Camino Claro Blog

…and to my pleasant surprise, I found that a manila envelope had arrived from Pavones, Costa Rica. Inside was a handmade We Miss You card, addressed to me and Raphel and signed by dozens of little hands. The signatures and messages in all colors and sizes, some charmingly illegible, brought tears to my eyes and gave me a feeling of Pavones-sickness (one need only to go there once to know what I’m taking about). It has been over a year since Raphel and I left Pavones to resume our US-bound lives. In that time I know we have both thought about ECC and the community constantly, as well as felt an overwhelming amount of pride and gratitude toward Lisa for carrying on the dream. The card was a touching and thoughtful gesture- thank you Lisa and all the ECC students- Raphel and I miss you too! A visit to our tropical home is in the works for next year…

My tissues are out of reach, so enough with the sap and let’s get on with the updates!

Thanks Volunteers

A big Thank You is in order for several volunteers who have been working with Escuela Camino Claro recently. ECC has flourished over the past five years because of community support, donations, and the hard work of its volunteers:

Jillian, Shooting Star’s substitute yoga instructor, is leaving and will sorely be missed. Her acro yoga and stretching classes were a great addition to ECC’s repertoire.

Thank you also to Laura Guitar and her daughters for your volunteered time and donations of play-dough, books, and coloring books!

Anne, our volunteer from France, has been helping out with Center Time and introducing new, fun activities, such as homemade natural play-dough.

The most recent arrival from Oregon, Listen (and her daughter Rose), will be volunteering at Center Time, Farmers Markets, and hopefully by sharing her computer skills. What an exciting prospect, since computers don’t bode well with humidity and dust… perhaps a revival of ECC’s computer literacy classes?

Multicultural Fair Highlights

This year’s Annual Feria Multicultural was the biggest one yet! The Fair started in 2009 (see blog post here) and aims to bring all parts of the community together while highlighting the multiculturalism that exists in Costa Rica. This year it turned out to be beautifully organized, with 18 schools participating and many countries being represented. ECC represented The United States and Mexico (Lisa’s homelands!) with a theme of “humankind as one big family.” There were performances of multicultural dances, from hula to karate, music, food, speeches, and even a marching band. Thanks to Gayle, Bobby, Cabinas Carols, Kayla, and Gail for their help in raising funds for ECC.

Well done, Pavones!

Otras Noticias

• Farmer’s markets continue to prosper. July’s market incorporated a garage sale to split profits with Punta Banco’s Community Library.
• The long-awaited ECC school store is up and running. Lisa has created a space for students, parents, and the rest of the community to buy and sell books, art supplies, toys, quality used clothes and shoes, handmade crafts, and Guaymi artesania.
• The core classes continue to grow and change: children’s English classes, adult Spanish classes, and all-ages Center time.

Keep in touch for the next post,

Signing off for now

-Jeili (Haley spelled in Costa Rican)

Spring greetings from Escuela Camino Claro!

What’s been happening at ECC the past few months?

‘Tis about time for some ECC updates, tidbits, news, and other anecdotes.

Earth Day

ECC celebrated Earth Week by joining in on a community beach cleanup, followed by an Easter celebration at the community center. Lisa facilitated several Earth Day- inspired activities, turning the day into an educational and fun-filled celebration. As you can see, bilingual bingo finds its way into every celebration…

Farmer’s Market

The Farmer’s Market continues is the Pura Vida fashion (relaxed and non-hurried). Now that several of these monthly markets have taken place, it’s catching on! A great way for local ticos, foreign residents, Guaymi indigenous, and tourists to share their goods and produce. Plus we all need a stimulus in the economy, right?

Other Classes and Activities

ECC’s bilingual programs and daycare continue on with great success and increasing attendance. We wouldn’t be nearly as successful without the help from The EDGE Charitable Foundation and their generous donation of school supplies.

Creating a Thank You banner is a great excuse for an art project…

…The final product!

Lisa held down the fort during the rainiest rainy-season ever (but don’t we say that every year?). This is not an easy task, but when the sun begins to shine and the walls dry out, spirits are lifted once again.

An update from Lisa~

Although the open hours have decreased in the past few months, the children continue to enjoy ECC on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Even through the rainiest season on record, they are still arriving! We have added on a Mystery Center: a weekly theme-inspired creative center that inspires the children in different ways. We’ve already done some painting and gardening projects, and activities like a science lab and a Christmas art project center are in the works for December. Of course, the coloring room, game table, puzzle table, and reading center (where they either read a book to one of the volunteers or they can have one read to them…..depending on the age) are ongoing.

