete and went nuts on the
ground with it. My job.... to dig the ground up with my hands!!!
Apart from digging up a frog that was as big as a small dog, everything
went to plan and I didn’t lose any fingers!! The chickens
are now protected and you can’t forget the state of art
drainage system.
I don’t have to work on Fridays and I have a long weekend
planned for a place called Puerto Viejo which is on the Caribbean
Coast of Costa Rica. I will be sure to fill you in about my long
weekend relaxing on the Caribbean beaches.
Currently listening to: Ace of Base
- “All That She wants”
Currently watching: Two locals dancing to the song!!
Currently feeling: Dirty...
A Great
Weekend Off
21
August 2006
Over
the weekend I headed off to La Fortuna and it was awesome. I got
there at about 8am so I had the whole two days to do explore.
The town out was more touristy than I had imagined and the main
street is full of agencies selling a variety of trips to the surrounding
tourist sights.
I ended up choosing two; the first was to a national park that
was granted some money so they built a number of suspension bridges
throughout the rainforest. The forest was amazing and very beautiful,
lots of lush green plants, water falls and plenty of animals to
be seen and heard. All up it was about a 3km self guided walk
and took about 2 hours.
The El Cano
But the main purpose to visit La Fortuna was the El Cano!!
The second trip I was on left at 3pm from the centre of town and
there were 12 of us on it from all different countries. The volcano
is also situated in a national park so we could only drive so
far before the hiking began. The trip was taking us to both sides
of the volcano. After 5kms of hiking we reached a lookout at sunset
and the views were fantastic. This side is now inactive but only
40 years ago a massive eruption saw three towns buried and hundreds
of people killed. From this lookout point you could see the active
volcano with smoke and ash coming out and also you could see all
over the surrounding country side with the sun setting between
the mountains. The 5km hike back in the dark was a little more
challenging I have to say. Climbing rocks and crossing rivers
in the dark without a torch was not the hard part it was imagining
I was going to walk face first into a spider web!!
Anyway back in the van now and we could hear faint sounds of explosions
and rocks crashing - it was the volcano. We then drove around
to the other side hoping for a clear night so we could see the
lava coming down. The guide took us to a vantage point about 1.5
kms away from the top and it was 95% clear and we could see the
lava shooting out and down the mountain. I was surprised at how
quickly it moves.
Wet n Wild
After all that excitement I was wondering if it could
get better… well it nearly did. The last part of the trip
was to the baldi hot springs. There’s a hotel built around
the hot springs and it basically looks like a 5 star hotel swimming
pool with pool bars mixed with “Wet n Wild” on the
gold coast - and all serviced by the natural hot springs. There
were 12 separate pools with temperatures up to 60 degrees. After
all the hiking I found myself relaxing in the 40 degree pool sitting
at the pool bar putting away a few cocktails on my own. They went
down a treat. We were all dropped off by 10pm and geez I slept
well that night.
Another great day volunteering
Back to the purpose of my trip - volunteering. Today
Lauren (the girl who is staying with my family too) came to the
orphanage with me, so I knew it would be a little easier as she
speaks great Spanish!! We had another great day; over the weekend
one of the boys had a birthday so they had saved me a piece of
cake and some coca cola. I was wrapped - it was a welcome break
from Costa Rica food staples of Rice and beans! I thought it a
good time to bring out the good old clip-on Koalas with I love
Australia on the back!! WHAT A HIT!!
My camera provides hours of entertainment for the kids so we got
it out again and between the koalas and the camera the kids went
crazy! Taking photos of each other and of us, koalas clipped everywhere!
The kids love entertaining us with their bad American English
which we discovered today has come from voiceovers on the Play
Station. I will have to take my video camera one day.
Soccer,
Spanish, and rock-star treatment at the orphanage
19 August 2006
First day at work…
I had my first day of work on Thursday at the orphanage,
which is about a 20 minute bus ride from the house. The kids at
the orphanage are boys aged 9 to 15, from a variety of different
surrounding countries as well as Costa Rica.
 One
moment please…
The kids are great fun and have so much energy, they
are all very keen to learn English and some already have the basics.
One boy, Daniel, only knows the phrase "one moment please"
and he says it all the time. It is really funny to hear him speaking
Spanish and then come out with it in an American accent. He obviously
knows it means ‘hold on’ or ‘wait a second’
because he uses it in the right context.
On my first day all the kids asked me individually if I was happy
to be there and was I enjoying myself. I think they were trying
their best to make me come back. The language barrier with the
kids is not so bad, probably because my Spanish is getting better
and they have some English and of course....... I’ve memorised
the page numbers in the phrase book I need most.
The international language of soccer…
They have a play area that they use as a soccer pitch
which we ran around on. After 5 minutes I looked like a drowned
rat, sweating and puffing. I felt like I was playing soccer in
a sauna!! The humidity is high here.
The next day I went to the school first and then the orphanage.
Not many staff or students speak English at the school, which
was again challenging. I taught a class of 6 year-olds about the
types of items you can buy at different shops in the town. They
seemed to enjoy it; I think the teacher was glad for a break.
Rock star treatment…
Then back to the orphanage- the kids were waiting at
the gate for me as they saw the bus coming down the road, they
all started cheering! People on the bus were looking around thinking
"who the hell is this guy?" … Even the driver
kept looking back through the rear vision mirror. Hahahaha….
I think I can get used to this kind of treatment!
