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ryan & debbrial

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ryan & debbrial's Travel Blog
Us Discovering the Latin Americas

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http://blogabond.com/ryan_debb


We met through a mutual friend in college about 5 years ago. We were friends for about 4 years and dated for a year and half. We recently got married on Sunday, May 24, 2009.

Now for the fun part... We decided not to do the typical buy a house and settling down, instead it was sell everything we own and follow our desire to travel. We are on our journey through Central and South America (backpacking, couch surfing, hostels, camping, whatever) for the next 3-4 years. While in Central and South America we plan on working at a variety volunteer camps, meeting fellow travelers, teaching English local people, surfing, enjoying the beautiful sceneries and environment, visiting some tourist sites and really engaging the culture that surrounds us.


Buddy List

TreeFrogJohn
TreeFrogJohn



Playing Futbol

Granada, Nicaragua

Tonight we had planned to go to the big Virgin Mary celebration in the Central Park but were too exhausted after playing soccer with the older local kids in San Iganico this afternoon. Even tough Tuesday, tomorrow, is the main holiday and a day off for all Nicaraguans most of the volunteers decided they wanted a long weekend and planned not to work today, Monday. SO we had to cancel summer school for Monday. Instead Ryan and I decided to volunteer to volunteer. We took the morning to do some planning for the rest of the week then went up to San Igancio to play with sports with any kids that showed up. We packed the van with a baseball bat, tennis ball, cones, a soccer ball and water. In San Igancio we drove to the dirt and dirty field (campo) and waited for the kids to come. Not surprisingly pretty quickly after we arrived some kids came out of their house toward us. We started a game of baseball with some younger kids (8-12). For being a soccer happy nation they really like baseball, know lots of the rule and are pretty good at it. It was great seeing them organize them selves: pitcher, catcher, first, second, third base and outfield. They know strikes, foul tip, home run but not so much “ball” throws or walking the batter. I loved watching them yell at each other to manage the game….afuera, afuera (out, out)…no, no seguro, seguro (safe, safe).

A little while later a group of older guys (16-20) showed up. We played a little more baseball then changed to soccer after they were hitting the ball too far for the younger kids to chase after it. The soccer game started off as a fun friendly game but quickly became an intense (still friendly) real soccer game. The younger kids naturally got booted out, kinda unfortunate, but I was having SO much fun playing soccer even though we got our butts kicked. Some of the guys were playing bare feet in the dirt and still running circles around us!! Fortunately though the goals were tiny so we could hold our own. Ryan got about 3 goal attempts and I had 2 slide tackles.

Two hours flew by fast when we were having fun. When we left they kept asking us when we would come back. Tomorrow, the next day. I don’t think any of the younger kids and definitely not the older guys come to the summer school program, so they were all super excited to be involved. Ryan and I were also really happy to connect with the older guys as well kinda like we were gaining respect from them. Anyways, because we have school we don’t have much time or energy to go out there everyday but I definitely want to do it again.

  • **Bummer…we forgot to bring out camera so we don’t have any pictures of the guys we played soccer with. Maybe next time. ***




    • permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on December 8, 2009 from Granada, Nicaragua
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    Nicaragua's Virgin Mary 9 day Holiday

    Granada, Nicaragua

    Each night since last Monday the people of Granada have decorated a different street, one after another, and conducted a procession of floats of the Virgin Mary down the street in the direction of the Cathedral and Central Park. The procession attracts hundreds of locals who come to see the floats, follow them from one end of the street to the other and to party! There’s hanging string lights from House to House like Christmas, fireworks like Forth of July, a marching band like the Rose Bowl and even glow light necklaces like at Disneyland. Its quit a celebration.

    Street party for the Virgin Mary holiday

    Procession of the Virgin Mary float

    Float of Virgin Mary

    Santa Lucia our street party

    Last Thursday the procession look place on our street so we got to see this first hand; starting at 3 AM the morning before when they fired off a round of fireworks to announce the start of the street set up. Shocked at first we had no clue what was going on and Ryan jumped out of bed because he thought a bunch of kids were blowing up our van with fireworks.

