I arrived in Costa Rica automatically,
and somewhat stupidly assuming it would be Summer as I was told the
temperatures would average 26 degrees in August. They did, but it was the rainy season, with almost daily tropical downpours. The orphanage I had been posted to was tiny -
there were only eleven children there, which was much less than I was used to
when I had worked in Mexico, but more than enough after a few days there as
they were pretty wayward. There were two
sets of twins there, aged one month and eight months, both so adorable. The older two, Carolina and Geovana were the
smiliest babies I have ever set eyes on, and had my life been considerably more
stable, physically and financially, I probably would've considered adopting
them. They were so, so lovely, so easy
going, and truly a joy to be around. I couldn't
believe they had been placed in an orphanage with a disposition like theirs. My favourites were Simon and Dycklin, who
were aged three and four, and had Down's Syndrome. Neither of them had learnt
how to talk yet, but they were pretty good at letting you know how they felt
about things, through their facial expressions, grunts and screaming, and
various temper tantrums - they were real characters. Most of the other children
were a bit harder to communicate with as they were often aggressive, violent
and hard to deal with, though eventually, even they softened up, and learnt to
trust me. It was such an amazing feeling
seeing some of them smile, sit on my lap and hold my hand. It was really heart-warming.
The first few days working at the orphanage were tough as the children
had very little structure or routine to their day, which was probably part of
the reason why they were so difficult to handle. They also had very little outside stimuli,
and there is only so much entertaining two volunteers can do without any toys
or games, so we were really challenged and pushed to think outside of the box. I didn't think I would be able to handle
a month of that and I lacked the professional knowledge or experience to know
how to deal with these wayward children...so I complemented the orphanage work
with a few days working as a school assistant.
The teacher I worked with was lovely, and made me feel at ease there.
The children would kiss me good morning when I arrived and good bye every
afternoon they saw me in school, and wrote me the sweetest notes when I left,
with pictures and even flowers picked from the playground. I was so touched by their affectionate notes
saying how they said they were going to miss me and loved me! Even the teacher
wrote me a beautiful little note.
As for my living situation, I lived in a
house with all the volunteers (doing voluntary work in a variety of fields) in
San Carlos, about 30 of us in total, with an average of 3 girls sharing a room, and a communal bathroom. It actually reminded me of being at summer
camp again! Everyone was friendly
(mostly American), considerate and thoughtful, so I felt more relaxed than I
would have done otherwise, and more a part of a group or community...Living
there was like being back in Greece, where I had been on a spiritual retreat
some years previously (minus the spirituality, but with the community
atmosphere) - there was no TV in the house and no music – just childrens' books
lying around the place, and plenty of time to be creative and live simply as
the "city" did not have much on offer.
On my last day at the orphanage I
remember going back to my roots and cooking the children a Spanish omelette,
which was a big change from their monotonous diet of mostly rice and beans; maybe
an unbalanced diet was a contributing factor to their hyperactivity. When the time came to leave the children and
return back to the UK, I felt sad - the twins were crying because they just
wanted to be held and cuddled, and Karina, who my friend and I christened the
"devil's child" as she was actually quite evil, held my hand and
didn't want me to leave, while Jose Fabio, another dark horse, or pony in the
case of little people, gave me a good bye kiss.
Jenna, my work buddy, also wrote me a beautiful farewell letter. Often
for me, it's the simple gestures that touch me, and yes, I did leave with tears
streaming down my face, but at least the children didn't see them.
Okay, I know not everyone may not be
appreciating all this sentimentality, so here's a low-down on the travelling
that I squeezed in when I was off work. Eighteen of us descended on Manuel Antonio
the first weekend we had off, a renowned world heritage site. The first night, I must say, was a bit weird
- there were four of us sharing a room and two double beds, so I had to share
half a bed with a virtual stranger, but by the second night I'd gotten used to
it. It was beautiful there, we saw birds of paradise everywhere,
iguanas, cicadas, butterflies, bats, wild monkeys on the beach, and even a
sloth in a tree. And this sloth was so
fat you could tell he didn't get around much.
I don't know how they get their food; they must have extra long tongues
for catching flies, so they don't have to move.
Or maybe they're vegetarian. In which
case, what happens when they deplete a branch of leaves?? These creatures are the laziest living things
on earth, so I do wonder.
Before I went to Monteverde I was told it
would be a bumpy ride, and to be prepared.
I was pleasantly surprised until the last hour of the trip, which was a
drive along a very bumpy, winding, pot holed road in the mountains. It brought back memories of coach trips in
Thailand, only the particular journey it brought to my mind was nine hours long
instead of four, over similar terrain.
We went zip lining, which involves hanging off cables (nineteen in
total, with one over five hundred metres long) in the rainforest. That was very comical as I got stuck on the
cable because I was going too slowly, and a guide had to come and take me
through. It meant I got to go really
fast without stopping, so it was a blessing in disguise, as I like speed. I also did the obligatory canopy tour, but
that felt insignificant after the exhilaration of the zip lining. Horse riding followed, and I was surprised
how well looked after and well behaved the animals were; got to canter and gallop
through the forest, and stopped off at an animal refuge on the way. I had friendly monkeys who shared their
living quarters with domesticated sheep jumping on my shoulder and trying to
eat my hair! When it all got too much
and I felt like I was on my way to a losing my scalp, all I had to do was start
walking, and they immediately jumped off – clever monkeys!
The last travel stop was Tortuguero,
which was like an African safari, except it was on water. We saw more monkeys, herons, giant turtles,
caimans, toucans, falcons, kingfishers and giant lizards. Our hotel also had cute little red frogs
running about the place, which I later found out were poisonous, so I am glad I
didn’t accidentally step on any.
On a final note, I will end on this -
Pura Vida! These are the most commonly
used words in the Ticos' (the Costa Ricans) vocabulary. It literally translates as Pure Life!, but in
Costa Rica it can mean many things, such as that's cool, it's cool, you're cool,
hi, good bye, and even, just to personalize it - until next time, from another
country far away – Pura Vida!
© Copyright Vanessa Sicre
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