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A thirst quenching podcast for the girls, gays, theys, & astrology baes where we talk about anything & EVERYTHING through an astrological lens.
Hi, guys. Welcome to another episode of Tea from the Galaxy, a thirst quenching podcast for the girls, gays, theys, and astrology baes where we talk about everything and anything through an astrological lens. So today's episode was a long awaited episode. From when I first started this podcast and I was thinking of certain people I wanted to bring on the podcast, obviously, everyone who I bring on to this podcast are people who inspire me. So when I'm thinking about things I wanted to talk about, topics, real life experiences, guests that I wanted to bring on, top people I wanted to bring on was one of my best friends, Maya.
Serena:We've been friends for about fifteen years, and I really wanted her to talk about her experience in the Peace Corps living in Costa Rica. She's been living in Costa Rica for almost two years now, and I just think that is such a rare experience, an inspiring experience, a such a bucket list item type of experience, an experience that I don't know anyone else who has, to be honest. I know a good amount of people who always said they wanted to join the Peace Corps but never did it. And I know a good amount of people who still would like to do the Peace Corps but are kinda scared. So I definitely wanted to bring her on and to talk about her experience with it, the process of entering the Peace Corps, what was her reasonings as to why she wanted to enter the Peace Corps, the inspiration behind it.
Serena:I will say the last, like, twenty minutes of this podcast did get cut. Our mics just cut. I think they died. So we did lose the ending of this footage, but most of the ending was her giving shout outs to people and kind of reiterating the people who inspire her and the people who support her are able to help her during this journey of being in the Peace Corps. So, like, her friends and her family and stuff like that.
Serena:So if you are listening or watching this podcast, you're one of mine's peoples, and you're like, damn. She didn't even give me shout out. She didn't even mention me. She definitely did. The footage just got cut.
Serena:I wasn't able to revive the the audio from that. Another reason that I wanted to bring her on this podcast to talk about her experience in Costa Rica is because she resides in Nicoya, which is one of the five blue zone locations. So if you don't know what blue zone locations are, they are places in the world with the healthiest, longest living populations. So one of them is Nicoya, Costa Rica. I wanted to not only go out there to visit her.
Serena:We did this podcast episode because we we were out there visiting her, but I wanted to also kind of experience the way of life out there and the diet out there, the food out there, the people out there, the environment, the culture. Because I was very curious. The Blue Zone locations are very intriguing to me. I firsthand was able to experience kind of the way of living out there, which it is so beautiful. It's so peaceful.
Serena:The people are very hospitable and welcoming. The food is great. I'm excited for you guys to listen to this episode and let's just get into it. Today I have one of my best friends Maya here. Hello.
Serena:One of my longest friends. You are my longest friend actually. Yeah. You've been friends since I was 12.
Maya:Seventh grade.
Serena:Yes. And you just turned? 28. 28. Literally.
Serena:Yesterday. Recording live straight from Costa Rica in the van. This is our last day basically. We waited the whole trip to do this.
Maya:Wasn't like going through amazing moments.
Serena:Didn't even have time because we were just having a good time, but, and living in the moment. But this morning has been a shit show trying to get this together. That's why we are in the van. The moment that we were ready, it started down pouring. There's four of us here in Costa Rica right now.
Serena:Me, Maya, Jasmine, she's sitting in the front. Amanda is behind the camera. This is a real this is a real production that's happening. Surfboard in between us, camera on the luggage, speed bump. This is real.
Serena:This is real, and this is live. So this has been an episode that I wanted to record since even before I put out the podcast. I knew that I wanted you on here talk about life in Costa Rica during the Peace Corps. I think it's awesome that you're doing this. I wish I did something like this, but I don't have the balls like you.
Serena:So, Sagittarius Queen, I wanna talk about your experience. I think other people would love to know about it, hear about it, people who are curious about the Peace Corps. I think it's nice to hear a perspective of someone who's in it and been in it for almost two years. Right? Yeah.
Serena:You're hitting the two year mark. Couple questions I like asking all my guests on my podcast. You can answer all of them, none of them, whatever you feel comfortable, but this is to just get to know you a little better. Your age, which you just said it. Your pronouns, your big three, because this is an astrology podcast.
Serena:And your sexual identity.
