Scientists, artists, athletes… and badasses

Posted on by stanleyobando
Courtesy of Soy Niña

Six days left to go, and today I want to celebrate what yesterday’s post was supposed to be about (until current events took things in a slightly deeper, darker direction). Really, it’s just a sunnier side of the same street: the power of Costa Rica’s women.

The bras in this house were already getting a little nervous at the start of this past year. As I’ve written about quite a bit, recent events had driven my feminism to a new level. The election of a president who boasted about sexual assault. Facing conundrums in my work as a journalist that unveiled a fiery core I hadn’t known I had. My first experience having men talk around me in a meeting I was running, for an organization I directed, as if I wasn’t there.

But what really fired me up was, during this past year, seeing the stories of brilliance and bravery all around me. I barely had to look outside my field of vision to be gobsmacked by excellence. Women’s soccer players stepping up during the pandemic. Environmental advocates Christiana Figueres and Melania Guerra. Tomorrow’s leaders on the rise at Soy Niña. A brave doctor and a whole bookful of other rebel girls. The list goes on and on.

I think my epilogue to yesterday’s post on the horrible murders of women in Costa Rica is this: when those deep waters and currents of sexism are too much, one way we can rise into the air above and take a long breath of fresh air is simply to fix our sights on these endless sources of inspiration. They aren’t just a demonstration of why we must curb this violence: they are the pathway out of it. Whether not they’re directly engaged in women’s rights, they’re showing women, girls, boys and men what womanhood really means. From a lab or a stage or a running track, they’re making us safer.

Investing in their talents is perhaps the surest solution we have.

Featured image from Soy Niña.

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.

 

An accidental discovery

Posted on by stanleyobando

For better and, quite often, for worse, I belong to some “expat” groups on Facebook. Expat is not a word I like, since it’s so often used to differentiate white or rich people from others foreign groups. However, the groups are often sources of useful information.

And then there are the nights that they’re sources of comments like the one some man put up yesterday expounding upon the virtues of “ticas.” Yes, their housekeeping skills were among the skills touted. No, the astonishing frequency with which this group of humans tends to break records, blaze new trails and defy expectations was not among the traits he praised.

This gem of a man was swiftly removed from the group by a watchful admin, but before that took place, I angrily opened another tab and typed “Ticas Poderosas” into the search bar. Powerful Ticas.  It was a mistake – I was thinking of the “Ticas Sin Miedo” book from which I’ve published translated excerpts this year – but lo and behold, there’s a site for that.

Ticaspoderosas.com features interviews, op-eds and more that shine a light on the incredible women of this country. Bravo to them; because of a Googling mistake, I’ve found myself a great new resource. Please join me in following their work. And if you come across an appallingly sexist comment directed at the women of Costa Rica, you’ll have the perfect retort right in your back pocket.

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.

 

All hail Stephanie!

Posted on by stanleyobando

Here’s some good news to start your week: Stephanie Blanco of Amubri, Talamanca, in southeastern Costa Rica, has been signed by a European football club. This milestone makes Stephanie the first indigenous woman from Costa Rica to play professional soccer internationally.

This. Is. HUGE.

The defender is a star of the reigning women’s champions in Costa Rica, la Liga Alajualense, and previously made history as the first indigenous woman to play on Costa Rica’s National Team. She’ll now be playing for Deportivo La Coruña.

Thank you, Stephanie, for reminding us that life goes on, and for giving Costa Ricans, women, and beautiful Talamanca a reason to cheer right now!

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.

Fearless Ticas: Mirna, the trailblazing doctor

Posted on by stanleyobando

In my year of daily posting about Costa Rica (I’m nearly to the six-month mark!) I’ve often used Tuesdays to feature books, authors and bookstores. This month, in honor of International Women’s Day, I’ll focus all my Tuesdays on highlights from a single book: “Ticas sin Miedo” (“Fearless Ticas”), which I wrote about last week.

Today, meet Mirna Román Rodríguez, Costa Rica’s first Ngöbe doctor. Growing up in the small indigenous village of Altos de San Antonio near the Panamanian border, she says in “Ticas sin Medio” that somehow, “inside of me an idea was born. I thought: I have to study. I have to leave here. I have to show that an indigenous woman can do it.”

After graduating from a one-room elementary schoolhouse of only 10 students, she walked 15 kilometers along a lonely path to the nearest high school, a nearly three-hour journey each way. She would rise at 3 a.m. to get to school by 7. However, she says in the book that her cultural adaptation was much harder than the hours of walking: she suffered constant taunts and only made one friend, in tenth grade, whom she treasures to this day. She also had to significantly improve her Spanish, her second language.

University studies in San José and then Cuba followed, and she earned her medical degree in 2013. She hopes to become an OBGYN and, most importantly, serve the Ngöbe indigenous community.

