Libassa Ecolodge

It still feels so weird to be writing from home...this weekend I was supposed to be flying out of Liberia to Accra in Ghana (for visa reasons), and Peter had booked this crazy flight itinerary just to see me for 3 days. Instead we've been together, in Boston, for the past 2 weeks, and ironically while his job has thrown him into a deep dive of Covid-19 data to help with the response, I am currently on backup at home until late next week. It especially feels weird knowing I have friends being pulled to the front lines of this...an outpatient GP working as a hospitalist for the first time in over a year, an undergraduate pre-med friend in psychiatry deployed by the military to work a field hospital in Manhattan. I am sure my time will come too, but have to admit there's a little guilt knowing so many friends and colleagues are risking their lives daily while I am home safe. That being said, I am sure my turn will come.

Since I am waiting on my next batch of data to enter for Liberia, I thought I'd share these photos from Libassa Ecolodge. It's this really amazing place a short drive from Robertsfield Airport. Think a cozy, laidback beach resort that is working towards becoming zero-waste. That is truly an amazing accomplishment in a place like Liberia, where there can be many barriers towards sustainable practices.

We arrived late on a Friday night to discover we were one of only 2 couples there. Due to a gasoline shortage, most people had canceled their trip...definitely not great for business/Liberia at large, but we admittedly loved having the whole place to ourselves to explore. And there is a lot to explore...apart from the beach there is a multi-level pool deck with a lazy river, a great bar and restaurant, a lagoon with kayaks for rent and even an animal sanctuary.

The efforts they have made to reduce their impact on the environment really are impressive. Room electricity is limited to 200 watts each, with solar-power lighting for exterior areas. For every tree taken down to build the lodge, another tree was planted. They aren't plastic free (I think this would be quite difficult to manage, but a solid future goal) but minimize use of plastics and recycle both plastics and paper as much as possible. They also use well water as much as possible for cooking, and compost food waste when appropriate.

You can probably tell from the photos how secluded and quiet the place was the weekend we went...it is usually a pretty popular day trip from Monrovia. We really enjoyed having the place to ourselves. 

The pool deck is broken into 3 levels connected by stairs and a waterfall. This is the largest pool. Peter loves to actually swim so this was his favorite spot. I don't know if it's an English thing but he had never come across a shallow lounge pool until we stayed at the Palazzo in Vegas on our cross-country road trip. He actually tried to swim laps in it, which was kind of amazing 😂 Unfortunate for him, it didn't work out...

This is the lagoon side, where you can rent kayaks, lounge and swim. There is also a bar on this end and you can have lunch overlooking the lagoon. We only took a short kayak trip (lazy as hell + strong currents = bad combo) but loved seeing tropical birds and some monkeys swinging in the trees.

They had the most amazing all natural smoothies...this one was pineapple. Still miss enjoying a Savanna cider on a hot day at the beach. 

The shared deck of our palaver hut. I didn't take any photos inside because we are messy humans and the room was a disaster from the moment we dropped our stuff off. But the space was clean, cozy, and well designed. Water was heated by the sun so you could take a warm shower by 5-6 pm (to be honest a cold shower probably feels amazing during the dry season- it gets so hot!) There was no AC but we were pretty comfortable with the fan on overnight. Because of the 200 watt limit, the room was on the darker side, which helps keep things cool during the intense dry season.

We stayed in a Palaver hut, a traditional house built with local materials. There are also larger spaces available directly looking over the ocean and lagoon.

I *think* the LED lights are low watt? Made for some fun lighting. We came here to watch the sunsets. The first photo on this posts shows what a beautiful view you get.

So tan. So happy :) This was our first weekend together in over a month. I am really, really really thankful that Peter got to see how beautiful Liberia is before this Covid-19 outbreak. We had so many plans for his next trip, from exploring Mount Nimba to Robertsport to visiting the National Park, but all of that is up in the air now. Obviously there are way more important challenges in life right now. But I am glad we got to make some fun memories together here.

One more pic of this dress since it's pretty much my favorite :) from Nani Pani (linked. Not sponsored.)