Funds are very low in the community due to the extra long rainy season and minimal tourist money coming in, so the families have really enjoyed ECC’s free programs. Needless to say, the paid language classes dwindled down due to that as well, however they should pick up in a month. The rainy season has been so intense it wasn’t practical or possible to start the Farmer’s Market….but now that the sun has come out, it’s time! The 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month will be our Farmer’s Market day!

In February, with the help of Jaime and Gerardo, we will be incorporating a new program into ECC’s repertoire: A homeschooling program called Maestro en Casa, designed for the numerous high school drop-outs. Escuela Camino Claro will provide the space two to three days a week for a few hours. The tutor will be Gerardo who has a finger on the pulse of the community and knows who needs the assistance and encouragement. Gerardo was last year’s ESL teacher for youth and adults- and they love him! Also, we have four laptops that are just waiting for our computer genius, Dean, to arrive back in town so they can come back to life. Computers have a knack for dying on us in the tropics. Then ECC can offer a free cmputer/Internet lab for the Maestro en Casa program and the Guaymi Indigenous who just can’t afford the high priced Internet service in Pavones. We’re getting ready to do a fundraiser…will keep you posted as it manifests!

Holiday Wishlist

For anyone in the area, the school has a wish list: Spanish books, bookshelves, a floor lamp or large lamp, metal bars for two windows (for the school store). For most of you who don’t live in or around Pavones, donations are always welcome as we continue to pay rent, and electric, phone, and internet bills.

To donate via Paypal (safe and secure!) go to ECC’s website here or contact Haley and Raphel at info@caminoclaro.org

To contact Lisa Thrash: call (506)2776-2245 or (506)2776-2243, or email rainbowcountrysurfers@yahoo.com.

We are on Facebook: Lisa Thrash and Escuela Camino Claro. See recent photos and… say hi

Thank you sun for coming out! and thanks to all of you who have supported ECC in the past, those that continue to support us, and those that will in the future!

Pura Vida, Lisa

A word from our new guest teacher

Allow me to introduce Melissa Smithers, Escuela Camino Claro’s guest teacher who has been volunteering for the month of August:

I came to Costa Rica at the beginning of July and I absolutely love it here in Pavones. I adore going to the library in the mornings and reading with the children, and I’ve been enjoying helping Jake with his classes as well as working with ECC’s English reading classes. I’ve been working with kids most of my life, starting when I was 12 years old helping out some of my parents’ friends who had young children. I grew up in Seattle, Washington and both of my parents work in the school district there, so it seems natural that I would be involved with kids myself. While I was at Seattle University studying for a BA in Liberal Studies, I volunteered for a developmental preschool and worked especially with kids who had autism and other behavior issues. I also traveled to Mexico for 9 months, in 2009, and volunteered for a number of different projects including a non-profit farm that cared for donated animals and a children’s orphanage. I also taught free English classes during my travels.

I love traveling and exploring new places, meeting new people, and trying new foods! When I’m not working with kids in the US, I’m generally working around food and have worked at several bakery/cafes in Seattle. I feel so lucky to be able to meet all these kids in Pavones and come experience life here! I hope to make it back some day to do more teaching.

Photo by Jake: “the kids have taken to Mel real quick, imagine that. the library is consistently filled with the murmur of reading and the miracle of childrens’ laughter.. ha ha, not joke. and for the most part neither are forced, but merely encouraged with prizes of candy or pencils. go Mel!”

A few years ago no one even knew how to work a digital camera…

…now Escuela Camino Claro students have their very own online photography blog! Jacob’s creativity and skill as an educator and photographer has brought this exciting new addition to ECC’s class repertoire.  The kids that are in his Computer Literacy and Digital Photography class are learning much more than the location of the computer’s power button and how to simply type in a word processing program- in a self-directed homework project they created their own photo journalism by taking pictures of their surroundings, writing stories about it, and even helping to upload the pics on the site. They are way ahead of the game when it comes to technology (still struggling with this myself!) AND they put their artistic talents and imagination to use. That’s what I like to see.

Click here to check out the blog. It’s pretty cute (see below) and surprisingly thoughtful. One of their projects was to find all the letters in their names in nature, very creative.

Here’s an example of what you will see- sorry if you don’t speak Spanish. At least the picture is pretty.

