Feria del Agua, super-sized

Last andaribel ride of the day

Water-ballooning with the Scouts

Our very intimidating women's soccer team

The ladies of AJAQ (Alianza de Jóvenes Ambientalistas de Quebradas)

Lamb or sheep? You tell me...

Dancing in the dark

Ribbon-cutting ceremony

This weekend was the culmination of many of my projects in Quebradas, and definitely a high point in my Peace Corps service. I think the experience is best represented by the fact that I wore three different uniforms in one day, as pictured above.
The excitement began on Friday night, when I met Ashley Campbell at the bus station in San Isidro. As promised, she was able to make time in her crazy med school schedule to come visit me before I left, and it was so great to give her a hug after a year and a half without seeing each other.

After a delicious meal at El Gato Sin Dueño (the best restaurant in San Isidro which I am sad to report is closing in June), I mentally prepared her for what was going to be a whirlwind weekend, and even more so for her in a foreign language.
On Saturday morning we went up with two Scouts’ mothers to Gilberth’s house, where he handed us giant raw legs of sheep and pig to chop up into pieces and marinate for the kebabs we were going to be selling on Sunday. Luckily, the mothers knew what they were doing and took charge, and Ashley and I stuck to the vegetables and the marinade.

We then headed over to FUDEBIOL, where at 11am there was a formal inauguration of three big new projects, two of which I helped fund. The mayor of San Isidro and local assemblywoman were there, as well as representatives from other organizations that had helped fund projects with FUDEBIOL, and all the former presidents of the foundation. They did a little presentation and the Junta members of FUDEBIOL said really nice things about all my contributions to the organization and presented me with a certificate, and the mayor recognized my accomplishments in his speech as well, which was pretty cool. Then we went outside for the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the renovated office, the solar panels and the andaribel, a new installation which is kind of like a zipline except you sit down and have to peddle your way across the rainforest. I got to cut the ribbon for the solar panels, and everyone was really interested in the project and curious as to how it worked.

After a big lunch at FUDEBIOL, we got a ride back down to Quebradas, where I had to make an appearance at our development association’s annual assembly. Although I have hardly worked with them and they have never seemed very open to working with me, they insisted that I be there, so I knew they were planning something. After starting an hour late and sitting through all the formalities, they finally said they had someone special they wanted to recognize this year and called me up and actually apologized for not being more willing to work with me because now they saw how many contributions I had made in the community and they wished they had taken more advantage. Unfortunate that it took them this long to figure it out, but it was a really nice gesture, especially coming from a culture that does not like to acknowledge conflict or mistakes. They then presented me with a box of Costa Rican kitch: a Pura Vida t-shirt, a hot pink beach bag that says Costa Rica, and a magnet in the shape of a flip flop. Amazing.

THEN, we started making our way back up to FUDEBIOL, along with new additions Nisha and David from Tico 20, who came up for the weekend festivities. Luckily we were able to hitch a ride and had time to put on our party dresses before the evening’s event, a full moon concert in the woods, began. We settled into the albergue where we would be spending the night and then came down for our welcome cocktail, where we made Adrienne and Jostin and my friend José, who were all my guests for the evening. The concert began at around 6:30 with some classical pieces by high school students from the school of music in San Isidro. After a short intermission, “El Big Band” from the National University came on the stage and played some fun rock and roll and tropical music, which was really upbeat and even got some of us dancing on the grass by the end. At around 7:20, they called us all out from under the tents where we were sitting because the moon was beginning to rise above the trees, and they turned all the lights off on stage and started playing some jazz pieces. As we all stood there watching the full moon rise, the musicians came out into the crowd and serenaded us. I don’t think I have ever consciously watched the moon rise before, but it was pretty cool to do surrounded by nature, music and friends.

The celebration continued later that evening with a barbeque at Gilberth’s house. The menu included polenta, bleu cheese and caramel popcorn hors d’ oeuvres, followed by meat, meat and more meat. All the members of the FUDEBIOL Junta were there with their families, and everyone was in good spirits after the very successful evening. An in-depth conversation ensued about the difference between lamb and sheep (or cordero and oveja in Spanish) as we tried to figure out what we were actually eating. Conclusion: I’d rather not think about it. Then I broke a wine glass and we decided it was time for the gringos to go home.
Sunday morning started with a brisk hike through the FUDEBIOL trails with David, Nisha and Ashley, and then it was time to work as people were already starting to arrive for the Feria del Agua. I put on my first uniform, newly printed t-shirts that had our names on the front and the AJAQ logo and slogan on the back for the environmental youth group that was in charge of giving tours of the butterfly garden all day. They did a great job of getting organized and had even written down some talking points beforehand to help them on the tour.