    Anyways the night the procession was on our street I talked to a young local girl who told me all about the meaning of the celebration, how it travels from street to street and that on Monday, today, there is going to be a huge party in the Central Park with a ton of Mariachi bands. So now we are back in Granada to part-take in the traditional Nicaraguan holiday.




    permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on December 7, 2009 from Granada, Nicaragua
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    Camping in the Van on the Beach

    San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

    Its been 2 months of traveling for us and at times it feels like forever already. We have done and seen so much yet have so much more to see. Earlier this week Ryan and I both had experiences were we felt at home or at least content. Its simple moments when we stop to realize were we really are that surprises us the most. For example, last week Ryan stopped to think, “Wow I am in Nicaragua in a field surrounded by cows, horses, hut-like houses and the village garbage playing baseball with a bunch of local kids and having the time of my life. Who would have thought.” I felt this same way when we were walking pass the noisy, crowded vendor stalls set up one after another on the market street on our way to the grocery store. (A weekly routine for us) I stopped to think, “I feel like this culture is becoming a part of me…. And wow if I was at home I would probably be driving the 10 blocks it takes to get to the grocery store without interacting with anyone.”

    Playa Madera our home for the weekend

    And who would have thought that Ryan and I would be in Nicaragua camping out of a van on a long weekend at the beach. We found a semi-secluded beach, Madera, 20 minute drive from San Juan del Sur. Madera is a now popular beach because of its good surf and beautiful cove setting. During the day a lot of the tourist get bused in from town making it pretty crowded, especially for surfing. But at night and in the mornings it is a picturesque tranquil spot.

    Camping in the van at Madera

    We have camped here for two nights and in the past days we have seen lots of people come and go. We met 3 guys who are living in Costa Rica studying and/or teaching English, so of course I had lots of questions for them. One the guys said he completed the same course I will be taking, the CELTA, and is now working in Costa Rica. He highly recommended the program and enjoyed it a lot. This boosted my confidence some. We also met 4 Canadian guys whom drove down all the way from Canada in a van just like ours, but it’s a Chevy Astro van. They said they rotate sleeping spots every few nights: two in the van, one on the roof and one on the floor. Didn’t sound so bad until we saw thousands of hermit craps come out from under leaves, branches, grass, and rocks on a voyage across our homestead to the salty waters of the Pacific. Each night we watch the colorful sun set then wait for the vas galaxy of endless stars we miss living in the city life. Then its time for a friendly campfire hangout on the beach with the other temporary residences of Madera. During the day Ryan surfs, I swim, we both practice our Spanish and talk to the locals whom we have become friends with since coming here for the past two weekends. While its been relaxing and thoroughly enjoying being at the beach we decided to pack up this afternoon and headed back to Granada for the final days of a nine day celebration for the Virgin Mary.


    Ryan surfing at Madera

    Ryan after surfing

    Ryan at Playa Madrea



    permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on December 6, 2009 from San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
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    100 Kids, 100% Chaos

    Granada, Nicaragua

    Ryan tried to start this blog yesterday but couldn’t find the words to describe this past week. Now I am trying and am also at a loss of words. …..But I guess hear it goes…… So we started school at San Igancio on Tuesday morning. When we arrived at the school at 9:00 am there was 40+ kids already playing in and around the school yard. We quickly started arranging and setting up 3 of the 6 rooms in the school (the other 3 are still being worked on by the builders, whom have still been on the school premise this whole week). Once we got the rooms settled we kicked all the kids outside the school gates and attempted a semi-organized roll call.

    First day of school all the kids waiting at the gate
    The first problem with this was that when the names were written down at registration not all were completely legible and therefore the final official registration list definitely had miss spelled names. So with what we had we started calling out the names of the kids on the list and letting them in the school one-by-one to their assigned volunteer. Sounds like a good and easy process BUT it wasn’t. There was 100ish kids to go through, the names were misspelled and kids no-showed. What was planned to take 30 minutes took an hour and half.


