AM begins a women's empowerment group

Written by Sara Llansa

Several weeks ago we began planning a women’s group in Potrero. We had several meetings together in order to figure out the questions that we would ask the women and how we envisioned the group would be. We all agreed that we wanted this group to be for the women by the women. We, the Abriendo Mentes volunteers, wanted to be more like facilitators than the actual leaders of the group.

Urania designing her bag

Last week we kicked off the women’s group with an art class designed by AM volunteer Reshma. Right before the class started I began talking with a few women that were waiting for the class to begin, to see what they wanted to get out of the women’s group, and what they wanted the focus of the class to be. I was pleasantly surprised by how many ideas the women had. They began giving me a wealth of information about the direction they wanted the group to take. They told me that their main preoccupation as women in Potrero was the lack of economic opportunities available for them. They were most interested in learning artisan crafts so that they could develop some marketable skills, and benefit from tourism in the Guanacaste area. After we talked for a few minutes, it was time to start the class.

Maria and Milagros concentrating hard

We had a group of 6 women, and I started off the class by saying - bienvenidos al club de mujeres – welcome to the women’s club, and the women began applauding and they all looked very excited. It was wonderful to see the joy in their faces, knowing that there was a group that was specifically geared towards them. We taught them a paper quilling activity where the women decorated bags. The class started around 5 p.m. and didn’t finish until close to 7 p.m. The women seemed to really enjoy learning something new, being artistic, doing something completely different, and spending time with other women. It was wonderful to see them all concentrated on the activity, but at the same time sharing with other women in Potrero.

Elizabeth and Fresia goofing off

One of the women, Milagros, called me after the activity to ask me when the next one would
be, and she told me that she had really enjoyed feeling like part of a group with other women since she didn’t know many women here. The day after the activity we had an impromptu meeting with a few of the women to talk more in-depth about what they wanted to get out of the class, and so far it seems like we really will be facilitators of the group just as we had wanted. One of the women said that once a week was not enough so we’re thinking of holding 2 classes a week for them.

One of our paper quilting creations

I’m excited to see where this group goes, and I’m very proud to be a part of it. I love how Abriendo Mentes is expanding opportunities not only for the children, but also for the adults.

Potrero Garden Project: Problems in the Garden!

Written by Alexandra Carelli

There is yet to be a project on the face of this earth that is seen through to completion without some trials and tribulations, and our garden project is no exception. Yesterday when I went out to do the daily watering, I was greeted by the horrific sight of stripped pepper plants and disappearing bean sprouts. Where just a day earlier stood a healthy, stoic clump of leafy green peppers, now stood little more than a green stick, stuck pitilessly in the dirt. And to make matters worse, the little bean stalks that had so ceremoniously poked their heads out of many corners of the garden (apparently they grow well in Costa Rica), had been reduced to barely visible white stumps. All of my trash hauling, bed building, soil preparing, fence raising, compost starting efforts had been wasted. Enter: overwhelming sadness.

Jefree working so hard on the flower beds

It is certainly tough to see something that you have worked so hard on destroyed overnight, but alas, I must remember that all was not lost. The cucumber and radishes are still doing excellent, two of the largest pepper plants had been spared, and the cluster of unidentified seeds were left untouched. Thank God. Plus, the compost pile is rapidly degrading into the sweet, black gold that will provide an abundance of nutrients for our modest endeavor. So, maybe I am being a bit overdramatic, all of my efforts were not in complete vain, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less!

The kids helping with the compost during the waste race lesson

Initially, I was quite a bit confused about what sort of animal/person would take to completely stripping plants down to their naked stems. I couldn’t even think of an animal that would be capable of such a feat. The only conclusion I could draw was that it must, without a shadow of a doubt, be endowed with opposable thumbs. How else could one so meticulously prune each and every leaf, flower, and stem from a two foot tall plant? But, of course, wrong again.

Again???

Lizards. Huge, spiny, scaly, multiple foot long, vegetarian lizards. Iguanas to be exact. After a brief conversation with a neighbor to the garden, we were informed that gigantic iguanas have made our plants and compost pile their make-shift reptile cafeteria. If you thought lizards lay on rocks all day, using their silly-putty tongues to seek out unknowing insects, you are dead wrong. Apparently, there are many species of vegetarian lizards, and they have an unprecedented appetite for garden-variety peppers and beans.

Our beautiful herb bed pre-plants and pre-lizard

We phoned a local gardener to see how they deal with these cold-blooded pests. Her response, “We kill them”. Unwillingly, we were enlightened to the local practice of setting lizard traps in various locales around the garden, and either removing them and re-homing them in another location, or killing them on the spot.

