The folks at ICADS encourage students in their internship program to live far away from each other to promote a real immersion in their new community and the language that is spoken there (some dialect of Spanish). While some of my classmates are together in Nicaragua, most of us are on our own, including myself. As a result, my social life changed dramatically upon arriving to my internship: whereas in my previous living situation I would frequently go out to meet up with my friends from the U.S. and India, here the majority of my interactions are between members of my host family, the Ticos with whom I work, and the various people I have interacted with to get internet. For one reason or another, I actually haven’t gone to visit the famous reserves in the area, but I did go on a hike to el mirador of the Arenal volcano. The hike was organized by Escuela de los Amigos (The Friends School) of Monteverde as a fundraiser to support their offerings in art and music. This school was founded by the group of Quakers (also known as “Friends”, hence the name of the school) who migrated to Costa Rica to live in a country that respected their pacifist beliefs. They left the United States – many left specifically from the state of Alabama – during the 1950s when the government for the first time instituted a mandatory draft during peacetime. After much searching for suitable land to develop in their new country, they eventually settled in an area that they named “Monteverde”. Though they could not have done it without the help of many welcoming Ticos, these Quakers were hugely instrumental in making this area what it is today. For example, they started the Monteverde Cheese Company, and a number of them have contributed greatly to the maintenance of the Monteverde Cloud Forest (Reserva Bosque Nuboso Monteverde). One man in particular, Wilford “Wolf” Guindon, did an unthinkable amount of walking and working in the forest. You can learn more about his story, which recounts much of the history of this area of Costa Rica in general, in the book Walking with Wolf, which I am currently reading in my free time.
I had a great time on this walkathon (or “caminata” as its called in Spanish) and contributed some colones (Costa Rican currency) to support their arts programs. I almost felt bad about giving any amount of money to the school, though, considering that the school I teach at doesn’t even have art or music classes to begin with. Part of this is due to the fact that there are only two teachers in the school and neither of them teaches art or music. I have heard from my host family that they would like to have someone to teach chorus to the kids, as singing is an integral part of the church services.
In addition to participating with the Quakers’ walkathon, I also attended one of their silent meetings. The meeting was not entirely silent, as several other people and I stood up to give a message, and I also spoke with attendees before and after the service. It turns out that I have a number of connections with Wolf Guindon and his wife Lucky: they are the great aunt and uncle of a good friend of mine from high school, and the grandparents of two fellow Grinnell students. Perhaps as a result of this, along with the fact that I myself attended two different Quaker schools in the U.S., La Escuela de los Amigos and the people I met there seemed strangely familiar and I felt quite at home. My interactions with them were not that frequent, but I did see some of them in town – at the bank, at Libreria Chunches – and they provided me a social life outside of my host family and the cyber world of Skype and Facebook. I should note that I also got to spend a little bit of time with a group of Canadian high school students who came down for two weeks of their Spring break to learn, sightsee, and help the community (they painted the church and donated many things to the school). A social life more like the one I experienced back in San Jose would soon show up to my surprise.
After attending a meeting with ADI, I was invited by my host uncle (ADI’s treasurer) to eat dinner with his family. It was during that dinner that I met a fellow gringo named Jake who I learned was living with them during part of his time studying abroad through CIEE. We talked for a while during dinner and I was happy to speak more fluently with someone with whom I could relate. I explained to him how I got here and how I have been very far away from all my friends and classmates from ICADS. While he and his classmates also have individual projects, they continue to live relatively near to each other and get together regularly. When I asked him if they had planned anything for the weekend, he didn’t hesitate to invite me to go out with them to a café called The Common Cup for a small jam session that included at least one of their professors. Fortunately I was able to go and meet them and one of Jake’s host brothers.
The group that played at the coffee house appeared to be all gringo Costa Ricans of ages probably ranging from mid 20s to at least mid 40s. A bottle of rum and a tambourine were passed around - both compliments of one of the musicians – and somehow I ended up playing the tambourine for almost the whole jam session. Now, I’m a pretty big music fan, and I do play guitar a little, but I haven’t really performed before, even in a relaxed, informal setting like the one in the coffee shop that night. Previous to that night, I had only imagined myself playing with a band and an audience. But with that combination of ron y tambourine, I was playing along with cover after cover of songs like “Hotel California” and “The Weight”. When it all finally wound down, I hadn’t really gotten to know that many people that well, but I absolutely had been treated to a good time.
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