Nueva Perspectiva Mae

I'm writing to you at a slightly frustrating time but also at (hopefully) a turning point in perspective. I am beginning to realize that, because of the little guidance I received when I was registering, I have chosen some classes that not only do not fit my interests, but that seem to be, as harsh as this may sound, kind of a waste of time. Firstly, my Tridimension class, while in it I am learning patience and perspective, takes up an absurd amount of time every week (7 hours each week in previous weeks and presently around 15) and, once the design is thought up, is truly just monotonous work. It is not what I am interested in, and all of the other students are art students and have much more profound abilities and interest in this than I do. Also, my professor has informed me of my grade as of late, and it is absurdly low, aka a 70, aka WHAT. I really have no idea how, as she has complimented my work in the past and always told me to relax when I've been overwhelmed or haven't understood something. I sent her an e-mail about it on Monday asking for ways to boost my grade and for explanation and have yet to hear back...This was a class that I took FOR FUN and to keep my GPA high and to relax and THIS IS RIDICULOUS. If this goes on it will destroy my gpa and my social life. And no one even warned me. And I am spending so much money on supplies for this class. And I can't drop it because both my scholarships require that I take 15 credits a semester and so does the honors program I believe. POOP.

 Additionally, my Geosciences class has now moved on to mapping the composition of rocks, something in which I find myself completely lost and not very inspired by yet at least I am being challenged mentally. I still enjoy my dance class and love my readings and professor and the topics we cover in Science, Humanism, and the Sustainability of Life-a class that covers a much broader analysis of the interaction of technology, progress, environmentalism, crisis, and humanity. My likes and dislikes of these classes have truly made me realize that my passions lie in environmental education, environmental policy and in grassroots volunteer work and less in the hard science aspect of Environmental Studies. 

One thing I am very satisfied with is my improvement in Spanish-with my host family, classes, friends, and daily life it is truly getting so much better and so fast! I am also growing more independent and bolder when it comes to things because if I can ask people for help in Spanish, why should I ever be afraid to do it in the States in English? 

My individual volunteer experiences are really good for the most part-the problem actually is securing regular volunteer work. I have been trying very hard with the primary reserve and education center nearby, but they seem very disorganized and have been very flaky about responding to my e-mails and have not returned my phone call. But that's just how things go in Latin America sometimes...

I'm still frustrated with the general ignorance of so many people here about environmentalism and about preservation. I of course don't blame the people, but I blame the education system. For a country whose economy relies on EcoTourism one would think the general public would be educated about making environmentally conscious decisions, about recycling, about keeping the country clean, but so many aren't. I guess maybe that just needs time, especially because EcoTourism is still fairly new. I'm also frustrated with the lack of art, culture, architecture and history that one can experience here, especially in suburban Heredia, and in constant, primary focus on physical beauty. I have realized how much I miss having good places for students to congregate, going to concerts, beautiful churches, clean parks, funky coffee shops, etc. and it has made me start looking into studying abroad again in the fall, most likely in Scotland or possibly in Sweden to be able to have that type of  abroad experience as well. But I need to stop thinking ahead and live and appreciate the moment more and appreciate my experience for what it is and not always idealize other things because I will always be disappointed no matter what the experience is because I build things up too much. Like I did with Costa Rica-Dad was right. I guess it's been so much harder lately because I've been stuck in Heredia and not able to really travel for a while due to the amount of homework I have. It brings out the bitterness in me I guess... Also, there's no where to go with my friends during the week except bars-it's not like college as I'm used to it-doing homework together at night, taking study breaks together, etc. I hang out in my house doing homework and on facebook every week night. But dude, look at the experience I'm having, look at how I'm challenging myself, look at how much I'm learning about myself! And I'm learning to stop idealizing everything and that it's okay to miss and want the comforts and culture of home-it's what I'm used to while at the same time finding satisfaction. Also, being around so many people who obsess over clothing, make up, hair, continually working on their physical improvement (exactly what I was like in high school) I'm realizing how little those things really mean to me. Yeah, it's nice to look nice, but I don't need make up or do buy new clothes all the time or to obsess over if things match or how I look because I'm more confident and comfortable if I don't. And there are so many other things to worry about. Although I think maintaining my body in top physical shape will always be really important to me. 

