Dancing (or lack there of).

For those who know me know I LOVE to dance. And yes, I busted out the shopping cart and lawn mower, but only for a moment.

Dancing in Costa Rica is a very different experience. I should say, going to a dance, because not many people actually dance.

They stand outside the club area on the street just watching. Than, when there is a promotion and you can enter cheaper for two minutes maybe a few will enter. However, that doesn’t mean they will actually dance. They will stand there, the entire night, and maybe sway a little, maybe. Where is the Latin lover dancing I have always heard about? I think I need to go to Cuba for that. Also, if they do dance a little they than stop to take pictures when the barley dressed woman start dancing on stage. You would think they haven’t seen a sexy woman before, but that’s not true. They can see them on the news, in the newspapers, or in public when a woman is breast feeding.

Now you may think the music is bad and that’s why no one is dancing. I do get annoyed with the VJ’s. They just talk and talk and talk killing the beat of the song. Also, they are saying the same exact thing over and over. A name of a local soccer team, who has to work on Sunday, where are the single ladies… This does kill the vibe, and the lack of music with a good beat is sometimes frustrating, but still. If there’s music you can do the sprinkler.

You might also be thinking they may be waiting for typical music, Salsa, Merenge, Cumbia. Some are. I will give you that. DJ’s, knowing some Costa Ricans prefer the actual technical dancing, play a good mix. Yet the younger generation urban males do not know the old school dances. What a shame. When you can find a partner who can dance, it’s fabulous. If you know the basics your in.

So, Valentines night. I couldn’t make up my mind to pay the ten dollar cover charge to stand around. I was going back and forth with my decision driving my volunteer friend and new Costa Rican friend crazy. Ten bucks is huge on Peace Corps budget and I really wanted to actually dance. Than I finally decided, so what? Money is only money and it is meant to be spent. Also, who cares if no one else is dancing? They’re on the dance floor and there are sexy woman to watch on stage. That way, I can dance without everyone staring at the random gringa in the middle of the dance floor alone.

The moral of the story is I had a great time. My feet now hurt, I was able to dance, and next time I will not let money or the lack of a dancing culture stop me.

Now I don’t want to say all dance clubs and parties are like this. In my experience, in general, this is how a night at a club will go.

A Typical Day

- Walking on the highway I am blown a kiss, by a five year old. They start
young here.

- A random Costa Rican starts speaking English to me. He tells me I should get
married and make tortillas.

- A 17year old girl in her pajamas who has never been to high school stops to
tell me why she missed class last night. Within 1 minute I got to hear 3
different excuses. They don’t understand its okay, I’m not upset. It’s
their loss.

- I plan a movie night at the school to raise money to paint the school fence.

- I got to a meeting at 3 which I arranged to offer funds to the woman’s group
and no one is there. They forgot to tell me they canceled it.

- I than go hang out with an American and feed bananas to horses.

- Go to English class at 6pm. Whoops, forgot to bring a carrot as a snack.

- 7pm. Electricity goes out and my students leave.

- 7:08. I reach the top of the hill and the electricity is back on.

- Walking home on the highway the electricity goes out again and the moon is
so bright I don’t need my flashlight.

- I see a dead snack. Its yellow and green

- 8pm. Eat some rice and beans!

- Finish The Memory Keepers Daughter.

Funeral

It’s amazing what you can learn from death, especially in the cultural sense. Also, its very eye opening how different religions and cultures handle a passing. In Costa Rica it’s a social event, a gothic draw of the people and morbid obsession to see the body. Me personally I would rather remember the person as I knew them. Smiling a shy smile as he passed on his bike. However, the Costa Ricans, even the children, wanted to see the stitches that went from his nose to the middle of his skull as well as the line of stitches that held his cheek on. This is how it was described to me by a 7 year old. I’m leaving out the part about his hands and story of his leg. Than, even at the cemetery before they put the grey fur covered coffin in its new cement cradle it was opened once more for the viewers to see. In my eight months here I have never seen such a crowd in my community. And, have you ever heard of people filming a funeral and taking pictures. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. Standing there in my floor length skirt, hair pulled back, and jewelry removed for respect purposes to the Church, La Luz Del Mundo, I watched the men in T-shirts and jeans take pictures while woman in short shorts and clubbing tops lifted their children to see the boy for the last time. I think this is what makes Costa Rica, Costa Rica. For me, I would like to be cremated or actually buried in the earth where I could let life takes its natural course. Also, please don’t jeans. Wear a pretty cocktail dress or something nice. One last observance from the day. Not that I really want to know but it crossed my mind. How long does it take a person filled with embalming fluid, closed in an air tight wooden box, placed and sealed in a cement cell to decompose?

