Climbing Mount Chirripó

This past weekend myself and three of my Peace Corps friends (Andrew, John, Jonathan) decided to undertake the daunting task of climbing the highest mountain in Costa Rica, Mount Chirripó.  Our group had two weeks of Inter-service training (IST) in San Jose and decided it was time that we enjoyed the beauty that Costa Rica has to offer.

Cerro Chirripó has an altitude of 3,820 (12,530) meters above sea level and forms a part of Parque Internacional la amistad de Costa Rica.  It is the 38th highest peak in the world.  It does not compare to the Rockies in Colorado that I enjoyed so much climbing as a child but the hike is still very grueling.  

We arrived in a quaint little town of 305 called San Gerardo de Rivas on friday afternoon.  It was a beautiful day, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  We didn't have reservations so we immediately went to the Park Ranger office.  A very helpful park ranger named Jose helped us plan our upcoming adventure.  We decided that we would get up early saturday morning (4 am) and start the ascension.  We would ascend 15 km to base crestones (the base camp), stay overnight and then the next morning ascend the last 5 km to the summit and watch the sunrise over the Caribbean sea.  Almost everything went as planned.

We got up as planned the next morning and had a hearty man's breakfast of Gallo Pinto, Eggs, Tortillas ,Natilla (kinda like a sour cream) and of course a cup of coffee.  After feeling completely satiated, we decided it was time to make the ascent.  With about 10-15 kilos of weight on our backs filled with sleeping bags, warm clothes, food (mostly tuna) and 2 liters of water, we started to climb.  The lady at the hotel told us that the 2km walk from the hotel to the trailhead was a good way to "warm-up" the body.  And yes it was a good way to warm-up...if you are Sir Edmund Hillary or some other expert climber!!!  Nevertheless, we made it to the trailhead and we took a picture by the 0 KM mark.  We had to pass by 15 more of the KM marks throughout the day.  

The first KM we ran into a problem.  Andrew, a fellow PVC, felt as thought he was starting to develop a blister on his foot.  We stopped and he was able to bandage it up but unfortunately the blister would continue to get worse and prevented him from reaching the summit.  He made it 15 KM and practically tore off all the skin, one of the worst blisters I have seen.  It is impressive that he was able to make it to base crestones.  

The next seven KM were fine and we ended up splitting into two groups.  Jonathan and I were in the front group and John and Andrew were behind us.  We planned that we would eat lunch at KM 7 before the big ascension of 8 and 9.   The park ranger warned us beforehand that the hardest KMs of the trek were KM 8,9 and 13,  We had to bring all of our food in our bags.  We didnt have a stove so it had to either be canned or perishable food.  Our diet consisted of tuna, trail mix and fruit.  We ate a pretty hearty lunch and then decided to ascend the 8th and 9th KM.  

It was a steep incline going up KM 8 and 9.  The sights and sounds of our surroundings distracted our minds from our heavy breathing: birds chirping, hummingbirds fluttering, trees being swallowed by mist and sharp cliffs leading to vast valleys.  It was a breathtaking two KMs (pun intended).  

KMs 10-12 were different than the previous KMs.  By KM 10, we were out of the canopy and there were no more tall trees.  The vegetation was also different.  There was less green and it looked a lot like the Southwest US but with more shrubs.  My friend, who had studied in Spain, said this landscape reminded him of the arid landscapes around Madrid.  Right when the we left the canopy, the rain came and it was an aguacera (downpour).  We were about 3000 meters above sea level so not only was it pouring rain but it was also extremely cold.

And then we finally made it to the homestretch, 1.5 KM to base crestones.  This 1.5 KM was not just another couple KM, it was the hardest stretch of the trail.  We filled up our water bottles at before we started  and we were off.  As we ascended it became colder and colder and the air became thiner and thiner.  We knew we were almost at the base camp so that gave us motivation to continue hiking.  Finally, we came upon a steep cliff jetting down into a small valley (valley of the rabbits/ valle de los conejos) and there was the base crestones.  We checked-in and were ready for some more nourishment.