Bribri Talamanca Gira

So this weekend I went on a trip with my favorite class-Science, Humanism, and the Sustainability of Life. I had one friend in the class- Christina, so I wasn’t completely terrified of being totally on my own. We sat together on the bus to Talamanca (Caribbean side, about a 5 hour drive from Heredia). I slept A LOT since we had woken up super early, and a short time after leaving Heredia, the bus broke down. We waited on the side of the road for another one and then continued our journey. We arrived at this large structure with a straw roof under which were a bunch of tables and hanging plantains and women cooking over basically fireplaces (burning wood). It was unbelievably hot and humid, and my professor was so on top of making sure I had vegan food the entire weekend. The thing is, most things were cooked without meat anyway. Here and at home I am accustomed to eating everything on my plate out of politeness to the chef, so as not to waste food, and because I enjoy it. In my opinion, the food was great (rice, beans, yucca, heart of palm salad, meat for them) but according to my classmates it wasn’t. And judging from the fact that no one else cleaned their plate, I take it that it’s not as much a part of the culture as I thought it was to eat everything you’re given. They also eat junk food constantly, snaking on things they bring from home and buy on the road, so no wonder they weren’t that hungry.

 Then we walked as a group to boats to take us to the organic banana/plantain/cacao/lychee plantation run by an indigenous community. They grow things organically for their own consumption and for local trade in a market that gathers every few weeks. We learned how to pound the rice to peel the skin off. We then got back into boats to go to a house that lies right past the border of Costa Rica and Panama. The woman who lives there is indigenous Bribri, and it is a right of indigenous children born there (mother must be Bribri) to have automatic duel citizenship to Costa Rica and Panama. The Bribri culture is one that envelops animism, where each plant and animal is considered sacred, and it is part of their lifestyle to preserve their natural surroundings while using them for the sustenance they need to survive. This fosters extremely sustainable farming practices.

            The issue with the Bribri population is that it is very isolated from the outside world, with little access to education and healthcare, and with widespread poverty. There is a strong volunteer-based movement to promote eco tourism in the area to spread understanding of indigenous communities, to provide free health care, to educate the young people, and to initiate programs of recycling and environmental protection. The complaint of the people here is that, in a country with an economy based on eco tourism, the money from this tends to go back to the government and not to those who need it most. Additionally, eco tourism often displaces people from their land and revolves around adventure focused activities and not a wider understanding of the people living most in congruence with the land. I am strongly considering coming back here (if my mom will join me, that will be amazing!) to volunteer working on organic farming, teaching English to the kids, and working on a recycling/waste reduction initiative after my program ends and before I go home.

            We then went to have dinner and settle into our lodging which was SUPER cool. It consisted of mattresses on the floor, each surrounded by its own mosquito net in a giant building made from the wood from fallen trees. There was electricity and iffy cold running water. It was clean and rustic and funky-just the way I like it. We then had time to socialize at night, and I got the chance to break out of my shell a little bit.

 During the day I had hung out with my friend Christina, and two other people from our group that presented on pesticides in the past for a project-Karla and Rudolfo. Karla is an actress, and Rudolfo is fascinated by English and constantly asks me to explain English words that I don’t even know. I also met Laura, a spunky, super hip girl who is taking intensive English classes and hopes to study abroad in the states.

That night, it was so cool because they put on music and people just started partner dancing and then we all danced in a big circle, and people are just so comfortable with themselves and with each other here. And then, at one point I found myself seated with a bunch of people talking about Latin American politics in Spanish. I learned more about the increasing issues with narcotrafficking in Costa Rica and in other Latin countries and about the widespread corruption that exists within the police force (these issues are clearly worse in places like Guatemala and Mexico).

I also finally began to understand the scholarship issue here that so many students are protesting about. Here, college is extremely inexpensive, especially the public schools. Per credit the cost is very low, and there are need-based, academic-based, and athletic-based scholarships, just like in the states. The issue here is that the school I attend-UNA, receives loans from a private corporation, as do other public schools. Normally, the funding is used to provide scholarships to students. However, under new stipulations of the corporation, this money must now only be used to build infrastructure and beautify the campus. I suppose so that the corporation can more readily be paid back with the more money the school is receiving from students, without giving them scholarships. There is fear of privatization, something that is a huge deal in Chile right now, where the per credit cost of public institutions is increasing so much that it will soon cost the same amount to attend a public school as it does to attend a private one.

