Subtle Reflections

I have just written of the contrasts of San Ramon, glaring as they are.  But that would be normal for any place - contrast is always brighter than subtlety.  So what are the subtleties of this place - San Ramon?

Breakfast pickers

The people would be first in my mind.  Having traveled in many places, I am one to automatically look at people I encounter in my many walks, to momentarily capture their subtle intentions.  Tico's are generally a very friendly lot, quick with a Buena' dia, usually truncated from its proper form, and once heard merely as "Ben D".  I like the fleeting capture of a glimpse, it says so much - the eyes speak so readily, often greater than words in that split second.  Some wave, and smile, some gesticulate with more animation.  Clearly I am an easily identifiable gringo, and so perhaps a target one way or another, but almost always, it has been pleasant.

The other day, I escaped from my students and their work and traveled with Dustin to Piedades Norte, meeting with Rafa and Alejo, the two "clients" from last year's project.  I have an interest in the Rio Pax National Conservation Area in northern Piedades district for another potential study abroad project, the site of the former President Francisco Orlich ranch (founder of the National Liberation Party) and the headwaters of the Pax river.  A beautiful place, we drive as far as we could up into the high reaches of the watershed, then walked another couple kilometers up into the cloud canopy, following a rutted "public street" to its apparent apex.  This puzzled me - this "public street" seemed more a fire road, yet no one can build a house here.  This land used to be owned by the government, then parceled out to about 22 landowners who "farm" this land.  Due to its elevation and high, cloud induced moisture, crops such as coffee do not grow here (but will easily grow 500 meters lower in elevation).  Rather than keep the land in public stewardship, the government sold it and then pays a subsidy to these landowners to farm with a conservation motive.  There may be a subtlety of purpose at work here that mystifies me.  I am only too pleased that it is being conserved, though this road , suitable only for foot, mule, motorbike or four wheel drive, certainly could be cause for significant erosion and washouts, evidence we had seen.

Alejo

Rio Pax Watershed

Alejo, my walking partner scrambling nimbly up these hills, is a coffee farmer and a character,  ruddy face under a broad brimmed hat, tough knarly hands,  dirty pants and a penchant for my gift of beef jerky ("carne!!").  Though he cannot speak English, and I too little Spanish, we can nevertheless communicate - somehow.  It's those eyes with the subtle twinkle, the grin, the easy laugh, and the apparent tall tales - the one about getting lost in the woods as he grabbed a handful of soggy moss and demonstrated how he had squeezed it for water to survive.  I tried it, and squeezed only muddy water - but really, a shortage of water in this cloud canopy?  Or the presence of a lagoon "over there" with huge fish, a whale perhaps. Or the fact that we walked all the way up here so he could show us a rocky peak (rare for these parts), only to have it shrouded in the dense cloud cover.  I believed him then, for he would not lead three of us so far up without a purpose, but it was an enjoyable encounter nevertheless with but a small amount of jerky remaining for Donja Alejo!.  We finished our excursion with refreshments and conversation at the Cafeteria Flory, the same country soda we visited last year.

Though San Ramon has a very hard exterior face - of concrete and steel -there is beauty there; vegetables and murals.  I walked back to the hostel  yesterday from our presentation venue and passed the farmers market, and could not resist a wander through this bustling place, full of color, exotic vegetables and fruit - a feast for the senses, surrounded by concrete walls.  Were it not so late in the afternoon, or our departure so imminent, I would have filled my knapsack full of fruit to share, settling instead for three bouquet of fresh cut flowers for the equivalent of $6, to grace Miriam's house.

 

San Ramon is blessed with some highly talented and productive muralists who grace these ugly concrete walls (castle walls? So it seems another subtlety) with fantastic allegorical works of art using guerrilla graffiti techniques - spray paint mostly.  While not so subtle when seen up close, they are a subtle bloom in an otherwise harsh landscape. Whole streets are bordered by these images, including the farmers market, as are more isolated "surprise" concrete canvases of a single building.  There really seems to be very little graffiti, even though the rough and tumble appearance seems  to invite this potential.  Perhaps these creatures of an artist's imagination repel those that would dare something less imaginative.   I appreciate this concrete canvas, and I suspect the San Ramonans do as well.

I leave you and this adventure with a few of my favorite unpublished photos from this trip, of subtle and not so subtle beauty and imagery, so you might glimpse the fleeting capture of my shutter. 

Grey on Grey

Dona's Dryer

Could deck over San Ramon

Fiber Optic Flower

Walking club

 

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