Checking in (via the mom...)

Stuff is pretty good here. Finished the sign to go out front, been doing a lot of rowing down to the beach, bonfiring, kyaking, sloth holding (duh), tour giving, and bossing around/translating for what will soon be 6 volunteers with little to no spanish. Mostly just good fun, my Spanish has gotten a fair bit better and I´ve started picking up Panchuco, the Tican slang, as well as a bit of the accent (the ¨r¨s are almost gringo and the ll´s and y´s are slurred like in Chile). In terms of grand projects I haven´t come up with much (although the sign, and the next one I´m doing, are somewhat a big deal since they are people´s first introduction to the place and being able to paint (which I fortunately gambled correctly on being able to do) has gotten all the construction guys interested and they´re always in watching and chatting during downtime, which is cool).
Lots of adventures (last night, biked with a couple of the guys down to a bar about 15 minutes away...in the dark on potholey roads with semis whizzing past and a broken bike seat-at least I´m staying safe :) ). This trip has at least gotten me really interested in the ecology side of Sustainable Development (thinking about maybe weedling in a alternative energy project for Aviarios some summer...borrowed some books from Judy on stuff like canopy expoloration and the Costa Rican national park system), and interesting ideas about guide stuff (where a company will pay you to travel around Central/South America with a bunch of gingos, which could be really cool...one of the volunteers here knows a guy, but guides have to be 21 for his company).