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The Role of Security in Peace

Posted on: May 21st, 2015

By: Brandon Kim

Hotel Los Vulcanes was one of the hotels we briefly stayed at in Costa Rica.  The hotel’s front was beautifully designed, with a running water fountain, framed with flower bushes to the side in hues of yellow and purple, stairway spiraling up to the entrance and then… a barred door. I look back and there was a barred gate. The next day I look next door and across were more gates and locked doors and barred windows. I walk on the sidewalks full of cracks, and then I slip into a one foot drop- it was a draining ditch next to the road. The roads were about a one and a half car’s width to two car width and there were  no street signs, no stop lights, no crosswalks, no speed limits. A car whizzes by and a motorcycle speeds and swerves. Pedestrians cross streets at their own risk, yet with much regularity. At times pedestrians form a critical mass and stop the cars from moving forward.

Coming from a suburban background, I wondered where is the order? Where is the sense of personal safety and public security? It appeared that drivers and pedestrians had a mutual understanding of how to move around each other. It seemed a dangerous dance requiring coordination, communication, and a mental poise.

For the gates, I wondered if the security was a response to crime. Did the residents have to protect their homes because there was a lack of security? If they were secure now, why don’t they take the gates down? Is there continued existence out of necessity or is it a symbolic relic from the past?

In Irvine, we hold a reputation for being one of the safest cities in the country. Most living residences are gated communities, but what was the difference between Irvine and this city of Alajuela in Costa Rica? Instead of the gates holding multiple houses together, the gates in Alajuela separate houses from each other. Their community appears to be isolationist; people mind their own business, and pay most attention to family matters. As I consider Costa Rican people, I find it difficult to generalize. We have many similarities and we’re not so different. Yet there was a consciousness that stuck out to me. Every Costa Rican could tell me the history of their country, they could even tell me some history about the United States. Proudly they would tell me about the demilitarization of 60 years ago and how they instead put their people’s taxes into education, health care, and environment. Their focus was on building peaceful relations, taking care of each other, and away from violence and war. They understood that war bred more war, that war was a machine for profit, and war sent young people to their deaths.

I still do not know the true answer to the gates question. Certainly Costa Rica is not perfect, but they do hold a consciousness that makes a lot of sense. At the very least, I have come to respect the power of peace as an idea, a consciousness, a structure. All of them come together to make Costa Rica one of the happiest countries on the planet and I think we would do well to observe more carefully how to be more like them. 

The Travels of an American Leaving the Country for the First Time

Posted on: May 13th, 2015

By: Michael E. Levy

Blogging is a refreshing break from the seriousness of research projects and other academic activities during this quarter. I want to put all the statistics aside and use this time to reflect on a brief and wonderful trip. Since a lot can occur within a ten day period, I will focus on my perception of Costa Rica through the eyes of an impressionable young man escaping the borders of the United States for the first time in his life.

I noticed a difference between cultures in the three areas we spent most of our time: San Jose, Ciudad Colon, and Mastatal. Our trip offered an interesting structure to compare and contrast communities within Costa Rica. We spoke to countless individuals and attempted to absorb a fraction of the information, while scribbling down the rest. We went from Alajuela/San Jose to Ciudad Colon, to Mastatal and then back to Alajuela/San Jose. All the while I felt a little ignorant, struggling around with a camera around my neck and a notebook in hand, ready to observe the subjects. Honestly, I went into Costa Rica with a lot of misconceptions, I had attempted to come in with a truly open mind but I still lacked the knowledge of Costa Rica or foreign countries in general, to understand what to expect. My impression of Costa Rica had come from two sources at that point, research and watching the 2014 World Cup.

During the World Cup finals, Costa Rica were underdogs in a group deemed “the group of death”. However despite being surrounded by dangerous teams, they fought their way through with tactics centered around defense and teamwork. Many claimed that they were boring because they did not attempt to score when they may have launched an attack. However I thought their strategy was brave and intelligent. I believe a nation’s soccer team can reflect the values of its people. And as I watched Costa Rica take Netherlands into a scoreless overtime quarter final, I imagined Costa Rica to be a nation of hard working people, able to cooperate with one another.

Additionally, I had conducted some minor research, but in hindsight, I now see that I fell into the trap of viewing Costa Rica as the happiest country in the world, according to happyplanetindex.org. The articles I read painted a perfect picture of Costa Rica in my head. As I googled subjects regarding Costa Rica I started to assume that everyone was politically literate and equal. I also began to think that everyone was an expert at recycling and calculated their ecological footprint on a weekly basis.

These presumptions were soon to be slowly worn down as the trip went on. As I sat in the van to our first location after we landed, I was surprised by what I saw. I instantly saw several people litter, throwing their wrappers onto the bare ground and others stomping out their cigarettes in the dirt. I didn’t feel as if I was in a completely different place, I felt as if I was back in my own hometown as I was unable to point out any clear differences from Alajuela in terms of culture. The structure was different and the physical features were new to me but i was expecting it to be completely different. For lack of a better word, I expected it to be better. As I walked the boardwalk of San Jose I recognized the same look on the passerby’s face and I wondered where was this happiness that so many research groups have accounted for time and time again.