    After all the kids were finally in the school and supposedly assigned to a volunteer we ended up having a chaotic day of cashing our kids around, trying to figure out who they were, if they real did belong to us and keeping them from destroying the school, themselves and us!! By noon one of the classrooms looked like a tornado ripped through it with paper, paint, crayon, chalk, glue, etc. scattered all over the place; on the desks, on the tables, on the floor, on the walls and on the kids. The only and most successful part of the day was lunch. We got all the kids lined up in two lines one boys, one girls then handed them a plate of rice and beans.


    Lunch time....Rice and beans

    Lining up for lunch

    After that it was back to the chaos till 1:30 pm when the kids go home. By the end of day one we were all SUPER exhausted and doubting if we could pull this whole summer break thing off.


    Anna keeping order to the limited water

    Lunch time the first day

    Ryan and his boys at lunch


    That night we went home and completely rethought our plan. With some idea of the names and number of kids enrolled we came up with a simpler schedule for roll call and the days’ activities. The second day of school proved to be 100% better. First we lined up the kids outside the school gates then let them in one-by-one to go to their assigned volunteer from the day before. Once each volunteer had all their kids the group went to the scheduled activity for the kids’ age: either arts & crafts, education or sports. Each activity is scheduled for an hour then the groups rotate.


    The older kids Dog Piling at sports

    The younger kids playing baseball

    Ryan's boys in Arts and Crafts class


    Two activities then lunch & free time play then one more activity. Like I said day 2 was 100% better. And day 3 today even better. We are keeping this same set schedule for the rest of the summer break.

    Originally I had signed up for the older age group 10-12 years old kids. Ryan had signed up for the youngest age group 5-6 years old. On the first day when we got our groups (in all the ruckus) I ended up with 4 boys and he had 3 little princesses all dressed in pink fluffy dresses. Immediately I decided I wanted to switch with him which ended up for the better. He now has 6 boys and I have 6 girls. I actually have 5 five years old and 1 10 year old girl who wanted to stay with her little sister cause she looks after and helps her out a lot. This works out great for me cause when I can’t explain thing clearly in Spanish to the little ones she helps me. The little sister doesn’t speak much, can’t really write and doesn’t know how to read. I also have another little girl who can’t write or read either. When it comes to education or drawing I make sure to help these girls out a little more. Though they are all really sweet and help each other. Today we did collages in arts and crafts which all the girls loved and did really well at. We also had 30 minutes of computers (a separate activity each group does once to twice a week) which they also were very interested in. In the computer class we first taught the kids how to handle the mouse and click the select button. Once they got that down they played kids’ educational games on the computers. It was so cute seeing these dirt faced, sometimes shoeless, clueless, poor kids learn how to use a computer. I have already started forming a bond with the girls.


    3 of Debb's Girls learning how to use a computer

    Celia 5 years old learning the computer

    One of my girls and her brother

    Two of my girls on the swings

    One of my girls playing on the Titter-Totter


  • **The next blog Ryan is going to write some stories about his boys.***


    • Anyways, tomorrow, Friday, the San Igancio school is having a graduation for the kids from the regular school year so we don’t have summer school. Monday and Tuesday are holidays so we don’t have school then either. When I told my girls this today they were all sad. One girl even asked me if we would have school on Saturday. Ooohhh..“No sorry, school starts again on Wednesday”.

    Well since it is a long weekend, of course, Ryan wants to go back to the beach. Here we go again back to San Juan del Sur. Our plan is to camp out on the beach and sleep in the van. This will be our first really Vagabond experience.





    permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on December 3, 2009 from Granada, Nicaragua
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    San Igancio school registration

    Granada, Nicaragua

    This past week went by really fast. I guess it is because we have been really busy settling into Granada, registering for Spanish classes, planning and preparing for the children’s summer school activity group and getting to know the other volunteers.

