I Learned Something...

It may seem as a delayed epiphany and it may also seem as a duh moment, but I learned it is no fun being poor. Many of us can say we never want to be poor, yet we stretch our imagination and grasp of the concept of poverty no further than as something to avoid. I experienced poverty in a sense that no one would ever desire for such a state or be content being in such a perdicament. Now as many would conjecture I make very little as a Peace Corps volunteer and I also made very little while I was living in Boston. However, I was and I am not poor. I always knew I had a home to return to, I had food in a fridge, and a fridge for that matter. Even with my current salary of $200 a month I still have a roof over my head, a stove, a fridge, and food.

I can safely say and proudly say, I have managed to avoid the grasp of poverty but I came close this week. I managed to miscalculate my needs and found myself in site (two hours from the nearest bank) with 100 cordobas on me, thus in effect to my name. This means I had $5 and I had to save $2 to get me back to Matagalpa. Thus, I had $3 to get me through the week. It is a pretty helpless feeling knowing you are trapped. I was in no way in any risk or danger but it is still quite discomforting knowing you are broke. I was amazed how I quickly adopted a sense of yearning for things out of my grasp and loathing for people buying food in front of me. It is not a desirable state and I not only had pity for myself but a sense of embarassment.

Most importantly, this is in the course of four days. I am only going through four days without money in my pocket. I even know I have more coming my way and I can access it once I get to the bank. It left me to think, how do people live in this state? My last couple days have opened my mind to the way people try and do live. Coming from a capitalist socieyt surviving is a race and I was bringing up the rear. Borrowing on an idea form the Republican mindset is that life is survival of the fittest; a sense of social Darwinism that the poor are poor because they are weak or chose to be. I reject that notion, I believe such an oversimplified and generalized thought is the same logic that led to the acceptance of elitism and genocide by the Nazis. I am not saying I will be the first volunteer to give up all my possessions and I do not agree with communism but still there has to be some type of middle ground. It is these absolutisms that create such hardened extremes and bring progress to a hault. Returing to my point no one wants to be poor. If they say yes they are either a pathological liar or a martyr, much the same as the first.

No one wakes up in the morning and wishes to be uncertain about their next meal, their health, or their life. By accepting such a notion we must therefore rewrite the concept of what drags and traps someone in the abyss of poverty. If no one wishes to be poor and if it is a horrid state, one would not be complacent to remain in such a situation. Therefore I openly rebuke the point that the poor are poor because they are lazy or unmotivated. If anything they are intrinsically motivated by their dire situation to improve. By adopting the theory of capitalism that life is a race one one wants to be last. However, this theory doesn't explain why so many people are still trapped in poverty. One aspect able to observe is from my own experience. If I changed to a sentiment of loathing and self pity in four days, what does that say for people trapped for years or a lifetime? I use the word trapped because I believe they are. Whether by social prejudice, unequal distribution of resources, politics or other discrimitory factors people are spurned by powers out of their grasp. How can one be expected to succeed or even wish to compete when they are continually berated and barred from the playing field?

I don't have any answers to this nor do I believe anyone does. Poverty has been the greatest scurvy of all great societies and no social experiment has effectually irradicated it. I simply wish to say that for the first time I can truly see the direness of the situation. In my guarded and insulated error I see the root of helplessness and envry in a beggar's eyes. I understand that it is a complex issue that does not stem from a desire to be worse off, but the realization that they are being held back from a life that is rightfully theirs. Just like I struggled with my sudden barment to money due to a lapse in judgement and distance, the poor are kept back from their human right to strive for success by inexcusable obstacles mounted by the community they work so hard to join.

Just Some Odds and Ends

It is hard to imagine that I have already been back in site for two weeks. Costa Rica was so amazing, but it is quickly vanishing into the past. I love and hate how I have become so obsessed with time since I have gotten to site. I can tell you what percentage one day is of my time in country and of my service. I create analogies of my time complete to the percentage of my walk to school complete or the hours of a day that have passed. It is not an exaggeration to say that I have become mildly obsessed or just crazy. Ha, I guess the perfect example is that I wrote a friend about how I was talking to myself about a point and then realized it is not normal for one to be having an open discussion with oneself.

Any who, I guess time away from your normal culture will do that to a person and I am of course making my points quite liberally. I am in no ways nearing mental insanity and I know the voices in my head are not actually other people. I will not be listening to my index finger anytime soon saying redrum.