            Having this discussion made me realize that there really are many people who are well-informed here. I just have to find them, like my dad said. I still think there is an extreme lack of environmental awareness or consciousness and overall of understanding of what is going on in the world, as there is in a great many places in the states. But I did make some pretty cool, very sweet and friendly new friends.

            We went to the beach the next day, and I realized how social and kind and laid back everyone was because everyone was looking out for each other, when there was no running water at all in the whole “town” of Cahuita to wash the sand off of ourselves before getting back on the bus, people laughed about it instead of complaining, when there was an incident the night before of a hearing impaired girl wandering off with a boy, everyone pitched in to look for her, and no one made a big scandal out of the whole thing. The professor handled everything that happened with calm and concern, and he was laughing and joking with us the whole time. Overall, it was a truly wonderful experience, and now I have new tico friends! If I ever have time to hang out with them with all of the homework that has just been dumped on me…

I think too much, but too bad, you're gonna hear about it

Okay so I was talking with my friend Rachel today and also thinking a lot and trying so hard to figure out what exactly is behind my disappointment with Heredia and with some of my experience in general. Don’t get me wrong here, I am learning SO MUCH about myself, a ton of Spanish, have met some spectacular people, and have had so many fun/amazing/stunningly beautiful experiences. But, I have this general unsettled feeling with everyday life on some days.

            So on my walk to class I started to realize that a great deal of the frustration stems from the fact that we are in Costa Rica, one of the most beautiful and most sustainable places in the world, but that seems to play no role in anyone’s everyday life in Heredia. There is no active outdoorsy culture, no adjustments made to life to promote sustainability. It is slightly more built into their infrastructure, but it isn’t something that people actively do or think about to promote clean living or appreciate the outdoors. For example, buses are extremely popular, people only own one car if that, and people walk many places. But the mentality is similar as to the one you would find in any consumerist culture-decisions are made simply because they are cheaper, not because there is any more of a collective conscience of sustainability or a deeper rooted connection and respect for the environment as I had thought there would be (here I could go into the discussion I had with my brother Dan over whether or not indigenous cultures were more sustainable than we are today or if people are all the same).

            The next thing I didn’t fully realize until I talked to Rachel is that no one seems to be passionate about anything. Now that’s clearly an extreme statement, and I don’t mean that to such an extreme. Yes, there is a much higher general satisfaction with life, but, the issue is that people don’t seem to want to question things, to want to connect with their environment, to want to jump at the chance to involve themselves in intellectual discussions, to have strong opinions about the politics of the world around them. I have yet to find the people with a hunger for knowledge, with a desire to live their lives in congruence with what they believe in. This is a HUGE issue with suburban America as well-I think that’s why I’ve been so bitter about Holmdel.

Here it seems that either people are too busy working and going to school that they don’t have the free time to focus on a passion. And, when they do have the time, it seems that many are content simply watching tv and finding obscure activities to occupy their time. There is not, however, the ridiculous amount of frivolousness I have always gotten overwhelmed by in many instances in the US because people simply can’t afford to be that way. I just want to meet someone here who wants to save a little part of the world, who wants to question things, who wants to fight for something, who has crazy far reaching goals and aspirations. Who doesn’t focus all of their energy on things that we, as human beings shouldn’t care so much about, when we have this world full of wonder that we are so far from understanding, that hold what is essential in life, that make you stand in awe at the world’s power and beauty and that make you realize how insignificant petty concerns and physical differences are. I want to realize that more myself, and I am lucky to have met friends here who understand that and to have my amazing friends from home who have unbelievable passions. The issue now is to find a place that cares. To find a city of consciousness.