After running back and forth for the first few hours between AJAQ, the Scouts mothers selling kebabs, and the Empresa de Crédito group selling snowcones, I suited up in my Scouts gear for our water-themed games, which included a water balloon toss that degenerated into everyone throwing balloons at each other. It got a little crazy, but a good time was had by all. After shoveling my face with my almuerzo campesino lunch, I changed into my final uniform of the day for our women’s soccer game and then stopped by the renewable energy charla that Purasol was giving before heading to the field. I was really excited to see that all day people were stopping by the solar panels and asking about them and seemed really fascinated by the technology. A nine-year old boy even asked how much the solar water heated cost because he was hoping to bring one home with him!
We had enough girls show up to the soccer game this time to have two subs, which is a huge success in itself. Unfortunately, we don’t have anyone who likes/knows how to play goalie, and we got beat pretty bad, but everyone seemed to have fun and I scored two goals and Ashley played some solid defense, so no complaints.

Finally, it was time to change into regular clothes and pack up and help clean up and say goodbye to everyone. Ashley and I snuck in to be the last people of the afternoon to get to ride the andaribel, which was a fun way to end an exhausting but exhilarating weekend. We got a ride down from FUDEBIOL with Pierre and Arine, the Belgian and Dutch couple from Purasol, along with their baby, two students from the National University, don Jesús, and a solar water heater. It was a tight fit, but resulted in a dinner invitation for Indonesian food and wine at their house in San Isidro on Wednesday night, so again, no complaints.

So that’s the play-by-play of Feria del Agua weekend, which is something I have been working up to in various ways for a long time, and was a really fun and satisfying way to see a lot of my projects come to a head. Ashley commented about how cool it was just to see that everyone there knows me and relies on me to get things organized and asks me questions about what’s going on, and although that sometimes drives me crazy, it also is the best part. I feel like such an integral part of this community at this point, and I will probably never again know my neighbors so well and love them so much.
I’m so glad I got to share this weekend with great friends, old and new alike, and I am already penciling in the date to come back and visit for spring break next year!

Hooray!

The modern version of tree-hugging


Team Purasol


A Herculean effort to install


Already blending in with nature


The ICE team giving their seal of approval

I am THRILLED to report that just in the nick of time, the Quebradas Biological Center has three highly-functional solar panels planted in its verdant gardens. The installation process only took two weeks longer than expected, which isn’t so bad by Costa Rican standards. And most importantly, they are ready for their big debut at the Feria del Agua this weekend.
Three representatives from ICE, the national energy and telecommunications company, came to FUDEBIOL yesterday and officially approved the project and switched on the panels, thereby connecting them to the national electricity grid. We are only the eighth project in the country, and the first in Pérez Zeledón, to fulfill the requirements to participate in the ICE pilot renewable energy project.
I just wanted to thank everyone again who donated to the project. It could never have happened without your support. I feel pretty proud of this achievement and excited about the possibilities it will open up for FUDEBIOL and hopefully other interested environmental organizations or environmentally-minded individuals in the future. For me, this moment was, well…electric.

The Two-Year Mark

Team Chirripo

Happy birthday Howard!

