Group photo after a hot day of installing a biodigester.

Note: Lots of pics from service day are at the bottom of this post.

So I’m not going to lie – last night was a little freaky. We had the light on in our room so we could write in our journals, and it attracted bugs – monster bugs. I don’t freak out easily, but a bug the size of my hand kept flying towards me.

Backing up a bit … I was pretty tired by the time we were done with dinner that I decided to sit on the bed and journal before getting ready for bed. Lidia came in and took down the mosquito netting above the bed and wrapped it all around the bed. I asked if we really needed that, and she said yes. Within 10 minutes I saw why. I could not have been more thankful to have the netting when the monster bugs came in. I finally convinced my roommate that we *had* to turn off the light. The trouble was, I hadn’t gone to the bathroom or changed into my pajamas – but I wasn’t about to leave the protection of the mosquito net with the bugs flying everywhere.

Once we turned off the light, the bugs calmed down, but it was a couple of hours before I got the courage to get up and go to the bathroom and change clothes. Even so I had a hard time sleeping. I tried playing word games on my phone, which is how I get sleepy at home, but the light from the phone got the bugs stirred up again, so that wasn’t going to happen. I may have gotten three hours of sleep if I’m lucky.

I vowed not to make the same mistake again tonight, so as soon as we got back for the evening, I showered, dressed, repacked the suitcase, and put the mosquito netting over everything on my bed and the bed where I was storing my stuff – all while it was still light. I guess everyone who travels to developing countries has a crazy bug story to tell, and now I’ve got mine.

Anyway, today was service day. We painted a church and installed a biodigester on one of the local farms. It was fun and also good to be of use to the people here. The group seems to be gelling pretty well and getting along. One thing I’ve found in life is that the quickest way to really get to know people is to 1) live with them, 2) work with them, or 3) travel with them. People are starting to get more comfortable with each other which is good because it takes less effort to get along. I’ve enjoyed the smaller group at the home stays where we’ve had a chance to talk more with just a few people about matters of substance. Becca was our Spanish speaker in the group and really stepped up. It’s also been nice talking more to Leesha and Carla.

I have really enjoyed seeing the farms, especially how the farmers integrate and use everything. That’s the idea of the biodigester – to put the manure to use in cooking food. Both farms I saw do a great job putting together food scraps for the animals. I did see a few things on both farms that concerned me. Both had dogs tied up by themselves in the back. At one the dog is kept tied up to watch the tilapia pond. The other had two dogs tied up by themselves – one a little cockerpoo that needed a shampoo and trim as bad as any dog I’ve seen.

All these dogs did have dog houses and plenty of food. But dogs are pack animals. They are evolved to be social. It’s really not fair to them to keep them so solitary all the time – if they don’t have a dog pack, then humans are their pack, and they should be kept with us. Of course some people in the U.S. tie up dogs alone, and sometimes forget to feed them, which Mario said happens here too. In some cases at home, the neglect gets so bad that humane agents take the animals – one of my friends runs an agency responsible for this in rural counties outside of Columbus, and the things he sees are terrible.

While the welfare of dogs that I saw at the farms here was certainly better than what my humane agent friend deals with in the U.S., dogs and cats don’t seem to be considered part of the family in Costa Rica. Apparently it’s not part of the culture. I wish it were, but those sorts of norms take a long time to develop and a long time to change. We asked Lidia if they would ever consider bringing their dog in the house, and the answer was a definitive no. She seemed a little surprised when I showed a photo of my cats sitting on the bed with my husband. This is a common occurrence at our house but would never happen here. I don’t think it’s something they can relate to.

Of course as people establish close relationships with their pets, they start thinking about their relationships with other animals. Some people call this anthropomorphism, but I really don’t think it can be dismissed so easily. Animals, especially mammals, have evolved the same structures in their brains as we do to create emotions, and they form the same attachments to people and to each other – as well as the same dislikes, fears, jealousies, etc. Anyone who pays attention to animals can see this. On the other hand, the welfare I saw for farm animals in Costa Rica is much better than for most animals at industrial farms in the United States. So every culture has its pluses and minuses.

Service day photos

Painting inside a village church near the home stays.

Painting the stairs of the church.

The inside of the church finished.

Starting the biodigester project. The biodigester is made mainly of a thick sheet of plastic looped around and closed off at the ends.

Using an old bucket to enclose the end of the biodigester.

Carrying the biodigester to its location.

Cleaning out the hole where the new biodigester will go. An old one was there previously.

Filling the new biodigester with air.