26 days in Setana, Hokkaido…

Hi everyone!!! After the huge shock from the earthquake I wanted to thank everybody who made contact or was worried about the situation. Everything is calm here and I really appreciate the communication…

It’s been almost a month since I arrived at Setana. Before I was in Hakodate and switching to this new town was a bit difficult at the beginning because I don’t know many people here and the only persons with whom I have contact are my family so I have no friends of my age, this was hard at the beginning but little by little I have become used to the situation.

I’m here because of my voluntary program from ICYE-ACI and my project consists of taking care of cows. Work is hard, but the periods are short. What is really tiresome is that I work everyday, but I feel better day by day :) Here are some photos of my work place with the cows and nekos…

Setana is a remote place, the nearest town is about 10 minutes away by car and in this area there are just like 5 families. This are some shots and a video of my “neighborhood” so you can get an idea of the place…

My host family is soooo nice :D !!! sometimes my little brothers are a bit noisy but they are kids so it’s ok!! Setana is very calm and I have plenty of time to study Japanese and walk around the farm (even though it’s a bit scary because of bears… No joke!), the landscape here is great and the afternoons are cold, but perfect to think about many things…

The very first time I saw my my host father’s father he gave me a snowboard (I actually don’t know if it was a present!) and all the necessary stuff to practice! A few days later my father and brothers took me to a ski park and I was super surprised when I saw my host grandfather there… He taught me how to do snowboarding and he learned to snowboard when he was 50!! Now he is 63 and is he very very pro!!! A very nice example!! At the beginning it was very scary, but after the lessons I could ride the tracks all the way down (eventually falling). Everyone here is very very nice!! This is my teacher and the ski park...

Here also a video I took the second day I was learning to snowboard!!! I’m really in love with this sport!!!

I have 1 month left in Setana and on April 14th I will return to Tokyo (I hope that by the time the situation gets better because of the quake and the Fukushima crisis). My return date to Costa Rica is on may 8th, but I have some plans to stay more in this great place… Japan!!!

Finally a video on my way to the top of the Ski/Snowboard park…

In Tokyo I will post more often because my connection in Setana is not so good and now I’m posting from Sapporo (I will write about my experience here later!)…

I hope you are doing well everywhere!!! :)

One week in Hakodate, Hokkaido

I wanted to post about my first weeks in Japan before this, but I want to have some material before publishing about Tokyo so this time the post is about my short but excellent week in Hakodate…

Hakodate city is relatively small, is situated in Hokkaido and it has the world’s third best night view (someone told me that the other two are Hong Kong and Monaco). Hokkaido is maybe 1.5 or 2 times the size of Costa Rica and the population here is not as huge as Tokyo, that’s why it has been an interesting change… From the world’s most busy city to a very calm place with a different life style. Here is cold as you can imagine… Is normal to have below zero temperatures and is really difficult when it gets windy!!!

It doesn’t matter where you are in Japan, people are super nice here, very helpful and they are always interested even in the most little details that you can tell. Here I met some friends and they helped me to get a better idea of Hakodate and it’s people.

With these new friends I’ve visited some very nice places. First of all here’s a video of my neighborhood in Hakodate…

Here are some pictures of places we visited, sightseeing, fishing my lunch in a lake, a very nice volcano and some other photos in parks and with the people I’ve met…

My favorite spot here is Mount Hakodate…

It takes from 30 to 45 to walk to the top and now in winter is all covered in snow, a very mystic place. We met very few people while climbing (a very nice fact) and because of this you feel in peace. After walking comes the spectacular city view. I took some photos but this is one of the things you have to live… This scenery is one of the best I’ve ever seeing…

After watching the city you go back in a rope way and the trip ends.

My stay in Hakodate ended on the first of march and now I’m in a very different place: Setana, a thousand people town where it takes like 15 minutes by foot to the neighbor's home and here I will start my voluntary work in a farm :) !!!

If I have a better Internet connection I will post more often. In Hokkaido the Internet situation has been difficult, the service in this part of Setana is very slow…

My best regards from cold Hokkaido and I hope everything is excellent everywhere!!! :D