Travel #3: Cartago

The next day trip our group took was to the neighboring province of Cartago. First we stopped at the Colonial Church of Quircot, a 15th century Franciscan mission that is thought to be the oldest church in Costa Rica. Because it's Franciscan, it has architecture very similar to many mission-style churches in California. This building is notable because it is one of the few original mission-era buildings that has survived constant tectonic tremors, frequent earthquakes, and occasional floods over the years.

The main purpose of these missions was to convert the local populace to Catholicism. Obviously when the monks arrived everyone did not conveniently already speak Spanish, so for a few generations all evangelism was done through art. Art was used in paintings as well as in published texts. The stations of the Cross are framed around the entire chapel (pictures here), and the ancient Bibles are full of opulent illustrations. Note that in the paintings, Jesus and other important figures are depicted as very fair-skinned. This is less because of the popular claim that the Franciscans thought Jesus was of European heritage, and more because the white was used to indicate purity and vulnerability to God.

Another very interesting set of symbols is in the depiction of the Virgin of Guadalupe, who is one of the most revered religious figures in Catholicism. The exact image of the Virgin was targeted by the religious authorities of the time to appeal to the very prominent Aztec religion in Central America. The rays of sunlight emanating from all around her reach to the worship of the sun, the stars on her cloak to the worship of stars, and the blue of her cloak to the prominence of the color blue as a religious symbol (as red is often a symbol in Christianity for the blood of Christ).

While driving, we stopped at a scenic overlook to see some coffee plantations in a valley. Costa Rica has legislature now that forbids cutting down more jungle to make space for coffee plants—something that is now decimating forests in much of South America. The very finite supply is what makes Costa Rican coffee a bit more expensive. There are two types of methods for growing coffee that supposedly create a minute taste difference: shaded versus unshaded. For shade, people plant tall, thin trees among the coffee beans.

Unshaded coffee plants

Shaded coffee plants

Our last stop was the Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels (la Basilica de Nuestra Senora de los Angeles), the largest basilica in Costa Rica. It has beautiful decor and architecture, but I felt so bad about disturbing worshipers that I left before I could take many pictures.

One of the traditions I unwittingly interrupted was people appealing to the Virgin. When they have an extra important problem, worshippers will walk down the main aisle of the church on their knees, praying about it. Sometimes people will walk much further than that on their knees as a pilgrimage. On August 2nd every year, thousands and thousands of people will make pilgrimages on their knees from their home to this church as a special holiday honoring the Virgin, some from outside Costa Rica. I don't know if this tradition takes place elsewhere too, but if the special request was granted, worshipers will bring a tiny silver charm (called exvotos) representing the nature of their problem and leave it as a gesture of thanks. Below the basilica is a large walkway with walls covered in these tiny silver arms, houses, etc.

One of the more interesting exvotos was left by a young man who fell from a tree and was stabbed by a stick on his way down, and in gratitude for his health he left that very stick.

Finally, there is also a holy spring next to the Basilica. During the holiday honoring the Virgin, thousands of people bring tiny bottles to save some of the holy water for themselves or to bring to family members. On a regular day, there were two dozen people at the spring (though some were just drinking from it). The legend behind the spring is that on August 2nd (the holiday) of 1635, a native girl named Juana Pereira was collecting firewood in the area that the Basilica now sits on and found a small doll-like statue on a large stone. Being a little girl, she took the doll home. The next day she returned to the same place, again for firewood, and saw another doll-like statue. She took it, too, and was amazed when she returned home when the doll from the day before was gone. This happened again the next day, and when she informed a priest he told her it was a miracle, that the nearby spring is therefore holy, and so they built a church there. 

Stations of the Cross

Below are all the photos from the stations of the Cross, which tell the story of the Crucifixion, as posted in la Iglesia Colonial de Quircot.

Travel #2: INBioparque

Tree of life

Our next excursion was to visit Costa Rica's smallest national park: INBioparque, which has segments that demonstrate both wet and dry forest, as well as areas to show their work with butterfly and mushroom breeding. The approach that Costa Rica takes is very interesting, and quite distinct from in the U.S. Here they interfere very little with the natural flow of events. If a tree falls or is covered in a lethal vine, they leave it alone unless it affects the walking path. If an animal is sick, to my understanding it remains sick unless it recovers independently. There appears to also be much less data collection except things that are exports; for example, in many American national parks they track packs of wolves and the like for research.