This weekend I am heading La Fortuna which is the closest town
to the foot of the active volcanos and there are a lot of different
adventure tours to choose from.
Did I sign up for cold showers?
Lastly some important information to anyone thinking
of travelling to Costa Rica… NO ONE HAS HOT WATER! I only
discovered this to my surprise when I was ready for a shower soon
after arriving at my family home stay!! I don’t remember
signing up for this. Usually I am a 2-3 shower a day kinda person
but now...... one a day is fine by me. They say here that they
don’t need hot water; the water comes out warm enough and
combined with the weather conditions I can kind of understand.
(I am really trying to convince myself I will survive a month
of cold showers).
It’s
game time
16 August 2006
 Made
it!
Well I finally made it to Costa Rica. I have been here
a few days now and everything has been great. The city of San
Jose and Costa Rica as a whole is not what I expected at all.
The city has a large French and Spanish influence in its structures
as well as its culture.
San Jose is certainly no thriving, bursting at the seams city,
but instead it has an unthreatening and peaceful feel about it.
The people are very friendly and the weather is good.
I stayed at the same hostel our participants do, and it’s
really quite good, with clean rooms and good facilities like a
bar and cafe on site.
My host family
Well, I arrived with my new family today, after a three
hour bus ride up into the hills. Today there weren’t any
chickens or goats on board but it looked like there had been in
the past! The ride up to Cuidad Quesada was amazing and my host
family met me at the bus stop.
My host family doesn’t speak a word of English so the introductions
were interesting to say the least- me reciting phrases from my
phrase book and them speaking to me like I was born here. But
the universal language of smiles and nodding got me through. The
family consists of the mum, dad, two daughters, two brothers and
a nephew.
It
is now or never
14 August
2006
Reality
check…
All jokes aside, I would be lying if I said I wasn't
nervous about flying into Costa Rica today. The months of me talking
up the trip like it is no big deal could possibly all come crashing
down.
For the next four and half weeks I will be surrounded by places
and people totally unfamiliar to me. It is now or never...
I hope the family I will be living with is as excited to have
me as I am to be going there.
Currently reading: Spanish phrase book!!
Currently feeling: A little sick
L.A.
Life
12 August
2006
An
LA stopover before heading to Costa Rica…
Let’s say that a new height of tackiness has been
reached. My dorm friends and I went to LA's version of Twister
last night and guess who was performing live? ... Jessica Simpson.
After singing two songs and not getting a massive reaction she
decided it was a good idea to sing Amazing Graze totally unaided.
BAD IDEA…
Spent most of the morning hanging out on Melrose Ave - heaps of
shops, bars and cafés. The weather is great so I even went
to the beach at Santa Monica. Not sure what’s on for tonight
but they tell me that in LA you never know...
Currently feeling: refreshed
Leaving
home
11 August
2006
IEP’s Work and Ski Canada program is finished
now and all the Canadian clients have gone home very happy after
offering hundreds of Aussies jobs at their resorts. I even had
a 29 year old guy so happy with the program and his job that he
started crying while he thanked me.
Frisky security and the flight
I’m in LA right now and it’s about 29 degrees and
I’m loving it. (P.S. a dog just spewed up next to me in
the internet cafe). I left Australia on the morning of the "extra
security" stuff after the USA and UK alerts so after 4 scans,
a couple of frisks and fortunately no internal searches - I’m
here.
On the flight there was the usual bunch of Aussie
first time mum and dad travellers dressed in Aussie flags and
Coogi knits - very Kath and Kim - lots of "darls" and
"oh that’s interesting," referring to how the
emergency raft would work in the event of an emergency.
Hoping no one will steal my backpack with my G star jeans, Prada
sunnies and polo shirts - JUST JOKING!! Only after 5 hours here
in LA I’m having serious thoughts about leaving all this
and heading to Costa Rica.
Currently listening to: Nothing. I am having Ipod
issues
Currently reading: Spanish prase book
Currently feeling: Sleepy
Welcome
to my Costa Rican adventure!
5 July 2006
This is the first of my postings about my much anticipated
(others would say much unexpected) volunteer adventure to Costa
Rica. I know some of you out there are having large concerns about
my ability to survive the trip!
From Country Road to Costa Rica
For those of you thinking what the hell is going on??!!
Let me bring you up to speed. I have cashed in my three week holiday
to the Greek Islands planned for this August in exchange for a
five week volunteer placement in Costa Rica. Unlike me, huh? I
know.
But don’t worry I will be sure to show you doubters that
a Country Road man-bag and a good selection of Ralph Lauren polo
tops can help any traveller survive the toughest and most challenging
circumstances.
Also (and somewhat surprising considering I am a marketing manager)
this is my first foray into internet gadgets, blogs and the like.
This trip to Costa Rica will certainly be about a lot of "firsts"
for me. One of which is hopefully the "first" time I
will weigh under 80kg's since birth!! The humidity in August and
September is extremely high and combined with my lack of Spanish,
ordering food could be difficult.
Jokes aside, I am really excited about the challenges and rewards
I’m hoping to experience while volunteering in Costa Rica
and I look forward to telling you about them along the way. It's
time to go and practice my Spanish and decide which new shoes
to pack.... JOKING!! I won't do that until the night before. Hehe...
Currently listening to: My new Ipod Nano! (7hours
to work out how to load the music)
Currently reading: Instructions to my camera
Currently watching: Prison Break
Currently feeling: Stressed
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