Monteverde

The past few days have been quite crazy! After breakfast on Wednesday, we loaded our stuff onto the bus and departed our hotel in Alejuela to visit La Carpio, a very poor slum, which is viewed by many Costa Ricans as a Nicaraguan no-mans land. Because La Carpio is extremely impoverished and has little influence over their conditions, the government has established a landfill in the town. At first glance the landfill seems to be quite well managed, and even somewhat clean, relatively speaking.

In contrast to an open-air dump, a landfill is prepared with a coating of clay, and then equipped with a geo-membrane made of high-density rubber. These steps are utilized in order to prevent the waste from leaching into the soil and the surrounding watershed. Machines are used to compact the trash and push out the water, which is filtered through a drainage system and treated. In addition, the gases that are produced during the process are captured, filtered so that they are less contaminate, and released back into the air in a more pure form. The landfill has plans to capture these gases and turn them into electric energy to be sold within the next two years. Once the landfill is completed, the company has plans to regenerate the vegetation and turn the area into a park.

Although the landfill appears to be managed quite well, it is unfortunately employing unjust practices, which have adverse effects on the citizens of La Carpio. For example, the landfill makes about $30,000 per month from their trash collection and the give only $200 a month to the projects in La Carpio. The citizens of La Carpio are extremely poor. We had the opportunity to enter some of the “houses” in La Carpio, which were one-room shelters with a bed and a kitchen area. Many of these shacks housed families of four or more. It was very sad to witness people living in such adverse conditions.  

Fortunately there is a group called the Fundación Humana, which started working in La Carpio about 20 years ago. Their mission is to support at risk populations so they can improve the quality of their lives and to raise the consciousness of those providing services and goods so they will make more aware decisions in the future. Funded solely by donations, Fundación Humana has been working with the citizens of La Carpio to educate people about the quality of the water, to provide job training, basic food needs, and health care, to build shelters, and several other projects. To support the citizens of La Carpio, I bought two handmade bags from the local women.

After visiting La Carpio, we loaded into the bus and set off on a four-hour journey up the mountains to Monteverde. Once we arrived in Monteverde, we took a group photo in the rain to send to our advisors at home (just so they knew we made it safely) and then proceeded to have a quick homestay orientation. We were then dropped off at our new houses to meet our families and spend our first night in Monteverde. For dinner we had rice and beans (or course!) and a chicken stew. I gave them my gifts (a Frisbee, a soccer ball, and a container of Vermont maple syrup), which they loved! For breakfast the next morning, Alba, my Mamatica, made pancakes and we ate them with the pure syrup. So delicious! After breakfast my Papatico drove me to class, which was only a few hundred yards up the hill, but I was grateful to have a ride so that I could orient myself.

Once everyone arrived at the Study Center, Matt, one of our teachers, took us on a walking tour of Monteverde. On our walk we saw a family of howler monkeys up in the canopy jumping from branch to branch. It was quite a sight! Upon returning to the Study Center, we ate lunch (my Mamatica had packed me leftovers from the night before) and then had another SEES class. After class we walked up to CPI (The Spanish Center) and got a tour of the center. The center is quite luxurious, with features such as a gym, a Jacuzzi, and free internet and a free Skype phone which we can use to make international calls. After our tour of the Center, we took a written and an oral placement test to determine which Spanish class we would be in. After receiving the results of our tests, we had our first Spanish class. There are four students in my class total: Carly, Korey, Carrie, and me. After Spanish we went home to spend our second night at our homestays.

Yesterday, Libba (my neighbor) and I walked together up the hill to the Study Center, where we had two back-to-back (with an hour break in between) classes of Tropical Conservation Biology with Matt. After class we walked up the hill to CPI for a second 3-hour Spanish class. During Spanish there was a torrential downpour outside for about an hour, making it quite difficult to hear anything anyone was saying. Since it’s the rainy season, it rains every day in Monteverde, so this was not a huge surprise for any of us.

Last night after having dinner with our families, the group met up in Santa Elena to go to the bars. The first bar we went to was a very gringo bar where everyone was a tourist and everyone spoke English. We wanted more culture, so after a beer at the gringo bar, we went to a local bar around the corner, where there was latino music and dancing. We all bonded over some beers and got to know each other! It was very fun to let loose a little after a few days of structured activities and awkward meetings.

This morning the group met in downtown Santa Elena, where we had breakfast at the Farmer’s Market and then took a walking tour of Santa Elena. We now have the rest of our Saturday free! I am currently at the Study Center preparing to do some homework, but first I had to blog because so much has happened since my last entry. I couldn’t wait too much longer, otherwise this entry would be much longer than it already is. I hope to get into a routine where I can blog every day or every other day. My future blogs will consist of slightly more interesting and detailed, not to mention edited, accounts of my adventures. ¡Pura Vida!