La Iguana

It boggles my mind to think that I am down to my last two days at the Iguana, the wonderful chocolate farm in the mountains of western Costa Rica. On Saturday, I will travel to Dominical to meet Jimmy and his friend from Peabody who will be getting in on Friday night, surf for a few days in Dominical, and then head down to Sierpe where I was for a week at the beginning of my trip for a week of giving english lessons. I will leave Sierpe around the tenth of March to cross the southern part of Costa Rica to meet with Jimmy and other UVM friends who are coming down to spend a week with us on the Carribean coast. This week will be sure to bring more surfing and it will be great to see friends from school, and then we will cross the border into Panama in order to renew our visas. By then Jeremy, who has left us temporarily to get an early start on the farm will we go to after Panama, will be with us again, and las Tres Hotas (3 Js) will spend a few days on some Panamanian islands. Will will leave Panama around the twentieth of March for the final farm of my trip, Finca Amanecer, about 40 minutes from Quepos on the central Pacific coast.
I am happy to say that despite the incredibly enjoyable time we have had at la iguana, I am getting ready to move on in my travels. The work has grown rather repetitive, and although we are living and working on a farm, there are many monotonous tasks such as frijoleandoing and general upkeep of the houses that have us yearning for a farm where we can work closer with the soil. We did manage to break out of some of this monotony by volunteering to cook lunch a couple of times last week, managing to produce patacones, black bean burgers, some salads and juices, and Dan and Mai´s incredible chocolate raw food shake. It is good to get some experience in the kitchen, especially considering that at the next farm we will be cooking all of our own food.
We do have some days of interesting work - Jimmy, Jeremy, and I spent a day making a gate for the upper end of the living space (just under the tree house I sleep in and attached to a beam supporting our water tank, which we prayed we wouldn´t collapse). We also had a morning of hauling huge palm frans up a small mountain - I haven´t poured sweat like that since the summers before NNHS soccer. It was also great to help with the reconstruction of the porch, and the compostable toilet´s roof and walls, all of which were destroyed by the winds.
The winds struck about a week into my stay here, and were the closest thing I have ever felt to a hurricane. La Iguana is located in the mountains, on the top of a ridge with valleys on either side, so it truly bore the brunt of father wind´s wrath. On the first night of the winds, I insisted on sleeping in my tree house when Lidiette, the mother of the family, advised me to sleep in the lower house with the rest of the voluntarios. This turned out to be a terrible idea as the wind brought all kinds of bugs, leaves, and general earth into my bed - my mosquito net was also quickly blown off and I was harassed by the bugs that managed to withstand the wind. It sucked. The second night Lidiette mandated that I sleep in the lower house, although the only bed open was the lone top bunk. This became a problem because the wind that night was so strong that it began to tear the roof off of that house. Fortunately the roof, or at least the parts that remained attached, held fast and I was still alive on the top bunk when morning finally came. It was amazing to see and feel the incredible power of the wind, and we spend about a week repairing the damage it inflicted.
The schedule here is breakfast around 7:30, and then work until Lidiette hollers the blessed word ¨ALMUERZO!!!¨, around 12:30. After an always sensational lunch we are free to do as we please, which ususally includes lots of hammocking and reading, usually a walk to the glorious river that reminds me of Switzerland, and maybe a walk into town for internet or la cantina. It is great to have the main activity of my free time be reading, of which I am really discovering my love for. So far I have read the Unbearable Lightness of Being, Deep Economy, Ishmael (thank you ms dannenberg), the Shock Doctrine, The Garden of Eden, Episodes of the Revolutionary War by Che, and the Jungle Book. I am currently in the midst of The Israel Lobby, In Defense of Food, and The End of Poverty. There is so much good stuff to read, and here there is plenty of time to read it.
One of the best parts of living here has to be the food, as I look forward to every single meal. We eat rice and beans with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and I don´t think I could ever get sick of them. We have salad with lunch and dinner, eggs of some form for breakfast and often another meal, meat every couple days, and a bounty of other treats that Lidiette throws in. I can never stop myself at one plateful, and I have found myself walking around with a paunch for a few hours after each meal. I even got to make brownies yesterday while they were making peanut butter chocolates, which were easily the best baked good i´ve encountered in my life.
Otherwise, I am really enjoying the companionship of both Jimmy and Jeremy, and we have also grown close with Jorge, the 20 year old son of the family, who is a great guy. The family has a fooseball table, so we have been playing plenty of that, and every now and then we get to catch a local soccer game down on the little black and white tv they have at the bar. At nights, there are more stars than I have ever been able to see in the sky, so we do a fair bit of star gazing on the hill behind the farm - although even in the mountains of Costa Rica there is still a visible street light.
It´s truly a wonderful life, yet I still find myself missing home, both at UVM and Newton. Or more, missing all of you who make home what it is. Even while enjoying the bejeezus out of Costa Rica I can still look forward to going home for the summer, and then back to school in the fall. Here lies such a blessing, I am in such a great place with close friends doing stuff I really enjoy, and I still have room to look froward to home. I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to say that, and thank you to all of you who make home, wherever it is, so great.