Ooook, we probably won’t be doing that. Thanks for the tip though!

Luckily, google exists, and thus we are able to temporarily free ourselves from the traditions of the developing world. After a brief search, I found some information on natural “garlic spray” being a great lizard deterrent, and you can make it at home! Now, this sounds more up our alley (Omprakash Volunteer, Lacey Worel, has a recipe for garlic spray here). Today, I am going prepare the garlic spray, douse my beloved sprouts, and hope for the best. Oh developing world, you truly never know what you are going to get.

You have to rely on smiling faces to get you through.

Crocodiles, boats, and swamps at Hacienda El Viejo

Written by Alexandra Carelli / Photography by Adam Barber

Children squealed and peaked through their spread fingers as a 6 foot long crocodile leaped from the water to catch a flopping fish in its gigantic jaws. Their babies sunbathed on the shore, clusters of tiny crocs that all but blended in with the surrounding mud. Exotic birds flew over-head, while others dove headfirst into the murky waters for a morning snack. A gnarled and spiky Jesus Christ lizard perched gracefully on the branch of an overhanging tree, and nearby bats hung upside down alongside coconuts and giant leaves.




Amidst swarms of mosquitoes and the shrieks of children, we witnessed many of nature’s miracles mere meters from our tiny motor boat during our field trip to Hacienda el Viejo wetlands. As we slowly drifted through the lush, jungle swamp lands, we were greeted by some of the best wildlife Costa Rica has to offer, and the kid’s couldn’t have been more excited. To everyone’s delight, the guide’s pointed out a variety of birds, monkeys, and water creatures, most of which no one in attendance had ever seen before. Thanks to our generous donors, AM students were able to learn about many of the wonders of their home country, and see first-hand the raw circle of life at work.




After a fruit breakfast, a boat ride through the wetlands, a big tipico lunch, and a tour of a sugar cane plantation, the AM volunteers and chaperons were ready for an afternoon nap. But, of course, the AM students were still filled with energy and inspired by their latest foray into the world of knowledge. The bus ride home echoed with chatter and excitement about the amazing spectacles we had just witnessed. As the volunteers rested their heads on the vinyl seat backs, they were lulled by tales of teeth and moments of childhood glory, satisfied that the children of Playa Potrero had been given another life-changing experience.



Thank you to all the wonderful people that made this trip possible!

Playa Potrero Garden Project, Part 3.

Written by Alexandra Carelli / Photography by Jonathan Katzenberg

This week we made incredible strides in the development of the Playa Potrero Garden Project. On Monday, we still had a borderline vacant lot with a few piles of stones, but by Saturday we were watering plants, turning compost, and building a beautiful stone path. Watching it come together piece by piece, and knowing that at one time this was little more than an idea floating around in my overzealous brain, was an absolutely enlightening experience.

Monday, Jonathan and I set out building the herb and vegetable beds out of rocks that we purchased and some that we collected. I had a vision of creating a free-form, organic space with winding paths and concentric circles filled with herbs, trees, and sprouting beans. Rocks were the perfect medium to execute this vision. They gave us the freedom to place beds in the patchy spots that sunlight hits and make the most out of otherwise unusable space. Since we are incorporating permaculture techniques into our garden project, I felt it important to work with the space we had in an organic manner and not force it into rigid grid-like structures.

Mini Permaculture Lesson: Building a permaculture garden is a lot easier than the name suggests. The premise is simple: plants in nature thrive off the remains of other flora, so we should mimic what happens in nature for a healthy, robust garden. This premise is based on an equally simple science: plants thrive on carbon, and dead plants and tree trunks provide carbon, thus when you plant near organic “waste” your plants will thrive. Many permaculture projects are large farms, with a lot of space to plant near organic waste or fallen trees. In our garden, there is a lot less space, so we have to mimic permaculture on a smaller scale. To do so, we are layering brown leaves and pieces of trees in our vegetable beds for the same effect. We will not be using any pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, and instead will make our own natural pesticides and use compost as a fertilizer. These tactics will allow us to grow fruits and vegetables that are truly part of a natural process, and are not subjected to the torture of contemporary agriculture practices.

On Thursday, we organized a “Waste Race” with one of our volunteers, Reshma, a sustainable designer from India. This project was meant to teach the kids the difference in organic and inorganic matter. We collected all different types of trash, and the kids had to race to put the pieces in the correct bin. At the end of the race, we ceremoniously brought all the organic waste to the compost area for a composting lesson where Brandon, an AM student, starting eating some of the rice we were trying to compost!