    La Esperanza owns a few bikes for the volunteers to use while they are here. Since our house is the farthest away from the main square I snagged a bike from one of the other volunteer houses whom barely used it. Ryan fixed it up for me: lowered the seat though I am still on my tippy-toes, tightened the brakes and checked the gears. Stefan and Anna also have bikes so we all decided to ride our bikes up to San Ignacio school everyday, usually a 45 minute walk from our house. I am happy cause the ride’s good exercise everyday. Meanwhile, Ryan set up a car pool for $1 per person per week for the other volunteers and is getting pay $1 a day by La Esperanza to take the computer for the kids up to the school. We figured this would add up to a free week of rent for us.

    Ryan started Spanish lessons on Wednesday. He first planned to go 2 hours everyday during the week but after the first day and LOTS of homework he thought that might be too much. Instead we decided it would be better for him to go 3 times a week and I could go 2 times a week. Even though we are living in a Spanish speaking community it is still hard to learn the language without really knowing the words in the first place. Plus I was feeling left out cause Ryan, Stef and Anna are all taking Spanish classes. With us all in classes hopefully it will encourage us to speak more Spanish in the house. Queremos hablar español sólo en la casa.

    On Thursday we started registration at San Igancio school. **Side note: San Igancio is a one of the poorest areas of Granada. The houses are small one to two rooms made out of thin slices of tree trunks or cardboard layers.


    Thin sheets of layer wood = walls.

    San Igancio house made with tarp and corragated steel
    The roofs are corrugated steel and they are all gated with barbwire. There are a few stores in the community and some of the houses with power, not all though.

    Houses in San Iganico
    The school we are working at is the only one in the community and was just built in June this year (though it is still not complete). Therefore most of the children have never been to school and are barely formally educated. With this said the reason we are doing summer school in San Igancio is for these children to catch up a bit before the new school year starts in February.**

    So continuing with Thursday’s registration… when a group of white people come into the village it inevitably generates attention.


    Posting signs for summer school in San Igancio
    First we walked around the community posting signed (in Spanish) that explained the summer school program and registration. Kids and parents immediately came to sign up. Some of the kids stuck around to hangout and play with us. We planned to do registration for three days Thursday, Friday and Monday maxing out at 100 kids. An hour into Friday’s registration we had 104 kids signed up. The enthusiasm of the kids and parents excited us that much more.


    Parents waiting to sign up there kids for summer school

    Playing Soccer with the Kids


    Kids of San Igancio

    They love playing Baseball

    the Crazy hyper kid


    Kids of San Igancio

    She doesn't talk or know how to read


    We can’t wait for school to start on Tuesday BUT before our work and study load gets too crazy we decided to retract to the original plan of hanging out at the beach. We came back to San Juan del Sur for the weekend for just a little more surfing and sunbathing before the eye of the storm.




    permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on November 28, 2009 from Granada, Nicaragua
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    Starting our Volunteer work at La Esperanza Granada

    Granada, Nicaragua

    You know the saying “When it rains it pours” well here in Central America it pretty much rains and pours everyday. However, for us the sun has been shining for the last few days, not exactly literally though. The Nicaragua-Costa Rica boarder only took 2 hours instead of 4 like last time. I guessed it helped we had done the process here before so we pretty much did the same thing but backwards. After that we soared to Granada; went straight to Oasis hostel (the one the guy’s stayed at last time we were here) and waited for a response from the volunteer organization to see if we could move in ASAP. Since it was Sunday we figured we would not hear anything back till Monday but actually got a response that day. Wow that was fast!

    Monday morning we moved into the volunteer housing. There are four different houses (which actually look like mini-hostels) all with clean kitchens, dining area, a common area with a TV and computer, a washing machine for laundry, communal bathrooms and dorm / private rooms. The house we are in is one of the smaller houses with only 5 rooms but the only one with double beds for couples.


    Our bedroom for the next 2 months

    The closet and sink in our room, oh luxuries

    Our bed with a mosquito net


    the kitchen, open to the jungle patio

    Outdoor water tank shower

    On the other hand our common area is one of the larger ones and our kitchen is half outdoors which keeps it cooler. Right now only us and another married couple are occupying the house. Stefan (29) and Anna (26) from London, England. A nice, friendly couple. By next week when the summer activity program starts we might get a few more people.

