East Asia + East Coast

Near Central Plaza, HK

Gallery hopping in Chelsea, NY

Souther Salazar Exhibit in NY

updates

coming soon.

<3 Puccini

I would give me left foot to see Turandot in the near future.

Nessun Dorma - Pavoratti

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Finca Update: Week 6-7

So, this is my seventh week in Costa Rica, and I can’t believe things are winding down so quickly. These past few days have actually been the most stressful for me since there has been a lot to do in preparation for the class visit on Monday. I am making a few information boards to go up in the nursery, but instead of focusing on the material, I have had to work on cutting, priming and painting the boards, which was a bit frustrating.

I have a serious issue with the paint that they use here, and the difficulties there are of disposing chemicals—and this has made me think of how every house in these area uses this paint but has no means of disposing of it properly. Pouring thinner out onto the soil can do great damage to aquifers and soil quality due to leaching. It’s frustrating that even though people here have a much smaller carbon footprint than at home, it’s still hard to get around pollution because of the products that are being used throughout the world (globalization!) [End rant]

In other nursery news, we’ve been selling lots of baby trees which is exciting, and plans to have a compost bin and sand box (for an erosion demonstration) are underway. Last week I was able to attend a meeting at the nearby botanical gardens with researchers and other local environmental groups about environmental education in this area. It was really fascinating to see what has been done and how important it is to work together on such a large task. I’m hoping that the future community outreach interns can make connections with these people as we go about doing the same work in the region.

As for the weekend, a few of us took a trip to the Osa Peninsula, originally hoping to stay at a beach called Cabo Matapalo. Unfortunately, there was really no place to stay because it was such an undeveloped area (and because of that, it was beautiful), so we ended up back-tracking to Puerto Jimenez (where they have the best coconut ice cream ever) and traveling to another beach called Pavones (which has the longest left-hand breaking wave in the world!). It was a long weekend of traveling, but we got to see some awesome wildlife—monkeys, lizards, and macaws—as well as some beautiful scenery. We had some great weather all weekend, and I’m glad we were able to see so much of the coast.

I have little under a week left in Copabuena before heading up to Punta Renas to meet my highschool church youth group, and there is so much to do and see before I leave (i.e. milk a cow, learn how to ride a motorcycle, etc.)

I’ll let you know how things go. ;)

Xoxo,

Candice

FINCA Update: Week 5

Finca Update: Week 5

Week 5 began with construction of the greenhouse in the new nursery, and Harold and Jóse were awesome about getting it done fast! In just two days, we had a standing nursery and I’m really excited to bring students in to learn about the greenhouse effect and germination.

We also took a visit to a nearby city, Ciudad Neily and went to the border of Panama, to a place called Paso Canoas as a day off from work. I realized how much nicer the weather is in Copa Buena since the elevation is much higher than these cities. It was so terribly hot and humid, so I have learned to be much thankful for the weather in Copa.

We had a really interesting seminar about Slow Food this past week, and I am more determined than ever to get a partnership set up with Princeton’s garden and the co-op. We also had a really interesting conversation about cultural sensitivity and what our presence in Copa Buena should be like. I hope that we are not viewed as a bunch of gringo/as on vacation, and that we are truly making a difference in the area. Overall, I think it’s important to conduct our business and interactions with humility. I have definitely learned a lot from the locals here, and I hope that they see our presence as beneficial to the community.

We ended the week with a much anticipated trip to the beach, and I was in heaven. We went to Dominical, this small little surf town (though it has definitely been gringo-fied), but I was able to get to know a few locals, and I really love their way of life there. Surf+local,organic foods=amazing. I really hope to return there and maybe one day have a place of my own to live there and give back to the community (hopefully I wouldn’t be like the other Americans there who are really looked negatively on by locals).

More updates coming up…only 2 weeks left, and I’m back home, but this is the final push before we bring in a class of students to the nursery!

Xoxo,

Candice