Costa Rica: Hamilton Williams (Sustainability and Local Interactions)

Sustainability

There is so much we in the USA can learn in terms of sustainability from Costa Rica in general, and specifically from San Jose. For one, nearly one hundred percent of the electricity in Costa Rica comes from renewable sources, mainly hydropower, but also wind and solar. That’s such a big deal! I know it’s a little bigger scale than what I can do personally to improve my own sustainability practices, but considering how far behind we are in Wisconsin in terms of the percentage of our electricity that comes from renewable sources, it’s something we need to start working on much more diligently. In terms of practices I can implement myself, recycling and trash is a big deal here. For one, the cultural importance of the environment as a human right shows itself immediately when you look at any city street. There is very little trash in the streets or gutters because each person feels either the personal responsibility to find a receptacle for their trash or to pick up the trash that others have left in the street, which is something I can implement back in Madison. The other thing is that the motivation to recycle is phenomenal here. For one, it is the more affordable option. The city charges by the kilogram for trash, so people generally try to reuse or recycle as much as possible. In addition, it’s normal to have a couple different recycling receptacles and one for organic waste, and some places don’t even have a regular trash can at all because almost everything can either be recycled or composted. For example, in my host family’s house, the only things we threw in the trash were essentially fruit seeds that we couldn’t put in the compost bin. All wrappers and paper products were recyclable, dirty napkins went in the compost, etc. These intense reusing, recycling, and composting practices have the capability to almost entirely eliminate the need for landfill trash, and they are simple enough that we can all implement them to some extent at home!

Local Interactions

The biggest reason that I am going to miss this country so much is the unconditional kindness of the people here. I am sitting here, and I actually can’t think of a negative interaction I had with the people of San José or any other city I visited in Costa Rica. The most memorable interaction I had here happened on the second day of being in the country. My roommate and I were brought to school by our host mother, but we needed to take the bus back to the house after our first day of classes. We were given a sheet of written instructions on how to take the bus home, but a problem arose when we got on the bus and started heading back toward our house. Our instructions were fairly simple, “ride for 5 minutes, you’ll see a building called ‘Fidélitas’, then ride for 5 more minutes and you’ll be at your stop.” The problem, however, was that it was rush hour, and traffic was moving extremely slowly. On top of that, neither mine nor my roommate’s phones were working, so we couldn’t even look at a map. In English, we chatted with each other, name dropping “Fidélitas” and the name of our neighborhood several times. After about 20 minutes of confusedly looking out the window trying to figure out where we were to no avail, a stranger tapped us on the shoulder from behind and pointed out the window with a soft smile. Right where she was pointing was the big blue sign for “Fidélitas” we had been looking for. This person probably did not speak English, but they were willing to go out of their way and cross the language barrier to help some confused dudes who do not speak Spanish. My roommate and I were very touched, but our journey was not over yet. About fifteen minutes later on the ride, a woman with a child who was sitting a few people away stood up and looked at us. She said the name of the neighborhood we were looking for and then motioned for us to follow her. She and her child led us off the bus into a place we did not recognize. We continued to follow her for half a block before she turned to us again and pointed around a corner. Right around the corner was the entrance to our neighborhood! The rest of our walk home was spent in awe of the kindness of the people around us. Despite us not knowing their language, they were invested in our conversation enough to consider where we were trying to go, and they cared enough to intervene and point us in the right direction when it came time. That night, we learned that there would always be someone looking out for us and that we could count on total strangers. Although both gestures that night were small, they will stick in my head because of the bigger picture they signify.

 

Hamilton Williams

Hometown: Eau Claire, Wisconsin

Major:  Civil Engineering

Program: UW Spanish Language in Costa Rica

I chose this program because it offered me the opportunity to be immersed in the Spanish language while also giving me a great cultural experience that I otherwise could not have gotten in college. I recognize that this is an opportunity that I may never have again, so I am anxious to seize it!