I'm sitting in the peaceful sala (lounge) at Earth University in Guacima, Limon, Costa Rica, at this moment, enjoying a delightful tropical breeze, and as usual, completely unaware of how this day will go. Will it bring awkward cross-lingual misunderstandings? Will it bring bus rides in the wrong direction? Will it bring penetrating stares from Ticos who've apparently never before seen a girl carrying her life in a backpack (along a few other supplementary bags)???
Ah, time will tell. It's going well so far. This place is remarkable. It's a huge campus, for one thing, and beautifully manicured with banana trees, heliconias (featured in the photo), vast green lawns, and brightly-colored birds flitting about. It's peaceful. And probably really expensive to keep up.
Earth U is essentially an undergraduate university--students come here for four years, from countries throughout Central and South America, and also Africa, to learn a combination of sustainable agriculture, entrepreneurship, technology, and ethics. They also get some of the basic college classes.
It's incredibly competetive--about 1500 students apply each year, and only 125 make it in. Many of them are students who would otherwise not even attend college. They're chosen for their leadership abilities, and the hope is that they'll go back to their communities and implement new ideas, businesses, etc. that are economically durable and yet easy on nature.
The school itself, which is a nonprofit, is bursting with creativity. There are all sorts of projects that make money for the school but also serve as educational tools. For instance, there are a whole bunch of experimental farm plots, and operations that produce yogurt, coffee, pineapples, banana-based paper, and other stuff, for sale to the outside world. Apparently, Whole Foods gets a lot of its bananas from here. I had the yogurt for breakfast this morning--pretty darn good, though I like mine a little sourer.
I go on tour in about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, someone, somewhere around here, is doing my laundry. I really like this place.
By the way, an alternate title for this post was "I left my pants in Playa Chiquita," cuz I did. But don't worry-- they're making their way to San Jose by bus, thanks to my gracious hosts at Miraflores Lodge.
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3 comments:
Andi -
Though I have nothing witty or "litterary" to say, I just wanted to let you know that I too, have been sucked in to your incredible adventure. Everytime I log onto my computer, sitting on the couch in my boring living room in front of my unnecessarily large TV with Pj's stupid Playstation 3 (ya, he suckered me in to buying it for him), I jump right onto your blog to delve into your amazing travels. I too, am living vicariously through you, enjoying every word! Stay safe - I'll check back later, as I always do!
- Niky
Andi...I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your view of life and how great it is to hear of your adventures. I'm living vicariously through you, although not when you're trying to sleep on a bed that reminds you of an old horse....I do need my good sleep! Anyway...just wanted to tell you that Matthew Sanford was written up in this week's PEOPLE magazine! I reading it and started thinking, "hmmm...this sounds like the guy Andi took lessons from..." and then it mentioned Minneapolis and I knew it was the same guy. Cool, huh? Let me know if you want me to keep it for you, or just send it to Jo and she can give it to you when she sees you...or whether there will be (an evenutal) address for you when you get settled. OK...stay safe...keep up the blogging...Love you! Aunt Clare!
Andi Andi.........you are too much. ......I left my pants..???
I love you. Mom
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