Aguacera

Family and Friends,

The rains came on Wednesday and didn’t stop for three days.  It was literally aguacera (pouring rain) for three days straight..  It was unlike anything I have seen before; the streets turned into rivers, the thick soil turned into wet mud.  Instead of snow avalanches, there were mud avalanches.  Sadly,  a mud avalanche killed 20 people in San Antonio de Ezcazu.  It was sad to see people who had little before, lose everything.  Laura Chinchilla, the president of CR, declared Costa Rica in a state of emergency until the rain stops.  As of today, the rain has stopped and the weather is beautiful.  Now it is time to clean-up the damage and there is a lot of it.  Roads, power lines, water pipes, and houses all need repair.  

Landslide in Escazú

Thankfully, my community, San Gabriel, is in the mountains and did not experience any flooding or landslides.  We did lose power for a couple days, and we are still without water.  As a result, I have not showered in days, the street dogs think I am one of them.  That will change as I am planning to take a bucket bath soon. 

Peace Corps has taken steps to assure our safety in CR.  Right now, we are in what the emergency action plan called “standfast.”  All that means is we have to stay in our communities and we have to be ready to evacuate if the situation gets worse.  If the weather would get worse (which it won’t), we would have to consolidate at a given location, a safe haven.  Because our professors have to travel from San Jose to our communities, the Peace Corps canceled our classes on Friday and this Monday.  There was also a picnic planned for Saturday at the Country Director’s house in San Jose, but it was canceled as well.  It is unfortunate because other PCVs were going to be there.  It would have been a nice event to get to know other volunteers already serving.  Tico 21 (my group) also put together a soccer team and I was going to be the goalie.  Unfortunately, no one will see how good (and by good I mean BAD) I am at soccer.

I was also fortunate to leave my PCV visit when I did.  For those of you who didn’t know, I visited a fellow PCV volunteer in San Jose de Upala, Alajuela (6 KM from the Nica border).  The day after I left, Upala experienced major flooding like Ezcazu.  If I hadn’t left when I did, I would still be there, SOS.

My PCV visit was a great experience though.  I visited Eric Smith, he is from Jersey but went to school in Vermont and considers Verm (not Vermillion ha) his home.  He has been living in San Jose de Upala for the past six months.  San Jose de Upala is a small town of about 500 people or less.  It is very flat, hot, muddy, rainy and humid.  It is different from the mountain town I live in right now.  Sixty years ago, the town was completely rainforest.  That changed though when the ganarías (ranches) came and cut down the trees to make room for pasture.  I found myself in a full sweat 8 hours per day.  Eric said when he first arrived at his site, he would sweat all the time too.  After a month or so, his body was accustomed to the heat.

Eric is doing many projects right now in the town.  The main project is teaching English classes.  He has a class of about 12 people ranging from high-schoolers to homemakers.  I had the opportunity to help him teach part of the class.  I introduced myself to the class and then was in charge of doing the dynamico (icebreaker).  I had a lot of fun teaching and I managed to get a few good laughs out of the students (maybe they were laughing at me, I couldn’t decipher).  Students will respect you if you are enthusiastic and sometimes just plain goofy (goofiness is universal).  Eric does a good job at this.  He wants to make sure the students are not only learning English but having fun.  The class is still very basic, so if you speak it has to be slow and methodical. 

Eric is also starting a recycling collection center in his town.  The waste management system is in the dark ages compared to the United States.  The “system” is to basically throw the trash on the ground or burn it.  There is no company that comes around and disposes of your trash.  People burn everything including plastic and spray-paint cans.  Eric has symposiums to try to educate the people on the importance of recycling and disposing properly.  He also started a recycling collection center.  The town can bring their recyclable items here and  a company (Coke, Pepsi or Dos Pinos) will pick up the recyclable items and the contributors will receive a small payment.  It is just in its initial stages but it seems like a good idea.

The town also used be covered with cacao trees.  It was the main cash crop of the area.  About a decade ago, a fungus came and wiped out all the trees.  It has made the town poorer than it used to be.  Since the market price for cacao has been high for a long time and there are now cacao seeds that are immune to the fungus, Eric is talking to some farmers about growing the tree again.  It will be a difficult task since the project is considered long-term, but he has received some positive feedback.

I was also looking forward to seeing all the wonderful flora and fauna on my gira (trip), but I  saw only long-eared cows.  It is okay, I know there will be plenty of time in the future to explore Costa Rica’s amazing flora and fauna.  My Spanish teacher told us some good bird-watching areas in the country, I hope to visit them soon.  I already saw some pretty hummingbirds, Costa Rica is a hotbed for these amazing creatures. 

I think of you all often;  I find myself flipping through my letter-book,  retracing all the wonderful memories it brings me.  These are consecrated in my thoughts, and whenever I am down, they will bring me joy.  I hope this post finds you all with happiness and love in your lives.

Pura Vida

Elliot