Two more weeks to go! I am having an amazing time in Costa Rica. I would love to show you more pictures, but my computer has decided to choose this period of time to stop working correctly. My laptop's screen is just barely lit enough for me to see the words i am typing. I've attempted to change my brightness settings, etc but no luck. :( So I will do what I can to get posts and pictures out. Thursday we went back to the Calle Viquez school to read stories in Spanish and English and do a science lesson. It was a great experience. I had so much fun with the students and they were excited to speak English with us. Thursday there were two interuptions to our spansih classes. First we were able to spend about an hour talking with a man and woman from an indigenous tribe here in Costa Rica. They told us about their traditions and showed us their cragts. They make masks and purses as well as other art works. 90% of their tribe are artisans. It was amazing to see them work. Our second interuption was an earthquake. We have heard it was actually pretty large to the southwest of us where we were in San Jose but because of my computer problems I have actually not investigated it much. In our classroom we were working with our verbs when I noticed Rich was shaking our table. I laughed a little thinking of my mom, brother and sister when they'd shake the pew in church. I looked over to pick on him when I noticed his legs were not moving. But everything else in the room was. We looked at our Profesora and she said, what is that? Its an earthquake! And she ran for the doorway. The three of us in the class just sat there looking at each other and the walls, almost in a daze until Profesora Martinez said get up! lol. The trembling didn't last long and we were lucky it was just a samll tremor because obviously we were so curious about the earthquake we didn't even think about protecting ourselves. Thursday night I ate with my mama tica and then her son came over to talk with me in English. She had to tell me abou her weekend trip and wanted to be sure I understood. She and Jaqui were going on a mini vacation and they were leaving at 5pm on Friday night. I would leave their house at 6am the next morning. So her daughter in law would be staying with me. Thursday morning I ate breakfast with Cecilia and we said our goodbyes. That morning we had a trip to La Carpio a shanty town outside of San Jose. It is a community created by
Nicaraguan Immigrants. With conditions so poor in Nicaragua over the last 3 decades, Costa Rica and other countries have become a place where dreams can come true. Many immigrants head north, attempting to reach the United States. If you haven't, you should check out the movie "De Nadie" which means: The Nothing. It is a documentary about what happens to immigrants from central america who attempt to make it to the United States border. Its probably the most heartbreaking movie I've seen, but La Carpio is the most heartbreaking place I've ever visited. The living conditions there were unbelievable. Houses were made out of mismatched peices of tin or wood. Most had no real door, no windows, and a poor ,if any, floor. Water ran from who knows where into the street and the gutters. We went there to meet Gail, a woman who, after working with the Peace Corps in Costa Rica in the late 70s, decided to come back. With the help of donors she has built a humanitarian project there. Over the years she has helped establish a preschool, a clinic, and structured primary and secondary schools. We met Gail at her preschool. The first thing you notice is that, it is all her. The workers there have been hired from the community or communities nearby. The workers are wonderful and they sometimes have to work for nothing when donations dwindle to zero. We were able to sit in on morning circle time with the preschoolers. They sang 'isty bitsy spider' and a "Buenos Dias" or Good Morning song with us. Looking around at these adorable faces, I forgot briefly about the homes they would return to. They were just as happy and excited about life as the preschools I worked with in Missouri. After art and play time, we went for a walk with Gail. And reality struck again. La Caprio has paved roads and sidewalks on most of those roads. These were part of a deal made by the garbage companies when they wanted to put a landfill at the end of their main road. The people of La Carpio said no- even paved roads/sidewalks and extra money was not worth it. So the trash company threatened to go to immigration. So the people of La Carpio agreed. As a sidenote, the Costa Rican people do not mind the Nicaraguans being here. Most will straight up tell you that they want more and are too qualified for the jobs that the Nicaraguans will do. Like picking coffee, being janitors and maids, etc. So at the edge of La Carpio is the landfill. We went on their trash day (they get free trash pick up as well with the landfill deal) and trash was heaped on the street waiting for the trash truck. Dogs were picking through it and it spread over almost the whole street. Gail pointed out they are lucky to have trash pick up at all, but the trash trucks coming in from other cities to the landfill barrel down the streets with no concern for the children crossing the street. Just walking down the street was like watching one of those 'feed the children' commercials, but i couldn't change the channel. We walked down to one of Gail's other projects, a bunkbed shop. Using a simple construction they are making bunk beds to sell to the local people for a reasonable price. She said most have just one mattress on the floor which may be shared by the whole family. The purpose of this project is to get people off the floor and stop the spread of disease. One group was able to help deliver a bunk bed. I helped built the peices. Drilling and gluing, etc. The shop is in a local woman's garage and is run by a young couple and another young man. They hope to expand soon maybe to make baby cribs, tables, etc. After this we went to the clinic and another school Gail has helped improve. The morning was exhausting. The emotions of being there are unexplainable. Just overwhelming. I was able to purchase a few items from a small store created by local women of their crafts inside Gail's school. After this morning we had to return to CPI and had Spanish classes all afternoon. When I got home my mama tica was already gone and her son was there to help me out. On Saturday morning I woke up extra early and we met (with all our suitcases) to head to Manuel Antonio, a National Park and beach. Today I'm actually leaving there but there is, as always, much to talk about. I will try to post more soon and maybe some pictures..
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