_{Disclaimer: These opinions are my own and may or may not reflect the views of the Peace Corps.}

Hello everybody, here is my update after almost 3 months in my community. We aren’t supposed to name our town on public content. If you are interested in looking at my town on google maps, or knowing my location please contact me!

I am here to finally give a loose idea of what I’ll be doing here for the next 19 months. Time flies. I’ve been here for close to 6 months already. The first three months were training, and the admin told us it’s normal to take the first three months at a site to get used to the new environment and to focus on building relationships with people who are passionate about developing their own communities.

Speaking of meeting community leaders and understanding people’s goals for development, the luckiest thing just happened. I was told about a meeting to discuss the development of the town and the county. What I didn’t realize was that this meeting would include 20 community leaders and 6 professional facilitators from the county government. It was basically an hour and a half of brainstorming activities on the past and future of problems and solutions in the community. I came out of that meeting with basically all of the information a person could want for development work in a town. It’s almost like cheating because gathering that information is a large part of my job, but I asked when the next meeting like this would happen and apparently, it’s once every 10 years. And this all happened a month before I need to submit my 20-page report on all things development in my community. ¡Gracias a Dios!

I have a good idea of the projects I see myself working on with other members of the community in the coming year. These are always subject to change depending on what resources or people with ideas come to my attention. I am grateful to have so many local people who are willing to include me in their work and projects!

Short-term Projects:

• Teaching computer skills, basics of making accounts and using email, Microsoft Suite, any software tool an entrepreneur wants to learn to help their business (Canva, ChatGPT, social media).
• Renovating a local library

Medium-term Projects:

• Working with entrepreneurs to increase the town’s presence on the internet.
  • Adding businesses to Google Maps.
  • Making a website to advertise tourism in the community and the people who run tourism businesses.
• Working with development groups on their specific projects.
  • My town has a center with neighborhoods in all directions. It will be an ongoing process of making myself known as a local resource to each of these groups.
  • As well as women’s group focused on making and selling clothing and other household items

Long-term Projects:

• The moonshot (It will happen eventually, but it would be cool if it was during my two years here) will be the development of a park. There is a grass field waiting to be developed in the pure heart of town.
  • Executing this will take organizing collaboration between many groups, including business owners, the municipality, and development organizations.

There are occasional struggles that come with operating in a new language and culture, but overall nothing has weighed too heavily on me. I’m enjoying the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer and feel more of a connection to Costa Rica with every passing month.

Happy Holidays! Costa Ricans love Christmas and New Year’s Eve, so I’ll be celebrating as well with my host family and coworkers. I hope everyone is doing well and has a Pura Vida 2024.

Animal Sanctuary visit – Its kind of sad to see the animals in cages, but most of them are injured or extremely close to extinction with breed and release programs

• Toucan
• Macaw
• Peacock (I kept calling them Flamingos on accident)

Other Pictures

• Giant Farmers market
• A time I almost ate an entire Papaya
• Gato en el Gimnasio
• Megumi’s Electric Birthday Celebration
• Tamale Time
• Ben and John Performing Karaoke (Its always John’s Idea)