Candy, not Turtles

Early in October, the GTE crew reunited once again in the glorious province of Guanacaste, this time in a fellow volunteers´ site. The beach at Ostional is world-famous for the annual return of the tortuga lora (Oliver-Ridley turtle); thousands of these sea turtles come to lay there eggs on its´ dark sands. It is one a only about 8 beaches to which these turtles travel in large droves. Unfortunately our plan to help with the vigilancia of the turtles fell through when the arribata (the arrival of a large group of turtles) failed to arrive. Instead, we assisted with the community beach clean-up, though we received odd looks in the beginning as we didn't know it was a debris clean-up (where they remove large sticks and logs to clear the beach for the turtles to lay eggs) and we started picking up trash. We caught on quickly...

So here in Costa Rica, many people have vaguely heard of this Día de las Brujas (the Day of the Witches), some know that this strange holiday somehow involves kids and "confites" (candy), but not one person has ever actually celebrated Halloween.

Until now.

Armed with arts & crafts materials, plenty of candy, and a jack-o-lantern pumpkin, I had the first Halloween party in Jabillo. The kids and I made masks in preparation for their first trick-or-treating adventure. I had previously arranged with several families near the school to distribute the candy that I was providing for the affair. (This was not an easy task, as there are still a number of people who haven't a clue what Halloween is or what exactly I was asking them to do! Confusion only escalated when the kids arrived at the houses shouting something resembling "TRICK-OR-TREAT!") In the end though, all the kids were happy with their sugar high and the families experienced a small part of an American tradition.

The next day, Halloween continued in La Y Griega, the other town where I teach English in the school. The second party included a little more variety in costumes, including devils, cats, princesses, fairies, a batman, and one tacky tourist (yeah, that was me, though I don't think they quite saw the irony!)

Halloween was a long event for me this year, as the date coincided with our All Volunteer Conference, where all 90-some volunteers in the country meet for workshops, group activities, and other learning benefits. Like a Halloween party. Here's Tico 14 (my training group) showing off their best!

Aren't we adorable... those of us in traditional dress are dressed in the typical Guanacastecan costumes. The girls outfits were all made by a local costurera (seamstress) in another volunteer's community!