Our tour guide Diego (seriously) first showed us a gigantic tree that was known to the Aztecs as the tree of life. They would frequently bury people at its roots to offer it nutrients, and if the person was especially important they would be buried inside a hole cut into the tree.

This one is popular in offices

The rest of the tour was mostly just a gigantic photo op, and Diego pointed out many different types of plants (which are frequently cultivated and exported for decoration) and animals (mostly iguanas, birds, and one bored horse) that live in the park. Costa Rica has 5% of the globe's biodiversity, which sounds small but is really not 

Well there aren't alligators in Costa Rica, just crocodiles

Male iguanas turn orange like the one on the right to attract females

Me and the elephant ear plant, which has the second largest leaves in the world.
The plant with the largest also grows in Costa Rica, but not in INBioparque.

One of the many birds that Diego told us about was the Costa Rican national bird, the Clay-colored Thrush, which is a very plain brown bird that has beautiful, complicated songs. It's sort of like the Susan Boyle of birds. The songs are so varied that in ancient times, crop planting and harvesting would be marked by the seasonal changes in the bird's songs. The legend behind its appearance goes that this bird used to have exquisite feathers, but couldn't sing. He was so jealous of all the other songbirds that he asked Quetzalcoatl (indigenous deity) to be able to sing. His wish was granted and he became the best singer of all the birds, but the price was his beauty. So to Costa Ricans he represents the value of hard work.

Later we visited the butterfly sanctuary, where chrysalises are bred, researched, and exported for weddings and biological research outside Costa Rica. The butterflies that are present in people's backyards are the sort of things that appear extremely exotic anywhere else, and they're a big part of the ecosystem here. My boyfriend's host dad here has many bushes of a particular plant (milkweed, maybe) for the sole purpose of being food to enable caterpillars to grow into butterflies. Walking among them you can see many empty chrysalises, a few caterpillars scooting around, and several bushes that have been consumed down to the stems by previous residents. I'm sure some of you read the children's book "Hungry Hungry Caterpillar;" they may not eat pears or watermelons, but they are definitely hungry hungry...

Monarchs here don't migrate like those in North America do. They already have
everything they need here, so that instinct does not drive them to leave.

One of the last things we accomplished on our tour was finding a three-toed sloth, which was much more difficult than you might think since from the ground they look like little fur balls sitting like growths up at the treetops. Sloths are very strange animals... They eat flowers and fruits from the trees, and sleep for about 18 hours a day (they nap throughout the other 6). Every 7ish days they climb down to the ground to defecate, allowing a really interesting example of symbiosis to occur. There are many bugs and beetles that live in its fur. When it comes down to the ground to poop, many of the beetles hop off of the sloth, lay eggs in the feces, then catch up with the sloth later. Beyond that, there is also a photosynthetic algae that lives in its fur, which gives it its greenish color and lets it blend in with the trees. It's important for it to hide from predators because besides hiding, it's a pretty vulnerable animal. It is extremely light (you could hold an adult with one finger) and its bones are hollow to allow it to perch on thin branches. But, this also makes it easy for jaguars and harpy eagles to carry it off, so hiding is the best option.

Travel #1: San Jose

San Jose is the capital of Costa Rica, situated within the Central Valley within mountains on either side. But also within this valley are 4 of the country's 7 provinces (Alajuela, San Jose, Heredia, and Cartago) and 3.5 of the country's 4.5 million inhabitants. Because the mountains are so hard to build on, being so steep and volcano-y, all the cities are growing into each other as they develop and are just turning into a massive metroplex.

The aforementioned metroplex

Coffee flowers on a column

 As the first big group excursion, we spent the day walking around San Jose. First we toured el Teatro Nacional, the national theater. This is the big location for performing arts events in Costa Rica: theater, opera, symphonies, etc. An important note: with a valid student ID (the one from your home university will work) you can get a 40% discount on tickets. This building was built in the 1800s during the time of the Republic. Costa Rica didn't really want the independence that it got from Spain, and asked England if they wanted another colony. England was having problems with the American colonies at the time and said it wasn't worth the trouble, but that they would buy coffee from Costa Rica instead, which was very lucrative. Coffee continues to be a very important source of income for Costa Rica, so there are many depictions of coffee on columns and in the paintings within the building. The whole purpose of this and many other buildings is basically to say "Look how advanced and European we are!" so it is a giant mash-up of European architecture and design styles, full of symbolism about Costa Rica as a nation.