            Also, I have a wonderful friend here who is from a rural area about five hours from Heredia (it takes almost the whole day by bus because of the roads) and who is staying with a host family while going to school. Her family is not nearly as hospitable and generous as mine, and she is given three small meals a day and isn’t even allowed to buy her own food and keep it in the house. She has four siblings and her parents living so far away, and there are no phones where she’s from so she can only call her family once a week. Her parents and older brother can hardly come to visit because they barely ever have time off from work, and they have to take the crazy long bus to get here. She is so close with her family and wishes she could talk to them every day. She is wonderful and funny and kindhearted and sweet, but I don’t know how she does it. She’s not really allowed to go out (I’m changing that, at least a little bit) and isn’t allowed to have a boyfriend. Her situation makes me realize how much I should appreciate my constant ability to connect with those I love, my comfort in my home here, my personal freedom. People have things so much harder than me, and I can criticize the world around me, but I need to always remember to appreciate my position in it, my opportunities, and the lifestyle I enjoy.

I said a bocas, a bocas del what? del TORO. wow, i'm deliriously tired

So in order to update things I have failed to put here, I am going to attach part of the e-mail I sent to my beloved professor, RR, detailing some aspects of my experience.

My favorite class is called Science, Humanism, and the Sustainability of Life, and it's great. Our readings are all about industrialization and development and environmental philosophy and connecting those things to the crisis we're facing today. We also do volunteer work with the class, and I was amazed by my experience with that class going into San Jose's very poor district and feeding and vaccinating dogs and bringing food to homeless people. What struck me most profoundly was how well organized the group was (that's often one of my frustrations with community service, that it’s badly organized) and how passionate they truly were about their work. We went to areas where people were living on top of piles of garbage in dirty, broken down houses surrounded by beer cans or in houses made out of garbage bags, and the people leading the volunteer experience talked to the residents there as complete equals, related to them, unabashedly immersed themselves in their surroundings, petted and crooned to their animals, and did not criticize their lifestyles. It was amazing. Also, the nurse doing the vaccinations was beautifully put together, not wearing gloves, and was not afraid to climb on top of aggressive dogs, soothe them and hold them down at the same time while being sure to give them the shots. She was such a kick-ass, inspiring woman.

Being in Costa Rica has made me realize several things. Before I came, I idealized it, thinking it was the most wonderful country on the planet judging from its eco tourism industry and its abolishment of its army. However, clearly no place is ever perfect. I feel that the eco tourism industry has led to a greater extent of Americanization here than in many developing countries, especially with, sadly, the fast food industry and the fact that Walmart has bought out their major supermarket chain. I also feel that in many areas there is a loss of culture. The traditional values of family, community, and relaxation are still intact, but television plays an abnormally large role, even larger than in many American families, and people are obsessed with American clothing and spending time at the mall. Many Costa Ricans don't travel much throughout their own beautiful country. Also, the education system is great in terms of it being so accessible to almost anyone, with it being almost free to everyone and actually free to a large number of students with scholarships. The issue is that, due to the lower opportunity cost of education, there is less of a motivation for many students to put in a lot of effort, and there is a great lack of organization within the university's infrastructure. I feel that school in the states is much, much more intellectually challenging. Additionally, there is a great lack of independence within many young people, since everyone lives at home until they are married. They depend on their parents, and almost everyone consistently has a significant other, regardless of whether or not they are truly compatible, often to maintain a source of comfort. Also, the great majority of people here are extremely religious Catholics, and in some cases it offers a sense of comfort, of understanding, and of community. However, in terms of politics, it poses a big challenge. The current president is against changing the constitution to allow for a separation of church and state, she is against gay marriage, and refuses considering legalizing the morning after pill. There is a large teen/unmarried pregnancy rate, and often this leads to lack of education and family tensions.

I also miss many cultural activities. I feel that the bigger cities are lacking in a music scene, and there are not many things to do at night as young people other than drink, but I guess that’s a problem in most places. It’s so sad how so many places enveloped in such natural beauty (here and many islands and other parts of South and Central America) and historical richness (much of Europe) seem to always come with such an intense drinking culture.

