Nice failures

Short post because the internet's slow. But we're in Monte Verde, C.R. right now. We took a guided hike to see the lava of volcano Arenal, but we didn't see anything because it was cloudy. Apparently if that happens, the tour company gives a free tour the next day but we had to leave for Monte Verde. The hike ended with a really sweet stop at natural hot springs, which were *amazing*!

Shai and I also tried to go to this cabaret show put on by the Monte Verde community, which was about 2km uphill from our hostel. We left at about 6:30 pm and it was already dark. After climbing up this super steep hill and having no idea where we were going, the fog started to roll in. When the windy road turned from paved to dirt and the sidewalk ended, we paused on the side of the road to check our bearings with our little map. The longer we waited, the thicker the fog got. We ended up just going back. This dog followed us halfway back and almost got run over at least twice. Really, this story is not very good. You had to be there - the fog seriously made everything more ominous! At one point we turned around and all we saw were the outlines of two figures walking behind us, as we're walking along this curvy highway in the forest. Creepy.

Tomorrow I'm going ziplining. I think Shai's going to a reptile museum and a butterfly garden. We'll also go for a hike. We're trying to decide where to go from here, but we're thinking Montezuma, a beach town in the Gulf of Nicoya.

Grinnell's grades are up. That's terrifying.



I'd love to hear from you all so feel free to send me e-mails or comments. (Thanks for the note, Jamie!)

We´re in store for a Volcano

Shai and I left Coralia yesterday and took a 6 hour bus ride to La Fortuna, which is in the northern region of the country and located near the base of the Arenal volcano. This volcano erupted in 1968 after a 400-year dormancy and has been spewing lava ever since. La Fortuna is super touristy, but almost everyone speaks English, which is helpful for Shai. It starts to pour rain here by like 1pm, so I´m not quite sure how the tour is going to go down. I also only packed a pair of sandals, so hopefully nothing gross appears out of the dirt and attacks my feet.



Before taking a tour at 3pm today to check out the lava, we´re going to walk over to a watering hole because it is super hot and humid here! It´s the type of hot where you sweat when you stand still.

Tomorrow we leave La Fortuna at 8:30 am for Monteverde, via a strange route popularly known as ¨jeep-boat-jeep.¨ You take a van to Lake Arenal, where a boat meets you and takes you across the lake. Once you cross the lake, a van meets you at the other end and takes you to Monteverde, which is one of the most popular nature reserves in Costa Rica. I´m curious to see it, mainly since I had read academic articles about the tourism there when I was studying tourism in Costa Rica with my class on sustainable development.

I´ll probably update after Monteverde. I feel like I really haven´t had all that much to update about yet, but hopefully this will soon change, and won´t include stories about getting our stuff stolen at the local watering hole or being abandoned on a boat in Lake Arenal. Only time will tell!

Heredia, Costa Rica

I got into Costa Rica safe and sound! I´m staying with my friend Coralia, who stayed with my family and me in December when she toured Soka University, a college founded by the SGI sect of Buddhism. We had a sleepover last night at Coralia´s friend´s house with her friend and a girl from Soka University who´s studying abroad here. Everything´s going really well! It rains for much of the day. This is a really bland post but I want you all to know that I will occasionally be posting updates about the trip! Tomorrow Shai gets in and I have no idea what will be in store for us after that. It will be exciting, whatever happens.

Experiential Learning Trip to Nicaragua

I know I haven't posted in an incredibly long time, but I was told to update at some point with a "where am I now" type thing, and I actually have news that you might be interested in!

I'm planning a trip for students at Grinnell College to go back to San Ramon with me and do some experiential learning over spring break. It's been an incredible process and I've already learned so much, despite not even having left yet. Nothing currently exists at Grinnell like this, so it's been an exciting journey of meeting people incredibly motivated to help pave the way to establish a formal, concrete relationship between the college and the community after a few years of connections via its students. I hope that this trip will continue for years to come, and will contribute to a sister city-type relationship between Grinnell and San Ramon. In particular, I hope that professors will supplement class coursework (whether in development studies or ecology) with trips to San Ramon to deepen the applicability of Grinnell's educational experience and provide real-world examples for textbook knowledge.

