How have I adapted into my host culture?

In Tortuguero

Trying to identify a snake that was found outside of our kitchen

Doing our first excavation, we found ONE baby leatherback alive!

WE eat ice cream when we get the chance!

Getting some plants to bring back to the station

In San Francisco, the village across the canal

This seems to be a very interesting topic for a blog, but unfortunately I will not be able to really dig deep on this one.

The nature of this organisation is across a canal, in the bush, and isolated from the nearby community. If I wanted to interact with the community to see what the Costa Rican culture is like I have to make the effort to do so. And thats what myself, Juan and Masao have been doing. We have taken the initiative to work with the community on a number of projects aside from our daily duties at the station and the turtle walks. These projects that we are involved in have only shown us a TINY fraction of what the culture is really like. So with that being said, I didn't really have to adapt to the culture, because I'm not entirely exposed to it (unfortunately).

On the other hand, being a white female I stand out like a sore thumb which is something that I have had to adapt to (but not the way you would probably think). In the past, other organisations and tourist have been and are involved with the community, and not just doing community work either. There have been some romantic relationships that have happened between the local men and the foreign women. SO, this has become an issue for me. A lot of the men that I have interacted with might assume that at first I'm a white tourist looking for a "quick fix", so they will behave differently with me in comparison to Juan and Masao. So this is something that I have had to adapt to. Since this is the community that I'm working with I dont want to seem like a cold harted woman so I have had to learn how to deal with the way that they may precieve me and trying to keep it professional at the same time. So far it's going well, but that doesnt stop the cheesy comments I get haha.

AHHH and of course, the Tico Time. Well I had my experience with that. Well being in the bush, the internet isnt the best. So when the internet goes down back home, we can get a technician to come and fix it the same day or in 24hrs. Here, they offer the same service, but 24hrs turns into a week. Well what can you do? Nothing, but wait.

I have also been thinking. If I was doing this internship in San Jose I dont think I would dress the same way I do while im working here. Currently, Im walking around in flip flops and unclean shirts and shorts. But when your in the city, the girls love to have their matching clothes, their makeup, and of course their high HIGH heels. If I was in San Jose, I think that I would probably have to dress somewhat to that extent if I wanted to "fit in".