There are so many virtual activities right now, it can make your head spin – but this one really called to me, and not just because a friend is behind it.
The folks at the amazing B Corp Bodhi Surf & Yoga in lovely Uvita, in the Bahía Ballena region (you might remember them from the amazing children’s cookbook they put out recently), have put together a virtual beach weekend for all those of us pining to put our toes in some salt water. For a $50 donation to help them keep their hard-working team afloat, you gain access to a happy hour and cooking class with Adriana on Friday evening, an intensive yoga lesson with Pilar on Saturday, and a surf lesson with Travis on Sunday. If you’re wondering how on earth you’ll be able to take a surf lesson from your home, Travis says we’ll use some tape to make a surfboard shape on your floor, and he’ll give us tips that will come in handy one day when we’re actually in the water. Honestly, this sounds like the way I would want to start to learn about surfing anyway.
The course fee also includes a downloadable copy of The Bodhi Cookbook, where the recipes and ingredients for Friday’s cooking class are listed. (Looks like we’ll be making patacones, refried beans and a Bodhi Mule. Yes, please.)
I’ll be there and hope to see you there, too. Bodhi exemplifies the impact that a small tourism enterprise can have not only on its clients, but also on the environment and community that surrounds it. Even if you can only attend part of their offerings this weekend, your donation will have a profound impact on one of Costa Rica’s loveliest coastal communities.
I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; learn how to join my Overwhelmed Writers’ League, every Saturday at 1 pm EST; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! To learn more about how to support Costa Rica during the crisis, visit my COVID-19 section – or for ways to enjoy Costa Rica from afar, visit Virtual Costa Rica.
It’s the Día del Arbol in Costa Rica today, and in addition to taking a moment to think about some of my favorite Costa Rican trees, I’m tipping my proverbial hat to some of the many champions of reforestation that I’ve met over the years. One of these is Jack Ewing.
I had the pleasure of meeting this passionate tree champion last year at his reserve and eco-tourism center Hacienda Barú, just outside of the coastal town of Dominical. His defense of the environment and hard work to reforest the south-central Pacific coast are legendary, and for good reason: Hacienda Barú sold all its cattle in 1990 and proceeded to reforest nearly the entirety of its 350 acres. He proudly showed off aerial images of the area over the decades, and it’s extraordinary to see how this region, like
Any silver lining these days deserve its own ovation, so I want to stand up and celebrate the fact that the anti-racist fight in the United States woke me up to the presence of a great organization here in Costa Rica: Costa Rica Afro.
This “diverse and inclusive Afro feminist collective” focuses on “the fight against racism, machismo and sexism through political action, research, education, and the organization of concrete actions,” according to the Costa Rica Afro website, and welcomes all comers regardless of gender, race or nationality. Their site features, among other things, this cool celebration of Afro-Costa Rican women leaders.
Tonight at 7 pm Costa Rica time, they and other organizations behind Black Lives Matter Costa Rica are organizing a virtual rally to help connect people in Costa Rica who care about the ongoing U.S. protests and the global anti-racist struggle. You can request the Zoom link by messaging Costa Rica Afro on its Facebook or Instagram pages (@costaricaafro), or you’re invited to share a photo supporting the movement using #blacklivesmattercr.
I’ve been frustrated at not being able to engage more actively with movements in my home country in recent years, so while our eyes are on the U.S. at the moment, I’m excited to learn more about the very important work going on in Costa Rica! Here’s to Costa Rica Afro and the many people around the world who are working so hard to make their countries more peaceful and fair.
Via the Costa Rica Afro website
I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! If you want to learn more about how to support Costa Rica during the crisis, visit my COVID-19 section, updated regularly – or for ways to enjoy Costa Rica from afar, visit Virtual Costa Rica.
Today’s Daily Boost was a video once more – and thanks to some unexpected construction vehicles that came to watch, it started out sideways. But here it is, for the record, with my tales of baby bird drama and the incredible things happening in La Carpio and at Sibú Wildlife Sanctuary in Nosara. Tune in next week to see if I’m fully upside down!
Last week I was thrilled to attend a presentation by the Costa Rican startup Local Keeps. Founded by Costa Rican-born Galit Flasterstein and her husband Eric Scharf, Local Keeps is an online store that allows small Costa Rican businesses to sell their wares to customers anywhere in the world.
