Flickr Photostreams

My travels around Guatemala and Costa Rica are almost complete. No quiero irme, pero necesito regresar a EEUU.

Here are the Flickr photostreams for both my Costa Rica and Guatemala sets:

Costa Rica – http://www.flickr.com/photos/57779153@N05/sets/72157625856478776/

Guatemala – http://www.flickr.com/photos/57779153@N05/sets/72157625856473504/

 

14 de enero

Costa Rica has two coasts: the Caribbean and the Pacific. Playa Matapalo is on the Central Pacific coast. During the middle of the day it is extremely hot on the coasts. To prevent heat exhaustion, any hard labor that needs to be done at the turtle project is done in the early mornings or late afternoons. Today everyone had to wake up early and work from 6-7:30am, and then 4-5pm moving clean sand near the edge of the ocean into the hatchery.

The night brought exciting news… after a few days of 24 hour surveillance, one of the last remaining nests of turtle eggs hatched! Sea Turtle eggs typically hatch at night, which makes it extremely difficult to document. Plus turtles are greatly affected by light, so the only light that can be used during the measuring and weighing process is a red light, and no light can be used when the turtles make their journey to the sea. With that said I was able to capture some footage, but it isn’t the best.

13 de enero

This morning I woke up extremely early to take a bus from Heredia to San Jose to Matapalo to document the Proyecto Conservacion Tortugas Marinas en Playa Matapalo.

Sea turtles are an endangered species, and the Turtle Conservation Project in Matapalo, Costa Rica protects the eggs of sea turtles from the time they are laid until the baby turtles hatch. There is a hatchery in which the turtle eggs are placed to protect them from poachers, natural predators, and environmental hazards.

The season for sea turtles to lay eggs is from June – December. So right now it’s the end of the turtle season and I won’t be able to document any turtles laying eggs, but I might be able to see some turtles hatch.

At this time there are about 15-20 people volunteering at the project. When the volunteers aren’t on their hatchery watch (which runs 24/7) or doing other volunteer work such maintenance on the hatchery or the residence, they get to hang out, doing such things as playing cards, reading, or surfing.

12 de enero

¡Pura vida!  Mae, ¿qué me dices?  ¡Tuanis!

Mauricio, the COINED office director in Costa Rica, after I bothered him for some time, he taught me some Costarricense frases.

Close to Sunset I went for a walk around Heredia and strolled through Parque Central. There I spied un arco iris en el cielo.

11 de enero

There are many people who volunteer with COINED around Latin America. One of the places where many people volunteer at is Asociación Obras del Espíritu Santo. Obras is a Christian based organization that was developed to better its community en el Barrio Cristo Rey, providing child care, a community kitchen, restaurant, jobs for women, school, and soon there will be a small farm with a variety of animals. Children who live in the city are out of touch with where their food comes from, and the intention of the farm is to be a learning tool, as well as an income generator to keep the doors of Espíritu Santo open.

I am staying at COINED’s residencia en Heredia, and both of my roommates, Ines Y Diarra, volunteer at Asociación Obras del Espíritu Santo.

10 de enero

My travels in Costa Rica will mainly consist of documenting various COINED related programs. On my first day I went to a language school in Heredia that COINED is partnered with called “Centro de Idiomas Intercultural.” This school has language immersion classes for spanish or english. It offers tons of extracurricular activities, such as cooking classes, dance lessons, trips to places such as Monteverde, not to mention a gorgeous jardin.

After that I went to Century Metals & Supplies. They are a factory that COINED has partnered with to offer internships in business and sales. They are a company based in Florida, but they also have a strong presence in Latin America. If you are looking for language and cultural immersion while doing an internship, Century offers a great opportunity to do so.

9 de enero

Today I left Guatemala for Costa Rica. Before I boarded the plan I purchased a zapote from a street vendor. Zapote is a fruit, which to me has a texture and taste between a mango, papaya, and a winter squash.

In remembrance of my days in Guatemala, here are some cellphone videos I shot while traveling around. They are from my travels between La Capital and Antigua, around Lago Atitlán and Chichicastenango. Marimba music is the traditional music of Guatemala, so the music bed in the video is an example of such.

8 de enero

Today I rented a bicycle and road around Antigua y algunos pueblos cerca de Antigua.

The People in Antigua are called Panzas Verdes (green bellies).  Aguacates (avacados) flurish here, so the people eat a lot of avocados.  Also, during economic depressions, the people have depended on avacados as a main source of food.

One of the near by towns I road to today was Jocotenango.  Here I found a food stand full of people and decided to find out why it was so crowded.  It was crowed because they were serving ceviche!  I normally don’t eat meat, and yes that includes seafood, but I decided, “hey, you only live once.  I’m gonna try ceviche.”  So I did, and it was fabulous.

Under El Arco, I encountered a group of musicians playing traditional Mayan music.

7 de enero

Estoy triste, hoy es mi último día en COINED Antigua.

For the students who had their final day today, we had a graduation ceremony.  Here is Sehan Aadnane’s graduation speech.  Check out how great her spanish is after only 2 weeks, having only studied a little bit before she came!

6 de enero

Today was another day of learning el subjuntivo.  Took spice things up a bit, my 2nd teacher in the morning, Francisco, to me on a tour of the cemetery in Anitgua while practicing el subjuntivo.

While walking around the cemetery Francisco told me he is from Jocotenango, which means he is from the ground of jocotes.  Jocotes are a small fruit with a strong citrus flavor, and a texture and pit similar to that of a mango.  On our journey away from the cemetery we ran into a woman and child selling jocotes, so I bought some and tried them for the first time!

In the afternoon I went to Cerro de la Cruz during my cultural class.  From there you can see all of Antigua, the surrounding pueblos, and the 3 volcanoes.  The volcano in the photos is Volcán de Agua.