Maya:I'm 28, sheher. I'm a Sagittarius, sun, Libra rising, Gemini moon, I am complicated and picky. I
Serena:like that. I like that identity. Yeah. So how long have you been in the
Maya:Peace Corps? An official Peace Corps term is about two and a half years. The process is like completely probably about just under three years. Like when you start your Peace Corps application, it takes a while. You have to go through a lot of a medical process, an interview process, but I officially got to Costa Rica in March.
Maya:Of twenty twenty four. Of 2024. And then we leave May to June 2026. I put an extension application in, so we'll see what happens. Yeah.
Maya:So you're still
Serena:in between if you're staying or Yeah. You're going back So you're not sure yet. Yeah. But basically you have to hit until May.
Maya:Yeah. You have to you can leave as early as May 1 or as late, I believe, as June 30. I think I'm gonna stay a little bit longer. You know?
Serena:Mhmm.
Maya:I'm really liking it here. I'm I mean, who am I to leave early from Costa Rica? It's a beautiful country.
Serena:It is beautiful. Being here, they really emphasize a slow life and living in the present and simple life. And Yes. That has Coming from America where everything is, like, so hustle bustle, like, on the go, coming here is exactly what I needed because I felt so burnt out in The States. And then coming here, it's like, okay.
Serena:Why are you in a rush? Like, just relax. So I don't blame you for wanting to stay.
Maya:Yeah. To be honest. A little resistant to the way we move in America. Exactly. Yeah.
Maya:I and honestly, the craziest thing is as anyone who knows me knows that I move pretty quickly and I'm very lax even in my life in America. Mhmm. Like, I am doing a lot. I always had, a couple jobs on hand. Even when I had the store, was doing a few jobs.
Maya:But, like,
Serena:Mine used to have a thrift store in Jersey.
Maya:Yes. So yeah, so even when I was doing that, I've always had, you know, that and I've been side quests and sports and like, I do move pretty fast, but I'm also still so lax, like still made time to get out and surf, go for runs, find, you know, time. So I thought that I was living a very calm, like calm, I guess like that's like comical, but calm and not like, because my life wasn't centered around like my nine to five job. So I thought I was already living this like really cool different type of life. Then I came here just to find out like you're moving way too fast.
Maya:Like one thing even for a weekend is a lot. Like their event on the weekend is definitely going to church, seeing family. That's a relaxed day. You don't move if you don't have to move. Where in Jersey, your Saturday and Sunday is for, like, anything you couldn't get done during the week, going to see friends, you know, going out to dinner.
Maya:So but also I live in rural Costa Rica. This is not to be the complete picture of the whole country.
Serena:Where do you reside in Costa Rica?
Maya:So I'm in the Guanacaste province. I live near Nicoya. And that area is very, like, rural. Even when they put me here, they were like, you know, don't go falling in love with a cowboy like the Caballeros. And I was like, what do you mean?
Maya:And now that I'm here, I know what they mean. I didn't know I was such a city girl until they put me in the farmland.
Serena:That was like a culture shock, feel like a tad bit. Because even we visited her home for one day. So basically the four of us, we came here to visit Maya, but we came straight to Dominical, which is, how would you describe it?
Maya:Like a little surf town? Yeah. It's like a nice sleepy on the beach, surf beach town.
Serena:Then we drove to where she stays. Five hours? We were, yeah, literally five hours and we were like, oh shit, this is completely different. This is like the farmland. And when you're put in an environment like that, are forced to have a slower life.
Serena:Yeah. Like, you need to take, like, your bus schedule, for example. Like, if you want to go to the beach, like you have to plan that in advance. It's a whole day affair. It's not like you can just get in your car.
Serena:I mean, specifically for the Peace Corps because you can't drive.
Maya:Yes. I yeah. That and people have cars here. They not everything is as hard for them sometimes as it is for me, but there are things that are hard for some people, like the reality of taking public transit the way it is for me. But yeah, because of that, it's like, I was so resistant at first.
Maya:Like if I wanted to go to the beach, because that's kind of my like idea of like a safe place, relaxation, I love that I'm close enough to get on a bus to go to the beach. But if I missed a bus, there's no buses on the weekend. That was the thing that got me. So if I wanted to go on a Saturday, there's one bus I think at 6AM. So I'd be waking up at like 05:30 and I'll do it.