I’ve interacted with a number of Costa Rican artisans and small business owners in the past and heard, “Ah, I’d love to sell online someday, but I have no idea how” – so I immediately understood that Local Keeps is filling a very necessary role for its “makers,” as it calls its product creators. Two of the makers joined Galit to speak to visitors from Travel with Ann and other students at Personalized Spanish in Trés Rios on Friday: natural cosmetics creator Adriana García and fruit jewelry genius Rosa Montealegre. Rosa is pictured below with her husband, Juan.
Yup, I said fruit jewelry, which has to be seen to be believed (and you can see it here): Rosa and her now 11-person team collect unsold fruit from farmer’s market and create incredible pieces from shaved mango seeds, dried banana slices and other things you could never have imagined as bright, gorgeous rings and necklaces. Meanwhile, Adriana, a one-woman show, whips up lotions and sugar scrubs that smell good enough to eat.
Galit explained that the mission of Local Keeps is not just to sell the work of these entrepreneurs, but also to help them grow. They give each entrepreneur a professional photo shoot and access to the resulting images, and are organizing regular get-togethers so that the companies can exchange ideas and receive support.
Going to the post office in Costa Rica is not exactly the easiest process, so I’ve often opted for U.S. online merchants when buying presents for someone back home – which is a shame, given the insane number of high-quality artisans and producers here in Costa Rica. It’s a relief to know I can just hop online and support them while getting the gift delivered anywhere. This post might sound like an infomercial, but that’s just how excited I am that someone is making this possible for Costa Rican microbusinesses and fans of Costa Rica from around the world! Thanks, Local Keeps. I can’t wait to see you grow.
I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! You can also find me churning out small, square poems on any topic under the sun (here on the site, on Instagram or Twitter).
I’ve mentioned here that marriage equality will be the law of the land in Costa Rica in May, and that this month’s Daily Boost is dedicated to LGBTQ rights. But if you follow Costa Rican news, you might know that in 2015, a lawyer performed the marriage of two women despite the fact that gay marriage was not yet legal. It was made possible by one of the most momentous clerical errors I’ve ever heard of: one of the women had been accidentally registered as a man by Costa Rican authorities, making it technically possible for her to marry her girlfriend. Their marriage was one of the acts that helped momentum grow for the arrival of marriage equality in Costa Rica, which will be finalized in just a few months.
Marco Castillo was the notary who put the marriage into the history books, and this week, Judge Francisco Porras ordered that Castillo be stripped of his right to practice law for 13 years. He also annulled the women’s marriage and asked the Civil Registry to provide him with a list of any other notaries who have committed similar acts. As activists and the media soon revealed, the judge’s personal Facebook page is awash with conservative posts, particularly arguments against abortion; a copy of the sentence from a source I trust has circulated online and is a real piece of work, although I won’t comment on the details since I haven’t confirmed myself that it’s the real sentence (honestly, it’s hard to believe that a judge could write such an incoherent and vile statement). As you might imagine, an appeal is in the works.
I wrote on Monday that the Year of Love, as some have dubbed this in Costa Rica, will bring with it lots of hate. The implementation of marriage equality will spark plenty of backlash, and we need to brace ourselves. This week’s absurd decision is just one example to prove this point. Especially during a week when 52 of my own country’s elected authorities showed themselves unwilling to stand up for what’s right even when they have the full backing of the law and even the Constitution, I am so grateful that people like Marco Castillo are in the world, ready to stand up for what’s right even if it’s still illegal.
May this judge’s decision, an absurd and unjust setback on Costa Rica’s winding path toward civil rights, be overturned as soon as possible.
I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! You can also find me churning out small, square poems on any topic under the sun (here on the site, on Instagram or Twitter).
For this month’s Daily Boost focus on mental health, I knew I had lots of questions for Cris Gomar. I’ve written before about the founder of Vaso Lleno, a mental health initiative that encourages people in Costa Rica to open up and share their stories without fear of judgment, and how quickly she’d impressed me with her honesty and enthusiasm. This time around, however, I gave her the third degree. What I wanted to know, more than anything, was what she had learned from her work with Vaso Lleno about why mental health is such a challenge for infamously “happy” Costa Rica.
Here’s what she had to say. Excerpts follow.
Costa Rica has received tons of international attention as “the happiest country in the world,” but there are high suicide and bullying rates and other mental health challenges that you’re addressing with Vaso Lleno. Do you think that “happiest” reputation is harmful?
