What an amazing trip!!! I've already posted my favorite photos in a previous post, so here is my recap in words (and maybe a few photos here and there).
First, I want to mention that this trip was part of a class. It was a class on international community development that challenged me more than many classes do. I loved it because of that. I had many opportunities to read much that I didn't agree with. I had the chance to learn things I had never even thought about. And most importantly, I was able to apply those things in my experience abroad, as well as in my personal life after the fact.
One of my favorite readings came from a book by Rick Steves called Travel as a Political Act. It is all about how we travel to learn, or at least we can choose to gain that from travelling. Some people tour and do not learn or internalize anything from their experiences. But making a choice to take insights and gain understanding from people we come in contact with is vital. I whole-heartedly believe this. I have often tried to explain why I love to travel so much, and I never had the words until Rick Steves gave them to me. I will do my best to make all of my travels a political act.
Alright, now on to the adventure itself.
Day 1: After flying overnight and then riding a bus almost all day, we arrived in our hotel that our group completely filled. We had a wonderful woman who owned the hotel, and her friend and daughter cook us so many delicious meals throughout our entire time there (including roasted parsnips, I love those). It was so wonderful to see the powerful women in many roles on this trip, but also to develop a relationship with our hosts at the hotel. They were wonderful.
Day 2: This was a day spent outside. We zip-lined through the canopy of the cloud forest of Monteverde. We hiked to the continental divide. We saw many, many of God's beautiful creations.
Day 3: As this was a trip focused on international community development, we had the chance to tour many local businesses to see that side of the community. We went to a family farm and saw how they made soap. We toured their fields, which are not really fields at all, but rather parts of the forest that have been cleared slightly to allow room for random coffee bushes and banana trees. We also ate sugar cane. I think I need some of that in my life. We went to a paper-making shop where three women made books from recycled paper.
But the most impressive thing for me this day was a trip to CASEM. That is an abbreviation for something in Spanish, but oh, yeah, I don't speak Spanish, so I don't know what it is. Nevertheless, the experience was so powerful. CASEM is a women's cooperative. We listened to the founder talk about the early days and the formation of the coop. It started out with a desire for their children to go to school. They had to travel far for secondary school, and few families had money for the bus fare or gas to get there. So, they decided they could make things for the tourists to buy. They painted pictures and sewed bags and made jewelry. But their husbands knew nothing of it. Culturally, it would have been seen as a weakness for the women to have to work, as it would show that the men could not adequately provide for their families. But after working on projects in secret for months and months, they finally had a debut of their wares for their husbands. And they were impressed. They were impressed that their wives had such skills. They were impressed that their wives had hidden their projects so well. And they were impressed that their women had been so resourceful and successful. Now, more than 20 years later, women continue to join the cooperative. Tourists continue to shop there. And if you see me in some bright green earrings, think of these strong women, because one of them made them.
Day 4: Started off the day with a trip to the coffee cooperative farm. Coffee is one of the major exports of Costa Rica, and while I don't personally drink coffee, it was quite amazing to see the process the bean goes thorough to become that drink. Seriously, I'm amazed someone came up with it in the first place; there are so many steps. But it was really neat to hear about it and see it from another family-owned farm. Much of the coffee in the country is grown by family farms and sold collectively in a cooperative. I love seeing how people band together to make
We also went on a hike up to the San Luis Waterfall. This totally deserves a picture.
Days 5-7: These three days were spent doing service projects. While each day was technically different, my experiences in these days were all so collective, they need to be reported on together. The class was made up of both undergraduate and graduate students, and we had different projects we were working on in-country. Undergraduates worked on manual labor projects, painting the school and church, creating a garden, painting the fence at the cemetery and building a building. They dug holes, poured cement, and put up some walls. Here's a picture of the whole group outside the new building that will be used as offices for the development association.
The graduate students worked on helping the development association. This association is a collaborative group made up of representatives from four of the surrounding villages. The goal is for them to work together to achieve collective goals for the region and their individual villages. They primarily work to get more funding and help for infrastructure development. For our project, we talked with representatives from the villages to see how things were working and what they wanted moving forward. We then put together a plan of action for the development association. All of the suggestions came from the citizens, not us. We just worked to hear all sides individually, and then combine them, taking all opinions into account, to create a plan of action. We spent long nights working together to make sure we understood all sides, but this was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We spent time with the people, in their communities, sharing their food and hearing their stories. I loved developing relationships with them and their families, despite speaking different languages. This was the most tender surprise of the trip.
Day 8: Every night included a hearty dose of some salsa dancing (which I am not good at) in a smoke-filled club (which did not bode well with my ALA background). Even though we left for the airport at 2 am, our last night there was no less of a party. This song played about five times every night, complete with singing, dancing, and the music video on five screens. I have no idea what the lyrics mean (remember, I speak no Spanish). But it will forever remind me of this trip, the people I met, and the marvelous experience it was.
As I mentioned before, I believe in travel as a political act. So, I must have learned something I can apply from this trip. So here are my top 5 lessons learned in no particular order:
1. Language is no real barrier.
2. Formal education
knowledge.3. Collective action is almost always more effective.
4. Women can make a real difference.
5. God's creations are always awe-inspiring and spiritually uplifting if we let them be.
What a seriously incredible trip! You've made me want to go there someday.
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