By Tristan
I think the easiest way to show you guys what I’ve done so far is just to walk you through some things I’ve done and places I’ve visited so here we go.
In September, I lived in Madrid for a month with a friend from school, we both undertook a gruelling and very intensive bartending course over 4 weeks as well as taking Spanish lessons most days. I ended up graduating second in my class (behind the single professional bartender) and learnt a lot about the industry and Madrid culture. I also competed in 2 bartending competitions at Mauz bar and ended up coming 1st in the qualifiers and 2nd in the finals against experienced bartenders, but I think I was helped by the fact that the judge was my bartending instructor.
After Madrid, I flew straight to Costa Rica and, if the 13 hour flight wasn’t enough, we then had to take a very sketchy taxi in the middle of the night for 4 hours. For 2 of these hours, our driver was very insistent on showing us ABBA videos on YouTube whilst going 100kmh down windy, suburban roads. Nevertheless, my friend and I finally arrived at the animal sanctuary, against all odds and aided by our limited Spanish, and met up with our other friend who had arrived the day before. We were ecstatic to hear our friend already complaining about the heat, insects, dangerous animals and the list goes on. We were even happier to find out that we were waking up in 3 hours for briefing at 7am. Despite the exhausting first day, we were quickly acquainted with the other volunteers and ended up getting into the swing of things. At the sanctuary, our job was mainly to clean the animal enclosures, feed them and provide them with enrichment–which is essentially toys we give the animals to play with so they don’t get bored. There were definitely low points for all of us at the sanctuary–these mostly occurred when we had to wake up at 630am and deep clean rat’s cages – but these were overshadowed by the fact that we were all in one of the most beautiful countries I have ever been to and surrounded by amazing animals and people. We would all end up forming very close bonds with a lot of the animals, especially the spider monkeys, the toucan called Raul, and a very loud, talkative parrot called Julietta. Most days the manager would drive us down to the beach or the local town of Dominical to surf, grab something to eat (which was very crucial because we soon found out the hard way that all food at the sanctuary was vegetarian) or visit a waterfall. The three of us were the only male volunteers for the first 2 weeks so we were slightly taken aback when we heard that a 50 year old man was coming to stay in our accommodation. However, our worries were quickly extinguished when we met the new volunteer who was a very funny and kind man from Detroit. He would join in on activities with us and binge watch Game of Thrones when we had finished work. Overall, I think Costa Rica was one of my most treasured experiences. I have learnt so much about animal conservation and care and its necessity in today’s world. I also learnt a lot about Costa Rican culture and improved my Spanish greatly.
After Costa Rica, we felt we needed a break and flew to Cancun for a week to relax and immerse ourselves in new customs and culture. It was very beautiful and much needed after weeks of hard labour.