So you may already be saying to yourself, so what Jason, why are you writing all of this? Well I don’t really know and the truth is I don’t have too much to report on this week. My first week back in site was pretty lackluster. I was expecting a whole bunch of drama since I was gone for an unprecedented 10 days, but I was disappointed. I of course questioned where I had been and if I had been lost, but within a day life had returned to normal. In the schools I took the week pretty easy. I couldn’t teach because I hadn’t been able to plan with any of my teachers or didn’t take the initiative; read into it as you wish. However, I did have a pretty eventful weekend. On Saturday I went with one of my professors to learn how to make bricks. They had made 13000 bricks for their new church out of horse manure, water, and mud. Now it was our job to move these bricks from one pile into a larger pile to fire. Now it was just manual labor, but that is my specialty and I worked with them for about 7 hours in the sun. I surprisingly had a lot of fun and was eating up all the attention. They kept making bets that I couldn’t carry more bricks and were impressed how many I took. It really was humorous because anyone who knows me knows that I am not known for my strength. I am actually pretty weak, but I was showing up all those Nicas and I left out the part that I am weakest of all my friends back in the States.

On Sunday I was a little sore but I couldn’t let that stop me. I was off to Benedicto’s farm at 6 in the morning to go milk some cows. Now it wasn’t anything new and was a lot of fun, I am getting better at it but it didn’t stop a group of four or five kids from laughing at me. That afternoon we had a soccer game with my youth group. The big thing was that during the week we were able to get uniforms. I am really proud of my group because they did most of the work and raised most of the money. They look really professional in their uniforms and it was a definite moral booster.

This last week I got right back to work, no more just sitting back and observing. I taught in all of my schools and even shared my obsession with the math puzzle Ken Ken. In each school I taught the importance of tree nurseries and reforestation. After my little charla we went out and planted our own nurseries. It went really well and in each school we made at least 100 bags of different types of trees. Each class was really good and kids brought cow manure, sand, and dirt. It seems like my projects are really working and I am always surprised about how receptive they are. I can now walk around any community around San Dionisio and will always be greeted by, “Adios Jason” or “Adios Profe”. It is really endearing and helps me think that I am doing something positive.

So this week’s random story. I went to get my haircut yesterday at my local barber. We are already pretty good friends and I say hi to him every week on my way to school. Well just to set the scene it is basically the front of his house and he has put in a few chairs and he was pumping some batchata music. Haircuts are $1 and you usually have people yelling hello to you as you get you are getting your hair cut. Well today I went in because it has been over a month and at $1 who can refuse being freshened up? Everything was going normal, I was getting my typical high and tight and the barber always makes an effort to point out I look just like the picture he has above the mirror. Now I haven’t shaved in about two weeks; that isn’t to say I was burly, I still haven’t hit puberty, but I was a little straggly. My friend whips out a straight edge ravor and starts to shave. It is a little terrifying trusting someone with a razor to your neck, but it is the closest shave I have had. But it gets better, you know when you get your hair cut you usually get tiny hairs everywhere including in your ear? Well usually that is the job of a q-tip later, but not in Nicaragua, the barber actually stuck his fingers in my ears. I was shocked, I didn’t know what to do. Finally, I thought I had all I could take, but then he takes out one of those nose trimmers and sticks it up each of my nostrils. All in all, it was quite a visit to the barber.

In a nutshell that has been my last two weeks. I have had my share of ups and downs, but life is looking pretty good. I am trying to enjoy my time as best as I can. I know that I will miss my life here once I am back in the States and I don’t want to waste a minute of it. Life here is much simpler and I will miss the slow pace and seeing what really matters. I have made a lot of good friends and I feel like they really do care about me.

On a final note, April is a very big month for the family. I was looking at the calendar and it seems like it is the month with the most birthdays. Now for you special people, you might want to keep an eye out in the mail, but I want to wish you all a happy birthday.

Volcanoes, Waterfalls, and Butterflies

Sorry pictures are out of order!

The final leg of our trip: La Fortuna. It actually was a pretty last minute whim to travel here. Since Stella and I left Tuesday it put us one day ahead of our original itinerary and Monteverde seemed to small to stay in for more than two days. We started asking around about possible other trips and were torn between La Fortuna and Rincon de Vieja. The latter was closer to the border and would be easier for me on Sunday for heading back to Nicaragua, but it just didn't seem exciting enough. La Fortuna has an active volcano and getting there seemed like a feat. We had to take a bus for 1.5hrs out to the middle of no where, take a boat across the largest man-made lake in Central America, and then a final bus to town.