    Our living room


    After settling into the house, which definitely included deep cleaning our room and the kitchen, we attended our first volunteer meeting. At the meeting we found out that our volunteer work consist of planning and running the children’s (ages 5-12) winter break activity program for a poor village outside of Granada called San Ignacio. The activity program doesn’t start till next Tuesday, December 1st but since we are early arrivers we are the planning process (Ryan, me, Stef, and Anna). Both Ryan and I are super excited about this because we get to choose the activities the kid’s do: arts & crafts, sports, educational aspects, etc. for the next 2 months. We really feel like we will have an influence on the kid’s by creating the curriculum ourselves.

    After the meeting we were all pumped up. We went straight home to start working on registration posters, (Registration is this Thursday, Friday and Monday) and looking up arts and crafts activities. With the arts and crafts we are first limited to the materials here in town and second have to keep in mind that some of the families are so poor they don’t even have money to buy food for dinner every night. Therefore, we are researching arts & crafts made with recyclable materials: toilet paper tubes, newspaper, magazines, rocks, straws, etc. Ryan came up with a few good ideas with the toilet paper tubes and construction paper such as: making animal critters and Christmas trees. Anyways, I sure we will have lots of stories over the next 2 months of all the activities and good times we have with the kids and other volunteers.


    Ryan making a snake out of toilet paper rolls for the kids

    Ryan's arts and craft snake


    Another good “sun shining” thing that happened today was Ryan fixed Chiquimula. He had to pull out the passenger seat and pull apart the entire dashboard to get to the back of the engine, but when he did Thankfully he found the problem was only a leaky hose. Down the street a guy sold him a replacement hose for only a $1. After that she sounded good. We are going to take her for a long test drive this weekend to make sure all else is well.

    So even though it has been raining a little bit each day it has been shining good news for us.




    permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on November 24, 2009 from Granada, Nicaragua
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    Some TLC for Chiquimula

    Liberia, Costa Rica

    Since we don’t have to be in Granada, Nicaragua for the volunteer program till next Saturday, Nov. 28th Ryan and I decided to spend this next week lounging on the beach. We got up early this morning and headed for the Nicoya Peninsula where all the popular Costa Rica beaches and surf spots are. (Tamarindo is located on the North Shore of the Nicoya Peninsula for those of you who are familiar with it).

    Not long after we left Chiquimula (the van) started heating up more than ever. Granted we knew we needed to work on the engine soon but it caught up to us sooner than we expected or wanted. SO as we cross the mountains from San Jose to the coast the problem got worse. Great timing, just when we are suppose to drive 4 hours up north and have a relaxing week at the beach. Bummer. Pretty much to sum it all up we stopped ever 20 km or so to fill up the radiator with water and Ryan concluded Chiquimula has a blown head gasket. We made it to Liberia, a main town in northern Costa Rica, then decided to give the van a rest for the night. Tomorrow we are continuing on to the Nicaragua board (probably another hellish 4 hours ordeal like last time) and on to Granada. Instead of spending the week relaxing and surfing the beautiful Costa Rica beaches we are going to give Chiquimula some TLC (a new head gasket, oil change, flush fluids, etc.).


    permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on November 21, 2009 from Liberia, Costa Rica
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    Sharing New Experiences

    Jaco, Costa Rica

    Yesterday was our second day couch surfing. Marlon had to spend the day studying so while he was cramming we took care of a few errands in the city before leaving to Nicaragua. We headed back into San Jose to pay for my school, did laundry and went to the super Mercado (grocery store) to buy dinner for the family. We wanted to make them a dish that we figured they probably never had, had before. Searching up and down the aisles we came up with Cordon Blue: chicken fillets stuffed with ham, mozzarella cheese and spinach wrapped and covered in breadcrumbs then baked. We also made roasted tomato halves topped with garlic, breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese and rice cooked in chicken broth and spinach. The meal turned out great. They loved the presentation of the food, said it was delicious and were very grateful.

