Marches, Poverty, and Farms

from the march
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This week hasn´t been too eventful, but was nonetheless a good week. On Monday, everyone in the class went to the march against CAFTA (TLC in Central America). It was huge! It went right through the center of San Jose. There were at least 25,000 people there marching against TLC. We watched the different groups go by for awhile before marching with our Bri Bri friends. I was exhaulted to be part of such a huge, important event. People sang songs, chanted, danced, brought tons of signs, loud speakers, and some even brought oxen to demonstrate their opposition. There were people there from all walks of life: workers from ICE (the national telecommunications company), farmers (with the oxen drawn carts), Bri Bri Indians (with chains linking them together while blowing conch shells), students, professors, and many otherfactors of society. It was truly amazing. The vast majority of people welcomed us gringas. There were a couple people, however, who yelled in our direction profanities about the US and its people. One guy yelled "yankees go back to yankeelandia!" It was actually quite comical. But overall people loved that we were against CAFTA. In order to strengthen our resolve, we all linked arms and chanted "gringas contra al TLC!" :) People loved us. haha That night the news couldn´t get enough of the march. My hair is now famous, actually. Supposedly, (I didn´t see this part of the news, someone told me) my ponytail was on the news. haha All in all, the march rocked. If I get another chance to protest, I definitely will.

more of the march
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The next couple days were very exciting. We had an minor earthquake Monday night. I didn´t even feel it though. It happened at like 4 in the morning. Wednesday we had to do our final oral presentations for Spanish class. I did mine on the customs of CR. The following day we also had our Spanish final. Both the presentation and the final went fine. Before our final, the class went to Sagrada Familia, a marginalized and very poor community on the outskirts of the metropolitan area. We visited with an NGO called Vecinos. They do a lot of programs in the community to help students finish school, provide psychological counseling, and many other things. The programs they do are very necessary in this community. The state of things in Sagrada Familia is very bad. Drugs and prostitution are rampant in the community. In the one block that we walked, we saw 2 people on some sort of drug. Houses are falling down, if you can even consider some of them houses. Many are simply tin shacks. The river which runs through the community is unimaginably polluted. Just in the small area we were in, I saw a sofa chair and a refridgerator in the river. But, because of Vecinos, they have a brand new recycling center which provides employment for people and, of course, helps to reduce waste. It´s a wonderful place where they not only recycle, but also make paper using the paper they recycle mixed with the crowns of pineapples (which they get as a gift from the local farmer´s market). It´s a really great system. Vecinos has also set up a lovely park where they have a nursery, butterfly garden, soccer field, and lots of peaceful places to sit or play. It really helps to brighten the degraded surroundings and bring a light of hope to the people of Sagrada Familia.

Houses are falling down, if you can even consider some of them houses. Many are simply tin shacks.

even little kids were protesting
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Last night, a few of us went the local brewery. We got a couple pitchers of beer, one with a dark beer, the other with a lighter beer. Both were good. There was a live band playing half cheesy romantic songs, half dance songs like merengue and salsa. We watched the amazingly good dancers on the dance floor while enjoying our beers. We even saw our Spanish teacher Rolo with his cute little girlfriend. They were so adorable when they danced together! I love latin dancing. It´s so sensual and exciting. Much better than the stuff people do in the States. Today we went to a farm to the east of San Jose. They had coffee, pejivalle (a type of palm), palmito (heart of palm), and banana. We did two ecology projects there. One looking at the land use capacity of the place, and the other looking at the diversity of trees and insects. On the way to the farm, we stopped at a mirador (viewing place) to take a look at one of CR´s dams and learn more about Costa Rica´s use of hydroelectricity. It was a long, tiring day.

my professor was awesome with his sweet sign
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I got home around 6pm, showered, and had dinner. After dinner I had a great conversation with my tica Mom and my sister. We talked about the enormous presence of machismo in CR and in Latin America in general. They told me more about how men act and what they expect of women. Indira is trying to decide whether she wants to marry Luis. She says he´s a very nice, romantic, and caring guy; but he´s also very demanding and won´t let her have any friends or go out with anyone unless he´s there. She said if their child does anything bad, he might be the kind of person to hit him. It´s a terrible position she´s in. I don´t think she should marry him. She doesn´t love him, and even though he´s nice, I don´t think he can overcome machismo. I feel so frustrated for her and all Tico women! They need more men like we have in the US. haha Indira has already decided she´s going to get an operation so she can´t have children anymore. But her friends, I guess, said she shouldn´t do that since that will make her unacceptable to men. Crazy, huh? Some aspects of this society are very backwards. I´m glad my family realizes it´s backwards and tries to fight against it in their own ways.

here are the oxen we walked near
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Anyway, that´s all for now. I´ll be in the northern part of CR for the next week and probably won´t have internet access. So I´ll update when I get back.