One of the coolest things about Libassa is their animal sanctuary. Unlike some of the organizations highlighted in Tiger King (looking at you, 'Doc' Antle...ugh), this one was founded purely as a place for exotic animals originally bought as pets to either be rehabilitated for the wild or live as comfortably as possible in a more natural environment. We got to see monkeys, a crocodile, and even pangolins (which are native to Liberia) before Covid-19 brought them to the international spotlight.

While they try to release as many animals back into the wild as possible, some animals, like this juvenile monkey, won't survive in their natural environment as they've never been exposed to anything besides an unnatural human habitat. They will likely spend most of their lives here. :(

I think that's a wrap! FYI I was not sponsored to write this post. My blog does not have that kind of readership, haha (insert self-deprecating joke here 😋) We had a great time, and I was totally impressed with the Libassa Ecolodge model for sustainability and efforts to have a neutral to positive impact on the local community and environment. You can find more information here on their website.

I have to say, we've been lucky enough to visit a lot of truly beautiful, tropical places, from where I grew up in Florida to where we met in Greece (Crete, Santorini, I'm looking at you!) to the absolutely stunning and tropical Hawaii, but this was easily one of the most beautiful, peaceful, relaxing weekends we have had in a long time. If you are ever in Liberia, I highly recommend a visit. Be prepared to pay with cash as they are pretty remote, and credit card machines only work intermittently. Also bring plenty of bug spray! Mosquito nets are provided in each room.

Hope you enjoyed! Stay safe and healthy, folks.

How to Live in Spain: Stories of a Temporary Ex-Pat

This is pretty much ridiculously overdue. Also, it is awesome. My sister moved to Spain for a year to teach English to elementary school children (primary school for any Europeans out there) before starting medical school, and as you can clearly see, is doing some amazing things. So, if you have any remote interest in living abroad, travel, Spain, Europe, and post-grad opportunities, read on...

First off, why teaching? Why not a semester abroad with your university?

Well, I always knew a semester abroad with my University just wasn't what I wanted. First of all, where I went to school, it was actually pretty expensive to study abroad. Also, they didn't have many class options for what I studied in college (biology). And most importantly, I had heard from friends who studied abroad themselves that what happens is you tend to spend most of your time around your fellow Americans who are also studying abroad and end up: a) not learning much of the language and b) not getting a real cultural experience.

So, for all of these reasons I sought out a program that would allow me to be in more control of my experience abroad. I knew I wanted to be in a Spanish-speaking country to better my Spanish, and of course teaching is the best (and one of the only) ways to make money abroad with only a bachelor's degree and no work experience. I found this program called 'Auxiliares de Conversacion' in Spain-a program where you are  a language assistant who is placed in a school and are basically the resident 'native expert' in the english classes for normally 12 hours a week. I applied to the program, was placed in a school, and that's pretty much how I ended up teaching!

How did you go about finding the program you decided to teach with?

I first heard of the program from a friend in my sophomore year of college. It intrigued me, so I looked more into it and asked around to people who have done it before. It seemed a little questionable, but the more research i did, the more my confidence in the program grew. After stalking blogs from people who had done the program in the past, talking to a number of friends of friends who were in the program, and looking at the official program website, I finally decided this was how I wanted to spend my year living abroad.

What was the application process like?

In one word...complicated. The application was all in Spanish and was pretty hard to follow. There is an application guide in english which certainly helped, but it was still tricky. But at the end of the day, there weren't actually too many components to the application. There was a general application section, a short letter of intent, a letter of recommendation, and some documents that need to be uploaded. I'd say the much harder part was after being accepted, working on getting my visa to live in Spain-now that was a convoluted process (but also totally doable).

Tell us a little about the region your post is in :)

I was placed in La Rioja, a small community in Northern Spain that no one has ever heard of (unless they know of the wine). It's filled with miles of beautiful fields of vineyards, one large capital city, and many smaller pueblos (towns or villages-one in which I live). It's really a hidden gem of Spain. It has amazing food, unbelievable wine, beautiful views, and great access to the rest of northern Spain.
What surprised you about Spanish culture?

