Cockroaches, The Peace Corps, Parrots that speak Spanish, earthquakes, and people stealing shit

(Above:Where I will be living in Bahia)

It has been a good while since I last posted anything. As it turned out I became very busy there at the farm and helped to produce a documentary for an amazing event held in town so my time became re-prioritized. Now I realize this might have been hard for you all as you likely are still checking my blog daily for updates and each day walk away disappointed. However I am trying to relax down here in Costa Rica so I´m hoping for more time to communicate.


(A shot of the beach that will be in front of our House)

So I came into San Jose, Costa Rica on Tuesday the 6th and am leaving here for a beautiful town on the south pacific coast called Bahia. I´m staying with my good friend from college, Travis and his girlfriend Pilar. We are now in San Jose, but will be leaving for Bahia which is close to a more well known town named Uvita. Travis works for an orgainization there that creates local community banks all over Costa Rica. I have spent my last three days here in the capital city in various ways and would like to list a few observations I have made thus far regarding the surrounding area. (It should also be noted that I cannot find various punctuation marks on this keyboard as it is a English keyboard, but programed for Spanish. Communists)

Cockroaches - They´re here they´re queer and they´re big as fuck. They are also named fred. I cannot figure out for the life of me why a spanish speaking cockroache is named fred...but that is what they go by. Who am I to judge?

Earthquakes - They have them here. 6.4 on scale de rickter. I was drinking coffee reading subversive literature when it hit. I stood up, waited for stuff to start falling as a cue to run out of the building....it didn´t, I sat down and finished my cafe con leche. Then they overcharged me.

Parrots speak Spanish - I´m staying with my good friend Travis and his girlfriend at her mothers house. His girlfriend (Pilar) and her mother are wonderful. The house is very nice with a cute little backyard. The next door neighbors have a parrot in a tree that overlooks said backyard. It speaks Spanish. This was weird for me....thought they only speak English. Did any of you know about this?

People stealing shit - Modernization has had benefits for Costa Rica, but it has also had some serious drawbacks. One of which are the slums that result when folks move from the countryside to the city to engage in the "modern economy." The first night I was there we went to visit a friend of Pilar´s and our things were in the car. We were only inside for 10 minutes when a car pulled up and broke the window and stole Travis´ work briefcase. They left all of my things sitting neatly in the back covered by my sweater. I did just like my mother taught me and covered my stuff up. It should be noted that Travis has lived here for 3 years and that was the first time he ever had anything stolen.

The Peace Corps - Travis took me to a Peace Corps training and I was able to meet some amazing folks. I learned a lot about agriculture in the surrounding area and found out that there are some wonderful sustainable agriculture movements in going on here. I made some great connections and received wonderful information on where to find research for starting gardens here in Costa Rica. When I get down to Bahia I will be doing just that so it was very useful information.

I will update you all when I get down to Bahia

- Love, Ja Boy