I'll post the project description from various funding applications I've filled out.
Taken from my Center for Peace Studies funding application:
During Spring Break 2009 (March 16th-27th), a group of eight Grinnell students will volunteer in San Ramón, Nicaragua, which is located in the Northern region. (The spots were highly competitive – twenty-two people applied for seven spots.) We will specifically be working with a community organization run by women, el Centro Promocional Cristiano por la Paz y la Vida (CPC). CPC also runs its own micro-lending office, a pharmacy, a health clinic (which was created through efforts of Jamie Zwiebel ’08), a community tourism office, and educational services for women and youth.
We will be in Nicaragua for 10 days, staying with homestay families organized by CPC. Our work will involve Finca La Hermadad, a primary cloud forest reserve that is home to howler monkeys and sloths. Our primary service project will be to work in the park, cleaning existing trails and clearing new ones. The reserve stems from the efforts of a shade-grown coffee plantation owner to preserve the local environment in light of increased deforestation in the region. Many farmers surrounding La Hermandad decide to clear primary forest and farm their property to garner an income from the land. Thus, the reserve maintains a quickly-disappearing environment that has yet to be examined by biologists—to this day, no species list has been created for the region’s cloud forests. The farmer lacks the economic resources to maintain the reserve, however; thus, any help would be much appreciated as he wishes to make the reserve available to locals who lack opportunities to see the surrounding natural environment.
As a group, we will also conduct interviews with recipients of microloans to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats within the microloan industry in San Ramón, Nicaragua. This project would bolster the microloan industry that has enabled individuals—women, in particular—to economically gain control of their lives. The interviews would be meshed into a document, which would be presented to CPC and to the recipients of microloans, thus placing emphasis on the voices of recipient populations. We will also take a tour of two women’s artisan cooperatives which are funded by microloans.
This trip builds upon the community’s pre-existing relationship with the college through its students and student groups: most recently, I held an internship in sustainable community tourism with CPC during the summer of 2008; Social Entrepreneurs of Grinnell (SEG) is currently lending CPC a microloan; Jamie Zwiebel ’08 studied abroad and worked with CPC, fundraised to help construct their health clinic and also created a sewing cooperative through a Davis Project for Peace in the community during the summer of 2007.


After a rigorous application process in which 22 students applied, a total of 7 were selected to participate in this trip. I've been able to acquire $3190 of funding as of now, which is incredibly exciting. This will make the trip cost about $350 per person, not including myself. That's less than the cost of the plane tickets. It'll be great!

When we get back, we'll be making at least three presentations on campus: first, we'll present to the campus at large to describe the trip and how it went, and second, we'll talk about microfinance in the region at a conference hosted by the Wilson Program. Third, we'll present to the college's board of trustees to describe the trip and where we'd like things to go from here.

I'll update after the trip. Maybe a little bit during as well, if we have time. If you want more information, feel free to send me an e-mail or post a comment and I'll get back to you.

I'm home!

I totally forgot to tell you all - I'm home! I've been in the States for about three weeks now. I was in Irvine, CA with the fam and now am in good ol' Grinnell, Iowa. Nicaragua adventures are over (for now) but senior year adventures are about to begin.

However, I don't think I mentioned the orchid project that I was working on in my last few weeks at the internship. It ended up becoming the most important thing that I helped out with. I'll explain it more in another post some day - or you could send me an e-mail / note about it. Basically, we are going to create an orchid reserve for the indigenous orchids of Matagalpa, while also serving as a reserve for the ecosystems in general. There will also be medicinal plants, which are really popular in the area. So I'm home but am still trying to help them find funding sources for the project. If any of you know of any orchid enthusiasts that might be interested, please send them my way.

Sandinistas

(I started writing this post while in Nicaragua but couldn't complete it at the time.)

The father of Marfa´s children, El Apache (nickname), asked me last week if I wanted to go to Managua on Saturday, July 19^th, to see the revolution rally. I didn´t know what he was talking about, so he explained the event to me: on July 19^th, 1979, Nicaragua got rid of their dictator, Samoza, so this day has become a national holiday and every year Sandinistas throughout the country flood in caravans to the Plaza in Managua to hear speeches and rally together. I accepted and brought along my friend Jacqueline, who works with me in the tourism office. We went to the basketball stadium, which is where everyone was supposed to meet in order to go to Managua – they provide free transportation for the rally and the majority of buses skip their normal route and take people to the Plaza.

While we were waiting, we both got free hats that say FSLN (the Sandinista National Liberation Front and modern iteration of the Sandinistas) and someone else promised me a bright red FSLN shirt. We ran into El Apache, who was sitting in the back of a white truck that had two giant (4-foot tall) stand-up speakers and a microphone sound system hooked up. Revolutionary music blasted. He invited Jacqueline and me to ride with them in the truck, which would lead the way for the San Ramón caravan to Managua. We were both pretty excited since this meant we would avoid the sticky heat and crowdedness of the bus and instead enjoy the scenery and music of the truck. Jacqueline snagged a Sandinista flag for me, which we both enthusiastically waved until a group of guys standing next to the truck attempted to steal a flag that was attached to the car. Jacqueline immediately hid the flag behind our jackets so that nobody would forcibly take my souvenir.