I think the biggest surprise was the difference in eating habits. Meals are completely different here. Most people eat a tiny breakfast, a huge, late lunch, and a light, late dinner. Now, this difference may sound like not such a big deal, but it really has made a difference in my lifestyle. Due to my work schedule I've been forced to change my eating habits to this later schedule, and it's been a weird adjustment. I eat lunch around 2 PM and dinner at 10 PM sometimes, which is just crazy. It's not a change I love but it's definitely a part of the full cultural experience.

Peter and I LOVED the food when we first came to visit- La Rioja is well known for for it's wine and 'pinchas,' isn't it?

Yes, it is! The wine here is amazing (not to mention much cheaper than anywhere else). And we also have pinchos, which is a small amount of food, prepared normally on top of a slice of bread. Pinchos can be anything from shrimp to chicken to some famous Spanish sausage. The norm is to go out for some pinchos and have a glass of wine or some beer with each one and of course catch up with friends.

Has it been difficult to make friends, either with local Spanish or other teaching assistants? 

Fortunately, no, in fact it's been really easy. It was certainly facilitated by the fact that I live with two awesome Spanish girls. And then, the community of fellow teaching assistants tends to hang out together naturally since we're all working the same job. It really worked out for me in that there's a big group that is a mix of spaniards and teaching assistants from all over (US, Canada, France) that hangs out together. It's a really fun mix of people and we usually end up meeting for Thursday nights at the local Irish pub (I know, it sounds strange, being in a small Spanish town and going to an Irish pub). But it's a really great group and a really great town to live in-I really lucked out with my experience this year!

What is a typical day of teaching like for you?

I usually wake up around 8 am to be ready for my first class at 9 am. I walk to one of the schools I work at and work through 2 or 3 hours of classes. I'm always with another 'main' teacher and do different activities based on who I'm paired with (and also depending on the day). Some teachers will have me read a story to the kids and ask them questions, some will have me give a presentation on an aspect of US culture, and some will just have me help with pronunciation and going over homework assignments. It really just depends on the teacher, the age group, and the day. Because of this, every day is different and every class is different.

After that I have a 2 hour lunch break and usually return for a few hours of class in the afternoon. I also do a few private classes here and there that fill up my schedule.

What's your typical weekend? what do you do for fun?

I actually have a three day weekend, which is awesome! I don't have classes on Friday, and of course on Saturday and Sunday. So, I try to travel as much as I can. I either stay here and Calahorra and go on a day-trip with friends or I plan ahead and travel to somewhere a bit farther and spend the night. There's so much to see in Northern Spain, so my focus is to see as much of the surrounding area as I can. And I'm hoping to visit other parts of Spain, like the south, if I get the chance. Sometimes we get long weekends, called Puentes, and I try to travel farther, to other parts of Europe. The last Puente we had was in December and I travelled to Munich, Germany and Salzburg, Austria for the Christmas Markets. But of course, like I mentioned before, on normal weekends I try to keep the travels to Spain!

Have you done much traveling around Spain yet? any favorite towns or moments?

I have travelled a little around Spain, but not as much as I want to. I've mostly explored other pueblos of La Rioja and I've been to Madrid, Zaragoza (in Aragon) as well as the Pyrenees of Spain in Huesca, Aragon. But there's so much more to see. As much as it saddens me, I don't think I'll even come close to seeing all I want to in Spain by the time I finish my year here. But that just gives me an excuse to come back in the future ;)

As far as favorite towns, I really love the pueblo of Haro in La Rioja. This pueblo has many bodegas, or vineyards, with the best wine La Rioja has to offer. I've been twice now and went on tours of some bodegas followed by wine samplings. Both times I've visited have been with friends and we had a great day filled with excellent food and wine.

What are some challenges you wish you'd been aware of before heading over for a year abroad?

