RoJo in Costa Rica: THE MANY FACES OF A PEACE CORP VOLUNTEER

Sunday, July 11, 2010

THE MANY FACES OF A PEACE CORP VOLUNTEER

This is the face of no sleep. After we spent all night wondering what the scratching mouse like

noise was in our ceiling. What knocked over the dishes in the middle of the night...just a huge stray cat that likes to sneak in.

What's that horrible smell? Somehow the kitties got under the house again and that's the smell of fresh cat poop.

We just crossed the river in our rubber boots. We're roughing it. We're in the Peace Corp.

This is Joe thinking about waking up tomorrow morning at 2:00 then at 2:15, 3:00, 3:30, 4....and so on. The three roosters give him night terrors.

Ice cream bars are only 40 cents here in Grano de Oro. They make us so happy and we can afford them on our Peace Corp living allowance. Luckily with all the walking; Joe is no longer the bloated office buffalo he was when we came. He's lost 17 lbs. This is said with all lovingness. He was the one that actually said it when looking at our Peace Corp pictures.

This is the "that was a little funky" look that I think all volunteers get-frequently. It could be over the food one day, the toilet we had to use, the mysterious drink we had to drink....the list could go on and on.

This is the "nasty" look. It happens frequently here. Mostly to do with nature and animals being within our comfort zone. Sometimes with food....although at times we do now crave fried bologne.

What can you do but smile and laugh.....we're in the Peace Corp! It's all part of the experience.

We have to admit...the life of a Peace Corp volunteer has it's ups and downs...as Joe proved this day we were taking pictures.

THINGS THAT MAKE US LAUGH......NOW:-))

They keep washing our tennis shoes and hiking boots. We've never had white tennis before. Only the day after we walked out of the store.
We have grass growing up between the floorboards in our room. It adds to the natural environment we live in. We are from Montana and thought we were pretty hard core, but this is really with nature.
Robyn's counterpart, the doctor in charge of the health clinics for the territory calls his horse salchicha....because it is old and will soon become bologne. We are just hoping it will not become the deep fried bologne that we are frequently served.
There was a 4 x 4 inch spider on our bedroom door. That still isn't quite so funny. What is funny is that our the father in our household herded it out of our room with a stick and to the cracks between the floorboards. It also eats cockroaches. The cockroaches have found their match between that spider and the kitty cat Manchas.
There was a mama bird flying in the gap between the ceiling and wall in our bedroom. The bird had a nest in above our bed. During the night we wondered what the hacking sound was....we later figured out it was the mama bird puking up food for her babies. They have gotten big and flown the coop. We thank them for it.
I had a bot fly, and a video to prove a larvae was growing inside me. Joe put the video to Star Trek music. He does want to name our child Tiberius.
Never have we inspected our bathroom trips so thoroughly. Lots of people in our area get worms. It won't be on the list of things that make us laugh if we find something.
When we first came our little brother told us it was raton poop. Mouse poop. Later we found out it was cockroach poop. Who knew cockroaches pooped.
The kitties eat the cockroaches. Sometimes we have to maim them a little bit with our flips flops but then Manchas and Gary move in for the kill.

WE AREN'T LAUGHING.... YET

The kitties are once again....bolsas de pulgas....flea bags. We have treated them twice and hopefully they will be clean for a while.
Some nights we find 10 cockroaches all over our clothes. They especially like our tooth brushes and toothpaste.
We still find cockroach poop all over our clothes.
The roosters love to sleep in the tree outside our window. They like to start between 2-4 a.m. Then they move to just sitting under our window.
The kitties are still pooping under the floorboards under our bed. It stinks.

VALUABLE THINGS WE HAVE LEARNED

Rinse all glasses before pouring a beverage in. The slugs that look like miniature snakes have no nutritional value.
This is another don't look too closely but it must be mentioned. Don't look too closely at the drawers on the shower floor. Sometimes they contain turds. Now we just push them to the side without looking.
There is a reason Costa Rica is so green. It rains all the time.
One can never know how fast humans can actually move and get their clothes on until you've felt an earthquake.
Intense thunder and lightening storms in Costa Rica can make one believe that a Volcano is erupting. Joe didn't think so, but I had to check and see if Volcan Turrialba was still there the next morning.
Sometimes it's better not to look too closely. Nuff said. It applies to everything. Looking in your underwear bag, looking at the food, looking in the cracks in the floorboard at the cat poop, looking at your poop. Somethings are better left unkown.
Masking tape all bites that last more than 1 week. It might be a Bot Fly.
Keep headlamp on bedpost just an arms length away at night. It helps to avoid the toads in the kitchen on the night trip to the toilet. It also gives light to see what the noise near the bed is. Usually it is just frogs that hop in the hole in the floor. We herd them out with a stick.
Clear all winged flying insects and cockroaches out of the bathroom before going at night. Especially out of the toilet bowl.
Always shake your clothes out before putting them on. You never know what is going to come flying out. Supposedly it might shake off Bot Fly eggs also.