Plastic bag leg-warmers: eco-chic

Mujeres poderosas

The San Francisco DeWitts arrive to Quebradas

Friday, March 11 marked my two years living in Costa Rica, with only two months to go until my Close of Service date. The occasion was celebrated in due fashion, with a group trip up Chirripo, which I had also summitted at my one-year in country anniversary.
After much back-and-forth trying to set the dates and make a reservation, we were able to assemble a dream team for the trip: Adrienne, Mark, Howard, Angelo (a guest star from Tico 20), Adrienne’s friend Veronica and her boyfriend Jostin, a key player who used to work as a porter there and got us an under-the-table reservation that only cost us a bottle of whiskey for the park ranger.
We started hiking a little before 6am on Tuesday morning and got to the albergue at 3400 meters by noon, enjoyed some coffee and snacks and then Angelo, Mark and I set out to explore another trail to a peak 3.1 kilometers away. When we had gone just far enough to not want to turn back, it started to pour rain, thunder and eventually sleet and hail on us. After multiple stops for cover under nearby trees and debate about which way to turn, we decided to go for it and made it to the top, soaked to the bone. Needless to say, there was no rewarding view awaiting us, but we thought everyone would be very impressed when we got back to the albergue.
Turned out, nobody really cared and we were stuck with a bunch of wet clothes and only the possibility of freezing cold jet-stream of water showers before us. Fortunately, just by saying we knew Jostin got us the in to use the staff drying machine, so all was not lost.
That evening we celebrated Howard’s birthday with boxed wine and Disney princess hats and passed out early in anticipation of our 3:30am wakeup time and general exhaustion. The next morning we started our hike a little before 4am, equipped with flashlights, many layers of clothing, and plastic bags over our socks to insulate our feet from our wet shoes. The stars at that hour were amazing, and we were hiking up to the summit of Chirripo right as the sun rose. It was breathtaking, literally (the last 100 meters or so are pretty straight up) and figuratively.
It was a clear and crisp morning, although a layer of clouds below prevented us from seeing both oceans. We could, however, see mountains and volcanoes popping through the cloud layer, and a full moon, courtesy of Angelo. We passed around a bottle of champagne in continued celebration of Howard’s birthday and took lots of pictures until we realized how cold we were and hurried back down the mountain.
We made it back down to San Gerardo that afternoon and after taking long, relatively warmer showers, had a very satisfying steak dinner at Bazooka’s, the American restaurant in San Isidro. Chirripo still remains one of my favorite places in Costa Rica the second time around, and it was so much fun to share the experience with some of my favorite people.

Meanwhile, back in Quebradas, things are busy as ever getting ready for the Feria del Agua, the annual event at FUDEBIOL that is going to be bigger and better than ever this year and entails the inauguration of many new projects, including the office renovation and renewable energy projects I helped fund. My main charge has been coordinating the programming and food sales with the community groups who will be participating as well as selling tickets and helping with publicity. If any of you are free next weekend, there’s still space!
On Friday, I had another very early morning, catching a 5am bus to San José with Karla, an 8th grade girl in Quebradas, and her mother, for a Peace Corps sponsored conference called Voces Valorosas in honor of International Women’s Day. The conference was for girls who had submitted entries to a publication that the Peace Corps Women in Development/Gender in Development Committee puts together and been selected to be published. I had encouraged Karla to submit because she has always liked to do creative pieces for our community newspaper and is super-motivated and intelligent. When she was selected, it took a bit of convincing to get her father to let her and her mother come to the conference, but they somehow managed and we had a great time. There was a great panel of female professionals in different fields and separate workshops for the girls and the moms about gender roles and careers and opportunities for women. It was a great way for young girls to meet other smart, motivated young girls from all around the country and find out about resources available to them. Although I could hardly keep my eyes open by the end of the day, Karla and her mom were giddy with excitement the whole trip home, which of course made it worth it.
Yesterday I learned more than I ever needed to know about butterflies during a charla that I helped organize for our youth group that is working on the butterfly garden project and planning to give tours at the Feria del Agua (most fun fact: they can’t bite their food, only suck it up through this coiled tube inside their heads). Then I played in a women’s soccer game that Adrienne joined me for in Morazán, and none other than Uncle Danny and Aunt Boo showed up to cheer us on for the second half. They had been traveling up north for the past five days and were ending their trip with a visit down south.
I spent the night with them at Monte Azul, where we were spoiled as always by actually hot showers and delicious food. The next morning we came back to Quebradas and I gave them the tour, starting at my apartment and making our way up to FUDEBIOL, stopping to talk to the artisan group that was painting a new rock, buy some jam from jam ladies and take lots of pictures of the India Dormida. After a picnic lunch and tour of the grounds, we were invited to don Gilberth’s finca for cafecito on his balcony overlooking all of San Isidro, a lovely end to an active day.
As I am starting to ponder how I am going to manage to get all the possessions I have accumulated over two years into two suitcases when I pack up in May, I sent Danny and Boo home with an eclectic assortment of goods I do not anticipate needing in the next two months, including my hand-welded menorah, alpaca sweater, broken computer and Peruvian ceramic bowl. It was great to see them and weird/exciting that I could say ‘see you soon’ when we said goodbye and mean it.
But the end still feels distant, as there is so much work to be done and fun to be had between now and then. Of course I wouldn’t have it any other way.