Laugh treatment: Isabela Maia, of Brazil, volunteers with Patch Adam's nonprofit organization, clowning to bring joy and laughter to children at hospitals in downtown San José. See photo report for more.

Keely Kernan | Tico Times

Flu epidemic or no flu epidemic, the clowns were going in. Two bus loads of them. Thirty-seven clowns in total.

The hospital workers weren't quite sure what was going on. Clowns seem to have that effect on adults. Not so, the children. The kids welcomed them with open arms, particularly those little ones wearing plaster casts.

The clowns, professionally trained in the art of juggling, tickling and balloon-twisting, are members of the Gesundheit Institute and the School for Designing a Society, international non-government organizations established to improve health care systems and society.

Traveling in convoy from their Quaker-run hostel base to San José's National Children's Hospital on Sept. 11, the clown crew warmed up on their buses with improvised songs, such as “When the clowns go marching in” and “The clowns on the bus go round and round.”

While silliness was very much the order of the day, the reason behind the clowns' descent on San José's hospitals and clinics was an altogether more serious affair.

“Like doctors, it is the job of the clown to walk towards suffering,” said head clown, 21-year-old Melanie Meltzer from the U.S. state of Washington. “We are here on a humanitarian clowning mission, to deliver a bit of joy, care and sustenance to the children and change health care for the better.”

The clowns are inspired by the work of Patch Adams, the U.S. physician depicted in the 1998 film named after him starring Robin Williams. Adams is a professional clown and founder of the Gesundheit Institute, a free community hospital in Virginia. The clowns tour the world prescribing Adams' particular brand of medicine – a concoction of humor and play.

It was the first such mission for many of the clowns so, as well as a one-week josh with the sick in three of the city's hospitals, they will also participate in evening debates at the Quaker lodge, Casa Ridgeway, discussing the role of the clown as an activist, among other topics.

Brazilian Isabela Maia, a 26-year-old former Broadway actress, who fled the bright lights for the circus, said, “I was doing Broadway but suddenly felt that my life had become empty and unfulfilling. I felt that I didn't belong to anything of any importance.

“I decided to go to circus school in Brazil, a move that upset my parents who thought I would end up juggling on the streets for a living, but I told them it was something I needed to do,” she said.

See the Sept. 18 print or digital edition of The Tico Times for more on this story.

The Costa Rican Railroad Institute (INCOFER) has connected Pavas, west of San José, and Heredia, north of the capital, to San José center. Now, with those projects distancing themselves in the rearview mirror, the institute is shifting its focus to a train ring that would circle northwest through Alajuela and extend southeast to Cartago, passing Heredia and Pavas along the way.

The ring, which would connect four of the country's seven provinces, would begin in downtown Alajuela, connect to the downtown Heredia station, and pass Santo Domingo de Heredia and Tibás before arriving at the Estación al Atlántico in San José. It would return to Alajuela by way of Pavas, passing San Antonio de Belén, Guácima and Ciruelas.

The line, which currently runs from the Estación al Atlántico to eastern San José's Universidad Latina, would extend through Tres Ríos and end in downtown Cartago.

A preliminary feasibility study for the project completed by Iberinsa-Ineco, a Spanish engineering company, concluded that 18.5 kilometers of railway between ULatina and Cartago would have to be repaired at a cost of $5 million.

Of the 20 km of tracks that run between Alajuela and San José, 11 km need repair and require an investment of $3.9 million, according to the study.

In addition to the rehabilitation of railways, the study gauged the cost of concrete railway ties, construction of new gutters and sewers along the tracks and bridges.

All of these factors together round out to about $27 million and six years of work.

The 11th Buyer's Trade Mission, held by the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER) last week, proved to be a giant success for Costa Rican businesses. During the four-day event, 254 Costa Rican exporters from small and medium enterprises met with 201 different international buyers from 29 different countries.

PROCOMER estimates that Costa Rican companies brought in $40 million, more than doubling the original goal of $20 million.

“It is an honor to have surpassed our goal for the mission,” said Emmanuel Hess, general manager of PROCOMER. “To be able to create new relationships and bring in such a diverse range of markets is a great accomplishment in times when we are hoping for economic reactivation.”

According to PROCOMER, interested companies showed increased consideration in establishing relationships with businesses committed to sound ecological and conservation practices. Companies interested in “green” practices hailed from Canada, Trinidad and Tobago and Europe.

Of the estimated $40 million worth in business agreements for the week, more than $17 million will go towards exports and trade in food and food services, more than $13 million in agricultural exports and more than $9 million in industrial exports.

Harnessing the attention the creation of the Ministry of Peace brought to Costa Rica, the nonprofit organization Global Alliance has scheduled its 2009 summit in Costa Rica's Central Valley. 

Beginning Thursday and lasting through Sept. 21, the summit aims to grow the Global Alliance network and offer guidance to people motivated to develop peace infrastructure in their home countries. Representatives from at least 40 countries are expected to participate in daily workshops on how to develop peace-building skills.  

“Costa Rica has chosen to host this summit because, like many other countries, government and civil society leaders are striving to strengthen the country's national peace model,” according to a statement from the organization. 

Not only is Costa Rica host to the United Nations University of Peace, it is also the first country in the Western Hemisphere to abolish its army and one of the few whose standing head of state is a Nobel Peace Prize recipient. 

Most recently, Costa Rica became the third country in the world to develop a peace ministry, after Nepal and the Solomon Islands.  

The same group that organized this week's conference – Building Bridges of Peace – helped draft the bill that created the Ministry of Justice and Peace and were able to get the legislation passed in time for the summit. 

In a statement introducing the summit, Hernando París, minister of justice and peace in Costa Rica, said, “For our country, the highest accomplishment for this summit will be the adoption of peace, its internalization and its accompaniment in our daily lives.”    

The Academy for Peace of Costa Rica is hosting a pre-summit BePeace course as an extension to the programs offered at the four-day meeting. Much of the content was set to focus on ways to grow the peace movement. 

“The idea is to take grassroots efforts and combine them with government relationships to accomplish peace,” said Tara Ruttenberg, summit manager. “It's really figuring out how structural peace can create a culture of peace.” 

For more information about the course/summit or to sign up, contact Tara Ruttenberg at tara@rasurfoundation.org.  

The opening ceremony will be Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Costa Rican Children's Museum. The closing ceremony will be Monday, Sept. 21, at 7:30 p.m. at the National Theater. Entrance to both events is free and open to the public. Reservations can be made by calling 2519-6643.