The entryway was entirely marble: marble floors, marble columns, large marble statues. The thing is, there is no marble in Costa Rica! It was all imported from Italy. The main room we toured was the foyer, mimicking the Palace of Versailles in France. For example, huge tall mirrors, and false doors to make the room look bigger/more important. The floor was beautiful wood panels, which included pieces made from trees that are now extinct. The ceiling is a painted allegory of music (the angel = music), and all of the walls and columns showcase symbolism of music and Costa Rica. Reliefs of famous composers are high on the walls throughout, as well as depictions of coffee everywhere. Each component of every painting was selected specifically by the painting to demonstrate something about Costa Rica.

Below is a statue of the angel of Fame, which used to sit on the roof of the building. It was replaced by a replica because the pigeon feces were starting to erode the statue.

After that we visited several of the many parks throughout San Jose, including the Parque Nacional, in which there is a large statue depicting the defeat of William Walker. Walker was an American who wanted to turn Latin America into another source for slave labor for the American south, so he simply conquered Nicaragua. He then continued with his new Nicaraguan army to try and conquer Costa Rica, but he lost. The statue depicts a cowering Walker fleeing from several topless women, who apparently represent nations that fought to defend Costa Rica. At the bottom of the statue you can see a sort of crumpled figure, which is a representation of Nicaragua (dead/conquered).

Next we walked around through more parks and ultimately got to the old military headquarters. Costa Rica has not had an army for close to 70 years, after a messy civil war. They left the bullet holes in the walls of the military headquarters to remind themselves of why they don't want an army anymore. Nearby are many of the current government buildings like houses of Parliament, as well as some cool graffiti. 

On the right is the "blue castle," which used to be the American embassy. When it relocated, the U.S. gave this building to the Costa Rican government to use for Parliament, etc.

Well this definitely wasn't all I saw of San Jose, but it's all the history and pictures I could remember to keep track of! I will post again soon about my visit to Costa Rica's smallest national park.

Gringa in Paradise: How I'm Treated Abroad as an American

Look, so pale!

Something that I have not been used to at all living in the U.S. is being stared at. It has been a very interesting adjustment to walk around or go in a restaurant and find half a dozen people observing me (sometimes gaping-mouth, hardcore staring) for apparently no other reason than the revelation that I'm white. It's a desperate feeling to find yourself singled out because of your skin color; here I have felt the urge to hide or avoid locals so nobody could see it. Honestly, it's an awful experience. But, the silver lining is that this immediately started changing my approach to my own increasingly heterogeneous society.

I don't really know what I was expecting as an American traveling abroad—you hear an awful lot of conflicting information. People hate Americans. People love Americans. People can't even tell if you're American. As often as people act like they haven't seen a white person before, I have not yet encountered anyone unable to tell that I'm American. Everyone follows approximately the same formula: light skin, light hair, and/or light eyes = turistas (tourists) = $$$. This is honestly true since tourism is 80% of Costa Rica's income. According to the Costa Rican Tourism Board's annual report in 2011, over 2.1 million people came to Costa Rica for tourism, of which over 39% were American. So, a lot of things are geared to attract Americans and their alleged money.

At almost every museum, national park, or attraction (e.g. bungee jumping), the price is substantially higher for foreigners. They don't verify whether you have a Costa Rican address, they just look at you and decide what to charge. When private buses that tourist groups usually take stop at a traffic light in a city, or when you walk around anywhere, someone will find you and try to sell you something. This can get irritating, but it's rather logical. If a painter sees many groups of tourists in a day and approaches them, if he's resilient enough he will surely sell at least one in each group, ultimately earning a large profit. The chapulines ("grasshoppers," because they swarm)—the gangs of child thieves that roam Costa Rican tourist destinations—take a different approach and just tackle a single person and swipe everything off them in a flurry of unavoidable hands. Sometimes it isn't even overt; it only takes seconds to pilfer a credit card, copy the info, and hand it back to you after you "dropped" it. See the note at the end for anti-theft tips.

However, it's important to note that only some people are after money. Pretty much everyone can tell that you're American, but sometimes people just want to chat and it is so cool to engage in and enjoy these conversations. I have been told and have seen that Costa Ricans really enjoy the art of smalltalk. In passing, Costa Ricans say "Buenas" to pretty much anybody at any time of day, instead of more specifically "Buenos dias" (good day), "buenas tardes" (good afternoon), or "buenas noches" (good evening). They will also say "adios" (goodbye) to passing strangers. Almost everyone is very friendly and helpful if you ask them a specific question. If you get into a full conversation, you'd be amazed what you can learn about the country you're in, or even what you should be doing this weekend.