Anyway, enough of Ms. Negative Nancy who always finds the negative parts of everything when her life is actually pretty damn good. This weekend we had a long weekend because it was Costa Rican independence day on Thursday, and I never have classes on Fridays. So seven of us skipped our Wednesday classes if we had any, left Heredia at just after five in the morning, and headed off to Panama. We had to take a bus to San Jose which actually proved a problem because Molly didn’t make it in time to catch our other bus and Mariel’s card got eaten by the ATM. Hence, they had to take a bus about four hours later while we caught the 6 am bus to Sixaola, which is a pretty run down boarder town, then walk over this rickety bridge with boards missing to get into Panama. At migration we were told we were not allowed into the country without proof that we were leaving, even though we were all planning on walking back over the bridge and taking the same two buses home at the end of the weekend. Therefore, they made us buy bus tickets from this ticket booth that charged $4 more (which is significant when your ticket is usually $10) to take a bus from Panama to San Jose. It was a pretty sketchy situation since they wouldn’t let you buy one from Sixaoala in Costa Rica, and the bus only left at 10 am every day and you didn’t buy your ticket for any particular day…hence, it was most likely a deal worked out between migration and the bus company. Once we got through that, I ran into a man leaving Bocas and looking to exchange dollars (used in Panama) for colones (used in Costa Rica). I offered to give him 10,000 colones for $20, which is a great exchange. He did not believe me. He examined my money in the light, started doing his own calculations, asked several people if I was making things up, and overall made me, a sweat-covered, t-shirt wearing, 5 foot 2, American college student, feel like I was a professional counterfeiter who looked for unsuspecting tourists to trade my counterfeit bills with. Eventually he did make the trade, and kept glancing back at me, waiting for me to burst into laughter at how easily he had been cheated. Of course the reality was nothing of the sort. Then, we were told by a tour bus driver that the only way to get to Bocas del Toro (the cluster of Carribean islands we were headed to) was to take his bus, which cost $10 for an hour and a half ride. I basically screamed at the man, since we had just taken a 5.5 hour, more comfortable bus for that price. But he insisted that that was the only way unless I wanted to take three public buses and spend the whole day getting there. Of course once we gave in, went with him, and got to Bocas, we had to pay $5 for a water taxi to the main island.

Our hostel on the main island of Bocas was called Mondu Taitu and was the funkiest little place. It looked like a bright yellow, slightly run down old house from the outside, and on the inside it was filled with the laid back hostel vibe, drawings, and quotes scrawled by guests over the years. We befriended two of the owners, both young American men, one a graduate of Princeton, the other Cornell. And not intimidating in the least. The hostel was $10 a night, and included a non air conditioned bunk and make-your-own pancakes in the morning. They also had a spigot of filtered rain water to drink and full use of their kitchen. We then took a $1 water taxi to another, very small island to look for a beach. After a walk through a dilapidated neighborhood of very poor houses, we discovered there really wasn’t much of a beach. It reminded me of how much, with our mentalities today, we consider vacations and tropical places natural filled with, made out of, resorts and affluence, when, more often than not, these places are often filled with poverty, alcoholism, and bitterness towards tourists. However, on that same island there was a bar/hostel with a trampoline to jump into the water from, swings and balconies for doing the same, and giant circles cut into the deck to form private swimming holes. As you can imagine, I tore that place up, flipping my heart out and taking a million pictures. That night we went out to a quick dinner and headed back to the hostel to hang out for a bit before sleeping. The hostel had a bar, and to give you an idea of how funky it was and how dumb college students are, it had a free shot that consisted of snorting a line of salt, taking a shot of the worst tequila in the world, then letting the bartender squeeze lime into your eye. One of my especially well chest hair endowed friends offered to let me wax his chest if I did it, but I had no desire to. So then he and my other guy friend did it. They were crying, sneezing, and coughing for the next half an hour. And then insisted it had been awesome. We went to bed relatively early and then slept about ten hours. The next morning I made myself a banana with peanut butter and then proceeded to help Maria and her new Israeli friend cook pancakes. Then the Israeli man, who’s English was not exactly fluent, took out a “banana” that he was planning on putting on top. It happened to be a green plantain, which, let me tell you, if eaten raw, will taste bad AND dry out your entire mouth. So I took it from him and made patacones for him. In the meantime we talked about being Jewish and discussed me going on birthright to Israel and us getting married and my mother being happy about that. He then made me take a picture wearing the Jewish star his grandfather had bought for him right before going into the army… needless to say, I was sure not to bring up my on-the-fence political views…