Between lessons and other every day duties, we spent the majority of this week bent over and dripping sweat from every limb, but by the time Friday rolled around it was completely worth it. The seeds that we planted in the plastic bottle planters had sprouted over the past couple weeks, and were strongly peeking their heads over the edges of their containers. So, we decided to have a planting day on Friday to transplant into the new beds. It was incredibly satisfying to finally be placing plants in the dirt after 2 months of talking, planning, and working to get the garden underway. Today, when I went to water the plants and sow some beans, I noticed that many of the cucumbers and radishes were shooting right up! Thankfully, we haven’t had any rain the past couple days, so the seedlings have had some time to take root and gather their strength for the storms that lay ahead.

AM reaches out to Costa Rican tradition!

Written by Alexandra Carelli / Photography by Jonathan Katzenberg

Here at Abriendo Mentes, we spend a lot of time preparing the youth of Playa Potrero for the future. We teach them the language, skills, and concepts that will allow them to propel themselves into the developed world, and leave their lives of poverty and discomfort behind. However, quite often when communities are rapidly industrialized, trademark ties to the traditional culture are completely lost. Songs, recipes, clothing, and dances that have been a hallmark of the community for generations are dissolved into a new culture of ipods, skinny jeans, and cell phones. The youth become distracted by their new access to the greater globe, and no longer have an interest in learning the secrets and trades of their elders.

This problem is something that we, as an organization, have a deep appreciation and awareness of. We see the differences in the lives of the grandparents and grandchildren, and while we recognize that many of these changes are positive, some are certainly a sad movement aware from the beautiful, traditional culture. As we move forward in assisting in the development of this rural community, we want to insure that the traditional Costa Rican culture moves forward with us.

One of the traditions that has already begun to be lost on the youngest generation, is that of the traditional Guanacaste dance. This dance is one of the oldest surviving relics of ancient life in Central America, and one of the few things that has not changed as the country has become one of the most desirable tourist hot spots. Recently, a few community members came to us and suggested we begin teaching lessons in traditional Guanacaste dance. So, last Tuesday, thats exactly what we did.

We recruited Maritza, a young woman born and raised in Playa Potrero, to teach the dance classes to the AM students. When the day came to hold the class, the room was completely packed with kids ranging in age from 3-15. Maritza lined up the students from smallest to largest, and began teaching the steps that would prove to be one of the most difficult, and sweatiest, lessons I have encountered in quite some time. But alas, the kids loved learning it and we even caught some of them practicing once the class was over!

AM Field Trip: Cooking Class!

To kick off the month of June we had a delicious field trip to Bahía del Sol which is a local hotel. Meradith has some contacts there and was able to set up a cooking lesson for the kids. Around 25 kids ended up going on the field trip, and they were all extremely excited from the very beginning. We told them to behave themselves on the field trip since we were going to a hotel and had to respect the hotel guests, as well as the hotel employees that would be giving them their cooking lesson. The kids behaved very well, and had tons of fun. First, the kids received a natural resources lesson from one of the employees at Bahía del Sol. He gave them a power point presentation, but also made it interactive by asking the kids questions.

After this presentation we split up into 5 cooking groups and waited for instructions. Each table had their own Bahía del Sol employee as well as a few Abriendo Mentes volunteers. While we waited for the master chef to get to our group’s table we went around the table, reading the recipe. Bahía del Sol was nice enough to give us some delicious juice that the kids absolutely enjoyed. When the chef got to our table he put the ingredients together in the bowl, and each time he’d put in a new ingredient we’d ask the kids how to say that ingredient in English. They knew more than I thought they would! The kids were so excited to be making cookies, and put a lot of chocolate chips on each cookie. They also gave us a few cookie-cutters so the kids made cookies in the shape of stars and fish. After we finished rolling the dough into cookie form we stuck the sheets of cookies into the oven.

We then had to wait around 20 minutes so we played duck-duck-goose on the grass near the cooking area. Finally, the moment that we had all been waiting for arrived – we tasted the cookies. I thought that kids would be fighting for cookies, but they were very respectful of each other, and one of the students, seeing that I didn’t have a cookie, gave me one of his biggest ones. All in all it was a great experience for the kids, the volunteers, and the employees at Bahía del Sol. A big thanks to Meradith for making the field trip possible, and to Bahía del Sol for leading such an entertaining activity for the kids. It was a great start to a new month at Abriendo Mentes.