Santa Teresa, Costa Rica

I spent the past week in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, a small surf town in the Puntarenas Province. There are no stop signs or street lights on the unpaved streets of the town, but during the 3:30 rush hour, you hear a cacophony of laughter as opposed to honking. This small town- with a resident population of under 3000- seems to rely on communal joy as a source of fuel. Because the town is so isolated from any main city like San Jose, there is a lack of variety in job opportunities, resulting in what seems to be a lack of wealth disparity amongst the population. These somewhat limited jobs revolve mainly around tourism and fishing, two fairly job industries. In the absence of tourism due to COVID, Santa Teresa’s population relied heavily on fishing as a means to maintain a steady income. Armando, our hotel manager and a lifetime resident of Santa Teresa, let me know that COVID weighed heavily on the town, not because of case numbers, but because of the lack of fish on the coast of the surf town. When I first saw Santa Teresa beach, I was amazed by how seamlessly the jungle turned into the sand. After you take in the impressive setting, you notice that the sand is coated in a layer of tiny pieces of plastic, all different colors. These microplastics covering every beach in and around Santa Teresa don’t just impact the aesthetics of the beach. Instead, the microplastics lodge themselves into the digestive tracts of fish, essentially causing their appetites to disappear and eventually contributed to an earlier death. Microplastics also impact sea life's ability to reproduce, leading to a decline in fish population. According to a study conducted in July of 2020 published in Regional Studies in Marine Science: Volume 8, 100% of the sampled fish from the Pacific coast of Costa Rica contained traces of microplastic. With less fish to catch, the residents of Santa Teresa had less fish to sell, taking a toll on the small town’s economy.

Road into Santa Teresa

Comments

Dresden Museum Heist

In November 2019, 4,300 gems were stolen from the Green Vault Museum in Dresden in a high-profile burglary. The gems, which make up 21 different pieces, are worth more than 113 million euros and have impressive historical significance. Ministry of Culture officials have gone so far as to say that the jewels possess "priceless material value." Six men have been arrested in Germany and are facing charges. The defendants are all under the age of 30 and are charged with gang theft and arson, among other things. Each of the six men could serve up to 10 years in prison for the crimes they are accused of. These defendants are not only linked by their young age, but also by the fact that they share the same organized crime family, the "Remmo Clan". The Remmo clan is Germany's most notorious crime family and has plagued the country since the late 20th century. Each of the 6 Remmo Clan men were charged for their crimes and are now serving their sentences in German priso...

N4 GIP Event: Prioritizing Cross-Cultural Connections Through Storytelling

Narrative 4 is a cross continental organization built on the principal of providing students and artists with the opportunity to share their stories with one another, cultivating community and international empathy for those with differing realities. After having had the opportunity to participate and multiple story exchanges, it was incredibly illuminating to hear from our three panelists about the goals of N4 as well as their personal experiences with the organization. I was especially moved by the exchange between the students from the Bronx and the students from Ms. Castaneda’s school in Mexico. As both sets of students had been exposed to, and experienced consistent acts of unimaginable violence, the story sharing between these two groups was incredibly effective and impactful. Something else that really stood out from this event was the explanation of action steps that fulfilled N4's motto: Empathy Into Action. Prior to this event, the latter of those two felt ...

Drought Plagues Iran

While Hassan Rouhani closes out his term as President of Iran, the Islamic Republic is facing a serious water shortage. Rouhani has enlisted the government to aid areas that have been the most seriously impacted by the drought. Many report that the drought is a direct cause of global warming. I found it interesting that Iran, a country that supplies much of the world's oil (a fossil fuel), is experiencing first hand the effects of climate change, something that is caused- in part- by the burning of fossil fuels around the world. The drilling required to harness the oil has also impacted the natural landscape of the country, disrupting ecosystems and artificially carving away at the land. Because Iran’s economy, as well as the world’s oil needs rely so heavily on the exportation and distribution of oil, it is not as though Iran will implement tactics to minimize the exportation of this oil in the face of the drought. While the drought is certainly a result of environmental factors, ...

International Musings

Search This Blog