Sometimes I look at my life experiences as one of those Choose Your Own Adventure books for kids (are those still around?), where you would get to choose from different options at certain points in the story, and see how it changed the outcome. Well it looks like I'm on a new chapter now. Or maybe even a different book.
I am no longer a Peace Corps Volunteer. Yep, just like that it's all over. On August 6th I finished all my exit paperwork, signed a paper summarizing everything I did in the past three years, said goodbye to all the Peace Corps staff, and walked out of the office in Panama City for the last time. After finishing I made the trip to the Darien for final farewells to my Embera family in Nuevo Vigia. Everyone asked me if I was leaving forever this time. I told them I had no idea when, but some day I would love to come back and visit. And I meant it. Saying goodbye gets tiring after a while. I've been doing it with so many people over the last few months. So many people that I may never see again. At some point it became sort of emotionless, simply because I didn't want to do it anymore.
But the next adventure is already underway. Last week Amber and I crossed the Panamanian border into Costa Rica - the first leg of our Central America journey. We're travelling by land, and planning to visit every country from here to Mexico. This is my way of taking advantage of being jobless and homeless for the time being. The fun part is while we have an itinerary, changes are made at any point - deciding to stay somewhere on the way that looks interesting, or meeting people that give suggestions on where to go and what to see.
The past week was spent exploring Caribbean coastal towns in Costa Rica, and visiting nature and animal preserves. In Tortuguero, a beach town far from any roads, we ventured out to the beach at night and watched a green sea turtle lay her eggs in the sand. During the day spider monkeys swung from the trees and watched us curiously as we walked around. Now I'm in San Jose, staying at a friend's apartment.
Next stop... Nicaragua.
