Winter in Winnipeg

I have been seriously lacking on the postings... about 2 months worth I think. I am already back in Winnipeg for Christmas with the family. The last month in Costa Rica was amazing. We did so many amazing things—camping on the top of a mountain in the extreme wind, mountainous treks to find a waterfall in Santa Domingo, lots of football, lots of beach. I learned how to surf, and kept working on my Spanish.

I then went to New York for about 5 days. Everyone was in finals, so it was a little hectic, but it was really nice to see everyone again. I was even able to go see the x-mas tree, and all the christmas windows in the city....

But now I am in Winnipeg. It is nice to see the family, but I hope to not stay here too long. It's hard to adjust to the cold, cars, big stores, and everything else that kind of goes along with a city. I should be heading to Kampala, Uganda in February, with either a stopover in London, or back to Costa Rica for a few weeks before Africa. I need the heat—Winnipeg is definitely too cold for me!

beauty.

Pura Vida in Costa Rica

Costa Rica was amazing. I don't even know how to describe my experience about it. I went through many different phases there, but left with the strongest desire to go back, possibly even to live. The people there are fantastic, and just live in a different way. They work really hard, but focus on enjoying their lives and not stressing about everything. They take things seriously, but are very relaxed and don't use guilt as a motivation to do something. They are such warm people, and just seem to be happier. They work to live, rather then live to work, and it shows in how they enjoy their lives. It is completely different from the North American mentality.

When I first arrived in Samara, I couldn't understand how anyone would be able to give up their "real life" in Canada, USA, or Europe for CR. It seemed absurd to me. But as I spent more time there, I became addicted to the place. The way they live each day, and how they enjoy everything is just amazing, and something I want to continue doing wherever I decide to live. I would even consider returning to Samara to live. I don't know for how long, not sure if I would want to spend the rest of my life there, but the longer you are there, the less you want to leave. It is just fantastic. And I have promised myself that if I ever forget the Pura Vida philosophy (which is to live the pure life, enjoy, take whatever comes and deal with it, no stress...) I will have to return to remind myself. It is just a better way of life. And my priorities have definitely altered from my experience there. I am not so concerned with having some high paying job, with a big house and fancy car. It is a place that I think everyone should go spend some time, and not just a week, but enough time to actually get a sense of the place, and meet the people. I think that many people would be a lot happier if they were able to adopt some of the Tico philosophies of life.

Cold Showers, Hotdog Buns, and Border Crossings

I've become an expert in the art of taking cold showers. You need to approach the stream of water with determination and without any fear. There are two techniques that can be executed. One is the "splashing" strategy, where you scoop small amount of water over yourself, attempting to climatize yourself to the cold. The second strategy, and the one I prefer, is when you dive straight in and submerge yourself in the flowing water. The best way is to start with your hair, and everything else follows after that. The first 15 seconds are somewhat challenging, but after the initial shock it can actually be quite enjoyable. It's an important lesson to learn, especially considering there is no hot water anywhere in costa rica or nicaragua (at least, not where I have been). 

From my travels in Costa Rica and Nicaragua I have come to understand that bread is not something that many typical ticos or nicos appreciate. If there is any bread, it is most likely plain, white bread. OR-- what I have come to realize is possibly more common (especially in nicaragua) is the use of hotdog buns in place of regular bread. Order french toast, you get french toast made with hd buns, order french bread, you get hd buns, order a club house sandwich, you get 4 hd buns with some sort of filler in between. I don't really understand the logic behind it, whether they think it actually tastes the same, or if they don't know the difference, but it is quite entertaining once you get paste the initial disappointment. 

Do not ever try to cross the Nicaraguan/Costa Rica border (trying to enter CR) on a Sunday. Apparently (and we were unaware of this at the time), everyone leaves Nicaragua on Sunday to go find work in CR for the week (at least this is what we deciphered from our experience). We got on a bus from Granada to Rivas at 6:45 am, arrived in Rivas by 8:30, made a direct connection to the border and arrived at 9:30. We thought we would then be able to go straight through and make it in to Costa Rica in record time. Little did we know that the border did not open until 12 pm, and we would be waiting with what seemed like thousands of other people until we would finally be let through. We sat in the same spot in like for 6 hours without moving, in the hot sun, with people pushing and cutting, until we finally made it through the border at around 3:30 pm. We finally made it back to Samara by 8 pm, but this was only after we paid a taxi to take us from the border to Samara (a 4 hour and $80 trip). So, the moral of the story-- no border crossings (from less desirable to more desirable countries) on sundays!

