The G-Spot

The project “Capacitación Teatral en Comunidades Nacionales y Aledañas a las Sedes y Subsedes de la Universidad Nacional” is a theatre for social change project run by the Theatre School of the Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica.  This project uses Theatre of the Oppressed techniques  to work with rural communities  in order to empower them as active, responsible members of their communities and of their lives. Theatre of the Oppressed is, in its creator’s words (Augusto Boal): A rehearsal for revolution, a rehearsal for real live.

Projects Objectives:

• To congregate children and young adults in rural communities with theatre workshops  and social activities where they can reflect about their realities and construct their present
• To produce theatre plays with collective creation methodologies: plays written, acted and produced by the participants.
• To produce cultural activities for the community: “Cultural Shares” are small cultural festivals, where both the community and the University share their cultural and artistic productions.
• To involve students and professors from the university in the activities produced by the rural communities.

Stages of the process:

• Community Diagnosis.
• Contact with organized groups and leaders of the community.
• Promotion and divulgation strategies.
• Theatre Workshops (Social Change techniques).
• Collection of materials for play production.
• Play Production (Collective Creation process).
• Presentation of artistic product.

Areas of intervention:

• Guanacaste (2008): Communities of Liberia, Nicoya and Playas del Coco, all very touristy and  culturally globalized.
• Heredia (2009): Communities of Vara Blanca and San Rafael de Vara Blanca, both severely affected by the January 8th earthquake of Cinchona

Achievements of the project:

• 2008: Theatre of the Oppressed helped us reflect about identity, folklore and the pros and cons of foreign invasion. We produced four plays and four “Convivios Teatrales”.
• 2009: Theatre of the Oppressed was used as a tool to reflect upon the earthquake and its consequences. The project worked hand in hand with other departments of the University to reconstruct these communities physically and emotionally.  We had four “Convivios Teatrales” and produced four plays with the children of the community.

Quiero compartir unos poemas escritos por Karina, amiga incondicional, mamá sin tabúes y feroz aprendiz de la vida. Kari es profesora de español en secundaria, especialista en Literatura hispanoamericana y (a mi parecer) una excelente exponente de la poesía erótico-romántica.

Salud!

Lo peor que me diste

Lo peor que me diste

fue promesas cumplidas,

besos delicados y noches de pasión .

Lo más duro fue tenerte

en mi cama, en mi piel

en mi interior.

Lo cruel fue permitir

que mis besos se sintieran deseados en

tus noches de soledad,

saboreados por tu piel

y correspondidos por tus gestos.

Lo imperdonable fue llenarme

de buenos recuerdos,

momentos ardientes

que iniciaban con miradas

discrteas frente al auditorio

y culminaban en ahogos discontinuos

tras bastidores.

Lo más amargo son las sensaciones

de tus besos que buscan con

esmero mis placeres

y no me dejan dormir,

esperando que tus puntos

me recorran de nuevo.

KBS

Parte de mí

Nunca he creído en las
sensaciones que se encuentran
mas allá de tu manos,
del palpitar de tu corazón
contra mi pecho,
de tus piernas aprisionando
las mías…
Lo que existe en mi vida
es todo aquello que
alguna vez sostuviste
con tu mirada,
lo que tocaste con tu boca
en nuestros momentos de intimidad.
Lo que persiste en mi memoria
son tus respiraciones descontroladas
en mi espalda,
nuestro sudor haciendo química
con la pasión,
las despedidas reiterativas,
los besos impensados.
Lo que no puedo olvidar
son los momentos
clandestinos que nos reunían
en “las historias prohibidas de pulgarcito”
KBS

Back in the year 2006, the Costa Rican composer Humberto Vargas made Costa Rica scream with joy, when, as an international participant in Viña del Mar International Song Festival, he won the maximum price “Gaviota de Plata” (silver seagull) for best song with his brilliant composition “Dilo de una vez” (say it once and for all).

This year, the festival is celebrating its 50^th anniversary and for that reason, they have invited the past years Festival winners to come back and participate with their winning songs. So Humberto Vargas is back in Viña with his song “Dilo de una vez”. Humberto is sharing the stage and competing against participants from Spain, Italy, Argentina, Chile and Peru.

Yesterday night he performed in front of the judges for the second time this week and proudly passed to the next and final round that will take place tonight. Will he repeat his triumphant performance of 2006? We have our fingers cross for you Humberto!!!

Humberto is a Costa Rican artist who has shown us the high quality artistic material that is created and produced in our country. Hopefully, artists like Humberto will open the eyes of Costa Rican sponsors that think that soccer teams is the only group that they can advertise and sponsor, I mean, come on! When has Costa Rican soccer teams produced such great results like the ones Humberto has achieved with his hard work?

