3.28.2009
Adios Internet!
I am heading into the land of little or no internet connections tomorrow morning. In a few hours, Ben's are arriving to San Jose and then, next week, we are traveling to the Osa Peninsula and Arenal Volcano for spring vacations. When classes start up again on April 5th, we will be in Monteverde and Cabo Blanco, two gorgeous reserves without electricity. Don't worry! I'll take notes and have some great blog entries when we arrive in La Selva on April 20th.
3.22.2009
Museums on Saturday & Río Pacuare on Sunday
On Saturday, Ben and I spent the day exploring San José, museum-ing at the Museo de Arte y Diseño Moderna and Museo Nacional, and eating some delicious Tico food. My favorite exhibit in the art museum as a series of beaded ropes hanging from the ceiling that formed a 2 meter wide face when you stood back from it. Most of the beads were made out of gigantic seed pods about 10 cm in diameter and everything was painting bright happy colors. It reminded me of a larger version of a toddler's mobile. And, for the Spanish professors, we also saw an artwork with a poem that includes a whole slew of different verb tenses and perfectly demonstrates their implications. I've included the poem at the bottom of this post. I would absolutely recommend this museum; admission is incredibly cheap and all the exhibits are put together really well. After a walk down to La Sabana, large city park, we went to the Museo Nacional. We arrived late in the day, so we didn't get to see everything, but we did see a nice exhibit of pre-colonial gold jewelery and stone carved metates, or stools. The museum overlooks the Plaza de la Democracía and gives a beautiful view of the city. It's housed in Costa Rica's former army barracks; remember, Costa Rica abolished its military after the Civil War. So it is a strong symbol of Costa Rica's decision to invest in education and healthcare rather than maintain a military.
In the evening, we met a few friends at the Teatro Nacional and saw Lope de Vega's Las Biazzaras de la Belisa. I really enjoyed having a chance to see the theater again; it is such a gorgeous building. The troupe was Spanish and spoke with strong Spanish lisps, but, even so, I could decently follow some of the dialog. It was a fun play about young couples in love (a very original theme throughout the history) and the costumes were really exquisite. So it was very worthwhile--and only 5,000 colones ($10). Again, San José makes cultural events affordable. What a great city.
Today, Ben and I went to the Pacuare River for rafting through class III and IV rapids. The river winds through an indigenous reserve with virgin wet rainforests, so its gorgeous. The green was a nice change from the city. The two of us were in a raft with three lawyers who had all gone to school together at Michigan State and our English-speaking Tico guide. Despite my general clumsiness, I did not fall out of the raft. Ben did, though. He survived beautifully and enjoyed a little float before getting hauled back into the boat. Ben went on this trip last week as well, so check out his blog for more details.
So it was a great weekend! This week I have my last four days of language classes (including an oral presentation and short exam), my last two ultimate frisbee pick-up games, and my last chance to learn how to salsa before our spring vacation. I'll be spending my break adventuring through Costa Rica with three Iberles. It will be great fun!
And here's the poetic grammar lesson:
Te tuve.
Te perdí.
Cuando te tuve, yo te había tenido
desde siempre
y cuando te perdí
ya no te había tenido
nunca.
No, no te tuve.
Nos tuvimos. Se nos tuvo.
Lo teníamos. Nos tenían.
No, no te perdí.
Nos perdieron. Los perdimos.
Se perdió. Lo perdimos.
Te quiero. No te quiero.
Nos quisimos. Nos querían.
Lo quisimos.
Tú lo quisiste y yo sigo queriéndolo.
Vuelves. Me voy. Te vas.
Regreso y la herdia más fresca cada vez
el corazón más viego y cada vez
más joven la alegría porque
te tuve, porque te quiero.
Álvaro Gómez, Costa Rica
In the evening, we met a few friends at the Teatro Nacional and saw Lope de Vega's Las Biazzaras de la Belisa. I really enjoyed having a chance to see the theater again; it is such a gorgeous building. The troupe was Spanish and spoke with strong Spanish lisps, but, even so, I could decently follow some of the dialog. It was a fun play about young couples in love (a very original theme throughout the history) and the costumes were really exquisite. So it was very worthwhile--and only 5,000 colones ($10). Again, San José makes cultural events affordable. What a great city.