Journey to the Chocolate Farm

February 2, 2009. 5:00am. I wake suddenly, startled by a strange beeping sound. I have become accustomed to waking up to strange noises here in Sierpe, so I wait lying in the darkness for the irritating ringing to subside. I wonder, what the hell is that noise, it´s killing me. After a few more minutes of frustration, I realize the beeping is emanating from a tiny alarm clock my host mother loaned me for this morning. Today I leave Sierpe for the chocolate farm, north up the pacific coast. I´ve been asleep not two hours. Last night I couldn´t fall asleep, and I had forgot to bring my water bottle back to my room. Around 2:30 in the morning I was desperate enough to enter the main house and get a drink from the fridge. Of course the door was locked, but ma heard my open the gate, and came out to investigate what was going on. ¨lo ciento¨ ¨disculpame¨I stammered, but she motioned me inside for a drink of water. I opened the fridge to find an old ocean spray jug filled with cold water - I didn´t bother to ask if it was filtered, at that point, it really didn´t matter either way.
5:30am I sit in the dark waiting for my first bus of the day, the bus pulls up as I start to glimpse the first rays of the rising sun, and I am pleased to see it is a big yellow school bus. As I stumble to catch my balance on the stairs of the quickly accelerating bus, I realize that I have only 10,000 colon bills to pay a 300 something fare. I opt for adollar, which is worth about 550, and of course the school bus driver shorts me about 100 in my change, but I´m not about to fight with this guy for 20 cents. As we move out of town, we gather more and more people, it seems like you just stand at the side of the road and the magic school bus will pick you up. As they board the bus, the sky is still partially dark but their smiles are beaming, I am the only whitey, and I am grumpy. They giggle and tease each other as they walk past the rows, givng daps and hand shakes. They sit down with friends, smiling and chatting, and I am struck by how appropriate the big yellow school bus now seems.
I think back to what Bill Mckibben has been stressing to me in Dep Economy in recent days, about the importance of community in our lives. I think about how nice it would be if we all traveled to work with our neighbors and friends in a magic school bus.
In Palmar Norte, I get off the bus waaayyyy to early, as I have no idea wher teh bus station is, let alone that ther are multiple stations. I end up walking some 20 minutes to the station, asking directions all the way. I twice board the wrong bus, running to catch one of them, only to be turned away by the shake of the bus drivers head when I ask ¨Va por Uvita?¨ I could not be more out of place, but I laugh at myself and eventually make it onto the bus for Uvita.
2:30pm Fourth bus of the day, one more to go. When I got to Uvita, I easily find the mango tree across the street from the bank where I´m supposed to catch an hourly bus to Quepos, but I´m told that this bus won´t be arriving for another 3 hours 15 minutes. I stood there numb as a taxi driver offered me a $15 ride to Dominical where there would be a bus to Quepos in an hour, at 9am. The bartender, who was a woman - I don´t know why that mattered, but it did, encouraged me to hitch hike to Dominical. I laughed and asked if anyone would kil or rob me, but she said it was safe. I walked to the other side of the street, stuck my thumb out, and before I knew it an older middle aged white guy was pulling over and telling me to hurry up and hop in because he was in a rush. When he said he was going to Dominical, he pronounced the last three letters like in California, which left no doubt in mind that he was an American. We chatted along the way, he was from North Carolina, vacationing as always in this area, and get this... he had pioneered as a land developer. I started asking him how he goes about doing this, and he tells me that you have to be careful not to get scammed, and that he has two lawyers in the area. All I wanted to do was respectfully ask him if he thought he was scamming anyone by buying cheap land from the Ticos and selling it at hugely increased rates to foreigners, pocketing the profits. I held my tounge, him picking me up was a kind act that really helped me out, and after buying six of the most delicious bananas for about 40 cents, and boarding the wrong bus for a third time (thank goodness I ask each bus driver if they´re going where I want), I was off on a bus to Quepos. Quepos was the biggest city I´d been to in a while, and I was able to find a post office and an internet cafe (which was of course interrupted by a routine 15 minute blackout), before returning to the bus station where about 100 people, half pregnant or with small children, where waiting for an array of unlabeled buses. There was one guy who seemd to be running things, as he would yell out where the buses were going before they left. I aked him to please let me know when the bus for Puriscal arrived, because I wouldn´t have a shot without him. The bus for Puriscal climbed slowly into the mountains, stopping long enough for me to buy two empanadas and a bottle of water, which I was dying for. Finally we arrived in ¨Santa Rosa¨, which turned out to be a tiny roof on the side of a completely abandoned mountain road, where a bus would allegedly pass for Mastatal in an hour. I spent that hour unsuccessfully trying to hitch a ride, which probably would have been easier if I would just cut my hair or shave my increasingly ridiculous looking face. When the bus came I was glad to have finally boarded my fifth and final bus of the day, although the bus driver seemed to be giving driving lessons to a friend. This led to a stall for every hill, turning a 15 minute drive into a 30 minute one.
Arriving at La Iguana (the chocolate farm) has been an absolute dream, and the week I´ve been here has easily been the best so far. I am sleeping in a kind of tree house in my own room, and there are about 10 other volunteers staying at the farm, although they change frequently. We are staying in the house of a Costa Rican family, who are wonderful and I´ve grown close with. My Spanish has dramatically improved, and I can get on in conversation without too many problems, I´m even starting to make and understand jokes, the thing that has elluded me in my Spanish so far. Anyway, I´ll talk more about La Iguana soon, I have to get back for dinner now. The meals are absolutely glorious, so much rice and beans with every meal, I´m absolutely in heaven, and over eating too much. Until next time, Pura Vida.

