I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane...

So right now I'm in my room surrounded by complete chaos (clothes and coffee are everywhere!). There's a bus coming for me in about 45 minutes so I'll make this quick. I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who has been keeping up with my blog. Thank you all so much for checking in with me. Also thanks to all the people back in the states who have been keeping my parents sane while I've been gone- I know it’s a hard job ;). And to everyone in Central America who has been keeping me sane; all the LE Panama volunteers, my host family in Panama, mi familia tica, and the ICDS students who have started to feel more like family, thank you so much you have helped me learn more about myself and life than I will ever be able to tell you. I really have had the time of my life in these last six months traveling around, Panama, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua, jumping in waterfalls, climbing volcanoes, and speaking mangled Spanglish. I can't believe the time has gone by so fast! I'll be home by midnight, so this is my last official post from abroad. Thanks again for keeping up with me. I am so excited to see everyone over winter break! I'll be home for Christmas ;D

¡ciao y besitas!

<3

j

...casi cielo...

I am officially done with classes!!! To celebrate the end of classes, and really enjoy our last weekend in Costa Rica, I went on a road trip with Rhiannon and Kayla to Guanacaste (a region near the northwest border with Nicaragua). It was our first time there, and we were blown away by how completely beautiful it is. We hung out on the beach for four days straight. It was a great feeling to just lose track of time. We went to a grand total of three beaches while we were there; Playa Conchal, Playa Brasilito, and Playa Flamingo. Conchal was by far my favorite. Seriously if you are ever in Costa Rica do NOT leave until you go there. Leaving the beach after four lovely leisurely days was hard, especially since I've heard rumors of snow in the U.S. I really feel like I'm still lost in a never-ending summer. Going home will be bittersweet...

Who Are You?

I stumbled across this clip while looking for a youtube video of The Who singing "Who Are You", and was shocked by how much I can relate to Alice's situation. Sometimes, I feel like I'm the wrong size, color, shape to be in Costa Rica. I clearly stand out and everything is confusing and new to me. Just like the caterpillar everyone is asking me "who are you?" in the form of where are you from, how old are you, and why are you here- and just like Alice I feel like responding "I hardly know".

The issue of nationality is especially interesting here. What is your nationality? I have filled out countless government forms asking me this, most recently in Panama, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. When I'm speaking/writing in English the answer is always American. However, since coming to Costa Rica I have had many people lecture me on the use of the term American. Technically the word America belongs to North, South, and Central America and sometimes people feel the need to remind me of this. I think at times calling ourselves American is seen as a sign of arrogance…or ignorance. I understand this on some level, but when I am speaking English I literally have no other word to describe my nationality and when I speak Spanish I simply say "soy de los estados unidos" and write EEUU (the Spanish abbreviation) on all the immigration paperwork. While this misunderstanding is frustrating at times it has been more enlightening than annoying.

Also adding to my general confusion over nationalities are the variety of slang terms used. Here's a brief list to give you an idea of what I'm talking about...

A list of things you are likely to be called in Costa Rica:

Chino- used to refer to any person who looks remotely Asian

Gringo- The term can be applied to any person who is known, or assumed to be from the United States regardless of race, or it can denote a strong association or assimilation into American society and culture. The term in its functional use is mostly encountered by Americans traveling abroad to Spanish speaking countries.[citation needed] The American Heritage Dictionary classifies gringo as "offensive slang," "usually disparaging," and "often disparaging." (I stole this from Wikipedia, but in Costa Rica the term isn't used in a derogatory way)

Macha- a blond female, usually a foreigner (this is what most people -aka men- yell at me on the street)

Negro- this can be used to refer to anyone with dark skin

Norteño- a gringo

Polaco- technically this translates as Polish, but I've been told that often this term is used to refer Jewish people in general because of the large number of Polish Jews that came to Costa Rica in the 1930s and 1940s.

In the U.S. in general, and Washington, DC specifically, I feel like specificity and political correctness are seen as valuable. Hearing these terms, and being lectured on the inappropriateness of the term I use to describe my nationality, has exposed me a different way of approaching ethnicity and race. That said, I’m not sure I’ll be using any of these any time soon…

Happy (Belated) Turkey Day!

This was the first Thanksgiving that I have not celebrated with family. While I was sad to not be at home, I still had a good turkey day. Apparently I had forgotten how much work Thanksgiving dinner can be. Rhiannon and I had decided to make dinner for our host families Thanksgiving night. Our host mother's are sisters so we picked Rhi's house to cook everything in. Thursday night everything was almost perfect. We had gone shopping the day earlier, and the ingredients for mac & cheese, sauteed green beans, garlic mashed potatoes (7 lbs!), stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie were all waiting to be put to good use. You may have noticed that the turkey was conspicuously absent from that list... Well it turns out that turkey is ridiculously expensive in Costa Rica ($60 for a tiny bird!), so our host mothers split the cost of chicken as their contribution to the meal. Unfortunately, Rhiannon and I did not have any recipes ready to prepare raw chicken. After some frantic google-ing we settled on baking it. We spent about two hours in the kitchen sautéing, boiling, baking, mashing, and speaking Spanglish. It was a little chaotic using all new recipes and no measuring cups, but so much fun!

Yum!
(photo credit: Rhiannon)

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving! We all really do have a lot to give thanks for. I am very thankful to be able to spend this time abroad. This whole experience (since June) has been truly amazing! While part of me can't wait to get home next month, there's another part that wishes I could stay just a little longer. Only 11 more days...