Today, Ben and I went to the Pacuare River for rafting through class III and IV rapids. The river winds through an indigenous reserve with virgin wet rainforests, so its gorgeous. The green was a nice change from the city. The two of us were in a raft with three lawyers who had all gone to school together at Michigan State and our English-speaking Tico guide. Despite my general clumsiness, I did not fall out of the raft. Ben did, though. He survived beautifully and enjoyed a little float before getting hauled back into the boat. Ben went on this trip last week as well, so check out his blog for more details.
So it was a great weekend! This week I have my last four days of language classes (including an oral presentation and short exam), my last two ultimate frisbee pick-up games, and my last chance to learn how to salsa before our spring vacation. I'll be spending my break adventuring through Costa Rica with three Iberles. It will be great fun!
And here's the poetic grammar lesson:
Te tuve.
Te perdí.
Cuando te tuve, yo te había tenido
desde siempre
y cuando te perdí
ya no te había tenido
nunca.
No, no te tuve.
Nos tuvimos. Se nos tuvo.
Lo teníamos. Nos tenían.
No, no te perdí.
Nos perdieron. Los perdimos.
Se perdió. Lo perdimos.
Te quiero. No te quiero.
Nos quisimos. Nos querían.
Lo quisimos.
Tú lo quisiste y yo sigo queriéndolo.
Vuelves. Me voy. Te vas.
Regreso y la herdia más fresca cada vez
el corazón más viego y cada vez
más joven la alegría porque
te tuve, porque te quiero.
Álvaro Gómez, Costa Rica
3.20.2009
Udall Scholarship
Today I got a happy e-mail from Doug congratulating me on winning the Udall Scholarship, a federally funded award for environmental leadership. It includes a stipend for graduate school and a 4-day trip to Tucson, Arizona at the beginning of August to meet the other scholars. That promises to be a really wonderful experience; I will meet a lot interesting people who I (hopefully) can work with as I embark on my post-Grinnell career adventures. Many thanks to everyone who reviewed my essays and wrote my letters of recommendation: my mama, Doug Cutchins, Shannon Hinsa, Steve & Teresa Paul, Jon Andelson, and the Truman nominee crew of Caitlin, Winnon, and Jakob.
3.19.2009
Teatro Nacional...
...is lovely and absolutely worth the 3,000 colones (~7 dollars). The buildng is extraordinarily ornate--gold trim and paintings on almost every wall and ceiling--and all the details have a story. Here are a few of the stories that I can remember:
In the front entryway, there are three sculptures by Italians and one by a Costa Rican, all completed around the same time that the theater was being built in the 1800s. At this time, Costa Rica had no formal art institutions and was generally snubbed by high-class European artists. Someone whose name I forget was one of the few Costa Ricans who studied art in Italy and he was incredibly talented, much more than his Italian class-mates. When his work depicting John the Baptist as an infant in his mother s lap won the the work in the class award (I guess they did that in art school back then), one of the Italian students was so angry that he broke the finger off of the baby. Now that statue is the National Theater and the baby is still missing a finger.
The ceiling of one of the hallways has a painting designed by an Italian who had never been to Costa Rica, or anywhere in the tropics. So he painted white, blond haired women harvested coffee (the women probably would have darker skin and hair), coffee plantations next to the beach (coffee only grows in the mountains), and a man easily holding a large bundle of bananas (a bundle of bananas is much too heavy to lift). The list goes on. I'm glad that I have been here long enough to know that it's funny.
And (this is a cool bit of technology) the floor of the main theater hall lifts up to be even with the stage, allowing the theater to hold dances and galas. We did not see it, but the machinary is apparently an impressive contraction of wheels and things.
Great, educational tourist excursion. Tomorrow, some students and I will be going back to see a play by Lope de Vega, a Spanish playwright and poet from the 1600s. Professor Richter will be happy that I am following up on the Lope de Vega poems we read last semester in the Spanish Lyrical Poetry class.
In the front entryway, there are three sculptures by Italians and one by a Costa Rican, all completed around the same time that the theater was being built in the 1800s. At this time, Costa Rica had no formal art institutions and was generally snubbed by high-class European artists. Someone whose name I forget was one of the few Costa Ricans who studied art in Italy and he was incredibly talented, much more than his Italian class-mates. When his work depicting John the Baptist as an infant in his mother s lap won the the work in the class award (I guess they did that in art school back then), one of the Italian students was so angry that he broke the finger off of the baby. Now that statue is the National Theater and the baby is still missing a finger.