We made it to the base at about 3:00 pm and the sun was covered by the clouds.  With no sun the temperature was close to freezing, and we had to put on all the clothes we carried up in order to stay warm.  There was no snow, but the next morning we saw ice.  We had a dinner that included tuna (again), avocado, cheese, bean spread and heart of palm.  During dinner we met a french man and his american wife.  They were on a biking adventure and are planning to bike all the way to Patagonia.  They told us they prefer to go mountain hiking and decided to have to quick detour in order to climb Chirripo.

After dinner it was bed time because we planned to wake up at 3:00 and be on the top by 5:00 to watch the sun rise.  It was extremely cold in our room during the night.  The tile floor was so cold it was hard to walk on it bare-foot for more than a minute.  I rented a sleeping bag from the hotel we stayed at in San Gerardo but it did not cover my body entirely.  It was not a good night sleep.  Nonetheless, we awoke as planned at 3:00 am and the four sleep-deprived PCVs headed for the summit.

Unfortunately, my friend had acquired a blister the day before and it was too painful for him to continue to the summit.  He decided to return to the base.  We continued and about 30 minutes into our trek, we realized that  we were on the wrong path heading the opposite direction of Chirripó.  We were upset that we didn't plan and find the trailhead the day before.  We made it back to base camp and it was about an hour detour.  We found the correct trailhead and started hiking the right way this time.  It was still completely dark and we had to use our headlights to find our way.  

Just when the sun was popping over the horizon, we climbed to over a ledge and there before us, powerful and majestic and previously not visible, was the summit of Chirripó.  From this distance, we could see a tiny bluish speck waving in the distance; it was the Costa Rican flag on top of the summit.  We kept moving with little rest to avoid getting chilled.  A half an hour later, we were standing on the highest point in Costa Rica. 

Trailhead

San Gerardo de Rivas

                

  

50 years and counting.....

Today is the 50th birthday of the Peace Corps.  Fifty years ago today, JFK signed the executive order 10924 that officially started the Peace Corps.  Prior to signing this order, he first devised the idea of the Peace Corps at the University of Michigan a few months earlier.  It was in october and he arrived in Ann Arbor during the evening. It was deep in the thick of the presidential election and JFK was fighting hard against Vice President Richard Nixon. Upon arriving, JFK was slated to retire to his room, grab a few hours of well-earned sleep, and then begin a train tour of Michigan. When his vehicle pulled up to the University throngs of students were waiting to hear their Democratic nominee speak. Many had been waiting for hours, the steps were swarming with those hopeful of catching a glimpse, and Kennedy knew he had to address the crowd. Instead of giving a quick speech in order to rally votes in his favor, Kennedy decided to ask:

"How many of you who are going to be doctors are willing to spend your days in Ghana? Technicians or engineers: how many of you are willing to work in the Foreign Service and spend your lives traveling around the world? On your willingness to do that, not merely to serve one year or two years in the service, but on your willingness to contribute part of your life to this country, I think will depend the answer whether a free society can compete. I think it can. And I think Americans are willing to contribute. But the effort must be far greater than we’ve ever made in past."

It is a great honor and privilege that I am serving in the Peace Corps during this worldwide celebration.  I have read many great stories and adventures from the returned volunteers and feel like I am living those same adventures right now!  It is crazy to think that I have been here almost five months; everything goes by so fast when you are enjoying every second of it.  The sun never sets on the Peace Corps and every one of the 77 countries is holding some type of celebration today.  Costa Rica has a celebration, but unfortunately I am unable to go due to a demanding work schedule this week.  If San Jose was closer to my site, I might have decided to take a night out.  

Here's to 50 years and many more....

Obama's Presidential Proclamation

:http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/02/28/presidential-proclamation-50th-anniversary-peace-corps

Highlights from the first month!!