Perspectives of Sierpe

Ricardo Camacho. Works in Las Vegas as tour operator, bartender, amd he drives a shuttle from the airport to Las Vegas. He says that Sierpe needs more than anything more commerce, more work. He says the best way for this to happen is for a huge international airport, which was proposed by the government, to be built about 10 minutes from Sierpe. He says this would benefit everyone in Sierpe, bringing more jobs and easier transportation. He says the town Coto 46 is also vying for the airport, but that closer to Sierpe is better, as there are no mountains and plenty of ocean. He also says that there are strong political interests working on behalf of Sierpe. He claims the airport would have no impact on the mangrove ecosystem because the airport would be 10 minutes away from Sierpe.

Susan Barbosa. subarbosa86@hotmail.com. contigo el fenix numero 2.
She would also like to see more tourism, which she thinks would bring more money for her internet cafe and her town. She said while an airport and increased tourism is important, it wouldn´t affect everything, that there would be very little impact. After talking for a bit longer, she decided she really likes the tranquilness of the two, and that its good for her the way it is. She doesn´t worry about her kids playing alone outside, that there is very little juvenile delinquency. She appreciates that most everyone in Sierpe has lived there for a long time, and that there are not too many outsiders. She worries that more movement within the town would bring more crime. She says that there is no crime in Sierpe, and that she feels totally safe. She has seen the problems that larger metropolises like San Jose have, wehre increased traffic of people bring more money but also more criminals. She doesn´t want this for her town.

Kattia. Daughter of the house that I am staying in (Casa de Ilda).
She says there is more bad things to report on in Sierpe than good. She says the aquaduct is more expensive than ever, but the water is still bad. She says the tourism has declined as gas has become more expensive and the boats have started to cost too much to operate. With less tourism, there is not much work in Sierpe. Now there are too many people with boats, but not enough work to go around. Don Jorge helps many people out, but not all. He takes care of the tourists and makes Sierpe a more attractive place for them to come, but also gets most of their money. She appreciates that Sierpe is calm and safe, and also acknowledges that the school is improving, which she attributes to the work of the ministry of education. She says the town needs a better old folks home, school, and medical clinic, but that Sierpe receives very little money from the government. She says they could also use someone to give english lessons, and that this would help with getting people work.