As soon as we got into town we headed straight for the hostel to drop off all of our gear. Now it was quite a change from our last hostel that had a whole trendy environment. This hostel was recommended by them but was located in a normal neighborhood and looked just like a house. In fact we had to second guess the bus driver to make sure he wasn't tricking us. It ended up being really nice and the owner was a middle aged lady who was very laid back and had parties with her friends every night. With her we planned an afternoon tour that would take us to the mountain, see lava, a hike, and a night visit to the hot springs. It all seemed perfect but about an hour before the tour was supposed to begin it was pouring. Seriously, rain, I haven't seen rain in months and here it is down pouring before my tour. Stella and I were ready to cancel, but when the bus pulled up we thought what the hell and set out.

Ok, since the pictures are a pain to load and are out of order, I am going to go with the picture order, they are organized from latest to oldest. You are smart, you can figure it out.

At the bottom of the waterfall there were two pools. One where the waterfall actually fell and another that was fed by all the excess water. You could swim in the overflow pool and it was crystal clear and cold. It was so refreshing and if you look closely you can see some pretty good size fish, I think they are trout, but I am no expert. Also if you swam up a little you could fight the current of the water coming from the waterfall. It was really cool I was swimming with all my might and got no where. When you get tired you just let the current whisk you back down the the little pool.

To end our day we headed further down the mountain to visit a 20m waterfall. You could hear it well before you could see it and it was still raining. By this point we were both drenched and it didn't matter. It was beautiful and you wouldn't believe the force of the water.
On our way back down the mountain we made a friend, a butterfly to be exact. At first it was really cool, the butterfly flew right to us. I guess this is why the term social butterfly was coined, but after about 30 minutes it was starting to get old. I mean these things don't have that long to live and it should be out doing butterfly things. As we started walking again it followed us and we actually ran away from it. I like to think it is because we were saving it to continue a normal life not because we were scared.
Also at the top we made some lunch, peanut butter with bananas. This bread had made it with us since Monteverde and was squished into some pretty weird shapes from being thrown in the bag. It was a nice treat and looks so delicious even now.
The climb was definitely worth it, the lagoon was pretty and covered in clouds. We got lucky and it cleared while we were up there and we could see all the way across, about 100m. Last time Stella said she couldn't see anything so I felt lucky that it worked in our favor. Also, it started to rain and at this point I was covered in sweat, so bring it on.
The following day we trekked out to the neighboring volcano that has been sleeping for the last 3500yrs. It is known as the less boisterous older brother and has a small lagoon in the crater. Stella had traveled here about a month ago and did the hike with her friend. I figured if she did it once, how hard could it be. Well let me tell you, it was a steep climb and I think my legs are still shaking from it. I forgot she is an ultra tough boxer and I was sucking wind at the end of the climb.
Well as the pictures describe there was another suspension bridge and I couldn't turn down the opportunity to bounce and shake again. Stella was not pleased.

The first night we signed up for a tour of the volcano and a visit to the hot springs. I thought it was just going to be one of those tours where you sat in a bus and they whisked you away to each destination. I guess it was just that, but the destination to see the volcano also entailed an hour hike through the woods. Remember, it just rained and the trail was muddy and slippery. It was actually pretty exciting trudging through the forest and we were rewarded at the end with a close view of the mountain. Of course we couldn't see the top two thirds because of the clouds, but whatever. We staked out our spot for about two hours (way too long) but you could hear the eruptions and we even saw small molten rocks roll down the mountain. It was pretty cool to see it and the guide told us the history of La Fortuna. I guess the volcano erupted in the 60's or so and took out one whole side of the mountain, luckily it wasn't the side the town was on and that is why it is called La Fortuna.
Here is a shot of Volcan Arenal from the boat. You can't even see the top because it is covered in clouds, yet it is an active volcano. That means that there is lava at the top and I guess if the clouds weren't there you would see some bright red coming out the top.

Hiking Around Monteverde

First stop: Monteverde originally a Quaker settlement and later a national park consisting of waterfalls and could forests in the center of Costa Rica. It is one of the most desired locations to visit and is supposed to be consistently packed with tourists. Stella and I were hedging our bets that people would prefer to go to the beach for Semana Santa, but also weary about warnings in the book to be ready for hordes of tourists.

