La Carpio

La Carpio is a Nicaraguan refugee community on the outskirts of San Jose and is considered one of the most dangerous areas in Costa Rica. I spent the day there and met a lot of really wonderful families that invited me into their homes.

Elias Sandoval lives in La Carpio with his family of five beautiful children and his wife Idali Martinez Sandoval who is carrying her sixth child. They live near a river in a house made out of tin. Elias is a very nice man and volunteers every Sunday with a small NGO to help improve the conditions in La Carpio.

Idali had her first child when she was 13 years old. Her husband is at least 10 years older than her. It is very common for indigenous Nicaraguan women to begin having children at a very young age. From a first world perspective the age difference would seem immoral. Cultural perspectives clash in various countries in Central America where its debated if indigenous people should have the right to practice such cultural norms.

Patch Adams in Town

So I was walking down the street in San Jose when I saw four clowns walking in my direction. I started photographing them and they invited me to follow them around as they visited children’s hospitals. They escorted me to a bus filled with 37 more clowns. I was then told the whole story about how they were here volunteering with Patch Adams’s Non profit. I then met Patch Adams the following day and photographed him as he clowned around La Carpio, a Nicaraguan refugee community. Hanging out with the clowns for two days was probably the most overwhelming thing I have done in Costa Rica. Songs like “The clowns on the bus go around and around” continued playing in my head hours after I arrived home.
To learn more about Patch Adams’s non-profit visit www.patchadams.org