Mi llegada

I left the U.S. on Friday (5/31). My first flight was at 6:30 AM, so naturally, I was unable to sleep the night before and was antsy to make sure I was simultaneously not packing too much and not forgetting anything important. Getting to LIR (Liberia, not pronounced like the African country) and getting to my host-stay family's house was relatively easy and pain-free. Because I was traveling by myself and I look Hispanic (which I am) a lot of people assumed I could speak Spanish, but on three or so hours of sleep I could barely string together words in English.

For my first official day in Sámara, I did not do much. I met my home-stay family and went to a supermarket known as Palí. Briefly, I officially met the directors of CREAR, the organization I am working for. I know the gist of what I am to do for them and what they do, but I will not get a tour of their inner workings until Monday. Also, I figured out the basics of what to expect for home-stay and that although I have always loved air conditioning, it's not hard to get by with all the windows of the house open and a powerful fan. Weather here is more tropical than northern Florida, and every time I go outside I want to run into the shower or into the sea.

Saturday was more fun, in that I got to talk to my host family more and I went to CREAR's fundraiser known as CREAR Combate. A combate is a race; CREAR made this into a sort of mini-triathlon,  with events like racing on bikes, running, swimming, surfing, wheel-barrow, and ranitas (leap-frog.) This event allowed me to get a picture of what the CREAR community looks like more so than the community - there were not many ticos and ticas (Costa Rican men and women), but lots of foreigners mostly from either the United States or Germany. The area is touristy in general, which I read about beforehand, but it's interesting to see the dichotomy between the rural area of town (where I live) versus the areas pandering to tourists. There are no resorts and no large differences in wealth between various areas in the small town, but the community appears friendly to U.S. and European tourists. A couple of Duke and Vanderbilt students working with CREAR showed me around the town more and made sure I did not get lost again.

Tomorrow is my first day at CREAR, in which I will get a fuller introduction the community (and El Torito nearby) and my exact responsibilities for CREAR.