Hi, it's been a minute- or a few weeks. Time is a fluid concept here, so cut me some slack.
I wish I could say that I have been busy every second of every day continuing to explore San Jose. To be fair, I have done a fair amount of exploring since the last blog (volcanoes, beaches, boat rides, San Jose Central, etc.) that I can't wait to share with you. But that's not what has kept me from writing again...
Long story short, my phone battery melted while on the beach at Manuel Antonio. It can't stay on longer than 60 seconds before overheating and powering down. I have been using a spare phone from a coworker (praise God for Luis Carlos!) for emergencies. Unfortunately, the camera doesn't work. Most of the pictures I have from my adventures over the last few weeks have been courtesy of my roommates.
At first, I was frustrated that I couldn't take my own pictures. However, as I began to scroll through the pictures they had sent me from our trip to Poas Volcano, I realized that all three of us had been on the same trip, but we were captivated by completely different elements of the same scene. Our shared photo album painted a more nuanced and detailed portrait of our trip than my photos alone ever could have.
This summer, I have seen how the need for different perspectives extends far beyond our camera rolls. Issues and industries that I care deeply about, such as food security and agriculture, are no exception. Diversity of thought and experiences is not just a "nice to have"- it's essential when creating policies and programs. As I continue to analyze policies related to food security and rights for rural women in Latin America, it's not difficult to see that the most impactful and successful ones were those that took significantly longer to legislate.
This is a bummer to someone like me who probably feels the need to check things off of my list a little too much and often. I often get frustrated when everyone can't agree right away. The sooner we reach a consensus, the sooner we can start working. If you are familiar with CliftonStrengths, you can hear my achiever coming out loud and clear here. Valuing efficiency and measurable progress is a strong asset on a team, especially when addressing the pressing needs of a country. However, I still have a lot of work to do in terms of reframing arguments as productive rather than a problem in everything from group projects to policy recommendations in my technical paper.
My (unintentional) digital detox allowed me to focus on being where my feet are and put pen to paper when I got home each night. I might have fewer pictures to impress friends and family, but I certainly have had more intentional conversations and deeper connections as a result. I would rather not transcribe pages upon pages of journal entries here, so I hope that a quick update will suffice.
The day after our trip to the Pacific Coast, my sweet coworker Silvia and her husband took the three of us roommates to spend a day at Poas Volcano. Hard hats and rain ponchos were worn (heads were bonked to test the helmets of course). Fresh pan con queso y azucar was eaten from the local roadside stand. The rocky cliffs and pastures con vacas were admired.
From left to right: Shywann, Laura, me, and Sylvia at Poas Volcano.
During Laura's last weekend with us, our trio spent a day in San Jose Central at the Jade Museum. After admiring cinco pisos de art y artifacts, comemos at an authentic restaurante costarricense.
I have become quite a soccer fan this summer. One of my favorite experiences in San Jose was going to a futbol game in the National Stadium of Costa Rica. We had a great time cheering for the club teams! I would like to think we were pretty loud, but our cheering was nothing compared to the barras on either end of the stadium. Barras are, "organized supporters' groups of football teams in Latin America," What Wikipedia conveniently excluded was their reputation of being a little too enthusiastic. They had full pep bands, colored flags, and way too much energy. They were dancing and cheering the. entire. game. Afterward, we had churros as a sweet treat and spent the rest of the day under the shade trees in La Sabana Park.
My parting gift to Laura was a hug and permission to use one of the most embarrassing photos of me EVER TAKEN as my contact photo on her phone. Thankfully, we have kept in touch through WhatsApp. Duolingo has been great, but I prefer a quick call or text from Laura when I need a Spanish lesson.
Inside of the National Stadium of Costa Rica.
The next weekend, I got to spend some quality time with my grandparents as I showed them around "my city." We did a historical walking tour of the San Jose Central district learning about the history, government, and architecture of Costa Rica. We ended the night with a private dinner and drinks in a quaint, colorful house that had been converted into a restaurant. We had an authentic Latin American meal complete with heart of palm soup, jerk chicken stew, tortillas, coconut rice, and roasted veggies. For a sweet treat, we sipped on sweet sangria and savored our raspberry sorbet.
The next morning, we were up before the sun as we met our tour guide who would take us to la isla Tortugera. After a three-hour bus ride to Punta Arenas, we hopped into a small commercial boat that sliced through the choppy waters of the port. Forty-five minutes later, we arrived at the island that did in fact look like a turtle from a distance. While grandma and grandpa went to find beach chairs and pina coladas, I took advantage of the opportunity to snorkel in the reef. The rest of our afternoon was spent alternating between napping, reading, and taking a dip in the ocean to cool off.
On their final day, we went out for brunch and had the most delicious crepes and coffee. It was the perfect fuel for our walk through the National Museum of Costa Rica. That evening, we put a pause on the exploring and simply enjoyed each other's company during an early dinner.
Costa Rica is a relatively small country, and you can drive from one coast to the other in about a day. Naturally, I took advantage of the opportunity to compare my weekend on the Pacific coast with that of the Caribbean. This last weekend, a group of us interns took a trip to Tortuga Beach on the Carribean coast. We had another boat ride, but this time it was not through open water. We were completely surrounded by jungle on both sides. Our first adventure was a difficult hike in the jungle where we were able to rise above the canopy, but not the clouds of mosquitos, to see the coast and town that was close to the size of Pender below.
Here you can see the Caribbean coast on the left, a collection of small houses interrupting the vast expanse of forest in the middle, and a dormant volcano in the distance on the far right.
After the hike, descended back to the forest floor and hopped back into the boat that took us to the village we had just viewed from above. After another traditional Carribean lunch, we followed our tour guide around the town. Along the way, we saw a fish market, artisan stands, a soccer field and playground, and a sloth so close that we could have brushed its wiry hair! We ended our adventure at la playa Tortugera where we dipped our toes in the water and searched for turtle tracks in the sand.
At first, I was disappointed in myself that my photos and blog posts this month have been few and far between. Somewhere in between my travels between the coasts of this country, I remembered that having photos of the beach and an interesting bullet point on my resume is a plus, but changing someone else's perspective of me is far less important than changing my perspective of the world. I came here in search of something that would seclude me from the people and places that I have known. I wanted to be uncomfortable, which often ends with more tears and dead cats than anyone would ever want to see on Instagram...
Thank you for being patient with me as I took some time to enjoy this place and these people without distraction.
"I do not exist to impress the world. I exist to live my life in a way that will make me happy."
- Richard Bach
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