Menos Chunches, Menos Trabajo

It is Day 12 of the program and I find it difficult to capture all that we have learned in such a short period of time. Since I wrote last, we completed our first community service. Of all the eye-opening experiences, La Carpio has had the most impact on me personally. On Friday, we spent a morning with the director of the Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation and visited the preschool there. The teacher, Fatima, was incredible. It was a joyous, enriching learning environment. Children engaged in learning with authentic materials, lots of literature, songs, and games. The children are simply beautiful. And they are easily my favorite subjects to photograph.

On Saturday, we departed Heredia at 7:00 AM for Manuel Antonio, a beautiful beach resort town. Javier was our guide, who is both very knowledgeable and personable. I loved that Javier incorporated "surprises" on the tour that are not listed on our itinerary. We stopped in Quepos and walked through the Saturday market where beautiful fruits, vegetables, herbs, and handmade items (such as jewelry) were sold. Surfers walked barefoot with their surf boards through the market to the beach and tourists sipped juice from whole coconuts through plastic straws. I always enjoy open-air markets and appreciated this unexpected "surprise."

Before noon, we arrived in Manuel Antonio. Following lunch, we enjoyed free time at the beach and visiting the small shops. The atmosphere was entirely different than Heredia, mas tranquilo than the city. I loved especially talking with small shop owners and looking at the beautiful hand-made items. There is so much I wish to purchase to have as mementos in my home and office of this beautiful country and people.

We rested on the beach until 4:30 PM before checking into our hotel for the evening, Hotel Mimos. We experienced our first true downpour that evening and our power went out several times. I knew good memories were being made as we searched for flashlights in the dark and waited for the power to come back on.

On Sunday, Javier led our tour of El Parque Nacional de Manuel Antonio where we saw various colorful birds, frogs, spider and howler monkeys, and....SLOTHS!

In a previous life, I wanted to be a primatologist and studied anthropology and French at the University of Georgia. I so enjoyed looking through Javier's binoculars and seeing a mama sloth hold her baby. What a wonderful memory. After lunch on Sunday, we began our trek for Monteverde. I've only heard about the roads up the mountains and envisioned something similar to what I've experienced in the Appalachian Mountains. It was quite different, however. I loved watching the countryside roll by and seeing how people live on the land. Everyone does appear happy here regardless of circumstances and I'm regularly reflecting upon why. In a country as beautiful and diverse in landscape and animals as Costa Rica, how could one not be happy?

Upon arrival in Monteverde, we met our new host families at the Clinica Dental, our new meeting place for transportation. Admittedly, I was nervous. I grew comfortable with my other host family in San Joaquin de Flores and worried it would be difficult to reestablish myself in a new home and environment. What a relief to receive a warm greeting from my new mama tica, Jenny, and to walk with my bags to their home just a few minutes away. I was immediately welcomed into their family and home. The message was, literally, Mi casa es su casa. My new family consists of a loving, warm couple, Wilberth and Jenny, and their 16-year-old daugther. Their eldest daughter is in college and I live in her bright, comfortable bedroom. The first evening, they took me to Wilberth's place of employment, the Monteverde Cloud Forest Lodge Hotel where part of the Celestine Prophecy was filmed. I enjoyed having dinner together, the three of us, and talking about Costa Rica and their family. I'm amazed at how open and warm Ticos are, and how trusting. They gladly gave me a key to their home and trust me to come and go as I please. I absolutely love being in their home and hope that when I return, I will stay with this family again. Equally, I will welcome them into my home in North Carolina any time they wish to visit.

This week has been very busy and we've done (and learned) so much. We have observed and implemented short activities in the Sta Elena elementary school. I've been noting teaching styles and how children interact. Our group reflects following these visits and have concluded that much of what we have seen is very similar to that in the States, including content being taught and how children interact in class. What we have noted that is different than our experiences is how children are given responsibilities and are not reminded or reprimanded if they forget their school work, belongings, etc.

Children are trusted to play freely during recess, which occurs about two hours after school begins. They run throughout the school and interact with children across grade levels. Teachers do not have to watch over them. I like and appreciate how they trust their children. I spoke briefly with a 5th grade teacher and asked about their teaching standards. He showed me their list of annual objectives by content area and time of year (school years being February - December) and explained how they have two exams per year. I wish to learn more about how these objectives are met in different schools and what happens if it is deemed a child has not met (or vastly exceeds) certain objectives.

Yesterday, our guided tour of El Trapiche, an agricultural farm where coffee and sugar cane are grown and drinks and foods are processed, was fantastic. Our guide, Jorge, demonstrated and explained the related processes clearly and with humor. I learned so much about daily foods we take for granted, including how much knowledge, work, and skill are required for my morning cup of coffee. I was unaware of the many uses for each of the layer of the coffee berry and how there are different types of berries that are sorted by quality with the peaberry considered the superior of the three. (Last week I bought a bag of peaberry coffee beans without understanding why this is considered the best and hence was most expensive). El Trapiche reinforced sustainable living practices and we saw signs everywhere with this message. I will use this photograph next semester in my social studies methods course when we discuss water use and sanitation.

Indeed, it seems that examples of sustainable practices are evident everywhere we go. I inquire of various guides and locals how they use water and from where it is derived. I've been told that the water here, in the mountains, is 100% puro and needs little to no treatment. Like in the States, it's been commercialized, however. I was surprised (or maybe naive) to see that Coca-Cola is one of the distributors of bottled water here. As I continue my inquiry, my questions are shifting to the commercialization of water in Costa Rica. Why and how did Coca-Cola establish a purified water brand, Alpina?

How do Costa Ricans feel about this? How are communities near the bottling plant affected? Similarly, I am curious whether there is a movement against bottled water as is beginning elsewhere and with other plastic products such as single-use plastic bags. I did notice today that children in the elementary schools bring reusable bottles to school. (I asked a little girl if hers contained water and she said, No, jugo.

Each day as I check my email, I'm bombarded with 10 or more messages to buy this or that. I don't sense that same pressure in Costa Rica. My families live well and they are happy. They do not sit at the dinner table discussing things to buy. Instead, they talk about school, family, community activities, and philosophical topics. In Spanish class this week, I learned the word for stuff: chunche. Each day I discuss global issues with my Spanish professor and I feel inspired by her philosophy of living. She explains how she conserves water and other resources and how her garden makes her happy. (She even brought samples of plants from her garden for our lesson yesterday!) As she explained, Menos chunches, menos trabajo: Less 'stuff,' less work. How simple and true this is.

Hasta luego.