rich land

The Basilica- complete with holy water!

The view from the top of Volcan Izaru, San Jose, Costa Rica.

The crater lake in Volcan Izaru was green!

This past weekend I went to Costa Rica for a class to do a few interviews with people who have immigrated to the country, and also with the defense of human affairs who work for just treatment of the immigrants. We visited a neighborhood (slum) called La Carpio- where 28,000 people inhabit an area of 1 kilometer by 2 kilometers. I used to think that my family lived on top of one another, but now I am proven otherwise! The community was composed of immigrants from Nicaragua who are searching desperately for work. Surprisingly, Costa Rica has similar immigration patterns (problems?) to America.

The trek down on bus was a 13.5 hour ride, and we most certainly were not moving quickly for most of it. At a random checkpoint on the highway, the police were pulling over all the buses and doing luggage checks. Much to our dismay, the police found 148 boxes of illegal drugs riding beneath us, and our bus instantly became a crime scene. Unfortunately, the cops refused to tell any of us what was happening, and we were escorted (still on our bus) to the police headquarters. Boggled, we sat helplessly for FOUR hours on the bus until a spare bus arrived to take us the rest of the way to San Jose. Our replacement bus was out of use, and it was in horrid condition. We rode the remaining 8 hours with the high pitched squeal of some ungreased ligament, and dealt with cockroaches literally crawling wickedly over the seats.

Somehow, I made it onto Nicarguan news when the television stations arrived, and the following day there were two newspapers who boasted our adventure!

Outside of San Jose, Volcan Izaru dominates the eastern horizon. Luckily, we were able to hike up to see the green sulfurous water and enjoy the view of the tops of the clouds. The crater lakes were brilliant!

We visited a Basilica with a natural water spring, and people from around the world come to drink the holy water. Actually, most people I saw were bathing there faces, arms, and bare legs. I did it, too... just in case it would cleanse me of something!

Costa Rica was beautiful- but much more touched than Nica. Everything is waaaay more expensive, there are more tourists, and even the countryside looks modernized. I'm glad to be home.