All Volunteer Conference

Peace Corps Costa Rica is lucky in that we have one three day conference where every single volunteer in the country gets to be together. So 98 of us headed up to a Boy Scout Camp in the mountains near San Jose. It was our poor luck that there was also a cold and rainy front passing through Costa Rica at the time. We didn’t see the sun for three days and I was wearing 3 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of pants, and 4 sweaters at the same time….and I was still cold. And I felt like I was REALLY in the Peace Corps because for the three days, I didn’t eat, I didn’t sleep, and I didn’t bathe (the water was like ICE). Ok – clearly that’s an exaggeration but it felt like I didn’t eat, sleep or bathe. Above are some pictures to demonstrate the coldness that was Costa Rica for three days.

During the three days, we had some Safety & Security refresher courses, a Medical refresher, received two shots (one of which was the flu shot – and two people, at least, did end up getting the flu!), talked about some existing projects, received small workshops from Fellow Volunteers, and learned more about specific smaller groups within Peace Corps Costa Rica (For example: There is a smaller group working to promote HIV/AIDS awareness within Costa Rica and encouraging the other volunteers to do smaller projects as well.) At night we had hot chocolate, a talent show, a dance party, a slide show, and good time to get to know the lives of some of the other volunteers. All of our lives are so different!