We then left that hostel and headed to Red Frog Island to our next hostel, Bocas Bound. This hostel happened to be spotless, air conditioned, with our own set of bathrooms and breakfast included, for $8 a night. We also had full use of their kitchen, refrigerator, and board games. Anyway, on the way there Maria realized that she had no idea where her camera was (and she has one of those fancy ones) so she and I decided to head back to the first island after dropping our stuff off to look for her camera and buy stuff to cook dinner with. The camera ended up being in an unlocked box in the hostel in a room filled with other people and no one had touched it! Gives me a little more faith in humanity. Then we had a lot of fun scouring the island for veggies and plantains and rice and beans and talking it up with our new friend Ariel who was 24 with two kids, such a flirt, and had given us a good deal for snorkeling the next day. Once we got back to the island and the hostel we headed to the beautiful, virtually deserted beach for a run. When we got back we did some conditioning and had a hilarious experience all trying to do yoga headstands. Then we cooked dinner with this awesome trilingual Italian man who had spent the last year and a half traveling the world. He shared his homemade Indian bread and this awesome spread he made from guava, bananas, and sugar. We cooked patacones with refried beans, salad, stir fried vegetables, rice (which was interesting since we didn’t have any sort of measuring utensils and Chris overcooked it to the point of mush…) and cut up some of the sweetest pineapple ever. We then just sat around talking and Maria and I made peanut butter and banana sandwiches for everyone to bring on the snorkeling trip the next morning. We paid 15 bucks a person to go out snorkeling (we saw some of the sweetest coral and fish ever), to go dolphin watching, and to get taken to the beach. We then showered and headed out to grab dinner on Bocas at a traditional Panamanian place which, for me as a vegetarian, cost under $2. Then we decided to go out and went first to the first hostel we had stayed in and at the bar befriended some Canadians, one of whom took a liking to me and we decided to tell everyone we were long lost track friends from high school. He asked me when we should say we graduated, I asked him when he graduated, apparently 2001…Then we went over to another place where we just broke it down. I danced so unbelievably much and was literally dripping with sweat. I ran into my Israeli friend who this time told me he loved me so much he could eat me,,,which, apparently in Hebrew means he really liked me…well then…We ended up at a different place with more music and swimming and I realized that I could barely will my legs to dance anymore and that’s when we decided to call it a night and take a boat back…we got back at about five am. The highlights of the rest of the trip:

1. while dancing my pants off I happened to lose the key to our safe box, and we had to have maintenance cut it off for us
2. We didn’t wake up until 12 the next day, and checkout was at 11…
3. Two people who shall not be named were woken up in the lobby of the hostel by a woman who apparently was trying to eat breakfast…these same two had no recollection of how they had gotten there or as to why an article of one of their undergarments was sitting on the table in front of where they had been sleeping
4. There was a torrential downpour during which the restaurant we were sitting in flooded, and Chris’s flip flop was floating around the tables. Stepping into the streets involved stepping into a foot and a half of water.
5. I met a super cool British man who was doing volunteer work in Costa Rica
6. the best and worst part of the trip were the water taxis-sitting in them riding through the majestic ocean was the coolest feeling in the world, but we spent between 5 and ten dollars each way for most of them
7. the last hostel we stayed in was super weird. It looked so laid back and cool at first and clean, but Maria found a tampon in her shower, they shut off all of the lights and locked every outside door at 10:30 so that some of our friends had to scale the fence to get back in late at night. This also caused issues when we tried to wake up early, get our deposits back, and leave in the morning. No one was at the desk; when we had the security guard get someone he was a very angry young man. We tried for an hour and a half, got three deposits back, and then the rest of the people just took their locks as compensation for not getting the deposits back…
8. The sketchy bus we had bought the tickets for before allowed for standing room. And the bus ride was around 5 hours. Those poor people who didn’t get up as early as us…although I did stand for a few hours so this one lovely girl had a chance to sit.
9. We left at 7:30 am and didn’t get back until 5 pm and it’s only about 4 hours away without traffic.
10. I’m really tired so this entry really might not make sense at all
11. We met a TON of Israelis. Apparently it’s because, after high school they serve in the army, then after their service they traditionally take a chunk of time to travel before going to university.
12. We also met Australians, a Kiwi, people from throughout the US, a bunch of German people, some Costa Ricans, some Panamanians, a French couple, and probably more.
13. A GIANT grasshopper was perched on Maria’s butt and I have never seen someone that hilarious in my life as Maria was during that experience
14. We played the funny faces game (as you can see by those fb pics) and had some great heart to hearts
15. I’m really starting to get over caring too much about being dirty/a little aeromatic and about constantly paying a lot of attention to what I’m wearing
16. I definitely feel like I’m missing a bunch but I’m WAY tired. Maybe later.

