Puerto Viejo

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So, I am in Puerto Viejo doing development work.
I haven´t posted here in probably about a year, but I will pass on a link about some of the work I am doing.

www.crazyjungle.com is the blog that the foundation I am working for has, click april 2009 then scroll down to the entry titled ´a new eye on puerto viejo´

check it out.

Aydin


update: i'm adding the text here, but go to the page if you want to see pictures and stuff-

“A New Eye on Puerto Viejo”

Dropping off supplies to a remote village, partying at Puerto Viejo’s numerous reggae bars, and teaching English to eager schoolchildren - these are some of the highlights during an exciting and notable first ten days in Puerto Viejo. I recently started an internship in Puerto Viejo focusing on community development projects, including strengthening ties with our current partners and looking towards expanding into other sustainable projects in the area. I was lucky to have Isaac here to show me around for my first few days in the town. While it started off slightly dull, as we had to acquire a bunch of supplies for our new house and spend an entire day cleaning it up inside and out, things quickly picked up. On Friday night, we went to Johnny’s Place, a reggae bar right on the Caribbean where it seems like most people in the small town converge on weekend evenings. Probably due to the high afro-Caribbean population in the region, reggae seems to be the music of choice for this and most of the bars here.


On Sunday, I was lucky enough to accompany a group of about eight people to Alto Katsi, a small village close to the Panama border that has been devastated by floods in the past six months. Alto Katsi is quite difficult to get to, and required a drive, boat, another drive, and then finally a 40 minute hike. This lack of proximity to other towns makes it difficult to buy products and sell the plantain and cacao goods that they produce, and is a major reason why Alto Katsi faces economic difficulties. Luckily, the journey featured some beautiful landscape, including steep cliffs, thick jungle and many rivers rushing in all directions. The purpose of our trek was to deliver supplies to the villagers of Alto Katsi. In total, there were about ten garbage bags filled with backpacks, clothing, shoes, and other supplies. Each child in the village was given a children’s backpack with learning materials. The children were present to personally receive the backpacks, and all of them accepted the backpacks by immediately putting them on. The people of Alto Katsi were very excited to receive the donations. Lacking a better method of dispersal, the clothes were dumped on plastic bags on the ground, where the villagers were able to take what they liked. In one instance, a tug-o-war broke out between two young girls who both wanted the same pink shirt. After we gave out the donations, we visited the school, which is nothing more than a wooden shack with only a floor and a roof. The two “classrooms” are separated by a small wooden log in the middle. The school is flooded several times a year, and the villagers are currently looking for a new place to build a school at a higher altitude. After seeing the excited faces of the people of Alto Katsi as they received the donations, it became clear to me that we must continue to raise money and give our best efforts to help these people and others that are in need.


Returning to Puerto Viejo on Monday, I went to teach at Cocles Elementary School. Generally, the students were willing to learn and were excited when they saw me as they knew it was time for Ingles (English). Ironically, it seems like the younger the students, the more willing they are to focus. The school is not in the best shape, and the fans work only some of the time, making it difficult even for me to focus in such hot weather, but after visiting Alto Katsi I felt like I was teaching in a deluxe North-American private school!


The rest of the week was spent teaching at Cocles in the morning and spending the afternoon getting to know the town, meeting some of its residents (like Rondhini, who showed me some magic tricks in return for a donation; and Veronica, who runs a vegetarian restaurant and hostel in the center of town), and taking in the beautiful beaches that seem to be omni-present, as you are never more than a few steps from the shore. Overall, a great introduction to the town where I will be spending three months.

Aydin Smith
Community Development intern Puerto Viejo

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