Ticos v. Uruguayos

Yesterday I went to the Costa Rica v. Uraguay soccer game in San José with Rhiannon, Cambridge, and Rhiannon's host brother (Brian). Somehow Brian managed to get us tickets even though the rumor was that they had been sold out for days. We all wore Costa Rican jerseys so we blended in a little more than usual, but we still got a lot of stares. The stadium was packed and you could feel the tension pressing down on you-even worse than the humidity! There was even a small section of Uruguayans with flags as capes and posters. The Costa Ricans tolerated a little noise from that section, but whenever they got too loud everyone else would shout them down (usually with insults about their mothers haha I learned a lot of new vocab. words). Soccer games here have so much more energy. Well, this one was an especially big deal since it was for the World Cup. In the end Costa Rica lost, and everyone left the stadium looking like their puppy had just been run over (except for the Uruguayans obviously). All in all, it was still a great experience that provided another window into tico culture. Check out the video below!



*Sorry it's a little blurry*

Recomendaciones

So in addition to studying human rights and development I've been getting an education in the art of the 3-day weekend in Costa Rica. We don't have classes on Fridays so most of my Friday morning have been spent scrambling to find at cab to the bus station at 4AM haha. Below are some things that I've learned which might be useful if you want to plan your own trip to paradise.

Beach
Last weekend I went to one of my favorite beaches in Costa Rica, Manuel Antonio. It is in the Central Pacific region, about 3 1/2 hours away from San José by bus. The earliest bus usually leaves the station at 6AM, but it's a good idea to get there at least an hour early. Manuel Antonio is one of the most popular tourist destinations beacause of its amazing beaches and wildlife. The best beaches are inside the National Park, but there's an entrance fee (about $10). If you want to hang out on the beach for free there's a pretty decent one literally in the center of town. In the low season (September-November) the beach is practically deserted. When we were there we had a huge part of the surf and sand all to ourselves ;D Be careful though, the monkeys are known to steal everything from lunches to cell phones.





Hostel
We stayed at Costa Linda this past weekend. At $10 a night it's probably the best bargain you can find in town. The owner is a German ex-pat. and super friendly. Also they have an awesome breakfast ($3); gallo pinto, fruit, eggs, pancakes, toast, and coffee. See their site for more details http://www.costalinda-backpackers.com/national_park.1.html

Taxi's
My friends and I got ripped off this weekend by a cab driver. As soon as we got in the cab one of us asked the taxista if he was going to turn the meter on. He said it was working, but it wouldn't start running until after the first kilometer. However, the meter never turned on and when we got to our destination he demanded $8 (which is pretty high by Costa Rican standards). We argued that he had lied to us about the meter working, and refused to pay. After a lengthy argument we negotiated a lower price, but were still angry. Here are a few important things to know if you ever take a cab in Costa Rica:
-The majority of the streets are not named and houses don't have numbers, so make sure you know how to describe where you are going before you get in a taxi. The first few weeks in Costa Rica I would write out descriptions of where I needed to go (for example: it’s 2 blocks north of the supermarket and 3 blocks west of the post office by the park... but in Spanish obviously) on a note card and just hand it to the cab driver haha. But as I've learned my way around, and my Spanish is improving I generally know how to describe where I want to go and I can tell when they are trying to take me the long way.
-All legitimate taxis in Costa Rica are red and have yellow signs.
-According to Costa Rican law taxistas have to have the meter running while you are in the cab. It should start at either 430 or 455 colones depending on the time of day.
-There may be an added fee if you call a cab company to ask for a taxi.

¿El Final?

Just in case you've been curious, an update on the Honduran coup...



On October 30th an agreement was reached between the de facto Honduran government and representatives of deposed president Manuel Zeleya. Talks to end the crisis were deadlocked as of Oct. 23, after 16 days of negotiations. Then a delegation from the United States headed by Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon joined the talks in Tegucigalpa on Oct. 28, and an agreement was signed just two days later. Before the delegation's arrival the Obama administration had consistently said that it would take a backseat in the negotiations, claiming the US wanted to avoid "intervention". "Who knows what would have happened if the [US] delegation had arrived earlier?" asked Eduardo Enrique Reina, the Honduran ambassador to the US (appointed by Zelaya in July).

However, the delegation that arrived on October 28th was certainly not the first group of U.S. politicians to arrive in the wake of the coup. In the beginning of October a group of House Republicans journeyed to Honduras to meet with the de facto government, flying in the face of the Obama administration's 'hands-off' stance. Additionally, days before the official delegation arrived, U.S. supporters of the coup were experiencing setbacks in their efforts to claim that the coup was legal and backed by a majority of Hondurans. Several legal experts had already dismissed an August report by the Law Library of Congress claiming that Zelaya's removal was constitutional. On Oct. 27 Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to Librarian of Congress James Billington calling the report "misleading to the Congress and the public" and charging that it "contains factual errors and is based on a flawed legal analysis". They asked for the Law Library to issue a corrected version including other views. The report had been requested by a Republican, Rep. Aaron Schock of Illinois, and Republican Congress members promptly charged Kerry and Berman with censorship. (The Hill, Oct. 27; Miami Herald, Nov. 1)

U.S. infighting aside, it now looks like there is an end in sight to the Honduran crisis. However, this coup has highlighted the core issue surrounding U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. "At its root, the fight in Honduras has been over whether Latin American nations will remain committed to upholding liberal democracy and the rule of law, not only at home but for their neighbors. The alliance led by Hugo Chávez [ALBA] is promoting a rival model of populist authoritarianism -- one that Honduras's deposed president, Manuel Zelaya, was attempting to adopt" (Washington Post, Oct. 31). As Chavez continues to promote ALBA [Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America] there will be more political tests of will like this. What is less certain is how the United States will respond to its hegemony being threatened in the region.

Related articles

What is ALBA? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivarian_Alliance_for_the_Americas

Deal is struck http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1933603,00.html

A Win? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/30/AR2009103003360.html

Republican Trip http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/02/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5358973.shtml