Maya:But then the bus leaves from the main city at eight. So I'm sitting there for like a while and all of that was hard because it's inconvenient. And if I missed that bus, I'd have to walk like a mile to the other bus stop. And sometimes that bus would come. I mean, if you're in Peace Corps, you know, the buses are never where and when and what they say they are.
Maya:So if that bus there's times where I would sit at the bus stop for three hours, I call Jasmine crying. I'm like, I don't understand. When is the bus gonna come? I just wanna go to the beach. And I'm just sitting there like, not even to get to the beach.
Maya:This is to get to the place to get to the bus to go to the beach. So I was like, the first couple of months got me so, so hard. I was so resistant as opposed to being like, okay, this bus didn't come. Like, I'm not going to the beach today. I was, I fought it so much because I really value autonomy and being able to do what I wanna do.
Serena:Yeah. Yeah. Sag queen, you just want to get up and go and do what you want. And I think being in this environment, you were kind of forced to ground yourself a little bit, slow it down and just be with yourself. But also something that I noticed about where you live too, it's just so different than being in The States.
Serena:Like you had your chicken. Yes. Chiming. She chewed with her eggs. And then I remember you got like pastries and you said, if I see my neighbor outside, I'm just going to give it to her.
Serena:You know, like it's more of a community. You get to know your neighbors, become family with your neighbors. And I think that is a part of American culture that is lost or has gotten lost
Maya:Yeah. Over the It's like, you don't even wanna know your neighbors. You don't take the time to talk. And there are some communities that do that, but like, where is the block party? We're like, it's so fear based, you know?
Maya:We're here, it's it's not. They're like, their doors are open and the people are just like inviting. Yeah. They don't have much.
Serena:They're gonna still offer you what they have. Yeah. Even your coworker Victor. Hosted us for lunch and it was such a beautiful like Costa Rican lunch with star fruit juice, showed us his fruit trees in the back. It was very inviting.
Serena:Yeah. Victor's a homie. You know you were gonna come to Costa Rica? Got your, assignment or like, how do you figure out where you're gonna go? Or is it just like you apply for the Peace Corps and you're like, wherever I go, I'm going?
Serena:Or did you know, did you pick Costa Rica?
Maya:No. So there's a couple of different ways you can do that. Costa Rica, it's almost like in college, there was this like Beatles music class. So if you signed up for the Beatles music class, it was like, you might not get it because like everyone wanted to take that class. So Costa Rica was that of the Peace Corps.
Maya:Like it's one of the nicest places. Like people are always applying to come to Costa Rica because it's still pretty developed as a tourist destination. I applied to go to Montenegro in Europe. That was my initial like application. Wanted to, it was still the same job, English education, but I wanted to go to Montenegro because I was like, this will be a nice bridge between like somewhere I haven't been, learning a completely different language and still being a little bit more in a place that's like developed.
Maya:Like there's the extreme extremities, like you can go there, you can go to Fiji. Like my friend is going to Uganda next, Zane.
Serena:To Zane.
Maya:Yeah. So, and there's just so many different options. You can still go random, but you will end up in a random country, like, I for real applied for Montenegro, didn't get Montenegro because the country was only accepting six applicants. So I didn't get Montenegro, instead they pushed me forward to, and that'll usually happen, they pushed me forward to Costa Rica. And they offered me Costa Rica, as a secondary education teacher, I was like, oh, I didn't even know it was an option.
Maya:So I was like, who am I to say no to Costa Rica? It'll be really great to work on my Spanish. So I was like, yeah, this is I'm going. I'm going There to Costa were some things like kind of being thrown in beforehand, like throughout the year that was like my friend Noah was telling me about how he went surfing in Costa Rica. All of like, our whole friendship, he would tell me about that.
Maya:I would see videos of like the waves in Costa Rica. Someone was telling me about a trip they had gone on to Costa Rica. And like, I was just like, oh, you know, it's so beautiful. Like, that sounds awesome. And then like, I get offered
Serena:Costa Little like pieces of foreshadowing moments before it happened. It's like the universe was preparing you for coming.
Maya:Yeah. It was warming me up to the idea.
Serena:What is the process? You described it a little bit at the beginning of the video, but what is the process if someone is like turned around and said that they want to do the piece for, what's the next step after that realization?
