Living in Costa Rica is always full of surprises, and the opportunity to participate in a workshop with a group of nine men in Finca La Paz provided a unique experience. La Paz is considered a semi-institutional facility, where the men live Monday through Thursday and are able to return to their families Friday through Sunday. We wondered if these men were close to the end of their sentences but learned that wasn’t the case.
Ana Celia Zentella and I joined Ashley Lucas, Viciente Concilio and Caroline Vetori in the workshop they led. Mario Vircha also participated, along with two other dancers that I had met the day before.
Alvaro, my driver and friend, had arranged to meet the others in San Ramon and then drive to the prison. With no traffic on this route, we arrived in plenty of time to enjoy breakfast together. The dancers were running late and said they would meet us at the prison. Now the challenge was to find the prison. The directions were unclear, and so we all turned to Alvaro to figure it out. Alvaro saw two postal delivery men sitting in the restaurant and went over and asked them. Nodding his head, he let us know that he now had an idea where to go, and so we piled into two cars with Ashley and her team following us.
Much to our delight Alvaro had indeed figured it out, and we soon saw a Costa Rican flag attached to a building,indicating we were at a government facility. It was totally surprising to me as there was no barbed wire – just a gate with two guards standing there looking as though they were waiting for us. Behind the gate one could easily see a rustic dormitory-type building, lots of trees, and a space with table and chairs that looked like an open eating area. Alvaro pulled into a nearby parking spot and went up to introduce himself. I easily checked in showing my ID, and the guard confirmedthat I was on the list. Ashley, Vicente, Caroline and Ana Celia also checked in, and we felt like we were in a nice country retreat rather than a prison. There was no double-door entrance that I experienced at other prisons. Some of the nine men that would be working with us were hanging out on a porch of the dormitory. Alvaro had talked with one of the guards and found out that there was a local bar a few kilometers farther up the road where he could watch a World Cup soccer game while we were at the prison.
The dancers texted to let us know that they were lost. Ashley gave them some ideas on how we had found the place, and it wasn’t long before they arrived. The guards were very polite and welcoming but reserved and not sure what to expect. They guided us to the room where we would be working. It was a dimly lit rectangle, and we requested enough chairs to make an oblong kind of shape with some open space in the middle. There was a pleasant grassy area right outside and we got permission to also work in that space.
Soon the men arrived, and we welcomed and greeted them by shaking hands and introducing ourselves. It was new for me that we had permission to shake hands, because in some facilities no physical contact is allowed. The men wore their own clothes, rather than uniforms. One could see different economic levels in the group based on how they were dressed.
After we greeted each other and Ashley described what we would be doing, we moved outside to the more welcoming and larger space. Caroline led us in the name game I had done the day before. All the men enthusiastically participated. The guards were clearly interested in what we were doing, and much to our delight the prison psychologist joined us in the circle participating when it was her turn.
I was not surprised that the men fully participated, as I had regularly experienced full participation in the workshops I had led in prisons and jails. For me, this workshop was a challenge because it was all in Spanish. The guards continued to take a major interest and began taking pictures and videos which we were amazed they shared with us after the program.
There were a few opportunities for two of the men to share their drumming and singing talents. Toward the end of the workshop the three dancers improvised movements based on different themes the men shouted out.
Screenshot from video taken by
one of the guards.
At the end of the workshop we were asked to share what worked best for us, what was the hardest and what we might like to see in the future. Again, the guards chose to observe with a very positive attitude and one of them continued videoing. All the men were very positive. Luckily, I answered toward the end and was able to figure out how to respond in Spanish. I got a round of applause from the group for using my limited Spanish, which totally delighted me.
Again, much to my surprise, most of the men hugged us when they thanked us, which the staff did not seem to mind. While I found this unusual, I was not uncomfortable and found all the men respectful and glad to show appreciation for our coming to do a workshop with them.
As we left, the guards also expressed approval, and we felt a positive hope that a door had been opened for the dancers to continue doing workshops in the facility in the future. Alas, in the past month since the workshop several things have changed.
Three weeks later one of the men who had been in the workshop escaped from the facility. I asked a friend who has many contacts in the government to see if there might be a possibility to do a workshop in the women’s facility. She let me know that things were getting stricter in facilities countrywide and that this would not be a good time. In fact, an article in The Tico Times reported similarly that under the current administration in Costa Rica, decisions are being made toward stricter policies. I am glad we were able to do our program in July, as it may not be possible to do more workshops.
with the men in the workshop, along with one of the guards.