At around 10 am, Lolo (the man wielding the microphone and apparently responsible for organizing San Ramón’s caravan) addressed the buses, trucks and motorcycles parked behind us, saying it was time to leave for Managua .Thus, the procession began. I discovered how many people were traveling to Managua when we met up with a caravan from anther city. Both in front of us and behind us, all I could see was a line of buses that continued past the horizon. When we drove through towns, clusters of people along the side of the road cheered and waved their Sandinista flags. I learned that the appropriate response to this was to return the cheers and the waving of the flag, and sometimes to include a genial wave of the hand. I felt like a town beauty pageant contestant, waving at my adoring fans from my fortress of a float. I had to remind myself that we were celebrating the demise of a dictator, not a beauty pageant victory. It took us around 4 hours to travel 130 km to the national capital.

Once there, we parked in what looked like the town dump, scenically located next to the Lake of Nicaragua. There were two guys that jumped on the truck with Jacqueline and me, so the four of us separated from the adults and headed off to find Jacqueline and me a bathroom. We stopped at a random house on the main street and asked the teenager who opened the door if we could use their restroom. She hesitated for a second and asked specifically if I needed to use the bathroom, and Jacqueline nodded vigorously, hoping to speed the process along. The girl seemed to like the idea of helping out a foreigner so she let us both through. “The bathroom is through the kitchen. Be sure to close the door and watch out for the pig,” she warned us as we hurried through the house to the back. We opened the back door to discover a large mud puddle, the pig, and their bathroom. The bathroom consisted of a wooden three-walled structure with a hole in the ground and a plastic ‘guiding device’. I was really surprised by the bathroom – I guess I was rather naïve to assume that bathrooms in Managua would have flushing toilets. This was a step down from the toilets I was accustomed to in the countryside, which shocked me.

Jacqueline warned me to watch my bag as we approached a huge fairground, where hundreds of people were selling balloons, jewelry, toys, food and hard liquor. I couldn’t believe how many people were there –red and white, the colors of most people’s t-shirts, consumed the landscape as all I could see were bodies milling around. One site said there were around 400,000 people there, which floors me. I’ve never seen so many people in my life.

It was incredibly surreal being part of this massive crowd of people. I just stood, listening to the layered sounds of revolutionary music, cheering and singing voices, and this creepy, slowed-down recording that rasped, “Viva Sandino” that randomly played. Whenever I heard it, I felt like I was in a horror film. There was a huge stage in front of us, where all the high-and-mighty of Nicaragua stood socializing, talking on their phone, or taking in the view of the crowd. One girl up on stage apparently wasn’t used to being in the limelight since she snapped a picture of herself with the hoard of people in the background, watching her. We saw Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua’s president, at the event. However, when Hugo Chavez appeared on the stage, I was starstruck. Apparently he and Daniel gave speeches that mentioned America’s imperialism, but we left before the speeches began.

After standing and sweating (it was really hot) for about two hours, we left at 6:30 to head back to the truck. It was nearly impossible to squeeze through the crowd – we formed a hand-holding chain so that none of us got lost. We dodged giant mud puddles and slipped by peripheral fist-fights to break out of the crowd. I let out a sigh of relief when we had reached an opening and wiggled my hand free to wipe off the sweat. On the main street, there were still hundreds of people milling around and at least a dozen who had completely passed out on the side of the road, serving as an obstruction to the passers-by. We got to the truck safe and sound, although my friend Frederman came back a little lighter as someone had snatched his wallet during our trek back to the truck.

The drive back was beautiful – I laid down in the truck bed and rested my head on Jacqueline’s stomach while looking up at the stars. Lolo, the guy who wielded the microphone, went a little loco for the Caballo, a type of rum in Nicaragua, so by the end of the night he was trying to grab my feet and tie my shoelaces together.

I really want to go back next year for the 30^th anniversary – it will be phenomenal.

Masaya and Piropos

So much to update you all on. I´ll start with my weekend trip to Granada and Masaya, which I think was about two weeks ago. It was a blast – hung out with my friend Liz who had been in San Ramón for a bit, her friend Rose and three of their friends from their community, which is about an hour southwest of Managua.

