La Pura Vida

Day of clarity!

Ahh, nice fresh new blog. Just returned from a day of travelling - internet stopped working at ICADS but luckily the internet cafe down the street exists for times such as these. It´s 5 here now and so I safely can stay up to an hour! Que bueno.

Much to write about! Want to get to today so will go through the weekend quickly (try anyway).

Friday--4.5 hour bus ride to Manuel Antonio at night. Missed my American people, world, and music a lot. Enjoyed the bus time talking with Erika though unfortunately it was too dark to see outside-stopped at a curbside restaurant and ate (what else? love it) a big $1.80 plate of rice and beans-then continued to our hotel. Felt a little sick with all the curves combined with the smell of warm bananas wafting up from the bag of food we´d bought for our room, so exciting to arrive. Lovely place! Many of the ICADS Spanish Language kids drunk upon arrival...ha they´re a different crowd, vastly different from our Internship program. One of my roommates broke her hand on a glass table within the 1st 5 minutes so an ambulance soon took her away-sad esp since it was her bday. Ha she handled it contentedly though (alcohol probably helped that). The rest of us got ready for la discoteca down the road! At first thought I was too tired but very glad I went... looked like the scene from a movie with this covered but wall-less dance floor played reggae beats right next to the ocean. Had fun dancing, esp glad to move around, more exercise than I´d had in a while! Week´s worth of rice and beans to work off. Bought my first legal alcohol-piña colada. :) Played and skipped around by the ocean yet luckily didn´t go in--waves were strong, wasn´t far away where the Americans died this weekend...

Saturday--omelot breakfast at a local restaurant, hiked in the rainforest (had to keep reminding myself yes that was what I was doing)-saw monkeys, sloth, tons of bright red peering crabs. Enjoyed getting to know other ICADSers better on the beach - we took turns reading from a cheesy Spanish romance novel I bought under the influence of others. great way to learn vocab! ha that was funny. pool-internet cafe-shower-dinner-hung out at hotel mostly, we were tired and it was rainy-cooked spaghetti with sauce and avocado, mmm. rested up for a day of excitement:

Sunday--treated myself to banana pancakes! delicious. we all packed up and then got on the bus-a friend Jessica made sure that a canopy tour for a group of us happened (on the way we´d talked about wanting to do this). Fun fun! Got harnessed in and then Carlos the guide along with his friends who all had animal names helped us through the platforms--basically you are connected to a zip line like strong wire and fly from platform to platform through the beauty. Will have pictures soon. Though slower than I anticipated I enjoyed it, especially a few key moments where I soared in the sunlight above the trees! Took off for home after that-got back after dark, luckily safely in a taxi, and was happy to see Mary again. She quickly cooked up some rice, beans, tomato, fried plantation, and we traded weekend stories.

Yesterday--
new Spanish professor who is incredibly friendly and vocab-obsessed (Opa!=oops, Guácala!=yuck) - reminds me of Mr. Weasley with his obsession with us Gringoes and any new English expressions he hears. Invigorating to be around such energy. Lunch at the wonderful local architect college we often go to--lunch is $2.80 for a full plate of rice, beans, veggies, eggs (or meat for those that want it), fried plantains-there are TVs showing the current world cup games, and the waiters are dressed up. Classy yet oh so cheap place, great combo. Interesting, no tips in Costa Rica. Great night of connecting with people - talked to Amanda in the internet cafe, Mom and Kiersten called the house, and then Adam got Skype to work out! Thank you Skype. Loved all that.

On to today--

Today got up at 5:50 (woke up happy) and quickly packed my things for Limon. Mary called to me soon to let me know that breakfast was waiting (¡ya está!) - went to the table for watermelon juice (yum), coffee, and two little bean-filled sandwiches. Only had time to drink and then eat one of the sandwiches (I´m often a couple minutes late but no time to mess around today with a waiting bus...ha on the topic of lateness Mary told me that in Costa Rica when people want an event to start at 2 for example they tell others that it´s starting at 1) - on my way out the door Mary handed me the other sandwich and some fruit she had packed for me...touching. :)

