PCV Visit to Buenos Aires

Most of my training time was spent in either El Rosario, or Tarbaca-where we had our twice weekly group training sessions. But, on occasion, I got out of the central highlands and headed one way or another. My first trip out of the area was to visit Morgan P. a current Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). As part of training, each trainee visits a volunteer to get a better look at what Peace Corps life is like. Normally, trainees visit a volunteer from their specific program, but as TEFL is brand spanking new in PC Costa Rica, we visited PCVs working in the Children, Youth and Families program, as they often work with the schools as they work to provide enrichment activities in the community. They often do things like have summer camps, after school programs, lead community service projects for students, and other things which I think a lot of Americans take for granted as ‘part’ of school, but that really aren’t.

Morgan, (who graduated from the same Washington DC high school as Danthemanstan) lives and works in Buena Vista, a small town on the edges of Buenos Aires, a good sized town in southern Puntarenas province. This area is in between the Pacific Coast and the Talamanca Mountains and it is all pineapple. All pineapple. Well, now, that’s a bit hyperbolical, as there are some sugarcane and banana plantations mixed in, but in general, anywhere you look you’re bound to see pineapple plantations. Also, to clear things up, as many fellow trainees apparently didn’t know, pineapples don’t grow in trees, they grow more as a bush, with the fruit below the broadly spread spiky leaves. Morgan was kind enough to take me on a hike through the pineapple fields to the top of the tallest hill near the town, and man, did we see lots of pineapple. All the fields are owned by Pindeco, which is either a subsidiary of Del Monte, or they only sell to them. (Her host dad works at the packing plant, and says every box says Del Monte). My bus trips from San Jose to Buenos Aires and then in reverse included a stop halfway (it was between four and five hours) at a rest stop. This rest stop reminded me of how very much I love cafeteria style eating. I just love having all my options right there in front of me as well as doing nothing more than picking up a tray and then setting it back down to eat an inexpensive meal. I was even able to heed Morgan’s recommendation and got the beef in red sauce on the way back!

Morgan was an ideal volunteer to visit, as she does lots of work with the schools and students, has shown quite impressive initiative in starting projects, and most importantly, was honest and straightforward in answering all my questions and telling me about her experience thus far. Even better, Morgan, like me, is fairly direct and frank, so I was able to get some great information about how she had dealt with the putatively “indirect” Costa Rican culture. Personally, I tend to believe the adage that the differences within groups are much greater than the differences between groups. Morgan kind of concurred in saying that there are very direct Ticos and very indirect Ticos (no duh!); contrary to the concept that all Ticos are indirect. And for better or worse, she said she didn’t really change her way of speaking and hasn’t run into any friction being direct with Ticos.

I helped corral some of the naughty boys while Morgan taught a quick English class to some first graders (they were cute as buttons-even the ornery ones). I accompanied her to a workshop making purses out of recycled coffee bags. Not surprisingly, according to Morgan, it was raining, thus no one showed up except for two neighbor kids and (reluctantly) the husband of the lady who was supposed to be hosting it. Morgan explained that it wasn’t really the rain, but that provided an easy excuse for the ladies. She said not to be surprised because, in her experience, Costa Ricans don’t share the American penchant for honoring commitments. She said she generally triple or quadruple checks/reminds before meetings. My thoughts are also that this might not be solely a Costa Rican/American thing, but also a difference between socioeconomic groups, in that the Peace Corps often involves the volunteers working with members of a very different socioeconomic group than they pertain to in the States.

I also observed a college English class taught by one of the high school teachers Morgan knows at the campus branch in Buenos Aires. This provided a wonderful example of something our training staff referred to as Tico time. The class began at 18:00. I had to ask directions twice to find the campus, so was hoping I could still slip to the back row when I arrived at 17:58. Of the six classrooms, two were locked, and three had classes going on. Yet the sixth classroom was open with the lights on, but no one was in it. So, I asked the young women at the reception desk, and she said that yes, the English class was in that room. And yes, it began at six. So I grabbed a seat in the back, pulled out my notebook, and worked on some Spanish homework I had brought with me. If I remember correctly, I actually got the Spanish homework done, as the teacher didn’t arrive until 18:15, with a few students coming in at 18:20, and class starting at six thirty when a few more students sauntered through the door. I’ve been working really hard during my Peace Corps time to correct my chronic punctuality problem and tried getting after it this past summer to prepare (with some tough love from my brother Petey) but, it really seems like this country has it out for me, and will do nothing to reward any of my efforts. I’ve noticed something here I remember seeing in Spain, in that if you ask about whether something really starts at its supposed time, a look of annoyance is given in return. It essentially says “yeah, the class starts at six, but clearly that doesn’t mean six, why can’t you get that?”

Oh, I also took, as far as I can remember, my first bucket shower while visiting Morgan. A combination of political problems with the indigenous tribe that controls the water source and bad infrastructure causes for common water outages in Buena Vista. Love new experiences. The water problem did allow me to witness some pretty developed rainwater collection systems. They have a big 50-gallon bucket that collects from the main gutter, as well as about five or six little buckets collecting off a roof edge without a gutter. At a house in the poorer slum-esque part of town, a house had their big 50 gallon drum elevated on a platform, with an exit tube running back into the kitchen, thus using gravity to pump the water into the house. With a Brita filter for drinking water and a faucet filter system-such a rainwater collection system (with enough reserve tanks) can supply an entire house with its water needs-without all the energy and resources that go into city plumbing networks. Pretty cool, eh? In a place with pretty consistent rain three quarters of the year, it’s also quite practical. Here’s to hoping that my experience as a Volunteer will allow me to learn one or two more things from some relatively poor and rural Ticos.