The ceiling of one of the hallways has a painting designed by an Italian who had never been to Costa Rica, or anywhere in the tropics. So he painted white, blond haired women harvested coffee (the women probably would have darker skin and hair), coffee plantations next to the beach (coffee only grows in the mountains), and a man easily holding a large bundle of bananas (a bundle of bananas is much too heavy to lift). The list goes on. I'm glad that I have been here long enough to know that it's funny.
And (this is a cool bit of technology) the floor of the main theater hall lifts up to be even with the stage, allowing the theater to hold dances and galas. We did not see it, but the machinary is apparently an impressive contraction of wheels and things.
Great, educational tourist excursion. Tomorrow, some students and I will be going back to see a play by Lope de Vega, a Spanish playwright and poet from the 1600s. Professor Richter will be happy that I am following up on the Lope de Vega poems we read last semester in the Spanish Lyrical Poetry class.
3.17.2009
Tico Laughter
The two highlights of my day in San Jose are waking up to clattering pots and chatter coming from the kitchen and laughing with all the women in my household after dinner. This family has turned out to be a perfect fit for me. Along with my host family, I am also living with Marta, a Tica who has been living in Florida for the past 20 years, and Estel, a skinny, tall, blond, and absolutely ridiculous women from Spain. They are both around my mom's age, so between them and Vianney, my host mother, I am surrounded by plenty of maternal care. They can all make me laugh until I can barely breath--it's wonderful. Our rowdy and often absurd discussions about Spanish vs. Tico food, self-care during service-oriented work, and Estel's past boyfriends have been so much fun and have also taught me understand rapid Spanish. Within the last few days, I have also felt very much at home. Vianney lets me help set the table and do dishes, chores that are usually reserved for family rather than guests, and she sends me off to school with "Que Dios te cuide," or may God care for you. Whenever I come in or leave the house, I give all the family members a "beso tico," the cheek-to-cheek kiss that is a universal greeting in Latin America. So I am incredibly happy and settled here.
I have also been enjoying my time outside of my house, enjoying the city and learning Spanish at the language academy. Last Saturday, Molly and I went to a festival in downtown parks that featured local musicians, storytellers, and artists. It was a picture-perfect day: good music, whismical sculptures built out of trash to remind us to reuse and recycle, used books stands, ajd lots of happy families with young children. The event also included a wide array of wonderful vendors selling everything from organic caco produced by the Tsirushka indigenous people to wallets made by university students from recycled materials. And this is only one of the many public cultural programs that San Jose supports; this city makes art readily accessible to people from all background by funding festivals and subsidizing other events and shows. The National Theater, for example, offers short shows at 12 on Tuesday for only 500 colones, or $1. It's great.
Stay tuned for more about Arenal, Calle de la Amargura, and the National Theater.
I have also been enjoying my time outside of my house, enjoying the city and learning Spanish at the language academy. Last Saturday, Molly and I went to a festival in downtown parks that featured local musicians, storytellers, and artists. It was a picture-perfect day: good music, whismical sculptures built out of trash to remind us to reuse and recycle, used books stands, ajd lots of happy families with young children. The event also included a wide array of wonderful vendors selling everything from organic caco produced by the Tsirushka indigenous people to wallets made by university students from recycled materials. And this is only one of the many public cultural programs that San Jose supports; this city makes art readily accessible to people from all background by funding festivals and subsidizing other events and shows. The National Theater, for example, offers short shows at 12 on Tuesday for only 500 colones, or $1. It's great.
Stay tuned for more about Arenal, Calle de la Amargura, and the National Theater.
3.13.2009
Costa Rican Ultimate
After my first day of class and afterschool futbol, I played ultimate with more than five people OUTSIDE on a REAL SIZED field that we were not sharing with cows. It is an understatement to say that I was thrilled. I have missed running around chasing discs and watching the game on the sidelines. Ben found this pick-up group through a few google searches and e-mails and eventually got in touch with Kevin and Amy, a estadunidense couple who has been living in here since the 1970s. They gave us a ride there and back--incredibly generous. They both served in the PeaceCorp in Costa Rica and then liked it so much that they stuck around, found jobs at the embassy, had children, and found a great group of josefinos (as San Jose folk call themselves) to play frisbee with twice a week.
