This past month has been amazing. My PCPP was fully funded by 8 individuals and families in 8 days!!! I was able to spend a week with my twin sister, I was able to visit the beautiful island of Bocas del Toro with several friends, and I enjoyed election night at the United States' Ambassador's home in Panama City! Que Viva Obama! Ohh and as a bonus, I also became a godmother!
For those that have since gone to the Peace Corps Contribute page to make a donation, fear not, the project has already been fully funded. On December 4th, I will be taking 48 students, 2 committee members, 2 teachers, and 6 parents on our very first Recycling Super Stars field trip. I have been marking down the days on my calendar. I have been coordinating with the museums and all looks good for the 4th, I have received confirmation emails from the museums. The recycling committee will be hosting our 16th, 17th, and 18th recycling days this month. We will also be hosting a school wide celebration on December 11th.
Spending time with Marissa was amazing. "If I forget to tell you later, I had an amazing time this week." Marissa paid for the two of us to go to Costa Rica and we had such a great time! I hadn't seen her in 10 months. We got a little teary eyed when we met at the airport. And then we embarked on our "I carry your heart twins Costa Rican Trip 2012. We managed to visit three places, Monte Verde, La Fortuna, and Puerto Viejo. I highly recommend the Lonely Planets, Central America on a Shoe String travel guide. Monte Verde was beautiful and has a really great canopy tour equipped with a super man zipline and a tarzan swing. La Fortuna was a great place to relax, we stayed at a 5 star hostel and enjoyed massages, hot springs, and a volcano tour. The Costa Ricans are very nice and their hospitality is incredible. I think its also very advantageous if you speak Spanish, so many people in Costa Rica speak English, but I felt like Spanish really helped navigate. At one point I had my very own "Only You" moment. For those who haven't seen the movie, Marisa Tomei plays a helpless romantic who believes in destiny. Her character played with a weegie board when she was 12 and found out that the love of her life was "Damon Bradley." The movie unfolds when someone calls to tell her that they are an old friend of her fiance's that can't make it to the wedding but wanted to send his congratulations, he happens to be catching a flight to Italy, and right before he hangs up the phone Marisa Tomei asks his name and he says, "Damon Bradley." She immediately leaves for the airport but by the time she makes it to the plane's gate the plane has already been fully boarded. The flight attendants do not allow her on the plane even though she tells them that "the man she loves is on that plane." She ends up taking the next flight to Italy and falls in love with Robert Downey Jr. A similar event unfolds at the airport in Italy, although this time when she arrives late to the gate and tells the Italians "the man she loves is on that plane," the Italians stop the plane and run her onto the tarmac and up the stairs and the movie ends with her and Robert Downey Jr. lip to lip on the plane as all the Italians cheer. My Costa Rican experience included me leaving the ATM machine without my card the day before I was supposed to head back to Panama. I walked around for a couple hours after that, Marissa and I went for lunch, and then we went into this really cute clothing store, and as I went for my credit card I finally realized that I had left it in the ATM. So I turned pale white and headed straight for the bank. Marissa said it looked like I wasn't breathing for about 10 minutes. Once we got to the bank I talked with several of the security cards who said they had seen a Bank of America card and had turned it into the bank. The bank however was closed and their was nothing that could be done until Monday morning at 9 a.m. This was Friday night. "Shit" I thought to myself. Marissa didn't say anything as if she was letting me work this out in my head. I was starting to think it would be okay for me to stay until Monday, I would just sleep outside and eat one meal a day (Peace Corps mind at work). Then finally Marissa jolted me back to reality and encouraged me to find the people in charge. 5 minutes later, 2 official bank managers exited the building and I went to talk with them. They listened to my sob story, I just kept saying, "I know this is really stupid. But I really need that card." These guys could have easily said "sorry" and walked away. But they didn't, they called San Jose for authorization to go back into the bank. After 45 minutes of patiently waiting outside, the 2 bank managers took a copy of my passport and handed me back my B of A debit card. Call it Karma, or maybe we can attribute this story to how kind the Costa Ricans are. These managers went out of their way to help. Marissa made her way back to LA the following day and I made my way to Bocas del Toro.
Bocas del Toro, as a friend of mine says,"Is a different country." Backpackers paradise. I met up with several friends for a birthday celebration and also to celebrate halloween. The beaches are a boat or bus ride away. The hostels are full of Israelis, Europeans, Americans, and Random internationals. The food is also incredible, ranging from Sushi to Bagels to Mexican. And each bar hosts Ladies night every evening, where ladies drink for free. Its a party every night of the week. And Happy hour starts at 9 a.m. Gringo Paradise. I had so much fun. I probably had more fun in those 4 days than in my entire service.
Once I got back to Membrillo, my host sister and counterpart had her baby. Her baby was born on November 4th, she weighed 5 pounds and 9 ounces. Although she hasn't been baptized yet, I am so excited to be her godmother!!!! She hasn't even been named yet but I love that little girl.
Also, Election night. I spent election night at the Ambassador' Jon Farrar's home with 1,000 other guests. It was very fun. The president of Panama Martenelli walked in and shook my hand! At about 10 p.m. I headed back to the hostel to watch the news with about 15 other volunteers. At 11:30 we heard word that Obama had won. And we all waited until 2 a.m. to hear Obama's speech. "Ain't no power like the power of the people because the power of the people don't stop!" is what I was chanting as we waited for Romney's concession speech. Thank you Ammmmmeeeeerica.
Next on the agenda is training the Environmental Health volunteers about my waste management project next week. And then the field trip!!! Thanks for all the donations again!
That's all for now.
Lots of Love, Sonia Esquibel
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