“Doctor,” she says, “is a word that makes me feel complete.”

Excerpted and translated from “Ticas sin Medio,” a Kickstarter-funded project published by Dina Rodríguez Montero and illustrated by Vicky Ramos Quesada. Learn more here.  

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! Each month in 2020 has a monthly theme, and March’s is women’s rights, so scroll back through the month to see posts highlighting extraordinary Costa Rican women and organizations working on their behalf. 

A month to celebrate women

Posted on by stanleyobando

It’s March, and that means that International Women’s Day is upon us! Over the past decade or so, Women’s Day has gone from being completely off my radar screen, to a red-letter day in my calendar. There are lots of reasons why: from watching a woman make history as Costa Rica’s president, to watching a woman fail to achieve that same feat in the United States, to becoming a mother, to the #MeToo movement.

Throughout this month of the Daily Boost, I’ll share stories from “Ticas sin Miedo,” information about people making a difference for women in Costa Rica, and more.

Who’s the Costa Rican woman you most admire? I’d love to hear about her.

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! Each month in 2020 has a monthly theme, and February’s is marriage equality, so scroll back through the month to see several posts highlighting people and organizations working on behalf of this issue in Costa Rica. 

Rebel Girls, Costa Rica-style

Posted on by stanleyobando

I’ve long been obsessed with what seems to me to be the extraordinary percentage of Costa Rican women who are outstanding in their fields: diplomacy, science, technology, sports, you name it. So I was thrilled when browsing books this weekend at my local Librería Internacional to find “Ticas Sin Miedo” (“Fearless Ticas”) on the shelf.

The project, which was crowdfunded through Kickstarter, tells the story of 27 remarkable Costa Rican women from all of the fields above, and more. Indigenous doctor Mirna Román Rodríguez, swimming whiz María del Milagro París Coronado, journalist Glenda Umaña Hidalgo, and 24 of their remarkable compatriots. You’ll definitely be seeing posts inspired by or drawn from it here in the coming months, but if you share my admiration for Costa Rican pioneers, you can also learn more here.

To author Dina Rodríguez Montero and the many people who funded her effort to tell these stories: thank you!

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! Each month in 2020 has a monthly theme, and February’s is marriage equality, so scroll back through the month to see several posts highlighting people and organizations working on behalf of this issue in Costa Rica. 

Day 20: Happy International Day of the Girl

Posted on by stanleyobando
Girls in traditional dress in Costa Rica

When I started this thing, I did say that some days, the Daily Boost would be as simple as a photo – and today is one of those days. Three girls, walking together, colorful and happy: that’s all I need this morning, and I hope you love it, too.

Today closes out a week that ended up focusing on women. Women who run, women who write, women who drive poetry ambulances, women in the making. Here’s the roundup for all those weekend readers out there. And on this 20th day of the Daily Boost, I want to express my gratitude to all those who have read and commented on these posts so far. I’ve gotten soup recipes, book recommendations and more; let’s keep the conversation going! If you have a friend you think would like this, or if you see a post you’d like to share, please spread the word: for those of us writing in a vacuum, these connections are incredibly comforting, like an echo coming back to us when we shout off the cliff. So I thank you.

Day 16, Monday Motivation: A Costa Rican speedster who inspired us all.

Day 17, Tuesday Beauty: A group of women join forces to explore the theme of “unlove.” to

Day 18, Wellness Wednesday: How How a British ‘pharmacy’ gave me a shot in the arm. 

Day 19, Thursday Exploring: How to travel like a girl.

Wishing you a happy weekend!

Day 19: How to travel like a girl

Posted on by stanleyobando

Each week so far of the Costa Rica Daily Boost has taken me somewhere unexpected – I end up on Friday somewhere I didn’t envision on Sunday. This week ended up becoming a deep dive into women in sports, literature and wellness, so as Thursday neared, my day to focus on explorations, I found myself wondering: is there a guide to women-owned tourism businesses in Costa Rica?

In starting to research this question – I’m sure there’s a lot out there – I instantly came across Her Report, an incredible project I’d never heard of. Founded by journalist AnneMarie Houlis, the site includes stories by and about women around the world, but also practical travel information for women (in their “Travel Like a Girl” section). They’ve even created guides to women-owned businesses in specific locations – including Santa Teresa, on Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula – check to see if they’ve got one for your favorite destinations.

I’ve written pretty recently about the dangers facing women travelers and the balancing act we must sometimes perform to preserve our sense of adventure and while also common sense precautions, so I’m thrilled to find a resource that seems to bridge that gap through information and peer-to-peer advice. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on Her Report.

Do you have women-owned businesses to recommend or great travel information sources created by women? As always, I’d love to hear from you.

http://www.herreport.org/travel-guide-santa-teresa/

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).