Una Flor

de Korana

Mi primera foto es una flor muy bonita yo la encontre en el jardin de mi casa.  Me gusta mucho su color y me gusta mucho su color y me gusta el sabor de la flor tambien por que es muy asida.  Mi mama lo tiene en dos colores en blanca y rosado.

guau! put some plants in dirt and watch ‘em grow: my basic lesson plan around Las Gemelas’ garden — and it’s working! things are shooting roots, sprouting sprigs, and just asking to be eaten. if you don’t believe me, just look at Naomi, she was so tempted to have a taste that mid-photo she began munching on a leaf.

when we first started planning for the garden and setting things up we all had our doubts as to the outcome of our projected peapatch, but who would’ve thought it’d look so healthy so soon. there are yard beans longer than jump-ropes already. i’m pleased with their gusto and encourage the other plants to learn from their fine example of surpassing expectations. the yucca is above ground and photosynthesizing as we speak. looks real good, except those weird little purple growths some have developed…but neither here nor there since you eat the roots…heh heh. we’ve even got things growing that we didn’t plant. on one of the fence posts there’s a really cool orchid (maybe) growing. hadas conveniently points this out in one of the photos. i’d like to take the time to point out right now how awesome hadas is. such a strong and positive force in the pavones community — thanks for your motivation and support.

~Jacob

Thriving yucca plant

Master-gardener Hadas with her yard beans

I am so very behind getting the community garden posts online, so since a lot has happened in the past few months, there will be a bundle of them coming at ya!  Now on to Jacob’s charming post:

hot dang, the garden at Las Gemelas elementary school has been planted and is growing! costa rica is a splendid location for gardening with children (or children-like adults) because the soil is often rich, moist, and loose, making it easy for digging and planting. so long as you avoid the telltale shard of glass or plastic bag that made its way into the composition of the soil, you’ll be fine.

once things are planted, the kids, and kid-like adults, need not wait too long for some action on the garden’s behalf. the school and myself had a 2-week break and upon our return to school we were stoked with the life and progress that has taken root, muahaha no pun intended but seriously, i even caught a couple rocks smiling at our results.

hadas and i are thrilled with the help we’ve had from all of the students and teachers at Las Gemelas. we’ve also had several volunteers come through and lend a hand, including cal and his group from Oregon. WOOOH cal! (cal is one of the “cool teachers” everyone wanted in highschool— cal rocks). OF COURSE, the garden would be nowhere without the help of alberto, the know-all of gardening. on thursday you could find us and another volunteer, marissa, hauling boards of teak from down the street for the construction of our compost bin. yeah we made quick/beautiful work of that compost bin. marissa and a few other study-abroad students from UCSF have been working with environmental issues and art in Punta Banco, right down the dirt road from Pavones. i honestly plan to take photos of the garden this week to show its progress … before the pinche horses somehow make their way in to eat everything.

i don’t trust horses. sorry all you horse lovers. ya got dog lovers, cat lovers, and horse lovers. i can trust a dog, but the latter two, nope. but let’s not leave on a negative remark. a friend of a friend once said “instead of killing two birds with one stone, wouldn’t you rather feed to birds with one seed?” ha! sounds so corny, but yet so comfortably politically correct…haha

~Jacob

We mentioned Pavones’ Anti-Tuna Farm Festival that took place a few weeks ago, you saw some pictures and heard Jacob’s positive feedback on the memorable event; so we thought it was time to give those who were interested some info on the legal side of the issue in the Golfo Dulce…

Remember, you can always check out our previous posts or Pretoma’s website for more background on the ongoing tuna farm proposals in our precious gulf.

Golfito’s municipal council vows not to issue permits for Granjas Atuneras SA

Gerardo Mendoza and Susanne Mesen, president and treasurer of the “No a las Granjas Atuneras” association (ANAGA) went to the Municipal Council’s meeting in Golfito a few weeks ago and petitioned the newly elected representatives to oppose the tuna farm project. They were successful and the council voted not to issue permits for tuna farming within the next six years and they pronounced themselves against tuna farming in all of Costa Rica. The previous Consejo Municipal had also refused to issue permits for Granjas Atuneras SA’s operation. Thank you Gerardo and Susanne!

Permits issued by SETENA may be revoked

SETENA (Secretaria Tecnica Nacional Ambiental - which is part of MINAET, The Ministry of Environment) however, did issue permits for the tuna project but then was forced by the court to look into charges that Granjas Atuneras‘ environmental impact report contained fraudulent statements such as claiming that the people around the gulf who were interviewed for the report pronounced themselves in favor of the project (not true). Granjas Atuneras also claimed that the currents only flow out of the gulf and not into it and therefore there is no risk of polluting the gulf. To the residents around the Golfo Dulce it is obvious that these statements are false. Let’s hope that SETENA will come to the same conclusion. If they do, Granjas Atuneras‘ permits will be revoked. This should be decided soon.

