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Lauren Murray

La Iguana

Seated between a middle-aged man and a chicken in a
cage, I grip my backpack and pray that I make it through
this bumpy bus ride without getting sick. The tiny yellow
school bus speeds up and down hills along a dirt road on
the outskirts of Puriscal, a meat industry town in Costa
Rica. Anxious, I try to peer through the crowd to see the
road signs pass by the dusty windows, afraid of missing
my stop. As the obvious outsider on the bus, I can feel
everyone's eyes wander towards my seat, questioning what
I am doing on the once weekly bus to Mastatal. What
could this twenty-year old blonde gringa want from a
farming town with a population of less than 200? The
bus driver stops and turns to tell me I've reached my
stop, and I graciously thank him as I squeeze through the
crowd and off the bus down the dirt road to La Iguana
Chocolate Farm for La Semana Santa.

La Semana Santa, or "The Holy Week," is a week of
relaxation and celebration in Latin America. For the
entire week leading up to Easter, students are off school,
parents get vacation from work, and everything in the city
is shut down. While most study abroad students head to
the beaches, I was looking for a different experience; I
wanted to see the country, meet new people, and have a
fulfilling vacation that journeyed deeper than the touristy
surface of Costa Rica. Our weekend trips to the beach had
consisted of visiting beaches, riding bikes, drinking, and
sleeping as little as possible. As much fun as we had
taking trips to beaches all over the country, I wanted to
spend a significant amount of time somewhere and really
get to know the place.

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