Costa Rica- "Costa Rica"

So today I descended the steep road from FUDEBIOL to my house for the final time. The sun was shining (!!) bringing out the different shades of green carpeting the surrounding hills. Of course, there have been some tedious days and Jesús has, at times, tested my patience a little but it has been a great month of volunteering in a reserve and community that I have grown to be very fond of.

It feels like we have cleaned "La Reserva Biologico Las Quebradas" from head to toe (but there is always more for the next volunteer!) and manned the office for hours but we have also planted trees as part of the “Mi arbol para la vida”(My Tree for Life) reforestation project, created and painted a beautiful new stick storage area and experienced the “pura vida” life of living and working in the countryside in Costa Rica. Our work has not been astonishing in any form but it has been a great learning experience for me. From dealing with Spanish phone calls to busying ourselves during quiet times, you always gain more than you think from even the smallest of tasks.

I have transformed from “la niña” to become “la mujer peligrosa”, following a joke involving a bamboo cane last week, but to my amazement both Jesús and Jorge managed to utter my name today! I will miss Jesús and his scatty ways, the way he lights up when you get him talking and how content he seems in amongst the trees and plants of the reserve. All the Ticos who work/ volunteer at the reserve have been so welcoming and enthusiastic about our work, though it is frustrating at times when they are so specific about exactly how they want you to do a task as simple as writing on a sign!

Back down the hill, it has been a busy week with Sara, my host sister, jetting off to the United States and two birthday gatherings to which I was invited. Nearly everyone present both lived in Quebradas and were related in some way. The Caldarón family, my host family, seem to inhabit a large proportion of the houses along the road but it is nice that, after just a month, I now recognise many of them. The first birthday was a beautiful family occasion with everyone sitting in a circle, enjoying traditional food and juices with some very repetitive jovial background music. The birthday boy had considerable visual impairment but everyone was very understanding and went to out of their way to help him. There was a lot of laughter, especially when the cake candles didn’t blow out and notably no alcohol in sight. There was a shower of presents, including umpteen T-shirts and bottles of deodorant but everyone gathered around to watch him open them and you felt that he and his family appreciated every one of them. It was a very genuine occasion of love and family support and it is amazing that the next day, he was setting off on a three day long trek with some friends, despite being virtually blind.

Yesterday was the birthday of my host mum, Giselle's, aunt. This gathering was a lower key occasion with the same crowd, good food and the most luminous birthday cake I have ever seen, which followed the worst rendition of “Happy Birthday” I have ever heard! My “host grandmother”, born and bred and lived in Quebradas for her whole life has taken a while to warm to me. Surrounded by family and her near identical sister, she really came to life, often flashing the warmest of smiles. The community of Quebradas has been a real highlight of my time here. It is a tribute to Giselle and her family that I feel quite settled after four weeks and would rather not leave to go travelling tomorrow! I was very touched that Sara gave me one of her hand painted boxes to say goodbye; something I will really treasure.

As always, there are thing you miss and things you don’t. The Costa Rican “rice and beans” diet is no myth but I have been fairly lucky on this front, keeping it to just twice per day. During my time here, Giselle has cooked for me and I have mostly enjoyed her cooking. Typically meals are loaded with either salt or sugar and is often fairly detached from anything natural (other than of course the rice and beans). The colours of powdered juices are vibrant to say the least. Even though Costa Rica a world leading banana and pineapple producer, fruit has been surprisingly hard to come by though what I have had has been perfect. I definitely won’t miss the micro waved Liptons tea and as there are no ovens to be seen, everything is fried, including all vegetables, rice and famously a boiled egg! I am looking forward to mum’s food and a good brew when I get home!

As I move on, life will in Quebradas will continue and other foreigners will come to enjoy what the village has to offer. We have spent hours painting our plaque that has been hung at the reserve to remind them of us but I certainly will not forget my time here. Though I have a week remaining, I fear that now I am leaving Costa Rica and travelling to the tourist “Costa Rica. From what I have experienced from our weekend trips, it is quite different.

My bag is packed but I don’t want to go. It has been a pleasure to stay here. Though at times, it has been challenging, I have had some great times, learnt a lot and made new friends. I know for a fact that in a few months, when I’m back in the library and attempting to write something meaningful on “The Golden Age of Northumbria”, I will be wishing to be back. Back to the world of innumerable insect bites, noisy motorbikes and rice and beans. Muchas gracias por todo Las Quebradas. ¡Hasta Luego!