To learn more about Humberto, you can visit his site www.humbertovargas.com

To see Humberto’s winner participation on Viña 2006, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSaf4BhxWv8

My main goal today is to update the post that I wrote on January 30, 2009, entitled “Thank you TICOS”. In that post, I thank the Costa Rican community for all the support they gave to their fellow earthquake survivors by collecting money, food and clothing for them. Well, little did I know, the affected communities actually haven’t seen a single cent!

Every day, the news informs us about the great humanitarian efforts that are taking place in the communities affected by the earthquake: Spain donated $285 000, El Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica donated 115 million colones, USA donated $30 million dollars, China donated $66 million, bla, bla, bla. The truth is that, to this day, nobody has seen a cent from all the money that has been donated by our country and the international community.

I visited the communities of Vara Blanca and San Rafael de Vara Blanca this past Saturday. Most of the houses in these communities are damaged; families are staying at hotels, relative’s homes, or neighbor’s houses. All of the gathering points for social activities are gone: the church, school and community center are inhabitable.  There is no water, some places don’t have electricity and some communities are still without communications. We are talking about the January 8 earthquake that happened more than a month ago! It’s been more than a month and there are still people with no water or electricity here!

What are the governmental institutions waiting for? These people need the help now, today…. not a year or two from now. The million of colones that were collected during the Channel 6 and Banco Nacional campaign are sitting in bank accounts today… do they seriously expect us to forget about it and then use that money on political campaigns or personal issues one more time?

I mean, I understand that it is difficult to organize the money donated before spending it. I understand that it is necessary to study the situation of each family and community before determine what to do about each case, but my criticism comes from the fact that to this day NOTHING has been done. There are basements full of food, clothing and personal hygiene supplies under the government supervision, those are meant for the affected communities, but members of those communities claim that they haven’t seen any goods since the past two weeks.

We know it, it happens after each tragedy:  everybody seams upset, touched by the pain and the damages and are willing to help for a while and then, when it is not news material, everybody forgets about it. We saw it happen when the 2004 tsunami in the south pacific, then we saw it again in New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina and it is now happening in tiny Costa Rica, after the Cinchona earthquake.

Shame on us!

The following picture was taken by Alejandro Arley of Al Dia newspaper on Jan, 14, 2009.   To read more on the January 8th Costa Rican earthquake go to http://www.nacion.com/disenos/v7/subhomes/n-terremoto-poas.html

So today I want to share my favorite poem with all of you.

This poem is by the Costa Rican poet Eunice Odio. Se was born in San Jose, Costa Rica on Octubre 9, 1919.

Although she was Costa Rican, she lived most of her adult life in Guatemala and Mexico, countries were she bloomed most of her work.

She died in Mexico City on March 23, 1974

I post the poem in both Spanish and English.

There is something about this poem that shakes my soul,

Enjoy!

DECLINACIONES DEL MONÓLOGO

I
Estoy sola,
muy sola,
entre mi cintura y mi vestido,
sola entre mi voz entera,
con una carga de ángeles menudos
como esas caricias
que se desploman solas en los dedos.
Entre mi pelo, a la deriva,
un remero azul,
confundido,
busca un niño de arena.
Sosteniendo sus tribus de olores
con un hilo pálido,
contra un perfil de rosa,
en el rincón más quieto de mis párpados
trece peregrinos se agolpan.

II
Arqueándome ligeramente
sobre mi corazón de piedra en flor
para verlo,
para calzarme sus arterias y mi voz
en un momento dado
en que alguien venga,
y me llame…
pero ahora que no me llame nadie,
que no quepo en la voz de nadie,
que no me llamen,
porque estoy bajando al fondo de mi pequeñez,
a la raíz complacida de mi sombra,
porque ahora estoy bajando al agónico
tacto de un minero, con su medio flor al hombro
y una gran letra de te quiero al cinto.
Y bajo más,
a las inmediaciones del aire
que aligerado espera las letras de su nombre
para nacer perfecto y habitable.
Bajo,
desciendo mucho más,
¿quién me encontrará?
Me calzo mis arterias
(qué gran prisa tengo),
me calzo mis arterias y mi voz,
me pongo mi corazón de piedra en flor,
para que en un momento dado
alguien venga,
y me llame,
y no esté yo
ligeramente arqueada sobre mi corazón, para verlo.
y no tenga yo que irme y dejar mi gran voz,
y mi alto corazón
de piedra en flor.

Eunice Odio.

DECLENSIONS OF THE MONOLOGUE

I

I am alone
completely alone

between my waist and my dress
alone with my entire voice

with a cargo of slight angels
like those caresses which collapse
alone through my fingers.

A confused child of sand
seeks a blue canoe
amid my floating hair.

He holds his tribes of scent
with a pale thread,

thirteen pilgrims rush
to my profile of rose
at the quietest corner of my eyelids.

II

I arch slightly over
my heart of stone and flower
to see it,

to wear my arteries and my voice
in a given moment

when someone arrives
and calls to me . . .

but now I don’t wish to be called,
I fit in the voice of no one,
do not call,

because I’m descending to the depths of my meagerness
to the satisfied roots of my shadow,

because now I’m descending to the anguished
touch of a miner, carrying his half-open flower on his shoulder
and a big sign of love on his belt.