Family and Friends,

It has been an exciting and busy first month in Agua Buena!  I have had the opportunity to get to know many people in my community, attend many community organizational meetings, be a special guest at an english class, help the micro-finance (ECC) organization with bookkeeping and do an extraordinary amount of  mountain bike riding!  I am also happy to say that my spanish has been greatly improving and I feel more comfortable everyday reading, writing and speaking.  Without further a due, I am going to write about a few of the highlights from my past month:

1. Preparing the traditional Costa Rican christmas food, Tamales.  This step-by-step process has been perfected by my host mother, Yolanda, who is quite a skilled chef.  Basically, a tamale is a dish made of Masa (starchy dough, corn-based) which is steamed or boiled in a plantain leaf wrapper.  It can be filled with many different meats, veggies, rice or beans.  We filled ours with rice, green pepper, yellow squash, onion and a piece of chicken.  Once who have put all the ingredients on the leaf, you have to tightly wrap it so the contents do not fall out.  After that, place the tamale in boiling water or steam it in order to cook it.  Then, Enjoy!  Just a side note (bc i am a hypochondriac), I dont know how healthy these delicious snacks are, I saw my host mom put two sticks of butter in the Masa mix!

Preparing, back-breaking work

2. A new pleasure of mine is mountain bike riding.  There is really nothing like riding your bike through fresh mountain air to clear your head.  At times, all the spanish can give me "information overload" and it is nice to have a physical outlet.  I started riding the bike shop owner where I bought my bike.  His name is Danny and he has a group of friends that he goes out with 3 to 4 times a week.  Danny is an expert and can ride on the most difficult paths.  Being the quixotic person that I am, I told Danny the first time we rode that I want to start with the most difficult trail.  Well, that was a mistake.  This trail had potholes, loose gravel, wet mud and  thick grass; it was not the trail for a beginner to start.  I fell off the bike a few times but was not seriously injured.  Now, I have been riding the more novice trails and have been building up my endurance and stamina.  Some day I will return to that trail and conquer it.

My new mountain bike

3. I have been working hard on my diagnostic of Agua Buena.  This report needs to include the history, economy, jobs, youth activities, etc. of the community.  It is a very helpful way of integrating into the community.  Thus far, my favorite interview has been with a gentleman named Gabriel.  He gave me the complete history of Agua Buena.  Being the history lover that I am, we had a great conversation that lasted 2 hours.  I will not bore you with the details.

4. While going to Neilly on a bus to meet a fellow PCV, I met a english teacher from Neilly that invited me to be a special guest in his class.  Being that I do not have very much experience in the teaching field, I accepted his offer without hesitation.  I said I would prepare the lesson plan and that is what i did.  The class was mostly a younger crowd and their spanish level was novice low or medium.  I wanted them have a little taste of American culture so I wrote a simple biography on Barack Obama.  In class, they read it out-loud and then we discussed Obama and how he was viewed around the world.  My plan finished a bit early, so for the future I always need to be prepared with extra material.

5. I have also been fortunate to be able to travel around my region (south zone or Puntarenas) and see much of the natural beauty of Costa Rica.  Only about a 10 min walk from my residence, there is a beautiful, cliff waterfall; I call it the "Miniature Niagara."  This past weekend I traveled with a friend to the Osa Peninsula on the Pacific side of Costa Rica.  It was nice to get away for a few days and to also see a lot of flora and fauna.  We were taking a hike by a river and all of a sudden we saw a scaly, green head pop out of the water.  We jumped back a little bit and took a closer look at the river; there were about 5 to 6 pairs of sinister eyes looking at us.  These were all fresh water crocodiles (cocodrilos) and they looked hungary, so we got the hell out of there!!!

Miniature Niagara

Crocodile infested river, proceed with caution

6. I am looking forward to next weekend because there is a big PC get together in San Jose for the Super Bowl.  In the morning, there is a flag football game and I am hoping my team comes ready to play.  Tico 21 must represent its athletic superiority!!  In the evening, we are all going to the local hotspot, Hooters, for some overpriced American food and fun!  It will be nice to see all my buddies and see how there journey is going thus far.