Maya:Okay, so you want to do the Peace Corps, you're interested in Peace Corps. Maybe you will reach out to a representative, like there's Peace Corps representatives that you can talk to. You can always shoot an email, they'll give you more information. I was super involved in a Peace Corps prep class in college. So I was already like, I had known I wanted to Peace Corps since high school.
Maya:Like we learned about Peace Corps and I would have gone straight to Peace Corps instead of college if it was an option. But your resume looks a lot better with college, and my mom was not gonna let that happen. After you can do your you do your application, you can choose your country. If there's sometimes there's issues. A lot of medical issues happen If you have like certain sometimes mental health, like the reality of like the hardest part of the application is the like vetting process.
Maya:They wanna make sure that you're healthy. Honestly, I was telling, talking to a friend about this, that we think that they make it really hard to, like, get in because they're like, it's we wanna know that you're gonna show up. Because they'll pay for your flight. They're gonna cover everything once you once you are in. And sometimes people will drop.
Maya:Like, even in our group, we had three people drop right before we were supposed to go to Florida. Florida is like the meeting place, then we fly out together. Yeah. People get Yeah, people get cold cold feet or different job opportunities or family things happen. But the process is insane.
Maya:I had to go to the doctor so many times and email the doctor, like they knew me by name. Was like
Serena:Maya's here again.
Maya:Yeah, getting contacts for like six months, like, you know, six and twelve month contacts, getting your two pairs of glasses, because I have glasses. Everything had to get sorted out and still having to do the interview process. So it happens over a series of months.
Serena:Do you apply for a certain job position or that's random too?
Maya:No, you can apply. So the position and the country will have certain things. So Peace Corps has, it has education, health, youth development, economy, like economic development, and environmental development. So Costa Rica doesn't need an environmental development, you know, volunteer because they're so, so sustainable and eco friendly already. Like they're really about Yeah.
Maya:Preserving the
Serena:realized that being here. Yeah. Even the garbage system, everywhere you go, it's plastic, trash, aluminum. Yeah. What's the other one?
Maya:Paper. Yeah. Besides the development of like, literally, you know, gentrification, it's all good.
Serena:Yeah, that is definitely something we will touch upon. But first I wanted to ask, so you said that you always knew that you wanted to go in the Peace Corps since high school. Why? What was the calling? Like what what because I remember like, like when I said, I've been friends with Maya since we're 12.
Serena:I remember her talking about it in high school. So this was always a dream of yours. That's why I'm so happy as a friend watching you live this out and like kind of cross off your bucket list and live this experience. But I don't think I ever or I don't remember the reasoning. Like, what was the light bulb moment of, oh, I wanna do the Peace Corps in my life?
Maya:Yeah. Okay. I mean, I can't talk about this without talking about Mr. Thumb. Mr.
Maya:Thumb. Shout out to Mr. Thumb and also Mr. Romano. Know he'd get like some So
Serena:these are high school teachers.
Maya:These are our high school teachers. Love him. Mr. Thumb was my avid teacher. He was my high school avid teacher.
Maya:Avid was like a program I was in for four years. If you know, you know avid. His deep teaching style was very focused on like thinking, critical thinking and, you know, assessing different types of lifestyles. So when I had him, he was also my history teacher. So I remember being in class with him, having class, I believe with Romano too.
Maya:I remember
Serena:specifically some teaching, just a lot of things that would never be taught in a normal academic curriculum. I think Romano stuck more to like the book and that after class we would talk about cool stuff, but some of like my whole lesson today is going to be revolved around.
Maya:But like we
Serena:Fair trade chocolate.
Maya:It was the Kennedy. It was like when we were learning about Kennedy. I just can't remember
Serena:wanna say that it was Romano. Not Romano. I'm gonna say that was them. We learned a lot of American history in bum, and then we learned a lot
Maya:of world history in Ozanos class. Yes. If I'm wrong, I apologize. But I believe, like, in mister Thumb's class, we were learning about JFK and then, like, the creation of the Peace Corps. Peace Corps in Costa Rica just celebrated, I think, sixty years last year when I first got here.
Maya:So it was one of the first locations for Peace Corps. Yeah. And I had already been so into me and Jasmine were so into van life at the time, and, you know, mister Thumb had gotten us into, like, this surfing and, like, van like, my mom still to this day is, like, mister Thumb, like.
Serena:You know, I never had these teachers. I feel like I got like the worst fucking teachers. It's so interesting that you had a teacher that impacted this and then you turned around to be a teacher in Costa Rica. Like, it's so important. Like teachers are so important.