I’m not sure it is. I think that what has a bigger impact than that is the fact that Costa Rica is such a small country. We all know each other and, from my perspective, there is… an exaggerated fear of being judged. People panic and are ashamed to say that they aren’t as happy as people think. Costa Rica is like a small town, una finca, and that’s the reality.
Cris Gomar. Via Instagram @sharingmindspodcast
The thing about being the happiest country in the world has some valid and important elements. Education, the [lack of an] army, interpersonal relations, flora and fauna per square meter. We could take advantage of this much more. People are afraid to talk about mental health… How many businesses truly have a mental health protocol in their offices? How many offer psychologists or psychiatrists among their benefits?
When it comes to bullying, we need more data, and with suicide, there are data at the hospitals or the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ), but they’re skewed because there are many suicides that aren’t identified as such.
What has surprised or taught you the most as you’ve developed Vaso Lleno?
I never thought Vaso Lleno would be so popular… the biggest lesson might be the enormous fear I have noted to be judged. There are so many things we don’t do because we are afraid of what people will think. These are barriers we create ourselves. A second really nice surprise and lesson has been the facility people have to connect when we start off believing that we are all human beings with feelings, and that we can use vulnerability as a tool.
Cris uses texts to show what anxiety looks like on the Vaso Lleno Instagram feed.
The third lesson is how much we dismiss how people feel. We have been taught to be afraid of sadness… and anger. If a child is crying, we say, “Stop crying,” before we ask, “What’s wrong?” Sadness and anger… are the body physically having a reaction. Your body is telling you that you need to do something about this. But diay, they told us that no, we can’t be sad.
How did you come to create Vasoterapia?
When you put two people who have never seen each other before at a table and ask them about their greatest regret… suddenly tears will flow, or one will embrace the other. You understand that we are made of emotions and stories and struggles, too, and successes. …How can we connect more? I can celebrate when my friend has a baby, but when she has post-partum depression, how many people come around?
Cris with a Vasoterapia set, designed to jumpstart conversations.
I realized that saying “mental health” is like saying a dirty word. People think that when you talk about mental health, you’re going straight for depression and suicide. When you talk about sex ed, you’re not going to talk only about prostitution… Mental health is really about respect. So I started to think about, how can we talk about mental health without talking about mental health? That’s what Vasoterapia has become. How people can recognize and identify their own emotions and lose their fear of talking to their partner, their families, take off all these masks we wear.
What we all need is support, with all our imperfections and opportunities and strengths and demons.
What’s next for Vaso Lleno?
Diay, pues, changing the world! I’ve realized Vasoterapia is a very good tool, so I’m making a children’s version, a Volume II, a couples’ version, and of course versions in English… And I’d love to continue doing monthly gatherings, spaces that are free from judgment and full of empathy. I’d like to visit more businesses, and schools as well. We’re taught all about the cordilleras and valleys and mitochondria, but not what to do when Grandpa dies, or when we break up, or lose a job, or when Dad is in a tough economic spot and we don’t know what to do. I’d like to work with little kids all the way up to teenagers: social media and how they affect our mental health, eating disorders, relationships, bullying.
And I want to write a book… I breathe and sweat mental health. I am fascinated by everything to do with it.
Learn more about Vaso Lleno and Vasoterapia here. Cris and I had planned to raffle off a set on the Daily Boost this month, but – she’s sold out! Stay tuned for a future raffle. Read more from this month’s special focus on mental health: TeenSmart’s inspiring stories of mental health victories by teenagers, tips from Margarita Herdocia for mental health for migrants and all those of us facing stress, and some further reflection on that “happiest country” title.
I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! You can also find me churning out small, square poems on any topic under the sun (here on the site, on Instagram or Twitter).
I’m getting today’s post in under the wire – and since night has fallen, I’m using this Daily Boost to say thank you to Chepecletas, which has made nighttime explorations of San José fun and accessible to so many people. Champions of cycling and walking in the crowded capital, the folks at ChepeCletas organize fun “safaris,” many at night, to showcase the city’s history, gastronomy, nightlife and arts. Plus, their social media feeds are full of news, events and cool photos like the one I’m resharing here.
Their next safari is Thursday, Jan. 30. Check it out here – and here’s to showcasing a city too many people dismiss.
I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! You can also find me churning out small, square poems on any topic under the sun (here on the site, on Instagram or Twitter).