Worker in the local grocery store. El Fenix. From San Jose.
She says Sierpe is very small, but has improved a lot in recent years. Says 30 years ago there was no water or electricity. Now she praises the town for having 6 buses in and out each day, and points to tourism as the reason behind the improvement. She says that without tourism, Sierpe would die. She says there is little crime in Sierpe, and not too many drugs, only marijuana, which she doesn´t seem to mind. She talks about a friendly and relaxed population, and that Donya Sonia and Don Jorge are very important people in the community. She says the only work is tourism related and fishing, and that Sierpe needs immersion into a larger economy. She says that many years ago, when the American company Bananera left, there was no work, but now that land is being used to grow palm trees to make palm oil. She says the town is waiting for an airport, which would bring money like in Quepos, Jaco, and Guanacaste. Despite this, she believes that Sierpe wouldn´t change much even with an airport.

Daisy Rojas Salazar. Sierpe contigo el escuela, Hotel Margarita. dayana1607@hotmail.com (niece´s email)
Says the aquaduct needs to work better, and that Don Marcos Morillo is planning filters that will clean the water, which is extremely important. She laments that besides this man, very few people are trying to collaborate with the community. She is forming a group to help the children, by creating a band to help keep them busy and give them something to do. She worries that there isn´t much for the kids to do, the boys have only soccer and the girls next to nothing. She worries that they may fall into drugs for lack of activities. She wishes people would stay for a night at least when they go to Drake Bay (a nearby tourist destination) because there is no tourism for her now. She blames the economy of the U.S. for the drop in tourism, as most of the tourists the town relies on are Americans. She also thinks news of the huge earthquake that struck the country about a month ago is dissuading people from coming to Costa Rica.

Dona Emanuela. Owns local pizzeria with husband, from Italy. ummo66@yahoo.com
Says Sierpe is tranquil and beautiful, but that there is not much for tourists to do, nowhere to go and have fun, can´t go see a movie. Despite this, she says she wouldn´t change much - says there are not many places where you can leave your door unlocked and not worry. She says Sierpe is not for everyone, but she is content - she could only use a few more patrons. Appreciates the people of Sierpe as good people, as lived here with her husband for two years.

Maritzia Rojas Salazar. 50 oeste Hotel Margarita. Owns the Cabinas Sofia.
Part of the Catholic Church, where they do activites to improve the church structure and give food to the poor. She said Sierpe has already improved a lot, that there are much better roads and much more beautiful houses than there once was. She says increased tourism has brought more money into the community, and that the increase is due to the relatively new highway, the park corcovado, and the attraction of seeing whales and dolphins. She says that they eat and sleep in Sierpe. She is glad she has the cabinas, and that she gets a fair share of tourists. She says many years ago, when the banana company left, the town died and many people left. She says only the highway was able to revive the town. She says that after this, the people changed to accomodate tourism, and that the water has improved a lot and she is grateful that they now have plumbing. She also appreciates the good order that is kept in Sierpe.

Sonia Rojas. soniadesierpe@yahoo.com. lives behind fenix.
From Grecia, which is close to the airport, but has lived in Sierpe for 25 years now. She says the best part of the town is its calmness, and lack of crime and hard drugs. The town is very safe for the children. They have clinics, school, high school, and that they are all good. Life in Sierpe is very cheap, because there are not many diversions, not too many places to waste money. There are free fish, flee platanos, and papayas everywhere - plenty to eat for little money. Also there is very little pollution, as there are not many cars. She thinks of Sierpe as already being in paradise, and that there is so much to enjoy. She says good health is easy to maintain in an environment like this, with pure air, clean water - the best things with little money. It is a simple life in Sierpe, not necessary to work much, more time to enjoy family. She said her son went to University, and was offered a high paying job with a computer programming company in San Jose, but that he stayed here to be a fisherman instead, and now he is paid to do his hobby.