Well, that is all I have for you right now.  I am going to try to keep this thing updated more regularly, but honestly there wasn't too much to report on.  I want to make a shout out to both my grandmas, Arlue Thomas and Elaire Dykins, they both had birthdays this month.  They are very special ladies in my life, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!  

For the rest of you that have actually read this far, I hope this note finds you well!

Pura Vida,

Elliot Nix

More Pics (previous blog cont.)

Here are some pics I forgot to add in the previous blog.  I have one more from the swearing-in ceremony at the US embassy:

The Gentle Giants and Ambassador Anne Andrew

Pictures from the end-of-training-family-party, yes all one word:

Half of my host family: Rosa, Yensi, Me, Eduardo

Cooking the meat

The Grill-masters

My return to AMERICA

Family and friends,

I am officially a Peace Corps volunteer!  Yes, I am officially apart of the world Peace Corps network; I am one of the volunteers currently serving in one of the 77 countries Peace Corps serves throughout the world.  I am proud to be a part of the Peace Corps family, especially the Peace Corps Costa Rican family.  I feel privileged and honored to be among such a fine group of PCVs; I believe Tico 21 will have a sustainable impact on Costa Rica and its wonderful people. 

My group and I (Tico 21) had the privilege of swearing-in this past Friday at the US embassy in Ezcasu, San Jose.  It was nice to step back onto US soil.  I wanted to pull a Homer Simpson and start jumping across the line of demarcation, “now I’m in America, now I’m in Costa Rica; now I’m in America, now I’m in Costa Rica.”  However, I think the large, US marines would not have thought very highly of such an action.  I behaved myself and the ceremony went smoothly.  Each of us were able to invite two host-family members from our training community.  I invited my host-brother Eduardo and my host-mother Rosa.  They seemed to enjoy the festivities, as did the rest of the group. 

The main speaker at the ceremony was the US ambassador to Costa Rica, Anne Andrew.  President Obama and the senate appointed Andrew as Ambassador in December 2009 to Costa Rica.  Before serving as Ambassador she worked for a corporate environmental/energy law practice.  She does not know Spanish very well (which is strange to me) but she tried her best to do some of the speech in Spanish.  Even though it was broken Spanish, it was a nice deed because the host-families only know Spanish.  Otherwise, the English part of the speech was very thoughtful. 

After the speeches, every PCV had the opportunity to receive a certificate.  We all walked up to the stage and shook the Ambassador’s hand and the Country Director’s hand.  My exchange of words with the Ambassador went like this:

Me: Ambassador, Thank you for your kind words.

Ambassador Andrews: You’re welcome, Where are you from?

Me: Minnesota

Ambassador Andrews: Wow, did you hear about all the snow they got?

Me: Yes

The entire audience: (laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh)

Ambassador Andrews: I bet you feel lucky to be in Costa Rica!

Me: Yes, I really do!

The entire audience: (laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh)

At the time, I was confused and I didn’t know why the audience was laughing, I thought I had done something wrong or silly.  I found out later that it was because there was such an extreme height difference between myself and the Ambassador.  Apparently extreme height difference is humorous in Costa Rica.  Here are some pics of the event:

 Andrew Wood (New York), Ken Farrell (Iowa), Barton Rode (California, Spain, Africa), Me

Andrew, Maria (Training Director), Me

San Gabriel Training Group: Me, Megan (Wisconsin), Marie (Conn.), Andrew

The logistic badasses: Christian, Me, Harold

The entire CED group

John Foss (Vermont) and I wrapping ourselves in glory

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman..."

CED Training coordinators (Luis, Vinyela) and me

Right now, I am at my site in Agua Buena, Coto Brus, Puntarenas.  Here are some pics of my community:

Rio Agua Buena

Park in front of my house

Catholic Chruch

The sign for the women's group I will be working with. "Tortilla Factory, 100% Pure Corn, United Women"

House

Bull Fighting Plaza

The basketball court that was turned into a Bola (soccer on hard wood floor) court

Soccer Plaza

The medical clinic, financed by the Gov.