Heaven and hell and mosquitos.

So I used to think the only plausible combination of heaven and hell in one place was that TKE mixer we once had. But I’ve come to learn otherwise. Our turtle saving experience in Matapalo was just that. It was hell for the following reasons:

1. We had to wake up in the middle of the night to look for turtles/go on baby turtle watch and stay awake for several hours and then had no time to sleep during the day
2. There were 2 women cooking for 70 people so as you can imagine the food was scarce
3. we had to rake up leaves for several hours one day and were given three rakes and 2 wheelbarrows, one with a gaping hole in it, for 7 people, so many of us were using sticks we found and our arms to clean up the leaves.
4. I had some animal living in my stomach (still do) that caused me to hardly be able to put anything in my mouth and sporadically suffer bouts of extreme stomach pain and inflammation so Tracy told the organizers I shouldn’t go out on the beach in the pouring rain for several hours with the rest of the group to clean driftwood off the beach so they told me to help out in cooking (wonderful plan-the girl with the mysterious illness touches everyone’s food!)
5. the rooms we stayed in were DISGUSTING. There were no windows and one fan and at one point six people sleeping in our room. Meaning we slept practically naked in about 100 degrees plus humidity and we all had different shifts so we kept waking each other up to come and go in the middle of the night. We were given one sheet, one used bar of soap, and no towels. Hence 5 people shared one towel for 3 days. That did not smell pretty by the end. And the room was infested with bugs meaning our entire bodies were completely covered in bites. Oh, and the room wasn’t cleaned. Oh, and there was a spider the size of my hand in one of the room’s bathrooms that never left for the whole weekend. This wouldn’t be so bad if we weren’t paying to volunteer….
6. Practically no one talked to our entire group. There were a few semi friendly volunteers but the organizer refused to introduce our group to everyone and when we helped out on a walk or a mission with volunteers who had been there a while they explained nothing to you and then expected you to know exactly what to do. But I can’t say I blame them entirely since they were all there longer than 3 days…
7. The day I was sickest I had to dry and put away all of the plates, cups, and utensils after each meal for 70 people.
8. I didn’t even get to see a turtle lay her eggs and one of my shifts was from 1:30 to 5:20 in the morning.
9. The bugs were INSANE. Everywhere. Especially in the sand. We are completely covered with bites and couldn’t use insect repellent two hours before we were going near turtles, meaning it had lost its effectiveness by the time we went out.
10. The same sponge was used to clean the tables outside and the dishes. The towels were washed in cold water without soap…
11. I feel like poop and I have two classes and a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert tonight.

Think it’s not possible to hear anything good now? Well, think again.

1. I got to see 11 baby turtles hatch and got to measure them, weigh them, and watch them oh-so-confusedly journey to the sea. They were BEAUTIFUL
2. I got to see one huge turtle on her journey back into the water.
3. This amazingly passionate, beautiful, and super nice man named Antonio with whom we all fell in love helped us out a lot and taught us this sick card game
4. I learned how the process of saving the sea turtles works
5. I think I laughed more than I have in my entire life this weekend. Our group got so close and had so many jokes and so many heart-to-hearts and got so comfortable not caring in the least what we looked or smelled like and complaining as a team and taking care of each other. I mean Ivana gave me basically all of her stomach sensitive food and Chris offered to let me blow my nose on his bathingsuit, what more could you ask for?
6. The cooks were wonderful. They were a woman and her daughter who at one point in the year have to cook for 200 people for 3 days straight just the two of them. They were interesting and wonderful and gave me all of these remedies so that I would feel better. The one sad thing is that the girl is only sixteen and dropped out of high school because high school in that area is really bad and all of the kids are into drugs and alcohol and because she doesn’t want to be a part of that she dropped out…They also said the reason other people weren’t friendly to us is because they didn’t speak Spanish and they were jealous. I like that theory. Especially because all the people who did speak Spanish were nice to us, so it perhaps holds true…

