Planting Seeds for Change

I didn’t expect to come back to Costa Rica as early as I did, but here I was, sitting on the beach with my toes running through grains of black sand, listening to the crashes of the ocean. I tried to process how I was in Philadelphia one week ago, planning on conducting an interview with my friend Lani over the phone but due to the school closing, I was at the beach next to her. Lani has this way of making everyone around her feel calm and centered, which was something that I needed.

I met Lani for the first time about a year and a half ago. I was walking around a farmers’ market in Puerto Viejo, a Caribbean beach town in Costa Rica, and came across the herbs and produce she had on the table. The first time I came to Costa Rica was in 2018 to study Spanish and later I moved to the Caribbean side because I liked the laid back lifestyle. Here, people run on “beach time” so the market starts as soon as the sun rises. The Saturday market is like a ritual for most people that live here and a lot of farmers come to the market from outside of town, selling what they grow on their land throughout the week. It can be challenging to find organic produce because Costa Rica uses many pesticides and exports a lot of produce in mass quantity. Lani, however, prides herself on being completely organic and pesticide free.

Lani was born in the countryside of Venezuela 70 years ago and remembers riding horses at the farm, going to the beach, and eating food that her family grew. When she turned 18 she moved to Hawaii and finished her last year of high school on the Big Island. Lani says, “Living in Hawaii was the best vacation I ever had. There’s no other way to put it. It was the best vacation God sent me to have.” She lived there for 39 years, longer than she ever spent in Venezuela.

For work, she looked after houses and pets for people around the islands. She spent every day going from the house to the beach and then the beach to the house. Although she had a beautiful life in Hawaii, it came with challenges causing her to move. She remembers the last 20 years she was there, development increased and properties built directly on the water became more common. She had a dream of returning to her home of Venezuela, retiring in her homeland, and embarking on a journey to discover the rest of Latin America. She wanted to go to the Galapagos and all the way down to Patagonia. “But things changed in three weeks,” she says. “I went home and didn’t recognize where I was born, it was a different country. When I left it was a democracy, but now it was really strange so I left. Just like that.” Lani, like so many other Venezuelans, made the hard decision to leave the country because of the corruption and inequality. She chose to come to Costa Rica because it has similar Latin American roots, but she does have plans to go back to Venezuela when circumstances get better.

Lani has a piece of land with her partner, Manuel, in a town called Bribri where she plants and grows all organic food. Some of the staples on her farm include; cacao, turmeric, ginger, bananas, spinach, pineapple, and rice. “I can go around my garden and make a salad. Thank you God,” she says. “It has been my dream forever. So I am living my dream.” She accepts volunteers at her farm where they can exchange working in the garden for room and board. Her and Manuel also conduct tours to a nearby waterfall and sell their produce at the Saturday market. She grows her food with a lot of love and integrity. Lani believes that nature is crucial for our health and wellbeing. “Nature is the best of everything. If you don't have contact with nature, you might get sick and your health might go down the drain,” she says. “So, you must always find it even if it's a little park. You must always get to a tree, go in the ocean, go in a river, be as close to nature as possible. It's the best time that you could ever have in your life.”

Lani is very well known around the community for being a respectful person and providing quality produce for people to enjoy. Lani’s friend Chantal, met her at the market because she was wearing shorts that had Maui written on them. Chantal says, “Lani asked me if I was from Hawaii and I giggled and said, ‘No, I don’t even think these shorts are!’” Chantal describes her as being fiercely independent, very knowledgeable, kind-hearted, caring, and spirited. When she visited Lani’s farm she felt inspired by how much love had gone into the land and by the diversity of food and medicine grown. Other community members attest to her positive character. Robin, who has lived in Puerto for a few years, thinks of her as a compassionate person and driven to do something good for the people and the planet.

Her wooden kitchen is fully outdoors with a stovetop that is fueled by propane because there is zero electricity on site. She has no health problems and sometimes when talking to her I think of my grandmother who is not that much older than her yet can barely breathe. Lani is an inspiration to me of how I want my health to be when I am older. Getting older doesn't necessarily imply a deterioration in health and in Lani’s case, I see a wise and strong woman whose age does not define her capabilities. Robin talks about Lani as an example of how to be healthy and live a long life. “She's so vibrant and she looks half her age,” Robin says. “I still can’t believe she’s 70.”

