"Getting to Know the Past, Strengthens our Identity."
Saturday morning at about 9:15 am, I was walking on a volcano. It's been dormant a few years but still nerve-wracking. It was really cool. We were like 3500 feet above sea level. I took a lot of pictures of the volcano and the clouds which were below us. Right after we left UNELA in the morning, we picked up this guy named Robert. He got in the van and didn't speak or anything but just listened to his iPOD. We all assumed he only spoke Spanish. The girls who can speak started talking to him about his hoodie that said Niagara Falls. It turned out that he either lived in the states a long time or something but he speaks better English than I do. So after that, we all became cool and had a great time getting to know our new friend Robert. He's from Peru and only got to Costa Rica a few days before we did. He travels all over the United States for work and even lives in Miami sometimes. The world is so small I tell you.
After our adventures at the volcano, we went to the old capital of Costa Rica called "Paseo". We went to a cathedral there and I saw two things I've never seen before. Inside the church it was packed so I sat down near the center aisle and I look over to my right to see all these people crawling on their knees from the back of the church all the way to the front. I assume to get blessed by a priest or something but I'd never seen that before and it sure didn't look comfortable on the kneecaps. Then we went outside and there was this wall that had water coming out of spouts at the bottom. People were buying jugs and filling up water bottles with this water because apparently if you drink it, you will become healed. To each his own. It totally reminded me though of an episode of MONK when Adrian Monk goes to investigate at a church where people were getting miraculously healed from drinking water out of a special fountain. Oh yeah, ma I watch Monk almost every day during the school week. It comes on at 6 pm and it's in English with Spanish subtitles so I learn different phrases too.
When we left the capital, we went to a town called La Carpio. La Carpio is basically a little Nicaragua city on the outskirts of San Jose. It's about 1 sq mile and has over 35,000 people living in one room shacks. We went there because almost 100% of the people there are Nicaraguans that have migrated to Costa Rica in search for a better life. Since the economic situation is not as stagnant, people can find work and make more money in Costa Rica. Often times, they are left to do the work no one else would want to but they are willing to make those sacrifices in order to survive. Some come legally with papers but many come illegally. There is a tough clash with the Costa Ricans and Nicaraguans in Costa Rica. CRs feel like Nicas come into their land and bring violence. Most CRs refuse to go into Carpio because they think all Nicas do is kill there. It is a very harsh attitude toward these people. They feel like Nicas come into their land of opportunity and steal their jobs and make life worse for them. There are some areas of Carpio that police refuse to go into. There are some places in Carpio that fire trucks and ambulances refuse to go into without police escort. Many people who judge this place have never even been there. It's sad to think of what judging people does to the spirit. It's also sad to realize that this is not just a problem down here with these two groups but this happens in the United States of America all the time with every kind of group. We're always afraid of what we don't know and that keeps us from trying to understand it so we stand back and judge. Those judgments become prejuidice and once prejuidice or racism sets in there is nothing "those people" can do right and there is nothing "your people" can do wrong. Ay, when will learn?
As soon as we were on our way, it became very obvious we were entering a world very different from the rest of Costa Rica. There was trash lining both sides of the streets. The roads became very narrow and the houses were stacked right on top of each other, mostly tin. People screaming out what they're selling. The staring. Yup, back in Nicaragua is what it feels like. Well, we met a couple families and visited a home of this guy named Alex. It was a dangerous path to get there and I have no idea how he could do it in the dark if he does. Not dangerous with people necessarily but it was like walking on unstable cement down a really steep slope. You had to lean backwards in order to not topple over and be lost forever. They live right on the edge of a hill and if there's ever any bad weather, strong wind or mudslide, everything they had would be gone. Right out of the back of the house was a big drop. One thing I noticed when we went to his house was the fact that he was so proud of it. He works in construction and recently became the manager so he's right under the big boss which is great. He showed us a mirror he built and a bed frame which were both really great. They didn't have much to offer us but if we had needed anything, they would have made sure we got it. The whole family came out and we started taking pictures. Somebody from the states gave him a nice digital camera that had a touch screen. I was very jealous.
It was a great trip and I learned a lot. It was in all those moments that God touched my heart and I hope that I can never really be the same.
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