Quepos

 After a nice breakfast of oatmeal pancakes at our home stay in San Jose, I was off to take a 3-hour bus ride to Quepos. The other Maximo Nivel location is there. I met 4 other volunteers at the bus station and after a little small talk on the bus I was knocked out! I slept 2.5 of the 3 hour drive there! 

Quepos has much more of a vacation vibe. First of all it’s hot and on the pacific coast so people hang out at the beach and you see people relaxing at the marina or along the shore having lunch. Just a much more relaxed atmosphere. Even the Maximo Nivel location here has a pool in it because it used to be a hotel building! 

I’ve been with my host family the past few hours and I just feel really tired. I’ve been laying in the bed in the room they gave me. This is the room of the son of my host. He doesn’t live here anymore but it seems to be a time capsule of his room. There’s what I think is a huge dragon ball Z type poster and several figurines. He even has a chair with a pillow attached that says “Born for Gaming.” I fell asleep but got up again to  watch YouTube videos. Today has been a very slow day, but maybe I need this time to sleep. This week will be very busy though with outdoor activities starting with zip-lining tomorrow. 

Another observation: This group in Quepos who are all going to Manuel Antonio is mostly women and mostly young, less than 30 years old. I saw the same phenomenon in San Jose. Our volunteer construction team was all women except two who were teenagers in high school. What makes this kind of trip/ immersion experience unattractive to men? Maybe that’s a leading question. But why does there seem to be an imbalance? I think I’ll ask the coordinators about this to see if my observation truly is a trend. 

Before this trip I wondered if this would be my last time on a trip of this type staying with a host family or not really knowing what to expect in terms of accommodation. Being one of the oldest in the group, etc. I do feel like these trips have helped me nurture my interest in international communities and to be more open to solo traveling. But I’m pretty sure I’ll need to do the next trip differently. This trip is highlighting what I like about traveling vs what I don’t. Still refining the list. I may journal a bit about this. 

Just had dinner and a great conversation with one of the five other guests. There are 5 people upstairs! All undergrad college aged students  doing diving in coral reefs. They’ve been having a great time diving and hanging out together after work. They’re going out tonight but I’m gonna pass, get some sleep, and get up early for tomorrow. Plus I feel a slight headache coming on. 😕