HERO

My neighbors made me some Nicaraguan tamales. This is their store and home it is pretty typical of the homes here in Costa Rica all fenced in with a store front. The dog is Rebecca´s her name is Lucy. She sits out on the beach with me each morning.

Up in the corner of the cage is our little bat friend that we had to release after our night time adventure.

The crabs that take over the floor each night!

My backyard.

Sunset is beautiful every night. This is 20 feet from my back door.

You have to be careful when these fruits fall. There is no warning and they can hurt!

May 14

            Last night at 5AM, a bat flew into the house and straight into Rebecca’s head through the mosquito net. After a bit of a shuffle, it ended up behind the microwave. So, this morning at 7, we found pots, pans, and cardboard and tried to help the little guy find a way out. For the rest of the morning, I sat out on the beach and read. It is strange that at 7:30 in the morning it is already 90˚ and rising. I am telling you, every morning is an adventure here.

            Today my friends came by and told me that last night when they were at Radical, the local church that actually helped to build the Rancho and initially employed Rebecca, the pastor was upset with them for becoming involved in the community at el Rio. They asked for us to stay away from the Rancho (the structure that was built by Rebecca). Once they told me, I said that it wouldn’t hinder my volunteering in the area. Radical has claimed the community as “their ministry”.  It strikes me that an institution built on service would try to stop people from serving.  I feel that if they were more willing to accept help from the people that wanted to offer it than perhaps they could help this community more effectively and eventually move on to serve a new one.

            With that news, I have taken just today off and am formulating a new plan. I have decided that a book of poetry may be a resourceful way for me to teach the community about something I love, for them to learn a little bit of English, to make a project that will provide them income, and to be able to spend time with them. Today, I am spending time trying to figure out how to best make a lesson plan for writing poetry in Spanish and then translating it to English. If I can compile their poetry and pictures of them beside what they have written, then I can sell it in the States and use the profit to buy school supplies and uniforms for the children for next year.

            I finally searched through the shops today for about four hours promising myself to not buy one thing for another week or so. It is interesting that a lot of the souvenirs are imported and are the same ones as the products in my mom’s store. There are many colorful bags that are from Guatemala that are a lot of fun (there are even fanny packs!).  Also, they take the butterflies that are everywhere and paint them on to parrot feathers. Lots of little toys but nothing that I have seen yet that looks like a traditional Costa Rican thing to bring home for the friends and family. Now for a bit of reading; I miss you all!

MAY 15

            We woke up this morning without any crazy animal stories; it was truly amazing. This morning I went to Rebecca’s church. They meet right alongside the beach under a palapa. The pastor talked about finding comfort in God. He explained that comfort itself means with strength. To be honest, I spent most of my time watching the waves roll by behind him (they were such a distraction). But as I was dazed thinking about the comfort that you can find in God or even in other people I thought of my mission while I was here to help the kids.

            For lunch, I had a Nicaraguan tamale. They are three times the size of Mexican tamales and they are more like a burrito with a maize wrap. Then, instead of corn wrapping, they have a banana peel around it instead. Bananas are EVERYWHERE here. They sell them for pennies; they have been my breakfast each morning.

            I have been listening to Adele’s Home Town and there is a line in it that says, “show’s that we ain’t gunna stand shit, show’s that we are united”. I like to consider it the motto of Jaco as a whole. The people are so connected to one another and they stand up for the locals. The gringos they run into are another story but every morning is a chance to catch up with one another. As crude as they may be, they know what loyalty is.

            I think a lot of the people here are just trying to get through, to keep on keepin’ on, but the kids are looking to me to do that and I think that is pretty neat. Every year, the day before school starts, I make a bucket list of about 50 things that are my own personal goals. Some of them are achievable in the year and some of them cross over from the years before. But, number one each year is to be someone’s hero and not know it. I would really like to be a role model for these kids; they may not know it but I am beginning to think that despite the fact that they don’t have capes or masks and regardless of their lack of superpowers, they are the most heroic people I have ever met.