Red Cross

Bar

Colegio (High School)

Raging River

The community is beautiful and I am lucky to be here.  That being said, this is the thought that comes to my mind most often right now, “oh god, here we go, what do I do now?”  This ambiguity does not frighten me though, I know from talking with other volunteers that 99% feel anxious when they first arrive at their site.  It is something that only time and lots of hard-work can heal.

The first months, my main objective is to complete a diagnostic of the community and continue to improve my Spanish level.  The diagnostic is called the CAT and I am expected to complete the entire diagnostic in Spanish (should be about 50 to 60 pages).  It seems like a lot of work but it is a great tool to integrate into the community.  One of the components of the CAT is to learn more about the history, culture and people in the community.  The only way to do that is to have long conversations in Spanish with sometimes people you meet for the first time.  I heard it is a very useful tool for PCVs.

Other than the CAT, I am expected to: spend time with my host family; introduce myself to any community members that currently work on issues related to community development in and near the community; observe English or ICT classes; explore the possibilities of teaching English to groups such as: youth out of school, high-school students, adults; attend social functions; attend social functions like church, birthdays, baby showers; create a community map with micro-enterprises, associations and cooperatives.  There will be plenty of things to do the first months, it is just that I have to find the motivation to do all these things.  No one is going to come to me unless I have successfully integrated and gained their trust.  This part of my service is extremely important.

I am also very close to buying a mountain bike!  I am very lucky with my site because there are some dirt roads in the mountains where I can ride.  CoopaBuena (the sister city of Agua Buena) has a bike shop and I went to talk to the owner yesterday.  Peace Corps provides you with ₡70,000 (about $140) for the purchase of a bike.  The owner offered me a pretty nice mountain bike, and in addition, he said he would install shocks and a higher seat for ₡80,000 ($160).  I would have to make up the ₡10 mil (only $20) difference, but I think it is worth it.  I am going to price shop a little more and then make a decision as soon as possible. I look forward to a lot of mountain biking the next two years.  Don’t worry Mom, the PC requires that I wear a helmet at all times J.

Christmas, the New Year, and my birthday are around the corner and it is going to be hard to not be at home for the first time.  I am use to be not having much time at home because of college basketball, but I am not use to not being at home at all.  Family, PLEASE take a lot of pictures of the festivities; I want to see everything,  every little event documented!  These will be important for me to see!

I wish everyone and their families a safe and happy holiday season!

Pura Vida,

Elliot   

Good Water?

The time has come, the stage is set and the PCTs are ready!  Yesterday was the big day folks!  The day that everyone looked forward to, the day that was marked on all calendars--SITE ASSIGNMENT DAY!  On this day, PCTs find out where they will be living/serving the next two years.  PC CR cleverly named it Site Assignment Day (SAD).  Yes, I did not make that up, the acronym is SAD.  You think PC could have conjured up some other name that didn’t have such a gloomy acronym, like Location Assignment Day (LAD).  But before I reveal my site, I am going to bore you with some details from the past few weeks (Reading ahead is encouraged!).

It has been a busy couple weeks for me and I finally have some time to sit down and put all of last week’s work into perspective.  At times, it helps if you take a step back and reflect on what you are doing and why you are doing it... especially when you are in PEACE CORPS! (haha)

