Here I am, almost.

Thinking now about how few people probably read this, I'm not sure why
I always wait till the perfect time to write. It never comes. But, are
you so impatient?

Agh! This week I met Quiti, (which will be my nickname for the town
I'll live in, since I think I'm not allowed to publish it's name
online.)

I'm pretty sure the name of the town is some indigenous term for
Steep. This is a mountain town. So mountainous, in fact, that
landslides have threatened the school and carried away the soccer field.

I got to my site, which is so hilly it can't have a soccer field,
and I don't really imagine myself riding bikes up the crazy dirt/
gravel slopes. If I do though, York, I'll be ready to climb those
Rockies in 2 years. Watch out. Needless to say, I'm bummed about the
lack of these things.

Quiti's hills are pretty though. Incredibly gorgeous. Im sorry I
didn't take photos for you. It's all bright green trees and grass and
mango trees and coffee steppes, and bright clear blue sky, and red
dirt. It rains every afternoon, so the green gets greener, and the
blue fades to grey foggy cloud full of lightning, and the red dirt
turns to muddy rivers running over black gravel, looking more like the
native blood of this reservation running over the darkened skin of the
earth. They said deep in the valleys there is a swimming hole that
belongs to the devil, full of Costa Rica's most deadly snakes and
centipedes, lined with vines that grow out of the deep and, as stories
tell, tangle up those brave enough to dare swim in it's waters,
causing some to drown. So I'll probably stay in the highlands.

I felt like I did a lot while I was there. Saturday, I hung out with
my new family and went to a little welcome party that community group
leaders through for me. That day I taught my family about PBJ, and I
ate flor de itabo (a big white flower) for the first time.

My family is awesome. Dad's 35, mom's 30, and their son is 6. He only
wants to play, and he lost his first tooth while I was there. I was so
happy to get to see that. Both parents are teachers. She teaches
computers and he teaches PE. So we're all working toward the same
goals at least.

When we cut down the flor de itabo, I was a little bummed at how
unsustainable it was. These are like 8 ft tall trees that dad hacked
with a machete. I thought, that's the end of that. But, then he showed
me, where you cut one trunk it splits into 2 or 3 or 4 more trunks
that bloom, and the branch you cut can be stuck into the ground, where
it will take root and begin to grow into a new tree. It's crazy. So
nevermind, worries.

Sunday I walked around checking out the water situation. I guess
there's not enough water for all the barrios, so this one man has to
walk around and cut off water in some barrios so it can reach others.
And each barrio takes turns like this, spending what I would think to
be one day a week without water. But this a hot topic in the
community, and the man in charge gets death threats.

Monday I went to the school, hung out with the English teacher, and
played freeze tag with the kids. It is super fun when I get to play
with kids, and then I resent the adults who expect me to not be
sweaty, or act macho and not play or whatever. Gross, adults.

Tuesday, I went to the PANI office and met with my official community
partner. She gave a talk on children's rights and responsibilities in
the morning. In exchange for attending the chat, moms receive powdered
milk for a month for their kids. Each month there is another talk. My
comm partner is really nice. She is happy to work with Peace Corps,
and has offered to help however she can. She has her things together.

Wednesday, I went to the ministry of health to talk about drug
addiction, diabetes, public waste, and intra-familiar violence. These
are the four biggest health issues in the area, and it's part of my
job to help erradicate them. But how awesome.

Wednesday I came back to Patarra. I have a week left here. It's going
to be a hard week. It's like that week in August when you're 18 and
you're just about to move to college, when everything matters too
much, but at the same time, you don't want to listen to anyone because
you know, everything will change soon. It's really weird.

Did I say anything about my site at all? It's beautiful. I like it.
The people are nice and they all invite me to do things, which is so
important to me, time spent together.

It's nice there. I was going to say that the school is about a
kilometer from my house, but because of the hills it takes an hour to
walk there. Crazy, right?

If you visit, you'll be amazed. See you soon.