Seeing the vastness of the world is essential to forming a mature perspective of the world. My trip to Costa Rica was just nine days over spring break, yet I saw a different way of life that will change and improve the way I live here in the United States.
Our main activities included two days at E.A.R.T.H. University (la Escuela de Agricultura de la Región Tropical Húmeda) which is a hands-on agricultural university that prepares young people from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia, to contribute to the sustainable development of their countries and construct a prosperous and fair society. We toured the extensive 8,342-acre campus which includes compost and soil laboratories, various academic farms covering everything from livestock to cacao, a commercial banana plantation, and a forest reserve. Practically, the EARTH University students taught us about the culture of sustainability, but they also showed us how to value what we have and share that freely with others. We went further into the country and stayed with host families in the rural community of la Argentina to complete several service projects and experience home-life on a farm. We visited a National Park and a volcano to sight-see and discover native animals like sloths, howler monkeys, lizards, and frogs. The trip was the perfect balance of service, learning, and fun!
The biggest transformation I experienced was perspective, and I gained that the most at EARTH University and with my host family in the rural community of la Argentina. My host family in la Argentina was an older couple who have transitioned their land and animals into a hobby farm to sustain their daily needs and provide for two of their four children who live next door. The owners of the farm, Don Alburo and Dona Adonay, taught us their perspective that it doesn’t matter how much you have as long as you work hard to maximize the gifts you are given. This mantra matches the type of farm they have because they produce a little bit of everything: a few banana trees, one coffee plant, mandarin trees, cas trees, guanabana trees, a few tilapia ponds, chickens, roosters, ducks, wild turkeys, and probably more that I missed. So, although they consider their farm to be small and unimpressive in comparison to some of the other farms in the area, they are still generous with all of the travelers they welcome into their home.
A second important perspective I gained during the homestay: Costa Rica’s culture of rest. It’s pretty obvious that Americans have forgotten how to rest. It’s not bad that we value work ethic and productivity, but our society moves so fast that we miss out on the goodness of just living life. At the homestay, we were given lots of time to rest, to take in the beautiful nature around us, to practice our Spanish and honor our hosts by communicating with them in their language, and simply witness the everyday life of a Tico in the country. We were able to play soccer with their grandson one night before dinner and then sit down to a meal all together and talk about the news of the day just like a regular family would. They lived the Costa Rican way of “pura vida” (pure life)- which means choosing to see the good in life, even amidst the struggles. “Pura vida” says don’t take life too seriously, and that even when there is suffering, there can also still be joy. In preparation for this trip, I was expecting to leave exhausted and come back exhausted, but I actually got a lot of much needed rest thanks to the “pura vida” culture of Costa Rica.
The third perspective I gained was on service during one of the service projects we completed in the community. We installed a biodigester in an older couple’s home, which is essentially a mechanical stomach where bacteria decompose organic material to produce methane that can be used for cooking. We cut PBC pipe to make a release valve for the gas, laid out the plastic biodigester bag, and leveled the ground to make sure the water level would be even. However, it wasn’t the service itself that impacted me, it was the mentality of sustainability that I’m not used to seeing in the US. From the outside looking in, most Americans would see a biodigester built with old plastic buckets, bicycle tire rubber, old sacks, and PBC pipe and think the family was too poor to buy the necessary new supplies. However, that’s not it at all. They chose to reuse those items on purpose because they were readily available, they would work just as well, and would contribute to their culture of sustainability. The man who was instructing us kept reminding us of this perspective throughout the project, explaining why each material was appropriate for the intended use, because he could see the slight judgement in our eyes. The biggest realization most students make, as I did, when they do service- not just abroad, but anywhere- is that the project changes and helps you more than you help the people you’re “serving.” I am now more aware of reusing items that I would have typically just thrown away.
Overall, new personal perspective always translates to transformation. This trip transformed my definition of sustainability- what that means to us in the states versus what it means to the Ticos in Costa Rica. Agricultural trades are crucial in the lives of the EARTH University students and rural Costa Ricans. Many of them have the power to improve their quality of life if they attend school and learn their trade well, so it is vital that the learning be hands on and interactive. Their education system is much more focused around teaching practical skills that will sustain their home life and improve the communities around them, whereas universities in the United States tend to focus on more knowledge-based professions. The socioeconomic status of Costa Rica is interesting because their abundance of natural resources keep them the richest of the countries in Central America, but rich there is nothing like rich here in America. We experienced the barriers that the locals face every day while staying with our host families in the rural community, and why sustainability is so crucial. New perspectives abroad translate into vital global perspectives that will carry over into my future career.
I am so grateful for my experiences in Costa Rica that opened my eyes to a whole new world of sustainability and will be forever changed by the “pura vida” mentality.
Haley I really appreciated being able to read about the concept of pura vida and how that really permeated your experiences in Costa Rica. I’m glad that you were able to learn much about sustainable solutions as well.