When I visited her farm she fed my friends and I a meal created entirely by ingredients grown on the property such as the rice, tomatoes, lettuce, and herbs. We also learned about medicinal plants and she is extremely knowledgeable about different teas and natural remedies for illnesses. Although Lani lives a beautiful life, she has many concerns about the state of our planet. The environmental crisis we are facing is only the beginning. We are experiencing water shortages, food shortages, excessive pollution, waste production, population growth, and other diminishing natural resources and this will continue unless we drastically reduce our carbon footprint. It’s important to note that many people around the world are already being hit hard by climate change. Most of the time it’s the populations that have the least impact and whose entire lives depend on the oceans or other natural resources.

Lani believes it’s up to the youth to really make a change. The young people will see drastic environmental changes in their lifetimes. Even right now, so many people around the world are experiencing climate change in ways we could not even imagine. We are pushing the limits of our planet while there is so much toxic waste polluting the land and water sources. Those very water sources are necessities to so many people, and sacred elements of the earth. Her advice to the youth is to “get a piece of land and start planting.”

For Lani, her major concern is the food. “When you have disconnection with nature and you don't even have a little place to grow your food, you must go to the stores,” she says. “And this food is all artificial color and artificial flavor. When you feed yourself like that, you are in trouble because everything in the body might get irritable.” She talks about how feeding yourself with artificial food can lead to violence and acting in unacceptable ways.

She is saddened by the ever-changing environment that we are living in today. Another concern for her are all the micro-plastics and other plastics polluting the oceans and land. The dumping in the ocean of the nuclear waste is another major problem. She also talks about the use of pesticides and says, “It's very sad when you see everything brown and two weeks later the air tries to regenerate. There’s little green twigs trying to come up and trying to survive after such a megadosage of chemicals. That is pretty sad, that is the most sad. There are so many chemicals in the ocean and on the land.”

There are endless concerns but Lani is a prime example of making solutions out of problems and regenerating the earth. When asked about solutions she says, “Close Monsanto. Close all the nuclear plants.” She discusses how we have sucked up all the oil out of the deserts to make airplanes and cars. “She’s [the desert] passing her time. She’s getting really dry,” she says. “We can have a few airplanes but not that many. We can have a few cars but not that many. We don’t have to suck that much oil out from her insides.”

Despite feeling the hardships of Mother Earth, she stays positive through it all. “Love. Always love. No matter what,” she says. “Have faith. Trust the process and don't worry about anything. Just make sure you are very polite and sweet.” She chose to live her life with nature because it’s easy for her body and it seemed like the way to go. “I did my homework and I didn’t want to be in a city in a building behind the desk. No way José. And then I felt that the way to go is to have your own land and grow your food. Period,” she says.

For many people, it's overwhelming to think about the environment and the other large- scale issues of the modern world. In Lani’s case, when things seem hopeless, she copes by going in the water. Whether it’s swimming or surfing, the water always brings up her spirits. She tries to make the best of every situation and believes that the Divine Nature sends situations to learn a lesson. From there, she tries her best to find a solution.

When asked her thoughts and wisdom about the current situation our planet is in, she takes a deep breath in before speaking. “The only answer is love,” she says. “Keep yourself at a high frequency. The evil feeds off of misery, fear, panic, poor health, and poor nutrition.” She advises to keep yourself eating whole foods and plant based. She also says, “be very calm, very helpful, respectful and very sweet and you will be okay, you will be perfectly okay.” Hearing Lani say this inspired me to start growing my own garden and choose to use the situation we are in right now as a catalyst for positive action.

Lani believes in following your dreams no matter what life throws you and says, “The final thought for all you kids, don't let anybody push your buttons the wrong way. Tell everybody to talk to my hand because my face doesn't give a damn.” She believes it’s important to move your body and get exercise, eat really good, and get sleep. I look at Lani and other people who are working in the soil as an inspiration and a solution to the problem. With every problem comes a solution and Lani chooses to be a part of that change. No one else can fix our issues for us and we must come together as one to heal our world. Lani has taught me that although we may not have control of the external issues that are going on around the world, we can start with ourselves. By figuring out what our values are and acting on them, we can be a part of a movement that is larger than just one person. Returning to Costa Rica has given me the ability to rediscover what I believe in and connect with people that are taking part in planting seeds for change.