Serena:You're influencing, you're helping raise children like the next generation. I wish I could say I had a similar experience. Unfortunately, Yes, definitely
Maya:So I actually have no idea what like. Yeah, that experience. Yeah. Like there was one time where we were like in class and he turned the lights off and we all sat laid on our desks and listened to sounds. And it was just like to help us like kind of meditate.
Maya:Like we did a meditation. This is the kind of things he would do. So when we learned about Peace Corps, I was like, this is really cool. And I was always volunteering. My family was really tied into like the church and volunteering and giving back.
Maya:Like I was in a soup kitchen since I was like 10 years old. Like I remember being really, really involved in community from a young age. So when I heard about Peace Corps, it just seemed like such a natural, cool, you know, way to be a part of something and also take a next step in, like, you're with your future because Yeah. There's also a lot of, like, things you get back. Like, they'll pay for your masters.
Maya:People who go to Peace Corps, you know, go on to do really, cool work. So it's like you're connected. The networking opportunities through Peace Corps are really good, And I always loved that.
Serena:Yeah, I love that. It's like a win win. Yeah. Like you give back, but also there's perks to it. You also get to travel.
Maya:So that happened around like, I think sophomore or junior year and then cut to like three years later, I'm going into college, I meet Frank Cipriani. He is my first year seminar teacher. My first year seminar is Peace Corps. So Peace Corps as my first year seminar class, I am in that class. Frank Cipriani is awesome.
Maya:He was one of the coolest teachers also that I had, and he advocated so hard for me and his students. And we had a a peer leadership adviser in our class who was going to Peace Corps the next year. So her name was Liz. Liz goes to Peace Corps Morocco the next year. I take the Peace Corps class.
Maya:In the Peace Corps class, we're learning how to do fire by friction. We're learning how to make, like, acorn bread. We're learning he's so cool. We're we he taught he brought us to a native American, like, tribe for one of our classes, and we, like, helped do some gardening. It was really cool.
Maya:He is connected. That's awesome. Yeah. So then my in that following year, Liz goes to Peace Corps in Morocco. I'm now Liz as a peer leadership for the first year seminar class.
Maya:With that, I get the opportunity to visit Liz for ten days in Morocco. Yeah. That was, like, the start of the, like, this is definitely happening. I always knew I wanted to do it, but this is definitely happening. I visited Liz.
Maya:I saw Morocco, rural Morocco. Like, when I got there, they had to introduce me to, like, the leaders of the town. I didn't have a ring on. They're asking me who I belonged to if I was married. Interesting.
Maya:They're very, very traditional. Yeah. You know? They had be
Serena:covered up and everything too. Right?
Maya:Yes. So it was really it was so awesome. The food was amazing.
Serena:Oh, I love that.
Maya:The tea was amazing. I did ten days like that. What I learned from that situation, bring a projector. One of the things I brought with me to Peace Corps that actually took up space in my luggage is a projector because of Liz.
Serena:Yeah. Wait. Why projector? Because she
Maya:you spend a lot of time alone, and so she had pre downloaded a bunch of movies. And like, yours just you in a room sometimes. Yeah. And so I would yeah. I would I had the projector to watch movies.
Serena:Okay. So this was the start. That was the light so you had the idea. You were like, oh, I'm feeling this. And then when you actually visited Liz in Morocco, you were like, Yeah, I'm doing this.
Maya:It shaped it a lot more, you know, especially because of the way Cipriani did it. He's like, Here's your ticket, go. Don't speak the language. Thank God Liz just was at the airport when I got there. She helped with all of the bridging of like Mhmm.
Maya:Getting the ride and everything. She spoke the language. People would come up to me because I'm brown and start speaking to me in Arabic. And she would be like, actually, shalem. And I would be like, yeah.
Maya:Like, and they're like, oh my gosh. So surprised. The language? Yeah. She spoke the language really, really well.
Maya:She's just like this blonde, thin, white girl with, and she spoke great Arabic, they'd be like, how do you know?
Serena:Do you have to learn the language of where you're going before you enter the Peace Corps? Or is that a piece that you can learn in while doing the Peace Corps? Like you can learn the language of the native language of the country that you're at?