    Today, our third day couch surfing, we took Marlon and his sister to the beach. Marlon suggested we go to Playa Hermosa, the closes beach with the best surf to San Jose. It was a two hour drive but well worth it since it has been cool, cloudy and rainy in San Jose and it was hot and sunny at the beach. Since the family does not have a car (they use public buses for transportation, common for Costa Ricans) Marlon and his sister do not get to go to the beach very often so this was a big deal to them. When we got to Hermosa beach there was barely anyone around. It was an open coastline of sapphire blue water and black sand beach back by a brilliant emerald green jungle. Beautiful and tranquil. Most of the day we went back and forth between swimming in the water and laying out on the beach. Ryan of course surfed most of the day.


    Ryan teaching Marlon how to surf
    After lunch and a few hours Ryan gave Marlon his first surf lesson. He did the typical show you on the sand how to paddle to catch a wave, jump up to your feet and take the surfer stance. Not surprisingly Ryan made it look easier than it is.

    Marlon's ready to surf

    Then it was out to the water where Ryan helped Marlon balance his weight on the board and paddled out to the waves. A couple tries, a couple crashes and a few dozen mouth-full’s of salt water. The surf lesson was over. Marlon did good for his first time.


    Ryan & Marlon

    Marlon catching a wave

    After the surf lesson we packed up our stuff to go home, but no before a second first time lesson. Since Marlon’s family does not have a car Marlon and his sister never learned to drive, so Ryan and I decided to teach them. Hence, a second first time lesson. They were both hesitant and nervous but with huge smiles agreed and Marlon jumped in the driver seat first. Ryan had explain: step #1 use only one foot for both the gas and break, step #2 hold the break, put the car in gear, step #3 let off the break, push the gas slowly, step #4 dodge potholes, don’t hit people on the side of the road, pull over some and slow down when cars are coming the opposite direction……Marlon’s sister went next. She is short like me so Ryan had to move up the seat and tilt down the steering wheel. She did just as good as her brother expect once Ryan had to grab the steering wheel when she was coming around a corner and did not turn the wheel enough and we almost drove into a house. Besides that they both did great and had a blast!


    Marlon's sister drivng Chiquimula

    Marlon driving Chiquimula


    Jokingly Ryan asked if either one of them wanted to drive home but they both wide-eyed said NO. By the time we got home we were all tired and exhausted from the day in the hot sun. Marlon’s mother made a typical Costa Rican dinner for us and we spent the rest of the night relaxing looking at pictures from Ryan and my trip so far.




    permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on November 20, 2009 from Jaco, Costa Rica
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    Our first Couch Surfing Experience

    Escazu, Costa Rica

    We left San Jose this morning before breakfast and headed to Escazu to meet up with the guy Ryan might get work from and to take Flip Flop to the veterinarian. (To put it a nice way in the last day or so she has been having stomach problems that hasn’t been coming out so pretty at the other end; plus we figured since she is a stray we should get her checked out.)

    Flip Flop sitting on the dash on the way to the vet

    Flip Flop watching traffic in San Jose
    Even though Escazu is only 7 km west of San Jose it took us about an 1 ½ hours to find our way there. Forty-five minutes of it was trying to navigate out of the city with all the streets with no numbers, no signs and constant one-way. I swear we drove in circles. Anyways once we finally got out of the city we were on the road back to the airport. Supposedly according to our “not so good” labeled map there was an exit to a cross inter-section on this highway that went to Escazu. We miss this too. Eventually we doubled back and found the signs for Escazu.

    First thing we did when we got into town was look for a veterinarian. Ryan looked one up in the phone book that spoke English. We drove around again in “circles” because of the no street numbers or street signs but at last found it. The doctor did a quick, brief exam of Flip Flop and said she was definitely sick but curable with a few medicines. He gave us a few minutes to discuss it and we sadly decided it would be too expensive to keep her. The vet said he would take care of her and might know someone who will pay for the medicine and adopt her. So that was that, GOOD BYE Flip Flop, We Love YOU!!!