Nicaragua Travels

So we are off to Nicaragua tomorrow. The rain has finally subsided, and 7 of us are going to travel to Nicaragua in the morning. We are planning to stop at a few different cities, with the first stop in Rivas and then continuing on to Isla Ometepe, Granada, and Leon. It is slightly entertaining that we have just come out of the storm in Costa Rica and now there is apparently lots of rain in Nicaragua. But it should be a really fun trip, and lots of good people are going! we are going to leave around 7 am and will hopefully make it all the way to Rivas, but if not we will just stop somewhere along the way for the night.

Last night we all went out for the last night in Samara, as many of the people we are traveling with wont be returning after Nicaragua. It is sad to see them all go, but hopefully there will be some new students in classes when I return.

Samara is a great little town, but it is very small. I have gotten to the point where you know most of the travelers, and many of the locals (ticos) as well. It is a beautiful place when it is not raining, but everyone knows each other so the soap opera dynamic has kind of been created. But besides that it is a great place, you just have to try not to get too intertwined in all the activities of the town.

RAIN RAIN RAIN!!! and more rain.

I have never experienced as much rain in my life as I think I have in the last 2 days. It has been raining nonestop for the last 48 hours, and harrrrd! The streets have turned in to rivers, the school is leaking, if you want to go anywhere you get completely soaked, and there is no hope of becoming dry. ever. I think it is a combination of it being October, which is known to have a lot of rain, but I also think there is a storm compounding the rain. So we have just been hanging out at school, watching movies, reading, and last night some friends had a little dinner party at their apartment, so we all went over to that. I've been told that it should start to clear up by tomorrow, which would be really great. Normally we get a few hours of rain a day, but it is balanced by quite a lot of sun. But that is definitely NOT the case today. It is pretty impressive actually!

Other then that I am just wrapping up my 3rd week of classes, finishing off Principante 4 (the forth level of school), before moving on to Intermediate 1. My Spanish is improving, while my english is getting worse. I'm forgeting words, how to spell, and have a hard time formulating intelligent sentences. The best part is that everyone is going through the same thing, so it makes for some quite interesting and entertaining conversations! (see what I mean...)

my room/walk to school

my hot little room...

clothes/bathroom...

my walk to school...

Arriving in Costa Rica!

So after a series of unfortunate events causing me to nearly miss my flight (I had to RUN across JFK airport and only take carry on luggage as the baggage check had already closed) I arrived in Costa Rica. I was met at the airport by my host mother who took me to her house in Heredia for the night. The next day I took a 5 and a half hour bus ride to Samara, where I am going to spend the next 2 months. On the bus I met a couple from the Netherlands, Stephen and Linda. They were so incredibly sweet and it turns out they were enrolled in the language school in Samara as well, so we were able to navigate the journey together. When we arrived in Samara it was already getting dark (the sun sets at around 6 pm here), and I went to meet my Tico (Costa Rican) family. My Tico mother is Alice, tico sister is Stephanie, and Stephanie has a one month old son, Matias. The family is very nice, and as my Spanish is improving I am getting to know them better as we can actually communicate. It doesn't hurt that Stephanie speaks english as well. 

School is going well. It is RIGHT on the beach which is amazing- you walk out of the school and are ON the beach. Considering I've only been in class for 4 days my Spanish is improving a lot, and there are tones of activities to do when your not in school (yoga, soccer, dance class, cooking class, etc.). I'm also excited to learn to surf and take some trips to other parts of the country. The school offers trips you can sign up for, or you can plan your own (to national parks, coffee plantations, etc.) 

Each Friday there is an exam to see if you can move up to the next level of classes. I was tested my first day and was put in the principal 2 class (skipped principal 1), which was nice, but I'm missing some of the basic vocab words (like colors and numbers and things), which is making the learning process a little more interesting. But there's a test tomorrow so we'll see if I pass it! 

There's people here from all over the world, many from the states (california, utah, new jersey, tennessee, and florida), as well as people from the netherlands, switzerland, france, germany, and other places in europe. What makes it even better is that the staff here are all super nice as well, so that's really nice. 

hmm.. i guess that gets everyone caught up until now. pictures to follow...

New York!!!!!!!

I was in New York for 3 days before heading down to Costa Rica. Coincidentally, I arrived the same day as our Guatemala gallery opening. It was so nice to see everyone again, and all the pictures and products from our time in San Lucas. Here are some pictures from the gallery.

Winnipeg

So I'm back home! I got here on a few days ago and have just been hanging out with friends and family. Got a job at a restaurant/cake shop for the next few months before I take off again... so just plan on working a lot for the next little bit and that's about it!

Calabasas, CA

So I left Derek and Anaheim and met my friend Lily. I'm now staying in Calabasas for a few days, and plan on going to Newport Beach and Laguna Beach tomorrow, before heading back to Big Sur early next week. We went for sushi last night and it is remarkable how much fresher the fish is here than Winnipeg or New York. It's not even comparable! Lily and I are planning on going to Malibu today before meeting up with friends from Winnipeg (Tristan and Shalen) for dinner. 

