Quick Updates

It's been a long time since I last wrote, so I thought I would give you some updates.

I arrived back in Costa Rica about two weeks ago after my time in the states. I went straight to the Caribbean Coast to do my Junior Project with an indigenous tribe of people called BriBri. I learned so much while I was there and it's hard to fit into the short amount of time I have to write. I feel to blessed to have gotten to see a culture that lives on less than $1 a day, how the United Nations says 80% of the world lives. The indigenous people didn't recognize that they were in poverty until Western culture began to influence them, because by their standards, they weren't in poverty. I wrote an essay about poverty once, and while writing it, I realized I have no place to define it. The people who are IN it are the only ones who can say what it is like, and they are often the least heard. I spent time in BriBri with a 16 and 13 year old the majority of the time, showing me around. They both were attending public school and were curious as to why they learned things like algebra and European history when it's so irrelevant to their lives. They are two of very few indigenous children that attend school. The education the indigenous children need is about the medicinal plants around them, the stories of elders, and how to weave palm leaves to construct a house. Western culture is not survival to them, because money hasn't met anything until now. The indigenous culture of BriBri is beginning to collide with Western culture and the indigenous people are losing their traditions. I loved spending a week their learning about cultural differences and I hope to go back again to continue to ask the many questions my project raised.

The SUN is going away...the three months of summer in Monteverde ended and now it is "winter" again...today there was a loud tropical rainstorm in the afternoon and I think this will be a constant for my last few months here.

Costa Rica has come up with new traffic laws and have been reinforcing them. With exceptions...I climbed in the back of a truck with a few other people, and everyone in the front was on each others laps. The "trafico" watched us pack in like sardines and as we drove away from him, the driver of my car waved and the trafico smiled back with a huge thumbs up. The government is also considering changing the laws about drunk driving, because some of the best soccer players have been thrown in jail and couldn't play in the games, and even the government officials are big fans of Costa Rica's soccer team and don't want to be blamed for any losses.

I was thinking about BEAUTY the other day, where I find beauty, and what beauty is. I thought about beauty in nature and in words, and then in love. Love is like beauty in the way that it looks and feels different to everyone

I thought I would just send a quick HELLO to everyone, and a few updates on what I've been up to.



Thank you to all of those who donated to the Monteverde Friends School for the Walk-A-Thon, it was a big success and a lot of fun!