Bridges & More Newsletter # 12: 9/1/08

I’m sitting in the living room of Nereyda, Carlos’s aunt, with 2 hours to go before Hector’s taxi arrives to take me to the airport. Carlos and Cindy’s apartment, my former San Jose home, has been upended and cleared out, so Nereyda kindly opened her doors to me. As well she has shared with me her delicious recipe for pastel de yucca, one of the most comfortable comfort foods I’ve ever encountered. I’m still collecting for that Costa Rican recipe book…

My visit to San Josecito was only of 3 weeks’ duration this time, owing to family commitments and a final operation on my eye when I arrived in San Jose. I, who was formerly legally blind, now function quite well without corrective lenses. Amazing.

Over the past year two San Josecito vecinos have died: William Aguero Aguero, caretaker for David and Jordan Smith, was recently killed on the highway at the entrance to our road. William’s wife Guisella and their two little boys continue to live and work at David and Jordan’s finca. And Danny Brower of Arizona, who along with his wife Sharon was building a home in San Josecito, died suddenly of an aneurism. I join all of San Josecito in extending my deepest sympathies to Sharon and to Guiselle and her boys. On a happier note, Ademar Nunez and his family (Marion, daughters Juliana & Aljondra, and new baby Jared) have returned to San Josecito and are living in the house Julie and Todd occupied last year.

Other than the excess of mud and biting bugs, I’ve enjoyed being in San Josecito’s rainforest climate during the rainy season—it’s so green and lush. True—I’m clearing out before things get really bad! But I was present for some pretty formidable deluges, and am pleased to report that the costly road work that reduced the number of drive-through creeks en route to my finca from five to one now allows long-time residents to access their homes even in the heaviest downpours. When I left there were still workers from the municipality busy building fortifications to widen one section of the road that has eroded to a dangerously narrow ridge. Other than that, work has been suspended for the rainy season and will be resumed in January.

Below is an example of a drive-

through creek in the dry season

Above, the creek past Oro Verde in March '08

Below, the same creek in August '08

San Josecito's favorite waterfall and dipping pool is still intact and visible from the this same site on road.

The church has pretty much reached its final form, ceramic tiles for the floor have been ordered, and the community continues its efforts to raise money to apply the finishing touches.

Beatriz’s huerta was badly damaged by a falling tree during hurricane Alma, and awaits work by a welder. Bridges & More is happy to be able to help with a small loan. Meanwhile, the chickens we helped Guiselle Nunez buy last March are now producing delicious local eggs. Gueselle has already fully repaid her loan, and her husband Alvin has applied for and received a loan of his own to buy two cows. A new farmer’s market has opened down in Uvita on Saturdays, and I’m encouraging Guieselle to get some eggs down there to sell. Natural local eggs are a popular product, and farmers run out early.

One of the most exciting developments in the past year is the production of the DVD Nuestras Aguas, Nuestra Vida by David and Jordan Smith’s nonprofit corporation Cavu. San Josecito is hugely fortunate to have this dynamic and talented couple as part-time residents. Cavu uses stunning video photography and David’s piloting skills to capture the formidable environmental challenges posed by unregulated development. In this most recent production one travels above the hills surrounding San Josecito to see the ravaged forests, eroding mountains, and sediment-choked bay of the stunning national marine park Marino Bahia Ballena. We hear familiar local persons interviewed, visit the Guillermo Nunez farm across the river in the highest reaches of San Josecito, and watch the family process sugar cane in its traditional trapiche. And, most important, the film conveys the urgency of the community’s effort to preserve its natural environment and its waters. For a great trailer, visit:

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=URbCyLgwN7g&feature=related

You may recall our original goal of building foot bridges to allow the two branches of the Nunez family living on the other side of Rio Morete to access schools and work during the rainy season. This goal was postponed because we discovered that residents wanted car bridges, not foot bridges, and we didn’t feel we could raise sufficient funds to accomplish this. Additionally, the municipality promised a bridge on the main road leading to the Guillermo Nunez farm, and a bridge to the Isidro Nunez farm was complicated by access disputes.

The municipality hasn’t yet come through with the bridge on the main road. I think it will happen as development up above the river continues, and as more people begin to use this road to get to San Isidro. My hope is that it will be a small bridge, inadequate for the machinery of major development. There has been talk at a federal level of using our road as another major highway between San Isidro and the coast. We all hope this doesn’t happen.

Meanwhile, Isidro Nunez and Dona Ester are aging and increasingly need winter access to the highway and to the new hospital in Cortez. Danilo, one of the younger boys in the family, described to me his feelings of helplessness as he watches his mother’s pain while she slips and slides on the steep roads and paths to the rickety foot bridge the family has used for decades. I feel a personal commitment to do whatever I can to get the bridge up before the next rainy season. Access disputes have been ironed out. Isidro hopes to sell one or two lots on his land to finance bridge construction. But sales are slow right now, and the sale would be much easier with the bridge already in place.

Above, the Isidro Nunez family, with Don Isidro behind Dona Ester at center, Danilo at right. Note Milena's paintings in the background. Below, me copping a silly pose on the old footbridge they now use on high-water days.

Subject to Bridges & More board approval I hope we can offer the Isidro Nunez family a grant of $5000 toward constructing the bridge. Meanwhile, I have offered Isidro a personal low interest loan to be repaid when the bridge is complete and a lot has been sold.

As I prepare to finish this already-too-long letter, it’s now a week later and I’m back in the U.S. watching the edges of Hurricane Hannah blowing past. In all I feel a combination of excitement for possible developments in San Josecito in the year ahead, and deep worry for the Uvita environs as a whole as forest is cut, hills are scalped, and tons of earth continue to wash down into the bay where they choke the little remaining life out of the coral reefs. Let me hear from you! Wishing you all a happy autumn,

Elizabeth Kushigian