 San Jose was not worlds apart from Los Angeles. They both had a McDonalds every square mile and each offered their fair share of panhandlers and street vendors. Despite my efforts to come into Costa Rica with a blank slate of expectations, I still found myself disappointed. All of those who I had talk to who had visited, raved about the sloths and zip lines, and even about the beautiful beaches and scenic forests. This was the first time I had been beyond my country's borders but it did not feel that way at all.

Once I was able to let go, my expectations I began to see Costa Rica for what it really was. Costa Rica was far from homogenous. Like all other countries, Costa Rica is composed of different groups that may have differing opinions from one another. As we moved throughout our trip we conducted numerous interviews, most of the time being random bystanders. During these interviews, we often asked if they believed in the popular assertion that Costa Rica is one of the happiest countries in the world. We were always eager to hear their answer on this subject because we constantly received differing answers.

We went from the city to Mastatal, a province in the rural area of Costa Rica. I expected Mastatal to be a place that aligned with the picture of Costa Rica that I had in my head before the trip. I thought to find a place free of stress and away from the pressures of the global world. On the surface, it looks like the perfect life. However, during one of my last meals at the farm I spoke to Javier, the owner of the sustainable farm we stayed on. During our conversation, I learned that farm life was difficult and gained a better understanding on why so many people choose to move toward the city. When I asked him what he would like for Andres, his young son he replied, “I want what every parent wants, for my child to have the choice to pursue what life they wish.” I thought his thinking was admirable and I came away with a greater understanding of the relationship between city life and farm life in Costa Rica. 

Though it seems like this is a disjointed recollection of my journey throughout Costa Rica, this blog does have a point. Out of everything that I took away from the this journey, what I value most is the change of my perspective on global outlook, knowing that we cannot trust written sources all the time. No matter how credible or how many citations they provide, it will never be enough to base your opinions off of. I understand why experiential learning through travel is important. We must be conscious of different opinions. We must learn how to view them critically and avoid the mistake of making lazy assumptions. I had the privilege of seeing Costa Rica for myself and now I am left with an urge to explore other regions in the world to find my own truth within those borders.  

Mastatal: A Hipster's Paradise

Posted on: May 4th, 2015

By: Kay Nguyen

Nature, effortless chic rustic designs, hammocks, yoga decks, jars made from used beer and soda bottles, hand-painted wood signs, exposed brick walls, free-range chickens, organic farms, artisan coffee, and all things DIY and all things eco-friendly. Do these things sound familiar to you? Does it remind you of things that a hipster you know would appreciate?Urban Dictionary defines a hipster as “someone who lives a lifestyle that prioritizes freedom, usually achieved through creativity, and out of the box thinking”. And Mastatal is a place where hipsters can experience the most authentic version of the lifestyle that they have always yearn for.  

Mastatal is a small village that is located at the base of La Cangreja National Park, in rural Costa Rica. I don’t quite remember how long it took us to get from San Jose to Mastatal but I do remember the ride, if you have ever been on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland, then you could imagine what our ride felt like. The ride was rough but it was so much fun and we knew what we were in for the moment he hit the first pothole.

During our stay in Mastatal, we lived on a family-owned farm called Villas Mastatal. We woke up everyday to the amazing view of the surrounding mountains and enjoyed the sound and beautiful colors of the birds, animals and insects all day long. Even though we were not big fans of the mosquitoes, we did eventually learn how to coexist with them. On our first day, Javier, the owner of the farm showed us around and introduced us to his very sustainable, eco-responsible farm. Javier is someone that I would describe as a hipster - an effortless hipster. No he doesn’t wear flannel shirts with a beanie and thick black-rimmed glasses, but he is simply a hipster because of the lifestyle that he lives. Javier and his family live quite an independent life. They grow their own food, build their own house, and almost everything on the farm were the results of their creative DIY projects. In Mastatal, the farmers use the good ol’ system called bio-diversity to combat pests and loss of crops instead of using pesticides and unsustainable farming practices. As hipsters have an affinity for the antique, Javier has adopted a method that can be seen as old and undeveloped but it is sustainable. Javier may not yield as many fruits or vegetables as huge industrialized farms but his products are superior. His tomatoes are the sweetest ones I have tasted and his guanabanas are to die for.

If a hipster is identified as someone who is a freethinker, down to earth, expressive, artistic, and a politically and environmentally aware type of person, then to me the people that I met in Mastatal are all hipsters in their own special ways. They are free and independent in the sense that they live accordingly to what they have, they don’t submit to the mainstream culture of consumerism. The hipster culture is very similar to the culture of Mastatal in which they appropriate their own uses and meanings through mixtures of clothing, style, and other practices that set them apart from the dominant culture today. For example, in Mastatal, it’s a norm to use compost toilets and grow your own food; those are the things that I definitely don’t consider as everyday life. I know that people have different opinions on the hipster culture in which some like them, and some get annoyed. For me personally, I admire the hipster lifestyle that Mastatal has because of the kind of freedom that is so hard to find at home. I know that it’s the perfect lifestyle for me but a part of me is also certain that it will be a difficult one to lead when there are temptations for materialistic things that I don’t need all around me. To live a hipster lifestyle back at home would require lots of resistance, but in Mastatal, one can simply experience the satisfaction from living a DIY lifestyle without really trying because living sustainably is the cool thing to do because everyone else around you is also doing it.