The weather is amazing here and I could definitely get used to it! Hopefully Winnipeg is nice (and not raining!) when I get back, which is coming up soon!

LA

So I did actually make it down to LA the other day. I left Lukie and took a bus down to LA where I met a friend, Derek, and stayed with him for 2 nights in Anaheim Hills. Tomorrow I am going to meet another friend, Lily, and stay with her for a few days before heading back to Big Sur. Also planning to meet up with other people from back home that now live in LA. My friend, Shalen, is living in Santa Montica, and his brother, Tristan, is visiting for their birthday this weekend, so I'll be able to celebrate with them! And Lily and I plan on going to Newport Beach on Friday to meet up with a friend of hers.

I really like California actually. The weather is amazing-much nicer than Winnipeg. Hopefull when I get back to Winnipeg the weather is nice cause it will be hard to adjust otherwise.

I've been thinking about plans for next year and I'm looking in to Spanish schools in Costa Rica.. right now I'm thinking about going to school for about 8 weeks in October and November, before heading back to Guatemala for Thanksgiving in Novemeber (American Thanksgiving), when some people from New School will be returning. Then back to Winnipeg before heading to Africa in January. Well at least that is the plan as of today, it seems to be changing daily!

Some pictures

California

So I left Guatemala yesterday and arrived in California. I was supposed to go stay with my friend, Lukie, in Big Sur, but because of the wildfires they have all been evacuated and are staying in Pebble Beach (outside Monterey). It is a really beautiful spot, but it's kind of hectic with about 4 families living in the house.. but it is making it quite exciting and jam packed days. I think we are going to try to get to Big Sur on the weekend, or Monday, to start up the camp that I was going to work at with kids from the area. I was originally going to try to visit some friends in LA and other areas but now not sure if I'll be able to make it down... but I guess we will see what happens!

Then I should be back in Winnipeg on July 25th, and thinking about staying there for about a month before taking off somewhere else.. thinking about costa rica!

Backpacking Guatemala

So we (my friend Jane and Trey) left San Lucas Toliman and started our own adventure around Guatemala. Trey and I started by traveling to Quezeltenango (Xela) in search for indigo.. which turned out to be quite the search indeed.. we didn't end up finding the natural die, but we did get to stay in a hotel that was a converted prison! It was such a strange hotel, but had an amazing view of the town square. After that Trey and I met up with Jane in Antigua, spent a few nights there, and then started our trek north. We went to see caves in Lanquin, the ruins in Tikal, we stayed in the creepiest hotel in Chisec which had huge statues of dinosaurs and mushrooms with fake tree waterslides, then we went to the jungle where we had to hike 4 km to get to our "hotel" and went swimming in the clearest, most beautiful lake! We then went to Coban, stayed there for a night, before going back to Antigua. We stayed in Antigua for the last 3 nights or so. Jane and I went on an adventure up a volcano and saw lava and Jane got to poke the lava with her stick.... and then we came back to Antigua and left Guatemala yesterday morning. I know that was a long long list of random names but I will try to give more details or pictures sometime soon....

Phone Number

Hey!

So if anyone wants to get in touch in the next few weeks while I´m still in Guatemala I have a phone number which is...

country code (502) 4201-6408

I´m leaving San Lucas today with friends to go traveling.. keep you updated!

Last Few Days!

So we are just wrapping up the last few days with the women. We are frantically trying to finish making store brochures for the workshops that the women are planning to give tourists, the store re-design, and teaching the women how to make patters,sew, and innovate products.

Today the women signed their contract too!! So we have 6 women who are the directors of the association. They are going to take out a loan that we facilitated for them. It isn´t really a loan, but more of a forced savings plan with a savings rate of about 26% annually. It is actually a really great system for the women. Some women can´t afford the loan so they are going to be ¨collabaradoras¨or collabarators, and will help the association in other ways. So that was a really great thing to have finally accomplished.

We have a big presentation tomorrow for the women, CARE and people in the community about what we´ve been doing for the last month. Things are crazy busy, but it should all work out. The group leaves for Antigua on Friday, I´m still deciding whether I will go with the group to Antigua or leave with a few friends to San Pedro which is where we went last weekend...

back to the store to finish it before tomorrow morning!

