annikamcfarlane

[annikamcfarlane]

Eat Rake Love (2/18)

And so our Costa Rica trip starts here with the “new volunteer” job of raking. My first 3 days I spent 15 hours raking. All of which took place exclusively on gravel paths. Leo and Manuel (two of my favourite people I met, and who I am excited for you to meet later) were the two jolly maintenance guys in charge of this task. They spoke only Spanish and every day they would tell me to rake “todos los caminos'' even if that’s exactly what I did the previous day. But we were in the jungle and even if you rake all of the leaves on all of the paths it is a futile endeavour, because minutes later there will always be more leaves. (Which is a deep beautiful life lesson I’m sure.) Part of why I chose to do a work exchange as a form of traveling was because I was interested in trying different jobs and ways of living. As a person who spends a lot of time at a desk, there was something deeply satisfying about using my physical body to physically change the world instead of just moving tiny squares of light on a screen with zero change to my surroundings. (But I still love doing that too, of course.) By day 3 of raking, I felt like I had become a very pious monk. What exactly was I pious to? Leo and Manuel? Or the gods of raking? I’m not entirely sure, but I could see how if I kept raking the jungle floor day after day I might one day ascend to enlightenment. 

[annikamcfarlane]

Holaaaaa! (1/18)

In December I was lucky to take some time off and spend 1.5 months in Costa Rica on my first solo trip. Not only was it my first foray into a foreign country alone, but it was also my first time doing a work exchange AKA getting free accommodation for 5 hours of volunteering 5 days a week (which can be pretty sweet depending on your travel style). I didn’t bring any of my creative tools with me but there were so many moments and people that filled me with so much joy and love. And to keep those memories forever, what do you do? You immortalize them in pixels of course! So behold my partly illustrated, slightly wordy journal of my time in Costa Rica! Vamanos!