Best week ever? ... I think so.

My week in Boruca and Las Alturas was AMAZING. This was easily the best week of the program (thus far) and was definitely worth all the extra homework leading up to the trip! Here is a brief recap of my time in each indigenous community:

We arrived in Boruca (the home of the Brunka indigenous people) on Monday, where we received a warm welcome and introductory lecture about Brunka culture from the President of the Women's Association. Then we were given a presentation and demonstration about the creation of the traditional Brunka masks, which are used in their traditional celebrations and are also their main source of income. After the demonstration, we were able to paint our own small masks to bring home as souvenirs! Then the school children performed a couple of traditional Brunka dances for us. Finally we met up with our host families and spent the night sharing laughs and swatting mosquitos. On Tuesday, we broke up into our groups to begin our research! My group went door to door, interviewing the people about their knowledge of traditional Brunka foods and drinks and the preparation of these dishes. It was a fun-filled, anthropological day and we met many lovely Brunka people. Later this week, each group will be compiling our data and creating a Wikipedia page about the Brunka people, because the last research to come out of Boruca was done in the 60's and is pretty outdated. (Other groups researched such topics as Fabrics and Crafts, Natural Dyes, Folklore, adn the Juego de los Diablitos (their three day New Year's celebration using the traditional masks.)) On Wednesday, we were given a presentation about how the Brunka collect, prepare, and use natural dyes and we were able to dye some of our clothes. We also went on an awesome hike to a beautiful waterfall in the hills of Boruca and took some great photos! Then at midday, after a lunch of traditional Brunka tamales and chicha, we packed up and headed to Las Alturas. Here are some pictures from Boruca:

On Wednesday afternoon, we arrived in Las Alturas, home of the Ngöbe indigenous people. That evening we got settled into the research station where we stayed and had a couple of classes. The station is located on the edge of the Amistad National Park, and was absolutely gorgeous. On Thursday, we spent the whole day at the primary health care clinic in the middle of Las Alturas. This clinic does not have its own medical staff, so doctors are only available to see patients there for a couple of days each month on a rotating schedule. Our group consisted of two MDs, a lab technician, and 14 students. So we spent the day shadowing the MDs and assisting with the patients in whatever way possible. It was a great day and I learned a lot about the delivery of primary care in Costa Rica. On Friday, we had the opportunity to work with the school children in Las Alturas, and give them a little presentation about healthy eating and exercise. We led various games and races to get the kids involved and had tons of fun (probably more than the school children themselves!). Then we headed back to the Las Cruces Research Station in San Vito, where I took the longest shower of my life. (Oh, I forgot to mention that we didn't have running water in Las Alturas ... good times. Good times.) Here are a few pictures from Las Alturas:

Alrightie, sorry for the insanely long post. I am just so excited about the awesome week! It was so much fun and such an incredible learning experience. Now we are chilling in Las Cruces for a couple of days (and by chilling, I mean non-stop classes, homework and studying) ... and then we head to Nicaragua on Tuesday!!! Looks like I have another great week to look forward to! :)

Week Five - Another one bites the dust.

I can't believe that I am entering my sixth week here in Costa Rica ... time really flies! Week five was incredibly busy. More busy than I ever thought possible. We will be living with indigenous people this week and will only be able to have three lectures the whole week ... so my professors graciously made up for it this past week by over-loading us with lectures, homework, presentations, and projects galore! We have literally been in class or in the field everyday this week from 8am til around 9pm. So I am pretty exhausted. But really excited about global health! Some of the lectures this week were absolutely thrilling - Chagas', diarrheas, Leishmania, and all sorts of other exciting diseases! We also had 8 more hours of Spanish classes, which focused on medical terminology and conducting medical interviews in Spanish.

September 15th is Independence Day in Costa Rica (and all of Central America), so we were able to celebrate Independence Day in San Vito on Wednesday. We went into town for the Independence Eve celebration in the streets, as well as the Independence Day parade on the 15th. It was really awesome to celebrate Costa Rican independence with the ticos, which is markedly different from our celebrations on the fourth of July in the US. Here are a couple of pictures from the parade and celebrations:

The parade was a ton of fun although I got the worst sunburn of my life on my legs ... oops (see above). Oh well, pura vida!

In a couple of hours, we will be rolling out of the Las Cruces research station for the best week ever ... we will be living with the Boruca indigenous people until Wednesday, and then the Ngobe indigenous people from Wednesday until Friday. The Boruca people will give us demonstrations and lessons about their culture, traditions, and even show us how they dye their cloth. We will work extensively with them to collect samples from the rainforest to study when we get back to the research station. Once we are with the Ngobe people, we will be setting up a primary health care clinic for the indigenous people (one of my professors is an MD), who do not have easy access to health care facilities in their remote village. We will be triaging the patients, assisting with paperwork, and shadowing the MD in his assessment of the patients.

So I am REALLY excited about this week. It should be epic. I will take tons of awesome pictures and update y'all as soon as I am back on Saturday! :)

Pura Vida!

Well, I have been here in Sabanilla (just outside San Jose) for almost two weeks now, living with a Costa Rican family and studying ... and things are going swimmingly! I have been fortunate enough to be placed in a lovely home with the most wonderful ticos around! ("Tico" is a colloquial term for a native of Costa Rica.) I live a short bus ride away from the Costa Rican Language Academy, where I have Spanish classes for 5 hours every day. Additionally, I have 2 or 3 hours of Ethnobiology, Tropical Medicine and Global Health classes everyday at the OTS headquarters (which is also close by). Needless to say, I am exhausted. The Spanish course is intense and my brain hurts from thinking in another language 24/7, but I am learning so much! The total immersion into Costa Rican culture is absolutely wonderful and I am really enjoying my time here.

Luckily, I have been able to squeeze in some fun in between all the classes and studying - last Sunday I went on an awesome zipline tour of the rainforest canopy in San Ramon, and this past weekend, I was able to recharge my batteries on a lovely trip to Tortuga Island with some of my classmates. We had an amazing time snorkeling, playing beach volleyball, and relaxing on the gorgeous beaches of the island.

Amazing experiences such as these definitely make the never-ending classes and homework worth all the trouble. And thankfully, I need only suffer through one more week of these exceptionally long days of classes, because we are moving back to the Las Cruces Biological Research Station next Monday! My Spanish course ends this Friday (which means I will be studying for the final exam all this week!), so we will be back to our normal class schedule at Las Cruces, (without the 5 hour Spanish classes ... gracias a Dios!). I am really looking forward to getting back to Las Cruces, our tropical paradise, and the company of my classmates once again. Although, I will really miss my homestay family (especially my mama tica's amazing cooking!) and the comforts of having my own room here in Sabanilla. 

But no matter where this crazy course takes me, I have fully embraced the tico lifestyle and am loving every minute of my time here. There is a phrase widely used here in Costa Rica, which has become my new mantra - "Pura Vida!" - literally, it means "Pure Life", but the meaning is closer to "full of life" or "this is living" ... as good-old wikipedia explains, "Costa Ricans use the phrase to express their philosophy of strong community, perseverance, resilience in overcoming difficulties with good spirits, enjoying life slowly, and celebrating good fortune of magnitudes small and large alike."

So wish me luck on my upcoming final exam, and adios and Pura Vida for now!