Last week, our entire group had a change in plans.  Because of the torrential rains and landslides, we could not travel to our Tech Training site (in Southern San Jose) to visit a volunteer who is serving.  Instead, we slept in our training communities during the night and the CED group met in Tarbaca during the day.  Tech training is a week devoted to training in your respective field.  Since we actually could not train in a volunteer site, the facilitators came up with a different lesson plan.  My CED (Community Economic Development) group had to create a hypothetical business that would most likely succeed in our training communities.  We used the same business planning process that Junior Achievement uses all over the world.  All of us could be facilitating a group of students in our communities with the Junior Achievement process.  The objective of the process is to teach students all the steps it takes to start a business.  Each of us had to facilitate one of the steps to our CED group.  Through random selection, I was put in the Marketing Department.  There were 5 departments altogether (marketing, finance and accounting, HR, production and administration).  Specifically, my task was to facilitate the generation of a Market Survey (encuesta) for our service.  I facilitated  a few sessions and it was a great experience for me.  I do not have much experience facilitating NFE (non-formal education, Peace Corps’ teaching strategy that is less formalized and poses questions to the class, rather than telling them or lecturing) and it was good to get in front of everyone and face my fears.  The main objective of all of this was to look at the process from the student´s perspective.  In addition, most of the teaching was in Spanish, so everyone learned a lot of Spanish business vocab.

After the long week, our group decided we needed to celebrate.  Tbest place to do that is in the beautiful city of Puerto Viejo.  Puerto Viejo is on the eastern side of CR in the province of Límon.  It has some of the best beaches in Costa Rica.  The whole group rented a bus made the 4 hour trip.  It was awesome!  The beaches were perfect and it is exactly what everyone needed.  For me, the highlight of the trip was wrestling the other 6’5” behemoth in our group, John, on the beach.  John and I have similar body builds so it was a fair match.  I took him down the first round, he took me down the second and I finished him off the third.  Other group members wanted to wrestle so more matches ensued.  It wasn’t very “peace”ful but everyone had fun.  It was nice getaway after being in the same community for 6 weeks. 

Wow…if you got through all of that, I commend you.  Now, it is time to reveal the real reason everyone is reading this, my site assignment: 

MY SITE IS AGUA BUENA! 

Here are some quick, fun facts about Agua Buena.  Literally meaning “good water” in Spanish, Agua Buena is a community located close to the Panamanian border (10 KM) and near PILA (International Park la Amistad).  It is in the district of Agua Buena, county of Coto Brus and province of Puntarenas.  The population is approximately 5,200 people (big for a compared to other PCV cities).  The district of Agua Buena has an area of 61.18 km2.  Agua Buena is at an average altitude of 1,060 meters above sea level and the topography is mountainous.  The climate is chilly (chilly for ticos is different for Minnesotans) and cloudy.  The local economy is primarily agriculture-based with coffee, cattle farms, vegetable and commercial activity.  In Agua Buena, there is a super market, pulperia, vegetable fair, common salon, water system, futbol field, internet café, kindergarten, primary school and secondary school.  Talk about “Posh” Corps…



I will be closer to Panama City than San Jose.  Here I come cheap Panmanian goods!


My main counterpart will be the Damas Unidas (United Women) that are involved in a recycling project, tortilla factory and selling a traditional food cookbook.  I will support the women’s group, strengthen their managerial and operational business skills, group leadership and conflict resolution capabilities.  In the community, there is also a ECC (Empresa de Crédito Communal.  A community-based, micro-finance organization that gives micro-loans to start-ups.).  I will support them with feasibility studies and writing business plans.  It has been in the community for only two years.  There are also a group of farmers organizing a vegetable fair (Feria del Agricultor) and they need support to organize, run and administer this venture.  The community is also in need of ICT and English classes for the ECC members, women’s group and youth. 

I will be living with Yolanda Mana Solóranza.  She has a daughter that attends a university named Pamela and another daughter named Ana Luisa that lives in the US.  I am going to have a lot of Estrogen in my life; living with only women, working with a women’s group…..help me GOD!! Haha just kidding.  My CED coordinator, Luis, told me they are a really nice family.   

It is crazy to think that in exactly 23 days, I will be sitting on a different bed in Agua Buena thinking to myself, “wow, what the heck do I do now? How can I put this training into practice?”  It is a little scary to think about but it is exciting at the same time.  The time has come, I am ready to serve.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!

Warm Regards,

Elliot

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