Katie LaRoche

Costa Rica: Positive and Open Minds

30 Oct 2011 2 Comments

by Katie LaRoche in Central America

Our journey to Costa Rica began at 3AM.  As the bumpy bus ride shifted from 17 hours to 34 the acquired yogic methods of meditation and patience came in handy. The tropical depression mentioned in my previous post was still destructively lingering.  The rain had not stopped with El Salvador and upon waking from a nap my eyes opened to a scene of evacuated homes with a water level well beyond the windowsills.  The destroyed and flooded fields that we had heard about now lined the elevated street on both sides for as far as the eye could see.  Then the bus came to a dead stop.  For four hours we waited for the water flow blocking the road to let up.  The night began to fall, the water ceased to subside and the bus began to travel in reverse until the narrow road grew wide enough for us to turn around.  Our journey that began in El Salvador had already taken us across the border into Honduras, out of Honduras and into Nicaragua.  We would now leave Nicaragua, go back into Honduras and out again in effort to enter Nicaragua on a different, hopefully unblocked, road.  For those of you that are not counting, that is four times that we went through the lengthy passport stamping, fee collecting process of entering and exiting a country.   It would be five times by the time we reached our destination in Costa Rica.  I will now take a moment to confess that this bright idea to ‘bus it’ came from yours truly, despite Lorena’s strong recommendation to book a flight.  (Lorena is the President of the POA (Partners of the Americas) Chapter in Costa Rica.)

 

Needless to say, we eventually made it to our destination where another bright and smiling face was there to greet us.  Upon our arrival Lorena presented the busy and carefully crafted schedule for our time in Costa Rica and made us feel right at home.  For nine days we would reside on a beautiful compound in the home of a delightful woman named Marcela who once worked as a secretary for the President of Costa Rica.  On that same compound sat the homes of her mother and father and the family of her sister.  The land that they lived on was deliciously inhibited with figs, lemons, mangoes, mandarins, oranges, bananas, pears, tomatoes, basil, thyme, oregano and just about any other tropical or herb-like thing you can imagine.  The plants and trees sprouted up with a disorganization that made it resemble some sort of fairytale piece of contemporary art.  Chickens spent their days wildly maneuvering through the magic and each night we went out with a flashlight in hand to snag lemons from the branches for fresh juice.   Marcela’s sweet and caretaking spirit made the busy presentation schedule smooth and her patience made improving my Spanish an enjoyment.

 

October 24^th, 2012

 

A little vegetarian plopped down next to me and began to expound upon her desire to make the world a better place.  Sitting in sneakers, jeans and a hoodie I smiled when one of the kids said, “It’s nice to listen to someone like you give us advice because you’re not really old and your pretty cool.” This teenager’s attempt to offer a complement made me laugh but also served as positive reinforcement of my decision, made that morning, to drop the fancy cloths when speaking to students.

 

The subject matter that afternoon was the standard topic of human trafficking and the importance of service.   The audience was composed of high school kids studying at a private institution.   After all was said and done I enjoyed cookies and tea with what seemed to be five of the most ambitious youngsters.  ‘I would like to be president,’ one of the darlings answered in response to my inquiring about her future career choice.  After a short conversation I will say that it would not be a surprise if she achieves her goal.  The optimism and not yet jaded faith in the better and brighter future these young people had sketched in their minds and fully intend to build, was refreshing.  Time spent with them served as a solid reminder of the importance of maintaining this outlook, as my mind and body ages and continues to take in more of the realities this life has to offer.  It can be difficult to remain clear and untainted when the details of some of humanity’s most severe issues are floating around in one’s head (human trafficking, female genital mutilation, domestic violence, etc.).  With these issues in mind there is a truth to be recognized that everything that has ever happen was first envisioned by an individual or a group of individual’s.  In conclusion of this rant that has gone on far too long, I will express my opinion that we need more people to think the way these kids do with their positive and open minds.  If we lose optimism we lose the ability to draft that positive sketch necessary to create a reality that is better tomorrow than it was today.

 

Before long, my time in Costa Rica came to an end.  The nine days were filled with one presentation after another delightfully interrupted by a morning spent teaching a dance/yoga class to 3-5 year olds, some touristy visits to various museums, and several gigantic feasts complete with live marimba music and dancing.  It was no surprise that Costa Rica’s chapter of Partners of the Americas had taken exceptional care of us and superseded any expectations.  Another country was made home as we sadly said our goodbyes.

 

 

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds

of happiness.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson‎