Scavenger Hunt

Wednesday I started my first week on the two week long scavenger hunt program, which I'll be doing two sessions of. I'm doing it with one other guide, Alex, who's a Costa Rican full time employee and is dating my friend Lauren. And then there's our married but womanizing 50-something moustached driver, named Don Omar, who likes to act just like one of us. So it's been a lot of fun with these two guys. We have 10 girls and 1 boy, who I'm 95% sure is gay. They're all getting along for the most part, which is cool. Of course we have the unusual ones, (those into anime and Japanese candies and talking really loud in the middle of other people's conversations) but you know, who wasn't awkward in high school.

The program is based on various competitions between two teams where the winners get x number of dollars to donate to a local school to help fund their construction project. The first competition consisted of making gallo pinto, the typical Costa Rican breakfast which is rice and beans with a little cilantro, onion, pepper and spices mixed in. We figured out these kids hadn't really had any cooking experience when they just threw everything into the pan at once (beans, rice, onions-though they did let the butter melt for about half a minute before they added these other ingredients), paying no heed to the woman who had given them step by step instructions.

The next day we were off to La Fortuna, the most popular tourist destination in Costa Rica, and where the Volcanoes program is based and is on the agenda for a lot of other Rustic Programs. Our first day there we did a scavenger hunt around town. This involved me getting into a cop car and pretending to get hand cuffed, hearing lots of great gringo accents from the kids when they used their broken Spanish to ask directions, and accosting a Costa Rican male on the street as their find for 'tropical mammal' (he had board shorts with flowers on). Pretty entertaining actually, even though it was pouring out. We followed that up with some non-competetive ziplining, followed by another hilarious spectacle when the kids had to reproduce two typical folkloric dances. We visited a local school where the schoolkids put on the 2 minute show and then went to teach our kids the steps. The steps were pretty basic, but again, remember awkward teenagers who either a. don't have an athletic bone in their body, or b. are dancers and/or cheerleaders and therefore over exaggerate their performance. Even better with some oversized dresses and typical blouses for them to put on over their clothes. We had some school teachers, Lauren, and our driver Don Omar serve as judges, with the latter being the harshest, observing the dance for mere seconds, quickly circling his numbers, and then leaning back in his chair with a serious, disappointed expression for the remaining minute and a half.

We climbed a 3000-something ft volcano as part of our next challenge. It was muddy, wet, and humid, but we managed to get through the complaints that endured for the first hour or so and made it up in the usual 2 hours it should take us. We all came down the volcano looking like we had rolled around in mud piles, while German tourists leisourly passed us without a speck of mud on their shoes! Don't know how, but I think it's just in our nature as Americans-if we're going to get a little dirty, why not just get all the way dirty? At least we had the natural hot springs for a reward at night. The pools were surprisingly hot this time around, the coolest one being at least 105 degrees, inciting one woman to exclaim, "my muscles feel like butter!" Which they in fact did.

After a good night's sleep, we came to have a kayaking race and some just-for-fun horseback riding at Rancho Margot, a sustainable farm with cabins for guests and volunteers to stay. The farm manages to grow most of the food it consumes, along with damming up a river on the property to get most of its energy. It has its own cows to make cheese, milk, and butter, and uses the methane gas it extracts from its animals to light its stoves. Pretty cool and relaxing place. Though during the kayak race I did get a little flustered when Alex just launched into the lake and I had to get 11 kids into kayaks and ready to race while at the same time coaxing Don Omar to give me the whistle and to let met countdown so the kids would actually understand me. When Alex came back from his fun in the water and claimed I had smoke coming out of my ears (ok so maybe I was a bit more pissed off than just flustered). Don Omar and Alex just laughed and made jokes at me (that being the way to cheer someone up right?) saying: "Relax, don't be so stressed gringita. Everything works out." And it does. I just didn't want to hear it. I'm still learning that though, learning how to be patient and accepting. I guess that's why I spend so much time here in Latin America, I'm finding my patience. Ah to think, just three more weeks left with these guys to help me find it!