Maya:Yeah. Language requirement, like, or language knowledge not required. It helped that I knew some Spanish and came from a Spanish background when I came here, but my Spanish was not perfect. I'm a New Jersey Puerto Rican, so we don't speak a lot of Spanish. Liz definitely didn't know Arabic before she went into Morocco and she learned it.
Maya:You spend your first three months when you arrive practicing and learning and spending time just like in one place with all of the other volunteers. I got here and landed, we stayed in San Jose, three months of just like classes, language learning, cultural learning, you know, before they canceled DEI, cultural connectivity and like being able to communicate with locals and having those interactions.
Serena:Because That was one of your hardest parts, right?
Maya:Yes. The
Serena:transition moving into Costa Rica and that three month basically boot camp, I feel like. It was boot camp.
Maya:Costa Rica, yeah. Yes. And I forgot that I didn't really love being in school like that. So I was back in classes and I did not love that. I almost quit several times because of it.
Maya:Mhmm. Had to walk up and down the hill. I had stomach problems. I had E. Coli, like, three times.
Maya:Yeah. The medical aspects. I almost passed out so many times from the heat. I couldn't do the heat in San Jose, and that was rough because then after that, they proceeded to put me in Guanacaste, which is hotter than San Jose. So when I got to Guanacaste, I was, like, constantly almost passing out.
Maya:Mhmm.
Serena:Yeah. I remember that when you kept getting sick, and
Maya:I was like, Maya, is this a sign you shouldn't
Serena:be there? Like, your body is rejecting Costa Rica literally. Yeah.
Maya:And in reality, when I think about it, I think I was detoxing America.
Serena:I said that too at first, but then it was prolonging and I was like mean, but think about
Maya:it, how long it takes for your body to get fucked up by America. I've lived in America my whole life. That's lots of chemicals, lots of, what is it called? Preservatives in your Yeah,
Serena:for sure. Because even me being here when I live in The States, I'm mostly on a gluten dairy free diet. Being here, I was like, okay, let me like experiment. Let me have some things with flour, some things with dairy. I haven't been going ham, but I've definitely been eating things with gluten and dairy and I don't feel how I would feel in The States.
Serena:Yeah.
Maya:For sure. I was detoxing. I also got E. Coli a couple times. Yeah.
Maya:Got stung by scorpion twice. Oh,
Serena:yeah. Costa Rica things.
Maya:Costa Rica things.
Serena:What do you do when you get
Maya:stung by scorpions? Cry. They gave me or not they gave me. So when I got stung the first time, I was asleep and I just felt like the hardest, like it was like if someone stuck a needle in my toe and it woke me from my sleep and I just remember seeing something and I went like that. And it just like threw and I was like, that's a scorpion.
Maya:I knew it was a scorpion. A week before that happened, my host mom was showing me my room. It was very early in me living there. And I was like, there's a scorpion in my room. And she's like, no, there's no scorpion.
Maya:I was like, I saw it. And so we start going through like some of the stuff and I was convinced there was a scorpion. I made her, and I feel bad, but I was I couldn't sleep like that. Lift we lifted a boat. Like, there was like three beds stacked on top of each other.
Maya:Mhmm. We I took all my stuff out. We're going through all the beds. Everything is off. I love everything.
Maya:I found the scorpion that day and only for, like, a couple weeks later to get stung on my foot by another scorpion. Tongue went numb. My arm went numb. They I had, like I don't know if it was Benadryl or what, but he was like, just take this for a couple of days. My leg was numb.
Maya:And, yeah, been I had an allergic reaction.
Serena:I would have been freaking out. That would have
Maya:been my thirteenth reason. I'm like, I'm going back
Serena:to The States. You're brave, for real, that you stayed. I would have
Maya:been like, I'm going home. There was a rat's
Serena:hotel room where we were staying, and me and Amanda could not go to sleep. I have a sneaker in one hand and offspring with the other, and it would just squirm and we would scream.
Maya:So fucking scorpion. Yeah. That was one of the things that got me because the remember when I sent you guys a picture of the cockroach and it could fly and it was literally the size of an egg. It was so big.
Serena:Yeah. That's wild. The culture shock moving here, the three month boot camp, what would you say were the hardest things other than that coming here? I guess You mentioned I like the culture part of it.