We all met up with Meredith for dinner, one of my friends from Grinnell who is working in Granada as a coordinator of a volunteer organization. I think we were all feeling like we needed a break from gallo pinto, so we grabbed some pizza. Liz, her friends and I went to a club and danced essentially the whole night, left at around 12:30 am and caught a cab. I thought we were going back to the hostel but we ended up going to the lake near Granada, to another bar there and danced some more. We returned at 4 am and I experienced one of the scariest car rides of my life. I won´t describe it here – I don´t want to worry my parents. Met up with Mer for breakfast, saw her sweet pad, and don´t you worry Mer, I have the photo right here to prove our reunion actually occurred.Mer and me in the central plaza of Granada. (We were looking at the flip-out screen of my camera.)

Piropos
I´ve gotten used to people yelling, Chelita preciosita, mi amor, I love you, bye (yes, they say bye here as a pick-up line. As I mentioned a while back, here they say adios as a ´hi´ in passing, so because adios means bye in English, they´ll switch it up sometimes and use that as well. The same applies for ´Te amo.´ I´ve heard I love you a lot as well.) . I usually don´t respond, pretend like I didn´t hear or don´t speak Spanish, and keep on walking without maintaining eye contact. On one occasion, I failed to demonstrate complete disinterest, which sparked a series of events that I will discuss.
A man down the street owns a few buses, one of which was being repaired. Starting about three weeks ago, every time I would walk by the bus (heading to work, come back from work for lunch, going back to work after lunch, and come home from work for dinner), the crew of mechanics working on the engine would whistle and one mechanic in particular led the group in these serenades. I didn´t even know what any of them looked like because I always avoided glancing, so as not to fuel their fire. One day when I was walking back to work after lunch, their boss was standing outside checking up on them. When he noticed me, he told me that I had an admirer and referenced the very expressive mechanic, I laughed and told the boss that I knew. The mechanic yelled at me as I was walking away, Te amo mi amor. The next day, I was trying to text my friend Liz as I walked by the bus. Once he noticed I had a phone, he yelled after me to give him my number. As usual, I kept walking.
I told Doña Marfa about this admirer and she told me that she knew one of the mechanics working there, and that if it was the same mechanic that she knew, that he was a very respectful, sweet, thoughtful guy. A few weeks ago she popped a tire and a young man stopped to help, gave her his carjack and then with her until she could find another tire; he told her he worked as a mechanic down the street. She told me that when we walked by the bus on our way back from Juana´s house, she´d check him out and tell me if it´s him or not. So we walked by and we almost walked completely past the bus when I heard, ·Mi amor give me your phone number.· I didn´t respond and kept walking with Marfa, but she turned around. ·Son, this girl lives in my house and I´m responsible for her. I don´t give her permission to give her number to people like you.· Silence passed and it seemed like she had physically hit him. We kept walking. Earlier I had explained to her that men in the US that whistled and catcalled were considered rude, and she said that here, there´s a type of catcall that is rude but the majority is not. – Marfa, does he have bad manners?- She laughed and nodded. We ate dinner at home; as she was cooking, she said, ¨Well, when we walk back to Juana´s house, I´ll just doublecheck in case it really is him.¨ Apparently she was having second-doubts. When we walked back, she yelled at him to come over; he hesitantly walked towards us. ¨Do you remember me?¨ she bluntly asked him. He nodded without looking her in the eye, ¨Of course. Did you forget my favor so quickly?¨ She immediately apologized and explained that she couldn´t see well and that he had been neatly dressed when she initially met him, so he looked different now that he was all dirty; she also said that it was her job to protect me so she had to be cautious about boys. ¨So you like my daughter Marissa?¨¨Yes, I really like her – I love her. Don´t you worry though, she´s good – she never stops when I say things to her.¨ He asked her if I was free to meet up this weekend and she said yes, and that we were going to Selva Negra (a popular forest in the area) tomorrow and invited him to come with us. He couldn´t but said that he could give us a ride back. She nodded and then told him that she didn´t have a cellphone but that I did, and prodded me to give him my number. So after all of this, Doña Marfa made me give my number to the guy who I had been avoiding. He coyly turned to me and asked, ¨Oh, you have a cellphone?¨ As if he didn´t know.
Somehow we made plans to meet up on Sunday to ´pasear´, or joyride. It was a 3-person date – we drove around and ended up at a bar, where we got rather tipsy and then had a group discussion about why I didn´t like this boy or Nicaraguan dating rituals. During this conversation, he asked me to marry him and told me that he was poor but that he could provide for me. All I could do was laugh. As we were leaving, Marfa introduced me to a former representative to the national government, whom she had worked with on the Sandinista campaign. He asked for my e-mail address and my number, promising me a photo of Sandinista.
Luckily that was the last of the mechanic, although I ended up feeling a little guilty for being so blunt with him. However, that was definitely not the last of the Nicaraguan men. I might even say that it was the beginning.