Well we lucked out and after a 4hr bus ride from San Jose on Tuesday afternoon we were in Monteverde. It looked like a small ski town to be honest with you. Lodged in the mountains, it had a feel that it belonged in VT. It is small with two main roads and a couple hostels. We finally settled on one called Pension Santa Elena and it was perfect. Imagine a place with an indy feel, lamps covered in paper mache to look like flowers, a constant buzz of people, and very helpful staff. The reason we went there wasn't for the hostel, but it is nice to have a nice base camp.

My one recommendation if you are coming to Costa Rica however is be a student or at least say you are. Forge an id if you have to. Everything is US prices and the only discount offered is if you are a student. They use that term loosely, but you need to at least try by having an id. It is no small savings either, I pulled it off several times and it can be the difference between $17 or $9.

So our first outing in Monteverde. We got in pretty late and had been busy traveling all day so our first night basically consisted of going to a local soda and passing out. However, we were up at 5:00 the next day getting ready to catch a 6:15 bus out to the cloud forest. Monteverde is an early rising town and I was surprised to see we weren't the only ones with this idea.
As you can see from the photos, I had a lot of fun in Monteverde. It was my first time in a rainforest and it is amazing. The trees are huge and have millions of things growing on them. Each is like it's own ecosystem, with moss, airplants, vines, and whatever else you can imagine. One of the coolest plants is called the strangler fig. It is a vine that starts to cover a tree and eventually smothers it. As a result the initial tree dies and decays while the fig remains. They are really easy to find because they appear as big trees with hollow centers.

Another fun part of the trip was that there was a suspension bridge that I couldn't resist crossing. I of course bounced along it and tried shaking it. Stella was not amused, but I guess I am still just a big kid. The bridge was on the way to "La Ventana" which is a lookout that straddles the continental divide. From this point you are supposed to be able to see the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean. I say supposed to because we are in a cloud forest and it was just that: cloudy. It was actually misting and the wind was so strong. I couldn't help but just stand there and let the wind smack me in the face.
Now I don't know what happened, maybe it was climbing the mountain or the peanut butter sandwiches we made at the summit, but I started getting hyper and it would last the rest of the day. I for some reason thought it would be funny to wear Stella's hat and sweater for a picture. I was also just bouncing off the walls talking to her and having some type of comment for anything she said. I know I am jumping ahead but that night in the hostel we had finished making dinner and were sitting around. It was already about 9pm and things were winding down. I was still running around and trying to figure out what we were going to do tomorrow. I was excited because I bought a box of jello, my new obsession since getting to Nicaragua and Stella jokingly suggested that I make it. Well in my state I was not one to turn down a challenge and at 9pm I was cooking jello. We later found that my hyper surges were probably because I found a new drug... coffee. I had two cups right before bed and I think that is what made me wired.
So back to Monteverde. Originally we were bummed because the longest trails were closed for maintainance and we were trapped to the shorter more easily accessed trails. We still got to see the bridge, the mirador, and finally a nice waterfall. It was probably better the longer trails were closed because as excited as I was to be in a rainforest it all started looking the same and I was ready to move on.
On the way back from the forest we could either wait for a bus or walk. It was only 5km so we decided to walk it. Good thing we did because there was a place that had hummingbird feeders. Now I know you are thinking, that is really lame, but it gets better. There were about 10 feeders and there were about 30-40 hummingbirds just flying around. I got so close to them, I mean you could walk within two feet of them. There were so many that there was a constant hum of them hovering around. The coolest part is that they would buzz by you so close to you head.

As we made our way back to town we also stopped at a place called Stella's Bakery. Stella was of course excited to see it and I guess she went there when she was 16. It had some pretty good pastries and Stella was excited to find the other Stella. First thing she does when she walks in is ask the guy where Stella is and to proclaim she shares the same name. The guy couldn't have cared less, it was pretty classic. We did have a good snack though and it gave us enough energy to make it back to town.

Sadly after climbing Monteverde we were already at our last day in town. We only spent two nights in town and were off next to La Fortuna, a town that is right next to a volcano. We arranged a relay of travel that consisted of bus-boat-bus to get us there and about 3hrs. I know you are probably thinking that we were going too quickly through our locales, but come on we only had a week and the cloud forest was the main attraction and we already hiked all of it in one day.