Day 2
On the second day we went on a tour of the hot springs near the lodge to get a feel for what customers do when they go on a trip up to the lodge. We met our guide in the morning, he also works at the Lodge as a cook and guide when customers are here. We went with him and a family he was guiding up to the hot springs. I thought the hot springs were nearby, turns out there are FAR. We hiked for about 2 hours before we even got to the Hot Springs! We did stop to look at a lot of things like a waterfall, bugs, plants, frogs, etc. but it was not nearly as close as I thought. And it was a difficult trail, lots of up hill and then down hill on stones (which can get slippery!) We had to cross two sets of rivers, which were flowing with good speed and had lots of rocks….and I slipped a few times. We also had to use our hands and feet at one point to get up a steep ledge. When we got there it was pretty (but so was the rest of the walk). It just looked like a little pool with hot water….yes, it was natural hot water but I was expecting it all to be natural…not a man made cement pool with hot water. Besides, when we got to the top we were way too hot to want to get in a warm pool! But, it was still cool to see and an adventure to get there. Behind the hot springs is another waterfall and that was worth the trip up for, it was peaceful and beautiful! I didn’t take my camera on the first hike because I wasn’t sure what to expect and didn’t want to break it. I may attempt (with help from Steve) to get my camera there another day. On our walk we saw numerous tropical plants, wild banana trees; a baby watermelon and two poison dart frogs (wished we had the camera for those!). When we got back we grabbed lunch, we were told we could have some of the rice and chicken in the kitchen….so we put some on our plates and on the way out of the kitchen were told NOT that chicken, that was for guests not us, apparently the rice had some chicken in it? (We could barely see it). Anyway, it was already on our plate so they told us to just eat it. But it was awkward; nothing had been explained to us about food so at this point were still in the dark and are trying to do our best to make our hosts happy. We took the rest of the day to explore the property, see the river and lay in the hammock. We had dinner with the lodge owners and some of their friends who were in town. Dinner consisted of pork chops and veggies…it was pretty yummy but little did we know that was going to change in a few days (I’ll tell you more later). Then we took the night to organize our small room, realizing we brought WAY too much stuff with us. On the second night here I still struggled a lot with being away from home. It is different being away and knowing you aren’t leaving for a long time…harder to enjoy the beauty of Costa Rica, which I know may seem crazy but I am out of my comfort zone and still trying to figure out how to fit in with our hosts. Day 3 Our work schedule for the week was 3 days, 10 hours a day, so that we could take a long weekend away. Day three was the first day of work. Day three was TERRIBLE. At the end of this day I considered leaving the lodge early. We started work at 7am, in the beginning it wasn’t so bad…Steve and I wed together to fill the hummingbird feeders and sweep the front porch. After that Steve went with one of the owners to survey the property and see what work needed to be done outdoors. I was put on cleaning duty with Marta. Before I tell you what that meant, let me start with my expectations or what was implied I would be doing on a daily basis…when signing up for this work stay I was to be in charge of guest services, helping out with guests, setting up the dinning room and putting out pretty flowers, making sure the guests were happy and had everything they needed…maybe some cleaning here and there but mostly interacting with the guests. Well on day three, I worked with Maria (the maid) and followed her around all day “learning” from here. With no instructions from the owners, my only instructions came from Marta, who spoke no English and I speak no Spanish. She seems like such a sweet lady, but it was hard for both of us since we could not communicate. Now, you would think, well its cleaning that shouldn’t be too difficult, but it was 90 degrees and I was scrubbing bathroom toilets, showers, sinks, sweeping a large building, mopping, making beds, doing laundry, scrubbing windows, etc all while Marta kept trying to give me directions, and when I tried to clean things I just kept getting “No, no no…” from Marta who tried to get me to do things a different way. Now I understand they don’t do things the same as we do, but the way she was having me clean things made no sense, I was cleaning things that were clean, using weird cleaners that I wouldn't use on what she was using them on and asking questions got me no where because she didn't understand. All day in the heat I was cleaning (the wrong way apparently) and not only that, I was cleaning things that weren’t dirty AND Marta was “re-cleaning” everything I did. Every window I cleaned she re-cleaned immediately after I was done.. It was EXTEMELY frustrating. I know how to clean, and this just felt like a waste of time and energy. The entire time one of our hosts kept walking by saying, “Marta just doesn’t stop does she”, and I’m thinking, “Do you not see how hard I’m working and how much I’m sweating?”. Not fun feeling unappreciated. So I did this for from 7am-3pm, then entire time feeling like “forget this, I’m done after today”. I was miserable. Then at 3 Marta went home for the day and I got to work outside with Steve. It felt so nice to be outside. We worked on the garden. I picked weeds in the sun for the next 2 hours and it was amazing. I did things my own way, was productive with my work and our other host was super happy with what Steve and I got done. That night Steve and I discussed staying or not. I knew we made a commitment to the hosts, what would they do with out us when they are traveling home? But at the same time I just found out I passed my NBCOT exam and I was supposed to be celebrating and traveling the world. This just did not meet my expectations and I was missing home more than ever. Steve on the other hand was happy with the work he got to do and loving the future opportunities for work here. So I agreed we should stay because I am not someone who likes to let anyone down and by leaving I felt I would let down too many people. I cried that night, which is hard to admit because I’m in Costa Rica…I am supposed to be living the dream…this just wasn’t the dream I had in mind. More updates later!
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