Pavones’ Festival: all about raising awareness

Perhaps the 2010 Anti-Tuna Farm Festival’s greatest success was acquiring 390 signatures for a petition that will be sent to Costa Rica’s new president, Laura Chinchilla, and SETENA, in which Pavones and surrounding communities state their opposition to the tuna farms and ask for revocation of the permits. The more people that sign the petition, the harder it is for SETENA to claim that the community approves of the tuna farm project.

Additionally, the local fisherman succeeded in having the Golfo Dulce declared Area for Responsible Fisheries. This means shrimpers are banned permanently as well as all fishing vessels that are bigger than a panga (small motor boat), and net fishing is outlawed.

GREAT JOB and THANK YOU to everyone in Pavones: members of the ANAGA committee, individuals and businesses who donated prizes for the Festival, and people who got out and signed the petition! You are all making a difference…now on to a few more pictures of the event:

ECC’s teacher, Lisa, with Apalonia, the vice president of ANAGA and also the voice for the Guaymi Indigenous community on the Tuna Farm issue. At the chicha barrel! (Jacob on the traditional fermented corn drink: “tastes like kombucha, feels like moonshine)

A few of the Guaymi Indegenous protesters

Carlos and Maruja, Pavones locals, enjoying the party with the rest of the pueblo

A big thank you to Lili from Mira Olas Cabinas for keeping us updated with current information. Thanks also to Jacob for his excellent photography skills!

More updates to come soon so keep tuning in.

~Haley

Another successful Anti-Tuna Farm Festival

May was a month of action for the Pavones community as a whole. Pavones hosted quite possibly its largest festival of the year in opposition to the proposed tuna farming in the Golfo Dulce. We had much support in gathering the town’s signatures on the petition; I won’t lie, getting everyone together for an awesome party puts people in a helpful mood. There was great food, delicious chicha (tastes like kombucha, feels like moonshine), rappers and clowns entertaining children for hours on end, a baile that went too late for my tastes these days, and other amazing things I can’t put into words. Gerardo took great control of the events organization and everyone worked together to volunteer their time. It was really cool to see everyone coming together to throw this big awareness festival. A fantastic mural is near completion on the once-white wall of the fishermen house – thanks everyone who worked on that (I know I saw Aurora, Alex, and Hadas there!). Although things seem to come together at the last minute here, I must say the Tuna Festival was a fantastic success.

ECC’s classes continue to go well

I know Lisa’s sure are: to paraphrase her students’ sentiments, they really like: “all of the games, singing, and food.” I can attest to their delightment in these things as I often hear the enchanting little voices singing such titillating tunes as “Clean Up! Clean Up!” and “London Bridge.” I won’t lie; I’ve even had fun playing some of the games – and eating the snacks! I never knew I liked raisins so much… Lisa has combined her two bilingual classes into one and they sure are swell. Speaking of swells, they even dedicated themselves to a pledge of environmental stewardship and conducted quite the beach clean-up – some tourists and locals even volunteered their abilities at picking up rubbish.

My classes are still going strong. Leon, my private home school student, and I become a more proficient studying machine as the days progress. He’s doing a good job at keeping concentrated on our work, even when I know at times images of waves are rolling through his head. Adult computer classes have finally collated into one Thursday evening class. Everyone has been making leaps and bounds in computer comprehension and that includes the kids’ computer/photography class. Of course, this month was exciting for us as the students have been creating a documentary focused on “No a Las Granjas Atuneras” (Anti-Tuna Farm). Gerardo’s Adult English class is still great fun. Lately, students have been working on putting together a travel guide in English, combining both English practice and computer literacy.

Other community happenings

Las Gemelas public school is chugging along like the little engine that can, and has. We’ve really come along way in our community garden there! Just today the students of Las Gemelas got their hands dirty planting a variety of different flora. En lieu of Dia de los Arboles several trees were planted, along with herbs, vegetables and even ornamental flowers.

Escuela Camino Claro’s benefit dinner up at El Castillo Restaurant was quite the fiesta. There was an appetizing spread of pizza, pasta, burgers, and make-your-own-salad with a dozen ingredients! We had a great turn out and a great time. It was so fun to be in such a swanky little place nestled up in the hills of the jungle. Everyone’s support and energy made all of us at ECC feel that proverbial warm and fuzzy feeling.

This month we have had several different volunteers from the tourist community volunteer at the public school’s library and during ECC’s English classes, which was a great surprise and help. I feel like this might be a great untapped resource as a lot of people feel like giving back to the community they are visiting. There may be more tourist volunteers to come. Of course we would like to thank everyone for coming and helping us to be a positive community.

~Jacob