Chichicastenango

Last weekend most people went to San Pedro, but I wasn´t feeling that great so I stayed home, and instead we went to ¨Chichi¨ on Sunday for the day. Chichi is supposed to be the best market in central america. We set off at 10 am and didn´´t arrive until 2 pm becausae we decided to take the local way of transport.. we first took a boat, then a pick up truck, 3 busses, and finally a van. It took a long time but was super cheap. On the way back we decided to splurge and take one van, which ended up costing us about 70 Quetzalas each (about 10 bucks.. really expensive I know!).
The market was great though and it was fun to see all the different products and stuff for sale. The one annoying part, which is everywhere is Guatemala, is that you are constantly surrounded by little kids and old women trying to sell you things. They come up to you as soon as you get off the boat and wont leave you alone. It is kind of sad, but you have to really ignore them or else they wont leave you alone. But it´s just part of the culture here, and you get used to it eventually.

The boat ride....








On the back of the pick up truck... my favorite way to travel.








A beautiful church in chichi. we weren´t allowed to take pics inside unfortunately...










View of the market.











Trey´s Member´s Only jacket-Guatemala style.

The Kids

The women all bring their children with them to the workshops. These are some of the cutest kids I have ever seen!

Workshops

We´ve continued to collaborate with the women on different workshops. We´ve been teaching them about roles within their association, drafting contracts, and how to give workshops to tourists, and the women then teach us about beading, weaving, their culture, etc.

Weekend in Panajachel

We decided to take the weekend and visit the town of Panajachel for a change of pace. Our town is very quite and small, and even though it is on the lake, it does not attract many tourists at all. We spend one night in Panajachel and went out for dinner which was fantastic (the dinner´s we´ve been eating are seriously lacking as we eat at the same restaurant for every meal, and the food is really not that great), we went out dancing, and then on Saturday 5 of the girls took a boat to San Pedro, which is another town on Lake Atitlan and went horseback riding. Some other people went extreme mountain biking which turned out to be very extreme, and others just stayed in town and went shopping and eating. I think we all had a really nice time and we´re already planning another trip to another town around the lake next weekend.

Aashrita and me on the boat to Pana. So sad she and Aparna are leaving us today!

Stacy, Jane, Anna, Me, and Aashrita taking a break from horseback riding.


Dinner at a restaurant called Sunset. Everyone was so happy for a change in food!

First Week of Workshops

So we have been teaching the women different skills this past week through different workshops. The marketing team kicked it off with a workshop on branding and the importance of symbols and colours. The business team (my team) then did a workshop on the value of the women´s labour and how they should be pricing their products. Right now they do not take in to account the amount of time they work on a product, and therefore they price it at a very very low price, where they are not even making enough money to cover their expenses. The business team went through an exercise for the women to see what items they need to take in to account when they are pricing their products (such as large capital costs, material costs, their labour, etc.). I think the women really learnt a lot from this as one said that maybe they should stop weaving all together as they are actually losing money by doing so. We don´t want them to stop their craft, but we want them to see how much they need to charge in order to make any money by doing it. After going through the pricing sheet for the women to see how much they needed to charge for a huipil (the typical woven shirt that all the Mayan women wear and make) we did another exercise so that they women could see where they could cut costs and therefore lower the price. I think they really started to understand the whole process of pricing their products, which is an amazing start. The design team then did a workshop with them regarding the design process, which was great because after the business workshop the women were interested in creating new products rather than only the traditional Guatemalan products. Since then we have also given workshops on inventory, savings, and pattern making, and have also gone to the women´s store to see how we can help them redesign it to make it more tourist friendly. Yesterday the Mayan women taught us how to bead their traditional belts, dye yarn, and how to speak in their traditional language of Katchikel (I don´t know how to spell it, it is a VERY difficult language)! I´m excited for all the other workshops because they all seem to be having a very positive impact for all people involved. It´s been a very busy first week!




Reina and Sandra at their store. The items are displayed just by being hung on the walls so you can´t tell if the item is a shirt, napkin, scarf etc. There´s a lot to be done to the store, but so much potential so it´s very exciting!







One of the first workshops lead by the design team.










Trey and Aashrita beading.










Candace beading. It was really beautiful. The Mayan women typically bead floral decorations but they saw that there were other possibilities. The whole process takes several hours; we were working from about 10 am to 3 pm and finished several inches of the work.








Me and Estella, one of the daughters who comes with her mother to the workshops. All the kids are so intrigued by digital cameras and just want to take pictures with them.

Our Home!

So we are staying in San Lucas which is much smaller than Antigua, and not much to do, but our days are filled with the workshops that we are giving the women and the ones that they are giving us.

The gate at the front of our house. We have to ring the bell to get let inside...

Our blue house.

Candace and my blue room (with 1 of the 4 bathrooms attached). The blue mood of the house fits the cold, dampness we feel everyday as it is continously raining (it is winter here).

Partial view of our backyard. Comes complete with firepit, wood stove-bbq, small hammock chair, and little yard.

View from our roof. We are surrounded by mountains and volcanoes that are covered with trees and greenery. We are also right by lake Atitlan which is a major tourist destination.