Unfortunately, there is also the third kind of people: those who prefer glaring or yelling. We have had a few experiences with these people, mostly in the more urban areas. At lunch in a restaurant San Jose with open doorways facing the street, some teenage boys yelled an American obscenity at our group. Guys fairly frequently receive a "mean mug" from people, a nasty look. Girls also commonly receive unwanted attention in the form of cat-calls. Men will yell "Hey gringas!" (where gringa = foreign girl, usually white), make hissing noises when you pass, or just stare. I can't walk the ten minutes to school on a not-very-busy street without at least one man stopping to greet me and/or stare. I've never found myself wanting to punch an old man before arriving here, apparently staring is my trigger. All that is part of the machista mindset that is present in many Latin American nations, but it's pretty tough to respect and appreciate it as cultural!

In a foreign country, at first you aren't looked at as just you; you are looked at as an extension of your ethnicity. It's just psychology. The best thing you can do is be yourself and be considerate of those around you, don't even think about what stereotypes you are or aren't confirming. Overall, people definitely are more interested in being nice to you than not. There are some who just want money, and some who just don't like you. But if you have the patience to find the nice people, you will reap so many benefits.

To end: an anecdote to illustrate my point. Early on in this program, my boyfriend Hayden and I decided to walk around town for the afternoon. We found the local sports club/pool hall, and since we frequently play pool together at home we decided to give it a try. It was truly uncomfortable for a while. This was clearly an almost exclusively male haunt, and the small group of elderly men standing outside were pretending to not be looking in at us through the windows while we played. One of the men came and sat on a bench and silently watched while we felt even more out of place and tried to ignore him. Shortly after, he introduced himself and offered to teach us how to play how the Costa Ricans play billiards. Other men slowly trickled in to watch and give us advice, and before long we had spent over two hours in the pool hall chatting and learning new games. This was such a huge relief after feeling as if nobody wanted to have any meaningful interaction with us as Americans. Since then, we have gone back almost every week and know most of the regulars.

Notes

1. Tips to avoid theft anywhere.

• Don't walk late at night, especially alone or intoxicated. A rule of thumb they have told us here is that if there is nobody else walking around on that street, there's probably a reason that you shouldn't be either. Statistically, more crimes occur at night. If you're alone, you're a bigger target because you can't defend yourself as well and there are no witnesses. If you're intoxicated, you're more easily overpowered and less aware of your surroundings. If it's late or you will be alone/intoxicated, take a cab or public transit.
• Don't leave your stuff anywhere unattended. I know it's ok sometimes in the school library, or if you left your purse on the table in the mall food court it will most likely still be there a few minutes later, but don't do that. People literally see that you're American and will watch you to see if you set your things down, and for good reason. In your backpack at any given time, you will certainly have a cell phone and cash. You also probably have a digital camera, mp3 player, laptop, credit cards, passport, etc. Stolen electronics are so easy and lucrative to sell, and American passports are unbelievably valuable on the black market, so your backpack is definitely worth a thief's time.
• When traveling on public transport, keep your stuff with you at all times. Don't put it on the overhead bins like you can on an airplane, because it's so easy for a thief to grab it as they get off at a stop before you. Don't put it at your feet if you're going to fall asleep, put it on your lap. The only safe way to leave it out of sight is if a bus driver gives you a ticket to match to one for your bag when you leave, but that is a minority of cases.
• Don't keep things on your back. With a backpack or purse on your back you think you'd feel it if someone opened your bag, right? Wrong. In an internet cafe, put your stuff on your lap, not over the back of your chair. While walking (especially in cities), use a purse that you can wear across your chest, and wear a backpack by one strap and hold it against your side with one arm. It may be excessive in some scenarios, but your passport and laptop are definitely worth looking like a bit of a dweeb while walking around.
• If someone does attempt to take your stuff, consider it theirs. This one is especially difficult for guys to accept since thieves in cities are oftentimes children. But these children probably have a weapon, or are skilled enough to rob you without your realizing. An API student a few years ago here in Costa Rica was a big, buff guy, and a child thief told him to give up his wallet. He said no, and was shot twice and had his wallet stolen anyway. So, when deciding whether to give your stuff to a thief, just remember that you can replace your iPhone but you can't replace your life.