There haven't been any major challenges I've experienced (Thank God). And actually, although there are a few small things that are good to be aware of before a year abroad, I was actually warned about most of them before leaving. I joined a Facebook group of people from this program, and many veterans gave words of wisdom and warnings of potential challenges.

Some of the most helpful warnings were about the difficulty of finding your favourite products abroad. MOST things are easily found in supermarkets here in Spain, but there are a few products you may want to stock up on before you arrive, especially if you have a favourite brand or are extremely picky. Also, you should definitely move abroad with as much money saved up as you can because moving abroad is expensive. Between the flight, the apartment hunt, and paying for initial groceries and other costs before your first paycheck comes in-it's definitely best to come with a bit of a savings.

You traveled around a lot over the winter holiday- almost entirely alone- how did you budget and plan? 

Honestly, my christmas travels were a bit of a splurge. The most expensive part was the plane tickets. But, besides that, everything else was really cheap. Staying in hostels is obviously the cheapest option, and you also meet a lot of new people that way. And in most of the cities I visited (Budapest, Vienna, and Prague) things like food and public transport were much cheaper than I expected them to be (especially Budapest and Prague-So.Cheap.) So in the end the cost wasn't horrible!

As far as the planning, that was a bit stressful, only because I did everything a bit at the last minute (or at least that's how it felt at the time). But everything was actually so easy once I decided which cities I wanted to visit. After I had the plane tickets to and from that part of central Europe, I just booked buses to get from one city to the next and then booked the hostels. And travelling alone actually made planning the trip a million times easier than if I had been travelling with other people because all of the decisions were made solely by me. There was no disagreeing arguing, or collaborating. I chose the hostels I wanted to stay in, the dates I wanted to travel, and the cities I wanted to visit without any hesitation, which made it all the easier.

Were you ever concerned about safety when you were traveling alone (spoiler alert: Mom definitely was!)? How did you stay safe?

Haha, yeah, I definitely got the feeling mom was not sleeping at night while I was on my travels (which is entirely understandable, I must admit). However, I always felt really safe when I was traveling, despite traveling alone. You obviously have to take all the normal precautions when traveling, like: keep all of your valuables in a secure spot, always in front of you, don't look too much like a tourist, and be careful where you're visiting late at night. Overall, I was actually visiting very safe cities and never felt threatened or unsafe. If you just use your common sense and trust your instincts, you can be absolutely fine traveling alone.

Favorite moment (from living in Spain OR your recent travels)?

One moment I loved from my recent travels was New Years eve in Vienna. I met a group of people in my hostel and ended up celebrating midnight with new friends, live music, and a bottle of champagne at Vienna's town hall. Hours before I had know idea how I was going to celebrate,and then suddenly everything fell into place and I ended up having a great night! To me, that's what travel, especially solo travel is all about-the great moments you never expected. And I think they happen more often when you travel alone because it forces you to be much more open to meeting new people and also allows you to be flexible and open to new plans.

Any advice to other young people considering a year abroad?

I would say, if you can make it happen, then absolutely go for it. It can seem scary and intimidating, but it is so worth it. And while you can travel and live abroad at any point in your life, I really think the easiest time to do so is when you're young and are less likely to have other obligations tying you down. Take the plunge; I really don't think you'll regret it!

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Not sure about you, but I'm just about ready to pack my bags and run away again. Special thanks to my sister for being cooler than me and sharing a little piece of her incredible experiences here. Hope they inspire someone to think beyond the typical college study abroad experience :)

Peter just asked me what a dime is...

I love him.

σε μία εβδομάδα

this guy moves across an ocean to be with me

 (no, not the baby. the bearded one. the baby wants nothing to do with me)

He's tall, pale and handsome

he likes taking silly photos

...ahem. he likes taking silly photos A LOT

he's very wise

 he loves adventure

it's amazing how he can't stop moving... I am convinced that the only thing more energetic than him was our Jack Russel Terrier (Skipper, RIP little dude <3).

oh, and he carries the backpack if I whine enough ;-) 

basically, he's just the kind of person you'd want to wander with.

 and I like him love him a lot!

although judging from this photo, he does not reciprocate. hehe!