I descend further

into the immediacies of air

Hurriedly waiting for the letters of its name
to be born perfect and habitable

I descend even further,

Who shall find me?

I wear my arteries,
(what great haste I have)

I wear my arteries and my voice
I wear this heart of stone and flower,

so that in a given moment
when someone arrives

and calls to me

and not finding me
lightly arched over my heart, to see it,

I will not have to go and leave my great voice,

and my high heart
of stone and flower.

Read more about Eunice Odio here

If you are reading this, you probably smile when you see a beer… i mean… any beer!

I haven’t met a Costa Rican who doesn’t like beer, you see, here, everybody drinks beer, to the point that is easy to find bars that don’t sell anything else than beer… interesting ha?

Also, beer is very cheap, local brands run from 750-1000 Colones (between $1.50 and $2.00 a bottle) in most bars.

Like a good Costa Rican, beer is my number one favorite drink… followed by tequila shots and jagerbombs, but that’s a different post.

This country offers a good variety of beers: the local Imperial, Pilsen, Bavaria and Rock Ice are obviously the favorite among ticos, but one can easily find famous foreign brands such as Corona, Heineken, Tona, Quilmes and Tecate. However, let’s concentrate on the two most popular Costa Rican beers: Pilsen and Imperial.

The slogan “La cerveza de Costa Rica es… Imperial” is pretty catchy and straight forward, Imperial is probably the most consumed beer in this country. It’s a pretty sweet beer, favorite among ticos and foreigners, to the point that it has become a celebrity, you can buy Imperial t-shirts, hats, key chains, underwear, card decks and unimaginable things at any gift and souvenirs shop around the country.

Then, there is Pilsen, a.k.a “la rubia” (the blond) because of it’s golden color. Pilsen has adopted a different advertisement strategy: The Pilsen Chicks,  a group of blond models that advertise the brand in bars and social events. I’m guessing the Pilsen chicks are responsible for the many male Pilsen consumers, I mean, the “Chicas Pilsen” make a yearly calendar that sell thousands of copies each year, generating good competition to Imperial lovers.

One more important detail about these beers: Pilsen is a little more bitter than Imperial in taste and it’s 5.2% alcohol, a little more than the 4.6% Imperial.

So it seems like we are in the middle of the battle of the beers here!!

Which is your favorite?

For more information on Costa Rican beers go here.

On January 8^th, 2009, at about 1pm, an earthquake woke up Costa Rica. I was home with my mother-in-law and her son when it hit, the earth was shaking very hard and it lasted for what seemed to be an eternity. We ran to the laundry room, probably the safest room in my house and waited until it was over. After that, we walked to the living room, with our legs shaking, and turned on the TV to hear the news.

The 6.2 earthquake’s epicenter was the little rural town of Cinchona, Alajuela, really close to the Poas volcano and the La Paz waterfall, two of the most popular tourist attractions in this country. There were no damages to my house, so I thought it was just a big tremor, nothing serious and turned off the TV and continued with my day. I was wrong.

It took us a couple days to realize the magnitude of the tragedy. At least 30 people lost their lives and 20,000 families lost their homes and business and are now living in shelters. There are at least 20 people missing, farms are destroyed and farm animals are dead or left homeless with no food or shelter. Hundreds of dogs and cats were abandoned by their owners. Everywhere you look, all you see is chaos.

Tremors and earthquakes are not new to Costa Rica, we “ticos” are used to feeling the floor shake here and there every once in a while, however, we haven’t experience an earthquake since 1991, when a 7.3 quake destroyed the city of Limon in 37 seconds.

I decided to write this post mainly to thank Costa Ricans for their solidarity towards our brothers and sisters who are in need today. TV and radio stations, local hospitals and NGO’S around the country have done a great job collecting donations of money, food, clothes, household supplies and even pet supplies. People around the country are volunteering to go help the Cinchona community and almost every neighborhood has gathered their people together to collect supplies and help out. Colombia and the USA sent military help and helicopters to reach the affected areas. It’s been three weeks since the tragedy, and all I see today are people still willing to help.

I feel so proud to see so much solidarity and sensitivity around me; it makes me think that no matter how corrupted our world is, we can still trust in humanity. I wish we didn’t have to wait for a tragedy to happen to be willing to help. Wouldn’t it be great to apply the same earthquake relief efforts to help solve other problems like poverty and hunger around the world? Maybe it’s just a utopia, but just as Shannon Hoon, former singer of Blind Melon once said “Keep on dreaming because when you stop dreaming is time to die”.

These are pictures taken before and after the earthquake at La Paz waterfall. The pictures where taken by the Seismology and Vulcanology Observatory Center of Costa Rica. The before picture was taken on January 11, 2007, while the after picture was taken on January 09, 2009, a day after the earthquake.