Maya:I think for me, the culture didn't hurt as bad because I come from a Latin background. So, you know, being able to talk to people and like being very affectionate and being very, like understanding, like there's a bit of gender roles here too, depending on like, you know, certain families, like there were volunteers whose families were very, very religious. They would go to church with them. There are some families who they're religious and they aren't as accepting as we are in America, LGBTQ women's, you know, come like rights, wearing no bra, things like that, that were just like the freedom that you have and the comfort that we have in America, it can change. You know, like when you're here, it's going to change.
Maya:There's different ways of being. That was a little bit hard in the beginning because
Serena:Do you think because Catholicism influences the culture here? Catholic. Yeah. Yeah.
Maya:There's a really big heavy Catholic influence. Yeah. There's also a really big LGBTQ population. I went to Pride that was beautiful and big and fun and cool. My host parent I have really good host parents.
Maya:They didn't care about me going to Pride. They don't you know, they knew that I had volunteer friends who were also gay and like, you know, but then there would be other volunteer parents who didn't feel the same way. And, you know, some volunteers will feel more comfortable keeping everything to themselves and, you know, every person has to adjust accordingly. But yeah, I don't know because I think like I'm coming from New Jersey as a Puerto Rican, Peruvian woman. And I understand, like I was raised with a lot of gender stereotypes.
Maya:Like I know how to cook clean, you know, take care of the family and the kids.
Serena:Yeah. I had my seminal You have foundational knowledge.
Maya:Yeah. So like I would go into the kitchen with my host family and I would feel comfortable making myself food. I would clean up. Like I got to this house, cleaned the entire room, cleaned the entire kitchen of this other woman's house because I was like, I cannot. Like, I need to know where everything is and I need it to be clean and I just and she didn't care.
Maya:She would let me cook. She they were like, this is your home. Yeah. Other volunteers didn't have that same experience. Louise and Marjorie were beautiful.
Serena:So when you say host family, that's the family that took you in when you first moved to
Maya:Costa Yes. When I spent my first three months in San Jose, I stayed with the host family.
Serena:And every person who enters the Peace Corps gets a host family. Yeah.
Maya:Yeah. Like my host family, I just had two parents. My friend Marlena, her host family was the two parents and then I think they had two daughters. So she had like kids. And like in her other host family, when she got to her site that she would stay the rest of her time in, They have two sons and a daughter that she lives with.
Maya:Yeah. She's getting a whole family experience. Like I'll go to Marlena's house and I'm like, immediately reminded of my life when I was living with my family in high school. Yeah. Like, it's so funny.
Maya:I'll be there and she's like, they love her. Like, her host family loves her and they love me by proxy. Yeah. Oh, I love that. Yeah.
Serena:That's also a perk of entering the Peace Corps too, rather than just like traveling, right? Like you live in the community. You get to meet the people of the country. You're not just traveling and staying at a hotel or traveling and staying at an all inclusive, like you're living deep in the culture.
Maya:Yes.
Serena:So being that you hear the experiences of the native Costa Ricans that live here. What is it like having people from Europe, from America, from Canada, of starting to make their way down here, especially me living in Florida, in South Florida. There's a lot of people who come out to Costa Rica. They do retreats and stuff like that. What is the opinion on that?
Serena:Like, are the Costa Ricans open to people coming here or they're kind of like, what are you doing to my land? Like, what are you doing to my home? Do they like that? Do they not like that? What's your experience or outlook on it?
Maya:That's a really loaded question. Like, it's a double edged sword. You know? They the economy does really well when you have tourism. Yeah.
Maya:Guanacaste specifically, like, my co partner at the school is a tourism teacher. So he we teach English tourism together. It helps our students get to practice speaking English because if they go into tourism, they're going to be talking to people who speak English. And at the beginning I felt a little bit weird because it's like, I'm going to another country, I'm teaching them English. And it's like, you're almost like teaching your culture, your But I also have traveled around Costa Rica enough to know like English is the medium.
Maya:It's like the median language. Like that is the middle ground. There are people who come from Europe, they don't speak Spanish, but they do speak English. You know, if they're German, they speak English. So they're not like you do they like, is it better to have to learn German, French, like every other language?
Maya:Yeah. Or like, because we have a universal, it's English, you know? Yeah. That they learn that. And so then there becomes a little bit more of opportunity to make some money and to work.