One of the unhelpful things people tell parents of young kids is, “Just wait until she’s a teenager!” I always say some version of, “You truly don’t need to remind me. I have been terrified of that since before she was born.”
As a middle-school teacher, I loved my students. I also saw the gap that, necessarily, grows between them and their parents. Now that I have a six-year-old telling me every thought that enters her brain, I’m even more aware of the chasm ahead – especially when I think about teenagers’ mental health and the isolation that can come with that time of life.
All of this is to say that I am already so grateful to Joven Salud, the platform that the international nonprofit TeenSmart International is using to serve more than 50,000 young people throughout Latin America and build dozens upon dozens of public-private partnerships that surround many of those teenagers with in-person attention. They can start with something as simple as reaching out to a trained online coach for support (up to 500 teens do so every week), or build to something as intensive as becoming a volunteer and leading programs for other young people. The online platform can reach young people few other programs can, including migrants and refugees.
Joven Salud recently shared the story of 18-year-old Yareth:
Be brave, because you are worth it.
These are the exact words my TeenSmart coach said to me when I went on JovenSalud.net to seek help. These are the words that began my story of transformation.
Two years ago, when I was sixteen and suffering depression, a classmate told me that cutting myself would make me feel better.
It didn’t.
I felt alone and frightened. Afraid of what I might do. Until the night I decided to reach out to TeenSmart. That was the night my coach encouraged me to share my feelings with my parents and to open my heart to receive their support.
Now, two years later, I have graduated from high school and am applying to medical school. My goal is to help others through my service as a doctor. I want to help my parents and be an inspiration for my younger brother.
I am not sure what would have happened to me if I had not found out about TeenSmart. Perhaps I would have kept taking the advice that my friend gave me and began a life of dangerous behavior. Maybe I would not be here today to deliver my testimony. In my neighborhood, many children leave for school after a long night of listening to their fathers beating their mothers. Teenagers wake up on the streets after drinking all night. Many do not finish school.
Not long ago, a friend committed suicide due to drug abuse. We had grown up together and used to play soccer. I wonder if I could have helped to prevent that by saying, Hola!, and starting a conversation.
Now, as a TeenSmart volunteer, I know I can help other teenagers. These days I share how TeenSmart helped save my life and I use my testimony to encourage others to use their services.
Thank you, Joven Salud, for putting this kind of support available to young people like Yareth. We need to make sure all of our teenagers have this tool in their pockets, especially those who need it most. At a time when some of Central America’s most vulnerable youth are on the move, losing access to the already tenuous services they might have had at their school or in their communities, a tool like Joven Salud and an organization like TeenSmart isn’t just a nice option. It’s vital.
I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! You can also find me churning out small, square poems on any topic under the sun (here on the site, on Instagram or Twitter).
We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to meet a very resilient baby sloth and celebrate her rescuers – and to remind you to call 911 if you see a sloth on a power line, or any other animal in distress. (There are different entities in different parts of the country that assist authorities with animal rescue, but what I’ve been told is that if you simply call 911 no matter where you are, they’ll know how to coordinate in your area.)
Sol’s mother was fatally killed due to electrocution. Her mother likely was using power lines to move across fragmented canopy when she was zapped and fell to the ground. Sadly, when rescuers found her mother, she was likely killed instantly. Fortunately, Sol was still hanging on, alive.
Sol was quickly recovered from MINAE (wildlife police) and brought to the Toucan Rescue Ranch clinic for examination. It was soon discovered that Sol received some of the shock and had a limp arm as a result. Our vet staff made a quick decision to amputate to avoid further infection.
Thanks to our amazing vet team, the surgery went extremely well. Sol quickly woke from anesthesia and proved to be a survivor. She is still in critical care and in the sloth nursery. She has become pals with Luna, another three-fingered sloth in our care. Both will go through the Saving Sloths Together program where they will be provided 24/hour care and a rehabilitation and liberation plan, which will hopefully result in a life #backinthetrees, once old enough!
Thank you, Toucan Rescue Ranch, for all you do! Here’s a video about Sol:
I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! You can also find me churning out small, square poems on any topic under the sun (here on the site, on Instagram or Twitter).
Galit explained that the mission of Local Keeps is not just to sell the work of these entrepreneurs, but also to help them grow. They give each entrepreneur a professional photo shoot and access to the resulting images, and are organizing regular get-togethers so that the companies can exchange ideas and receive support.
katherine stanley obando 