Ryan and Christy Fiala met in high school, graduated from college, married and started working in Omaha. Yet they weren't ready to settle down.
Now they are living in Costa Rica without computers, telephones and shopping malls — and even without Husker football.
And they love it.
As members of the United States Peace Corps, the Fialas are committed to two years of service in Tortuguero, Costa Rica. The two years is in addition to the six months training they had in San José, the capitol of Costa Rica.
"Like anything in life that requires a large change, it has to feel like the right thing to do at the time," Ryan wrote. "It did, and it still does. More realistically, we wanted to learn Spanish, a new culture and live in a different part of the world."
Ryan graduated from Wahoo High School and Christy from North Bend Central High School. They both graduated from University of Nebraska-Lincoln in May 2001, he with his master's in accounting, she with a bachelor's degree in advertising. They were married Oct. 13, 2001, and lived in Omaha where Ryan worked for Deloitte & Touche and Christy for the College of Saint Mary admission department.
Christy was first exposed to the idea of the Peace Corps at work. When she presented it to her husband, he was open to it. It took them more than a year to qualify. There were medical and security screenings, testing and more Spanish to learn. Christy had taken two years of Spanish in college, but Ryan had not had any since high school. Their only request for assignment was for a Spanish-speaking country in a tropical climate.
They took tests to determine their job placement. Their mission is for community development; teaching English and helping the community of Tortuguero better itself.
"Each day is different," Christy wrote. "Some days we spend teaching children about the world. In our community, there are no newspapers, magazines or Internet. Therefore, they have little information on what is reality around the world. We try to help with this.
"Other days, I spend trying to wash and dry my clothing in a rain forest environment. We are currently working with the community to find solutions to the local garbage collection problem. In addition, we have had English classes for adults and ninth-graders. The students have a national test they need to pass to enter 10th grade. Part of that exam tests English skills. If they pass, they would be the first students ever in Tortuguero to pass into 10th grade."
Tortuguero is a beach village on a peninsula on the edge of the rain forest. It is a four-hour bus ride, followed by a two-hour boat ride, from San José, the only city in Costa Rico. The Fialas must take the two-hour boat ride just to check their mail and e-mail.
The only industry in Tortuguero is ecotourism — tourists coming to study the rain forest or the green turtles who lay their eggs on the beach (one of only two places in the world this happens).
Costa Rica is a country about the size of West Virginia. It is a democratic country that dissolved its army in 1962. San José is advanced with good schools and a university. The government runs all schools, with children in the country usually quitting after the sixth or eighth grade.
The Fialas live with a family that runs a restaurant for tourists, renting a bedroom and bath. They could buy a house for $2,000, but don't want to have to go through the expense and trouble of furnishing a house.
The Fialas are well supported by the Peace Corps. They must have a pager with them at all times and respond to a page from the Peace Corps within 30 minutes. They go to San José at regular intervals to get medical checkups. If the Fialas would have a medical emergency, the Peace Corps would send a helicopter to get them.
When asked what they miss most, the Fialas do not mention all the comforts of life in the United States. Instead, the thing they miss, being so far away, is family.
In July, Christy's parents, Tom and Carol Givens, and Ryan's father, Lloyd Fiala, visited them in Costa Rica. They came home with a renewed respect for what their children are trying to accomplish.
"They want to make a difference, but they talk about a future at home," Carol Givens said of the Fialas. "They'll bring back a different culture, a desire to simplify their lives more."
The Fialas are making the most of their time in the Peace Corps.
They wrote, "We have not ‘given up' two years of our lives. Every day we gain a new work, a new lesson or a new story. We do not feel we have given up a moment of our time. We have given up the latest fashions, the latest episode of ‘The Bachelor,' watching Husker football games and a long list of other U.S. comforts. However, that is only challenging at times. We do not mind giving those things up when we feel we are gaining other lessons, skills and abilities."
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