The thing that I’m stuck on right now is that I always preach minimalism and living simply and sustainably and working together to pitch in, and this was living that way and I couldn’t wait to be in a clean house with a clean bed. But then Kelley reminded me that there’s a difference between living sustainably and living dirtily…you can be sustainable and minimalist and clean. And Maria reminded me that it’s not fair to expect yourself to suddenly adjust from a life steeped in modern luxuries to a life of really roughin’ it. It made me understand that I could only really rough it if there weren’t an unbelievable amount of bugs, I didn’t feel sick, I got enough sleep, and the temperature wasn’t out of control. Oh, and I don’t mind nature or dirt I think the thing that bothers me is human dirt and human grossness…anyway, these are very undeveloped thoughts.

Animal poop on your face

Well then I am getting really lazy with this blogging thing. Sooo the last few days with my family we spent going to Carara National Park right near Jaco and we had the best guide ever Armando who knew everything there was to know about every animal. We were lucky to make it there on the last day that trail is open until November because of the rainy season and the water gets up to seven feet at times…We used their rain boots and were up to our knees in water at times. The other guy who worked there was the grandson of a German Jew who fled to Costa Rica during World War II! Some super cool facts Armando taught us:

1. Scarlet Macaws live into their 70s in the wild. They are monogamous, and after they find a partner, even if he/she dies, they will never be with anyone again. Now those are some true believers in soul mates. They are also the most beautiful creatures ever, and babies go for about $100 here and for thousands in the US to use as pets. The scary thing is the population in Carara has remained completely constant for about 50 years which means that it’s possible that it’s the same group as 50 years ago and now they’re all older and haven’t reproduced…but they don’t know for sure. Also, there are some 1,000 something in Costa Rica in total, and 420 of those are in Carara.
2. Coatis are crazy beep beeps. The males try to kill their young after they’re born so that the females will have sex with them again so the females kick the males out of the group and raise their kids together without men. And the males wander off as their lonely little solitary selves. There’s a whole new definition of feminism…
3. Those ridiculously organized ants we keep seeing that we see massive lines of them traveling to their colonies carrying huge pieces of leaves are really cool. The queen ant is HUGE and the rest of the ants protect her in the colony. The leaves they carry they actually use to make a fertilizer which serves as a food source. They develop a bacteria that feeds off of the leaves and the ants eat the fertilizer the bacteria produce. Symbiotic. The ants clean the leaves thoroughly before bringing them into the colony so as to be sure not to bring any unwanted bacteria into their colony. Also, when the queen ant dies the entire colony dies. The survival of the species is guaranteed by the princess eggs the queen lays. There are specific rooms in the colony, and ants have different responsibilities.
4. White faced monkeys have a male leader who is the strongest. Another monkey can fight the leader to gain position as the new leader, and if he wins, the defeated leader has two options. He can remain in the pack as just an average bear, in which case he will often die of depression, or he can go off and find another pack and fight the leader to win control. When two packs of monkeys confront each other, they fight, and the winners get to keep the loser’s females. Not such a feminist situation here….

We also went to the crocodile bridge and saw about 15 very scary crocodiles. Then the other day we went to my family’s finca (basically a plot of undeveloped land with a river and trees and animals where they have built a beautiful little cabana) and ate an amazing lunch and my mom learned how to make platanos maduros and Dan and Noah played music and I danced with my grandma and my two sets of parents danced. It was adorable.

            This past weekend I went to Siripiqui with my program which is several hours North of Heredia and we went to a school and helped plant trees and paint a roof and went on a chocolate tour and learned how to make chocolate and I bought four handmade bars of chocolate to bring home as gifts and I’ve already eaten two of them…And then we learned all about bats and it was SUPER cool except I was really tired cause I had woken up at five and kept dozing off…and then the next day we went white water rafting and it was a BLAST and we purposely tipped the raft over and got to jump off of this landing into the water and were served fresh fruit and I only ate a tiny piece of pineapple because I kept going back to jump off the thing again and do flips and you know me, typical autumn stuff. And then on the bus ride home Justine helped me take out my braids and my hair felt like cotton mixed with straw mixed with an afro and I literally had to dump olive oil in it it was so dry…well I’m running super late right now so I’ll update you on the rest of my life and on this weekend (which is gonna be SICK) sometime in the hopefully near future.