It's an eclectic bunch with estadounidenses here for a few months or for the rest of their lives, Ticos from San Jose, twenty-year olds, forty-year olds, and a fair number of women. Some of these people have been playing together for more than 10 years, so it's great (and educational) to watch them play and to (unsuccessfully, generally) guard them. They have really good field-sense, or an understanding of where other people and the disc are on the field and where there is space to move the disc on the field.
The only down-side to the evening was that I got slammed by some guys twice my size when I was going for the disc. So my arm is a little sore. For all the Grinnell frisbee folk, especially my caps: don't worry, I got the D so its worth it. Ben, Jess, and I will definitely be back for another game next week.
(Oh, and you may have noticed that I used the term "estadounidense." That means US citizen because, as Ticos are quick to point out, America is an entire continent, not a country. Americans are people on that continent, so that includes Ticos, Mexicans, Argentinians, and Columbias (among many others) as well as Estadounidenses.)
It's an eclectic bunch with estadounidenses here for a few months or for the rest of their lives, Ticos from San Jose, twenty-year olds, forty-year olds, and a fair number of women. Some of these people have been playing together for more than 10 years, so it's great (and educational) to watch them play and to (unsuccessfully, generally) guard them. They have really good field-sense, or an understanding of where other people and the disc are on the field and where there is space to move the disc on the field.
The only down-side to the evening was that I got slammed by some guys twice my size when I was going for the disc. So my arm is a little sore. For all the Grinnell frisbee folk, especially my caps: don't worry, I got the D so its worth it. Ben, Jess, and I will definitely be back for another game next week.
(Oh, and you may have noticed that I used the term "estadounidense." That means US citizen because, as Ticos are quick to point out, America is an entire continent, not a country. Americans are people on that continent, so that includes Ticos, Mexicans, Argentinians, and Columbias (among many others) as well as Estadounidenses.)
3.11.2009
City Life
After a long nap on the bus, I arrived in San Jose for our 2 weeks of homestay-ing and language learning. The Costa Rican Language Academy has gorgeous facilities with plenty of classroom space, a kitchen, soccer field, computer room, and cafe. They offer conservation, dance classes, and cooking classes in the afternoon; that should be a lot of fun. The professors and staff there all seem very amable and kind. I will really enjoy having this resource as I learn to get around the city.
The language academy and all the host families are in San Pedro, outside of the city center where the University of Costa Rica is located. So its a college town with lots of twenty-somethings, restaurants, and bars. It should be a fun area to get to know.
My host family is in Cedros, a middle-class residential neighborhood within San Pedro. It is just a short bus ride from the school. Vianney and Victor have made me feel very welcome here. Their home contains three or four extra rooms, so they are always hosting some foreigners. Vianney, the mother, seems to run the show here; she takes care of all the extranjeros and keeps an impeccably clean house. Tomorrow she will ride the bus with me to show me how to get to and from the school.
I am calling it an early night here--the early mornings and late nights of the past few days are setting in. Tomorrow night, I hope to be playing soccer at the language school and then frisbee with a San Jose group that Ben discovered. At some point during the next two weeks, I plan to check these items off my to-do list: fried platanos, Museo de Oro Precolumbiano, Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, Museo de Arte, Imperial beer, live music, Mercado Central, cafe, Museo de Arte Costaricense, parques, sodas, farmers market.
The language academy and all the host families are in San Pedro, outside of the city center where the University of Costa Rica is located. So its a college town with lots of twenty-somethings, restaurants, and bars. It should be a fun area to get to know.
My host family is in Cedros, a middle-class residential neighborhood within San Pedro. It is just a short bus ride from the school. Vianney and Victor have made me feel very welcome here. Their home contains three or four extra rooms, so they are always hosting some foreigners. Vianney, the mother, seems to run the show here; she takes care of all the extranjeros and keeps an impeccably clean house. Tomorrow she will ride the bus with me to show me how to get to and from the school.
I am calling it an early night here--the early mornings and late nights of the past few days are setting in. Tomorrow night, I hope to be playing soccer at the language school and then frisbee with a San Jose group that Ben discovered. At some point during the next two weeks, I plan to check these items off my to-do list: fried platanos, Museo de Oro Precolumbiano, Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, Museo de Arte, Imperial beer, live music, Mercado Central, cafe, Museo de Arte Costaricense, parques, sodas, farmers market.
