Updates

This week we've all been kept on our toes despite the Colegio (high school) having Thursday and Friday off along with no internet over the weekend. 

On Friday we headed to Alajuela. The first store we walked into was a nice Ropa Americana store covered in old Goodwill tags before being shipped south for a try at the Ticos. It wasn't look before I heard a guy mutter in English, "What big eyes you have, baby." Ok big bad wolf, I can see past your sheep clothing. I got a lot of stares with my long blonde hair and big sunglasses screaming tourist and innocent. We were quite a group...two Americans, one blonde, on black from the Caribbean, one tico and two half Koreans/half American-Costa Rican. My face flushed about a hundred times before the rain started and I could hide from staring men in my big green rain coat. It was great though and I snagged a bag a Pequeno Mundo for 4 US$. 

We also had some delicious fruit at the farmer's market. Our favorite was one accurately described as a strawberry crossed with a dragon. You peel off the skin and underneath is a delicious grape-type covered seed. They brought me joy and Angeley back to her childhood. The market was wonderful. It was fresh, local, large, and everything tropical. 

Last week Tomas, Ben, Jordan, Fabian, and Fabian's dad drove down to Cartago to look at a blackberry co-op we're trying to emulate here. The drive was gorgeous but I have nothing to show for it. Bummer. We visited two farms, both very different. Personalities definitely come out in farming techniques. We're getting together a community meeting this week. Things are good here at the homestead. I have pictures of the house and my room! 

Our house and my load of brights

Barn 

 The newest additions to our family, Pirata and Elephante

Bed

Room

Grocery store

Looking forward to the two week Colegio break next week! (And my birthday). 

Terremoto

I suppose it would be appropriate to reflect on why I am here in the first place...and how I got connected to ADE and how ADE began only 2.5 years ago. 


So...from the top,


Tomas Dozier and family moved back to Tomas' hometown of San Rafael de Vara Blanca shortly after the 6.4 low-lying (strong) earthquake that struck along the fault lying between San Rafael and Cinchona. Tomas was in the International Development masters program at Eastern and came down with his class to conduct a census of those living in the town post-disaster. One of the major requests was a high school in the area and so after finishing his masters, moved his family down to the land he had inherited from his father. 

We got to visit the town, Cinchona, that used to exist on a slope that was abandoned after the earthquake. Some of the pictures are below but cannot grasp the depth of the destruction as 2.5 years have passed. On the contrary, you can see how much hasn't been done in this community in the past 2.5 years. Its hard to imagine something like this happening in 13 seconds. Everything gone before you can even have time to figure out what is going on. 

The volcanoes in the background are beautiful but you can't appreciate them for all the destruction

Checking out the waterfall from up above

Debris left in its place, 2.5 years later

The doors to the church, waiting for someone to come in

Pictures of San Rafael from the earthquake

The hole looked over by the Barva volcano chain

The hole caused by the massive landslide as a result of the earthquake

The road ends here. You can see a kitchen sink down below.

Most of this house fell over the edge

Couldn't quite catch the literal and figurative depth of the hole

Wanting to do something with the community to help develop it (using all of his higher education) they created the non-profit organization called ADE, Association for Development through Education. It is focused on asset-based development and working with the community, not for the community. They moved down here with no money and found themselves living a life much more similar to their neighbors. This model is focused on relying on the Lord through the efforts of the community to provide basic needs. 


ADE started a high school and employed some other gringos, looking forward to the day when their staff and board can be made up entirely of ticos. Through connections with Eastern, Dr. Unander brought down the AuSable Course to Costa Rica with plans to involve ADE in the missions part of Tropical Ag and Missions. When Dr. Foster, my adviser sent me the info for the class, I started looking into ADE and applied for an internship to use the knowledge that I have learned from the class the rest of the summer. Really how I got involved with ADE and my summer here was completely orchestrated by God, because after a long standing battle of not knowing whether or not I was even going to be able to get here, he made it very clear he wanted me here..in Vara Blanca, with ADE. 

4 x 4

Last weekend we went to a rally hosted by the community as a fundraiser for the elementary school. There are two things that raise money successfully here and those are Bingo and rallies. This one was a 4x4 so only large four wheel drive vehicles were present. That was enough, however, to draw all of Vara Blanca and the surrounding towns to the mud track on a rainy Sunday afternoon. I didn't feel like I was missing out on any summer county fairs because the set list included Born to be Wild and Livin' on a Prayer among other rock songs all in English. It was a total redneck gathering in the middle of CR. 

Its funny how something so cultural to the southern US can be transported to another context. It was the whole package. Shirtless men, cigarettes, loud old music, overweight people, fatty foods for sale, beer, people doing dumb things, people coming out to support dumb things. It was very authentic.

Real CR rednecks

There were two lanes around the track and each car would take two laps inside and two laps outside. At one corner, each vehicle had to make it up this large slope that was usually the end of most vehicles who tried it. One even rolled over and several others got caught side ways. There was a man on tracker that would be summoned right away and lift the car out of a foot of mud. There were so many people, loud music, and lots of food just like any good county fair. The national champ 4x4 racer even showed up. He's sponsored by Red Bull of course. 

Starting "gate"

Home Stay

I have nothing bad to stay about my home stay last weekend. Though it was difficult in the middle of my transition between the TAM class and my internship, I couldn’t have truly experienced the authenticity of Vara Blanca in the same way. I spent three nights with Sandra who lives about 25 minutes from the nearest road way up in the jungle. Dang, it is seriously a strenuous hike. Her gracious family took me in as an introduction to the community and my internship. Sandra is the sweetest 14 year old you might ever meet and she definitely gets it from the grace and hospitality her family offers.

It was such a humbling experience. First of all, you learn how much Spanish you don’t know when living with a family who knows no English. Second, I suddenly appreciated the ADE center’s shower, bathroom, and sleeping arrangement. Sandra and I shared a twin bed those three nights and while I slept like a rock, I’m not sure she did the same (yeah, I snore). The last night I woke up to some vicious moving and rolled over to be greeted by the dog who had wound up between us. Cassava and cow vertebrae soup could not have tasted any better than after a cold night in the jungle.

I don’t put up pictures of the Mora’s house to shame what they are living in, but to grasp the depth of the circumstances of life after the earthquake. They still had an emergency relief box from directly after the earthquake.

The back room of the house

Shower to the right, toilet to the left

I came to love this shower. While I tried not to touch the walls for the bugs, it was warm and so welcome.

Although the local tourist spot is its own world at $400 a night for a room, it employs Sandra’s dad and so many others from the community. He woke up at 5am and got back around 7pm only to go to bed at 8:30pm. On Sunday we watched Chuck and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody in Spanish. Sandra’s mom, Julia, knits beautiful things. She finished two hats while I was there and used pieces of a milk carton to support the brim. Her older brother Jorge could not have been more than 17 and works. Juan Gabriel, her 9 year old brother, the cutest thing I have ever seen, was so proud that he knew the word monkey in English.

One of the hardest parts was filling the time. We drew pictures where I could ask them how to say in Spanish the different things I came across. We also all did homework together.

The best part about their home way up the mountain is the view on the way to school every morning. The mountains are gorgeous especially before the clouds roll in. I could walk to school like that every morning. 

The strawberry greenhouses are so picturesque in front of the volcanoes.

Humor all pictures of the same thing, I think it’s beautiful.

I mean, look at that! We’re eye level with the clouds.