Maya:And the line that gets a little bit weird, as a teacher, is like the line of the capitalistic mentality. So I'll tell my students like, you know, we have to practice, we have to study hard and we have to do this so you can work hard. And it's like, they don't wanna do that. They're like, woah, like Yeah.
Serena:They're like, woah, man, take it easy.
Maya:They're like, take it easy. Like, and and it's even being in high school in America having to learn Spanish, and Spanish is really important in America, and we didn't wanna learn that. My Spanish is not perfect. So I don't hold my students to a super high, like, level. But if I have students who do want the effort and to learn more, we we work one on one together.
Maya:Mhmm. So the culture here is so open and so nice and so friendly and yes, Pura Vida is real. But at the same time, when you go to those places that are tourist hotspots and you see the people who are profiting the most from that are not locals and are not native people. Yeah. That sucks.
Maya:I don't love to see that happening. Yeah. I don't like to see it happen in Jersey. Those places are expensive. Like, if you pee if you even bring up Santa Teresa, the Costa Ricans don't go there.
Maya:That is Yeah. Tourism. That is, like, completely, like, a touristic area.
Serena:That's like when we walked into the one of those boutiques in Dominican.
Maya:Yeah.
Serena:And that journal was 52 US dollars. Yeah. Who is buying this? It is it is a thin line because, you know, everyone's on the search for like Pura Vida. Right?
Serena:So then when people find it and then they fall in love with it. It's the taking it over part of it and yeah, the profiting from it. That is a turn off, I feel like. Yes. I feel like if you want to live like a slow life or this is the vibe that your soul is being called to live in, then you should be one with the culture instead of making your own.
Maya:Yeah. I have like an interesting perspective too because I do have a lot of friends on both sides. So I have friends that are Costa Rican locals, and then I have friends because I live in Guanacaste tourism. I have friends who moved here, and I have friends from Argentina, from Canada. The idea is like, oh, they're coming here and they're becoming a part of the culture.
Maya:Like, they're actually working, and it is not easy to go from your homeland and your hometown and be in a new place because you feel way more connected. Like my friend, me and Kendall have spoken about this at length so much. And she doesn't wanna live where she used to live. And the jump between here, could like the safe thing is almost like the rite of passage. Like not doing the safe thing.
Maya:The safe thing would be going home and staying in your comfort area, not sitting in Costa Rica during the rainy season where there's mold and there's flooding. That's the hard thing because you wanna be in a place that's like open and free and fruitful, like literally fruitful. And yeah, just having a different life. It's not like those types of people and those people are not making that negative impact. You I think it's completely different than that, than like someone who comes and wants to do like, I don't know, like some kind of retreat or like a cows, they have this like one yoga retreat and whatever.
Maya:Besides the point, when that happens and what they do is, like, trying to avoid all of the inconvenience, uncomfortable parts of being here, that's where I'm like that's not actually, like, what I would when you think about Costa Rica and how it used to be, like, what it is, like, that's very different. Think that when I talk to a lot of people, they'll say like, that's changed about Costa Rica. Like, there's a lot more of that, hippie vibe here now and beautiful and fun and amazing. And like, that's a cool opportunity. And there's a really big like Rasta code.
Maya:Like there's a lot of different subcultures that exist
Serena:in my mean, saw it at our hotel last night, the whole day it was like the hippies were out. They were out, they were dancing, they were singing. Then you have like Yeah, beach
Maya:surf hippies. Like there are so many subgroups of people. Yeah.
Serena:What are some of the, I guess the pros and cons of being out here and being
Maya:a part of the Peace Corps? I think being a part of Peace Corps, right? I'll put it I'll start positively. If you're the type of person who likes to travel, really values authenticity, that is a really important part. Because it's not just like you get to travel somewhere and now you're in a new place and you, you know, everything works fine.
Maya:And, you know, you can still be yourself in a new place. It's like, no, you can bring yourself into this new place, but you can't impose your perspective and you can't impose how people should act and what they should do. Or else. And if you do, it's just like you keep butting heads with the culture and with the reality of where you are. Yeah.
Maya:Sometimes you have to just like melt a little into I
Serena:was just say you have to like completely adapt.
Maya:Yes. So if you're not someone who like, I really love the authentic experience of going and living and eating and communicating how people do. And it is hard, but that's why I stayed still because I really like the hard. I I embrace the hard shit. It's fun.
Serena:That that was the only way for growth to happen. Yeah. I mean, you