    Flip Flop

    Later in the day we met up with the guy who Ryan is suppose to work for. We followed him to his hotel and discuss the potential work. Needless to say at the end of this meeting Ryan and I were both a bit apprehensive. Not so sure it is going to work out. He and the “work” is definitely not what we expected or hoped for.

    Anyways, back to a few days ago when we decided to come to Escazu. It is a local suburb to the city so we figured there would not be many hostels and it would be a good opportunity to try couch surfing. We put 4 request out to couch surfing hosts. The responses we got were: “No, sorry I am out of town”, “No I don’t have room in my place right now”, “No, I already have people staying with me” and one “Yes, I would happy to have you guys stay with me”. Yeah! The “yes” response came from a guy named Marlon. He is a native Costa Rican, born and raised in Escazu. He lives with his family- mother, father and one sister (20 yrs.). He is 25 years old and is an English major at the University of Costa Rica. He says he is studying English cause he wants to be an interpreter or a translator but mostly an interpreter.

    Marlon and his family have been very accommodating and friendly. He gave us his room to sleep in while he sleeps on a mattress in his sister’s room. Last night we had dinner with his family then went out to a local bar to meet up with two of his friends, Jorge and Alejandra.


    Jorge, Marlon & Ryan
    Over a couple beers we talked about what its like growing up in Costa Rica, their jobs, their friends, the crazy non-labeled or numbered streets in Costa Rica and Escazu, the possibility of us working in Costa Rica, our travels so far and about how badly the three of them want to go to the Metallic concert in San Jose in March but the tickets were sold out in half a day. It was good conversation, good company and a good time.

    Marlon, Ryan, Debb, Jorge at the bar





    permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on November 18, 2009 from Escazu, Costa Rica
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    Gearing up for the next adventures

    San Jose, Costa Rica


    Flip Flop
    Not much going on the last few days just been hanging out in San Jose, but I thought I would give a brief update. Besides reading a lot and walking around the city what we really have been doing is trying to “litter box train” Flip Flop. Since she is going to be a traveling cat and live in the van with us it only makes sense that she has a place to do her business in the van and not on Ryan’s lap while he is driving. It has been a bit of a challenge cause her liter box is in the van (of course) down stairs in the garage of the hostel. So we are constantly going up and down.

    Sleepy head

    Flip Flop

    Beside all the poopoo and we have also been waiting for my interview to get accepted into the International House Costa Rica, Instituto Britanico (certification school) for teaching English to foreign speakers. I had the interview today and it went well. I got accepted into the school and will be starting in February. The school is in a good, clean part of San Jose; an area called Los Yoses. There are lots of schools and institutions in the area, lots of apartments for rent, a grocery store near by and a mall. Seems like a good place to stay.

    Today we also found out that we have been accepted as volunteers for a group in Granada, Nicaragua called La Esperanza Granada. The organization focuses on helping improve the local children’s education by working as kindergarten assistants, tutoring the primary school kids, teaching English in the schools, mentoring the high school kids, doing community research, doing arts and crafts and sports with the children and even taking them to the local dentist. However, we will be going there during their winter vacation, December and January, so we will be doing more playing than teaching I think.

  • **Here is the website if you want to check it out: http://la-esperanza-granada.org/


    • We will be in Costa Rica for another week and half then going back up to Nicaragua. Oh and Ryan got a hold of the guy he is suppose to work for…so we are going up to this guys hotel tomorrow for Ryan to do some handyman work in the hotel for the next week. Kinda a test run for both of them. If all goes well when we get back from volunteering in Nicaragua Ryan will work for this guy while I go to school.

    So I guess we have not been doing much lately but a lot has been happening.



    permalink written by  ryan & debbrial on November 17, 2009 from San Jose, Costa Rica
    from the travel blog: Us Discovering the Latin Americas
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