La mejor semana!

I know I've said this before but it's really true-every weekend here gets better and better. Except not anymore because this past weekend I am 100% sure can not be topped.

Last week was a really fun week. I think we are all starting to get freaked out about how soon we are leaving (less than 3 weeks! Gasp!) so we are trying to enjoy every moment of being here. We went out a few times last week, culminating in going dancing Thursday night which was, as always, a blast.

Then came the weekend that we have been planning for months!!! Danielle, Austin, Jade, me, and Patrick & Julian, our 2 new friends from Austria and Australia, left Friday for Mastatal, a small, secluded and completely undeveloped little farming town of about 80 people, 3 hours away from San Jose. It was by far the most beautiful place I have been to in Costa Rica, probably because it is so incredibly undeveloped (my Tico friends in Heredia had never even heard of it). Just nature being nature with some cows thrown in.

The only street in Mastatal

So many people envision Costa Rica as just being one big expanse of beach and resorts, myself included before coming here. While there is that presence, Costa Rica is so so so much richer than that. Not too many people think of this when they think of Costa Rica:

Que linda!

We were in Mastatal to volunteer for the weekend at La Iguana Chocolate, a cacao farm that produces their own chocolate. It is run by an incredibly sweet Tico family, and relies completely on volunteers to function. They fed us 3 delicious meals + 4 pieces of chocolate a day (with vegan brownies one night!!!!!!!!!!) in exchange for helping them with the process. Right now they were preparing for the rainy season so while the girls helped shell Cacao beans, the boys dug some trenches to soak up the rain.

Volunteer area

View from the shower!!

Cacao beans ready for being shelled

Hard at work peeling cacao beans

Cacao pod growing-I learned so much about the chocolate making process!

To be honest, we only really put in about 2 hours of volunteer work. There were a lot of volunteers this past weekend, about 15 of us from all around the world, and not too much work to be done, plus on Sundays they don't work. So instead they showed us alll around the area. Throughout the weekend, we went on 3 absolutely magnificent hikes to different rivers, waterfalls, amazing views, etc etc, all of which have barely been affected by humans. Like I said, most beautiful part of Costa Rica I have been to.

Everyone at Iguana Chocolate was awesome, from the volunteers to the Tico family to the Mastatal locals. They took us out one night (about a 20 minute uphill walk to the nearest bar) where I got to practice my Spanish skills with Juan Luis, the Tico padre of La Iguana. I actually spoke in Spanish a lot this weekend-I am almost done my Spanish studies here so it was very reassuring to know that I can carry on some conversations.

Some of the volunteers-repping the US, Austria, Australia, Spain & France! 

Mikael and I-this kid was so ADD but so funny

By Sunday, we decided we weren't ready to leave so we decided to skip class Monday and stick around. So glad we did!

Volunteering at la Iguana Chocolate reminded me so much of Ionia (the place I WWOOFed at last summer in Alaska). I really, really, really didn't want to leave. But I am very certain I will return some day. I even talked to one of the sons there, Jorge, about sometime coming back to be the volunteer coordinator there.  The whole weekend I was seething with envy of Stephanie, the current volunteer coordinator.


17 more days! What!?


I can not belieeeeve how soon I am going to be back in the states. While this freaks me out in every way, I am beginning to feel ready to come home. I am coming off about 4 or 5 absolutely incredible weeks, some of the best of my life, so I feel a little as though my work here is done for the time being. While I have big plans to come back to Central/South America in the next few years (either to WWOOF, teach English, travel, or a mix), I am missing all of my friends and family a lot and can not wait to see everyone again.


Before I leave, I will make a list of things about Costa Rica that I will miss (it will be a long list), but here are some things I miss about home:

-Friends/Family
-Food. Today was Panera. Yesterday was Busboy's and Poets. What I wouldn't do for some tempeh...and really for anything other than rice and beans. Oh and Chai lattes. And anything my mom makes. And my Dad's/Linda's portobello mushroom burgers. And Chipotle (but I have big plans to cover that one during my Dallas layover) Mmmmmmm.....
-Being able to drive places any time I want
-Friends/Family
-The Food Network
-Not being whistled/hollered at every second I am moving/not inside
-Not being afraid of cockroaches every time I open any door in my house
-Actually there aren't too many things I miss but friends and family take up a very very big section of my heart so it's a big deal!