Yikes!

Flights were good, though I didn´t sleep much like I had hoped. One would think that operating on only one hour of sleep would lead to some slumber on the airplane, but then one would think incorrectly.

I arrived safely, made it through immigration, customs, etc. and was relieved to see that someone was waiting for me. We began the 20 minute drive to the WIDECAST office, and I have to say it wasn´t the best neighborhood ever. Lots of gated properties, and we´re not talking gated because they´re posh, but rather gated to keep out the riff raff apparently. Oh, and did I mention the driver didn´t speak English? Needless to say, there wasn´t much conversation. I concentrated on trying to read the signs along the way. Didn´t do too poorly and I was even able to respond to him when he asked me if it was my first time in Costa Rica. We arrived at the office, which appeared to be in the middle of nowhere.

Fortunately, the volunteer coordinator speaks English, though it doesn´t seem anyone else does. We went over the paperwork and she explained how I´ll get to the work site tomorrow. A taxi ride to the bus station, a 6-hour bus ride to Sixaola, and then a 30-minute cab ride to Gandoca. Guess my day is planned tomorrow! Hopefully I´ll be able to manage paying the cabbie and buying a bus ticket. I really need to work on my Spanish.

The worst news was that because I´m going to Gandoca instead of Cahuita, there is no Internet service. The closest is in Sixaola. That was when I decided I would only pay for two weeks. It´s quite a bit more remote than the Cahuita site. There is at least a telephone so I purchased la tarjeta de telefono (I was even able to ask in the store for this in Spanish with the proper verb and everything!)--telephone card.

The area I´m staying in tonight is on a little side street (where the streets have no names), but I´m confident that I can find my way back to the office from this Internet cafe. What I´ll do when I get there is anyone´s guess. There´s a TV in my room, and I´m guessing I should at least turn it on and try to catch one word out of 50.

Definitely having one of those OMG-what-was-I-thinking moments. Just typing on this keyboard is doing my head in. Hardly any of the punctuation is where I´m used to it being. I´m hoping I adjust quickly.