Bus! I love these rides-the window views are incredible. I have pictures, someday I´ll manage to upload some. I read more of Evita, impressive all she did to ensure the success of her man! Little entreprenurial action on the road...bought a cool Costa Rican flag colored bracelet from a friend, her Tica madre is selling them to pay for someone´s bus fare back to Columbia. We stopped at a small roadside open-air shop for breakfast-I ate what Mary had packed, and tried others´gigantic red grapes. Soon continued on to el campo...I was excited, and a bit apprehensive because my reaction to the upcoming sights was important. Knew that today would be crucial in deciding on my job location. Happily, I felt incredibly comfortable and at peace as we entered into rural Costa Rica! Interesting how that works-reminds me of advice given about college-hunting: ¨When you step onto the right campus, you´ll know.¨ (didn´t work out that way at first for Duke, almost went the opposite way-but ultimately I did feel while standing on the grounds that it was right. not sure what to take from that-but there is a meaningful relation between a physical place and one´s emotional state) ha I digress: loved the campo! I really like observing people living in ways that are simply beautiful (emphasis on simple there...without much of the material) Also, there is something so strong (can´t think of a word here to do it justice) about manual labor and living right in nature, not simply on top of it like many do.

We first stopped on a road within a Chiquita banana plantation - though we didn´t have permission, Carrie, a US born woman turned ICADS professor and Tica who has done much on the ground work with the rights of plantation workers, got out to ask the workers if we could talk with them. They graciously agreed and a couple walked us around showing us their methods. They had gotten up at 5 and would be in the fields til around 5. Fascinating-felt like another world in there with a ceiling of huge green leaves, banana trees all around, and the scrap (/bananas unsuitable for sale) lining the ground. Awe-inspiring how far these fields stretched.

Next went on to a pineapple plantation. The work on these plantations is physically tougher, for one reason because they lack the shade banana trees provide-but it also pays better. A manager there showed us around - to the packing plants first. Saw thousands of pineapples today... very sweet smelling in the buildings, though no doubt not so much anymore to the workers. The processes there were very mechanized-of disinfecting, cutting, putting stickers on... we had to wear huge boots and hairnets. Outside the packing facility some workers cut up fresh pineapples for us-by far the sweetest I´ve ever had. The pieces kept on coming and coming-we all enjoyed a juice-covered pineapple overdose.

After the manager treated us to sodas (while drinking the refreshing water, I felt grateful for all I´d seen), we were off to the women´s cooperative for lunch! Here was the especially pivotal time for me. After driving for a while we parked and walked right into beautiful greenery - lunch was cooking under an open-air shelter. Ate first (yum) and then was introduced to Erlinda (not sure about spelling) - my potential (and now real) mentor! She is a part of Pastoral Social, and helps head AMUDA: Asociación Mujeres Unides para el Desarrollo de África (Association of Women United for the Development of Africa). Still need to learn more about this town, but she explained that Africa is an area where many Africans were originally brought/basically enslaved...they originally worked with the hopes of gaining money to return to their native land. However leaving proved impossible-and so they set up this town of Africa to preserve what culture they could, and establish a sort of sacred space. I talked with Erlinda about working with her, told her of my desire to, and she was excited! She said there is much work to be done and the women are waiting for me... actually, the timing was perfect because the very day before my coordinator called her to ask about an internship, a group of women recently out of abusive situations had contacted her expressing their desire for talks on self-esteem and post-violence options. (not sure about everything Erlinda said, but this was the gist) How wonderful, glad for the potential to help out! I can also work with children at the local school (doing what exactly not sure but I think related to violence...), attend meetings (she´s a local city councilwoman), work on the farm, and then she´s going to ask to find out what else. (oh also there are opportunities on the pineapple plantations...she´s been very involved with working to up enforcement of laws ensuring environmental protection and worker safety) I feel very good about all of this...was happy on the way home, this is all coming together well. Erlinda struck me as a focused and passionate yet jovial woman who clearly has a strong personality and beliefs. She smiled a lot too. :) One option is living with her-will work that all out soon. Looks like I´ll definitely be living the rural life I´ve always wondered about!

She told us there are three things we must know about-if we do any of them in Limon, we´ll never leave the area.
1-eat rice and beans
2-swim in a river
3-kiss a boy

bus ride back - read almost all of Hemingway´s The Old Man and the Sea - enjoyed the vivid imagery and reading about life on the sea...reading about fishermen makes me think of the same things working on the land does--simple wonders of hard work. The bus driver had a random mix filled with lots of soft rock romantic songs--upon hearing me sing along Cesi, in front of me, turned around to ask how I knew them all. made me laugh, thanks Delilah!

Ok I should end this because it is getting muy muy largo. :) Almost dinner time! Got out most of my recent details...head feels clear, excited about developing options. Miss you back home and think of loved ones constantly - though I simultaneously feel very right being here. Until next time! Adios for now. :) with love, Colleen

posted by Colleen @ 4:53 PM