knock knock!! Door-to-door in Costa Rica

Once I left my position with the sales company and began working in social services, I was certain that my days of going door-to-door were offcially over. However, life is always full of surprises! I wanted to share two short stories with you all.

As a Texan, the reality of a rainy season (where the downpours are quite possibly the only punctual happenings here in Costa Rica) are slightly hard to grasp. My response to the rainy season was to purchase an accordion. Seemed logical to me - finding a nice, indoor activity to pass the upcoming wet months. Once I had the accordion, however, I didn't have any idea how to play it! I needed a teacher. I began asking everyone that I came across and found that necessity of an accordion teacher is actually an excellent conversation starter. One of my English students mentioned that roughly 17 years ago, a teacher in his school played accordion and that he was fairly certain that this Señor still lived in Heredia (where I live). He didn't have any contact information but drew me a little map that would get me in the general vicinity of his house, telling me that "from there, I would just have to start asking for Franco".

That following Saturday when the rain clouds cleared, I decided to take advantage of the clear skies to begin my search for the accordion guru. I followed the map as far as I could and then began knocking on doors, asking little old ladies sitting on their front porches, people outside working on cars, etc. "Oh yes yes Franco! Ah yes turn left and go 50 meters and then turn right and go 100 meters...". Eventually I found myself in front of hopefully the right house, and I rang the bell. A woman came to the door, looking me up and down rather tentatively and I say through the bars and barbed wire, "Hello. I am looking for Señor Franco. I heard that he plays Accordion and I am actually looking for a teacher.." She gave me a funny look and asked me to hold on for one second while she went inside. She comes back about five minutes later, opens the gate, and guides me to the living room. Here I meet Franco, a small, smiley, gentle, white-haired man, who is already laughing at the fact that a gringa (a north american) has appeared on his doorstep asking for accordion lessons. He proceeds to take out his accordion and play/sing traditional songs, telling me stories about musicians and the music scene inbetween. Although he doesn't teach anymore, he gave me the contact information of his niece who lives close by and is in fact n official teacher (with whom I had my first lesson yesterday). However, he assured me that as soon as I learn the basics that I can come anytime to the house and we will jam out on our accordions. After a few hours I left the house and began to stroll back to my apartment. The rain clouds began to fill the sky once more, as if they had only opened up only long enough to provide me with this magical experience. By the time I reached the apartment, it was raining once more. I smiled to myself, thinking that we receive so many windows of opportunity in this life, as long as we are willing to see them for what they are and head out into the unknown.

This same week, I happened to meet a guy from New York who is also studying a Master's degree here in Costa Rica. He has been here for over 3 years and is working on his thesis. During our coffee break, he was explaining his project to me and lamenting the fact that he is having trouble recruiting people to help him do his surveys in two rural Costa Rican communities. I got very excited and exclaimed, "I love going door-to-door! I'll do it! How do I sign up??". He seems slightly surprised at my enthusiasm, but as I quickly explained, the opportunity to go to two beautiful communities in the mountains and spend a half hour an hour talking to families about conservation and the like to me sounds like an incredibly enriching and unique experience! (not to mention the fact that he willl be covering all the expenses!) I can hardly wait and I am sure that when I return I will have many more stories to share, as one never knows what is behind the next door..