3.09.2009
Late Nights in Palo Verde
Study abroad has its stressful moments--it makes me a little nostalgic for the Noyce elbow. I just finished a paper on our Ipomoea carnea/differential allocation/induction project. And a few days ago, I turned in another three assignments and took the mid-term exam. So the past few days have been very academic and very indoors (except for the daily futbol game).
Tomorrow, we are leaving beautiful Palo Verde to return to San Jose to stay with host families and take Spanish language classes. I am looking forward to meeting my new family: Vianney & Victor, an older retired couple, and their thirty-something year old children Yancy and Jonathon. Although I will miss the gorgeous marsh and the howler monkeys, I am looking forward to experiencing Tico city-life. Museums, book stores, bars, greasy food, farmers market, and theater are all on my list.
Tomorrow, we are leaving beautiful Palo Verde to return to San Jose to stay with host families and take Spanish language classes. I am looking forward to meeting my new family: Vianney & Victor, an older retired couple, and their thirty-something year old children Yancy and Jonathon. Although I will miss the gorgeous marsh and the howler monkeys, I am looking forward to experiencing Tico city-life. Museums, book stores, bars, greasy food, farmers market, and theater are all on my list.
3.06.2009
Paperwriting => Playa
Only a handful of days left in Palo Verde before we head to San Jose to take intensive Spanish classes and live with host families. Between now and then, I will be finishing up my paper on the Ipomoea carnea project, taking the midterm, and identifying some bugs and plants. Today everyone was very studious; I’m sure that pattern will continue until we leave.
After we turned in our papers, we took a day and a night to drive down to Punta Morales, a little beach town on the Pacific side about an hour from San Jose. It was a lovely break from the furious fieldwork and paper-writing of the last week. We hiked into the mangroves, a neat ecosystem right on the salty edge of the sea. It is “species-poor,” meaning that the area is dominated by one or two species of mangrove trees instead of the hyper-diversity in the forest and that it’s much quieter—fewer birds and insects around. The mangroves have some fascinating adaptations that allow them to survive soil conditions with high salinity and low oxygen levels. The roots have lenticels, or stomata like pores for gas-exchange, and peak above the soil either as pneomophores or stretch out from the trunk of the tree as prop roots. At low tide, the forest looks like a living jungle gym with arched roots to scrabble up and climb over. A lot of fun.
This ecosystem is really economically important to Costa Rica because it creates a safe refuge or nursery for most of the economically important fish species. As these areas have been damaged either by pollution at near-by shrimp farms or cut to make room for tourism, the fishing industry—and of course the marine life—have suffered. So fishery projects are now focusing on maintaining and expanding the mangroves as a way to increase the profitability of fishing. It’s wonderful when economic and environmental interests mesh together like that.
Now I’m off to play soccer for my study break. That’s become a regular routine in the evening with Ben, other students from the program, and Ticos working at the station. I have absolutely forgotten any of the coordination and finesse I learned in middle school soccer. So I am slow and clumsy—but it is lots of fun and good excuse to take a break from science to run around.
After we turned in our papers, we took a day and a night to drive down to Punta Morales, a little beach town on the Pacific side about an hour from San Jose. It was a lovely break from the furious fieldwork and paper-writing of the last week. We hiked into the mangroves, a neat ecosystem right on the salty edge of the sea. It is “species-poor,” meaning that the area is dominated by one or two species of mangrove trees instead of the hyper-diversity in the forest and that it’s much quieter—fewer birds and insects around. The mangroves have some fascinating adaptations that allow them to survive soil conditions with high salinity and low oxygen levels. The roots have lenticels, or stomata like pores for gas-exchange, and peak above the soil either as pneomophores or stretch out from the trunk of the tree as prop roots. At low tide, the forest looks like a living jungle gym with arched roots to scrabble up and climb over. A lot of fun.
This ecosystem is really economically important to Costa Rica because it creates a safe refuge or nursery for most of the economically important fish species. As these areas have been damaged either by pollution at near-by shrimp farms or cut to make room for tourism, the fishing industry—and of course the marine life—have suffered. So fishery projects are now focusing on maintaining and expanding the mangroves as a way to increase the profitability of fishing. It’s wonderful when economic and environmental interests mesh together like that.
Now I’m off to play soccer for my study break. That’s become a regular routine in the evening with Ben, other students from the program, and Ticos working at the station. I have absolutely forgotten any of the coordination and finesse I learned in middle school soccer. So I am slow and clumsy—but it is lots of fun and good excuse to take a break from science to run around.
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