The Dream

I have come to realize my idealistic vision of Peace Corps and what I would accomplish is not going to happen, and I am fine with that. I came wide eyed and filled with big hopes for my communities, but it was very unrealistic.

If I leave in two years having only touched one life and not completed any substantial project, that’s okay! I will have lived in Costa Rica, learned Spanish, and experienced an invaluable opportunity.

With that being said…I still have the big dreams inside me.

It has now be 8 ½ months into my service and things have been coming together. I still need to practice Spanish but there is a different feel to my life. I am more comfortable with the people, culture, and my daily activities in general. Of course I still have a lot to learn and work through, but I am now more confident in my capability to do so. I look forward to living alone and being more involved with the school. I am about to write my very first grant proposals ever, and they’ll be in Spanish.

I have learned you really can’t do anything without money. The majority of the Costa Rican’s just sit around waiting for things to be given to them. This is because sometimes they are given great assets to their towns but with no sustainability. Therefore, they have learned if they wait long enough someone will give it to them. For example: the money for a million dollar Catholic Church was donated and the Church is beautiful for the 17 people that attend Mass, but they cannot afford the upkeep. A group of high school kids came in and built a recreational room/kitchen at the school, but it has caused conflicts in the town.

The truth is, I would love for groups to come in and do everything. That way a lot could be accomplished while I am here. However, the Costa Ricans would never learn anything and think that life could be handed to them.

So, in the next few weeks and months I embark on writing 10-15 paged grant proposals in Spanish. Even to ask my friends and family for donations I need to get approval. (Heads up I may do this). This will be the next skill I will learn and I look forward to the challenge. Oh yay, that and teaching English is an everyday challenge. I now feel for all teachers and praise them.

I don’t know if any of you remember the movie where this guy has to spend a million dollars in one day in order to inherit like 20million, but he can’t spend it on himself. If that was me, here is what I would do…

Caña Blanca:
The town with only a few people I never get to because it takes so long to walk back up the hill.
- Buy all the material to finish road. $5,000
- Find a water source and build a tank so the 12 people that live there could have government regulated clean water. $6,000
- Fix the small bridge that fell down. $$

La Alfombra: The town I refer to as the one I like
- Finish the community building they started 13 years ago. $4,000+
- Find a small plot of land and build a park $3,000 if the land is donated
- Help finish the church $1000
- Re-do the road $$$$
- Get a new water tank $2,500

Las Tumbas: The town I don’t go to.
- Put a fence around the school $1,000
- Get the school a computer $700
- Get electricity on the second main road in town $$$
- Re-do the water tubing to the second main road so there is actually enough to shower. $$$

San Cristóbal de Tinamastes de Barú: The town I refer to as the one I don’t like but it is growing on me and I want to focus on them more and more.
- Finish the damn rodeo stadium $20,000
- Repair the communal kitchen and building $5,000
- Put a fence around the school and paint it. $2,500
- Get the school computers and internet $1,000
- Build a park $3,000
- Build SIDEWALKS $5,000
- Pay for the new water well $2,500
- Pay for the new water tank $3,500
- Start a woman’s group $ material or to pay instructors
- Start boy scouts (girls can join too here) $ for uniforms and material
- Hopefully have the woman’s group or someone else open a bakery $$$$

All Communities:
- Get phone lines
- Get internet
- Do workshops on recycling and the environment
- Give the kids something or somewhere productive to go
- Help the issues with water
- Teach them general health, like birth control and burning plastic is bad for you

So that’s the wish list. I know some of it will be done but I am a realist. It’s a slow process here and I am not here to do the work for them. Also, we have the government stacked against us when it comes to some things. There have been families on waiting list for a phone line for years.

I’ll keep you updated.