Rainforest Aid

Festival Location: Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Festival Type(s): Environmental Festivals, World Music Festivals, Folk Music Festivals

Rainforest Aid Media:

Kiss my neck! Or Painforest Aid

By: © Kelly N Patterson 2009

The gods must have a sense of humor because they put Amelia and I on the volunteer "Security Team" at Rainforest Aid -- which is like putting Dyslexics in a spelling bee. Rainforest Aid was a three-day marathon, musical eco-orgy in the middle of an isolated rainy wooded area on the Osa Peninsula, in Costa Rica. It was like living in a Turkish steam bath for a week.

The Painforest, as you may not know, is home to bazillions of flying, blood-sucking insects, ants with teeth and spiders the size of Chihuahuas, who obviously do not appreciate our humble efforts to save their natural habitat. It is also home to a potpourri of single-celled organisms which announce their presence in the form of liquid bowel-movements.

Note: I am the only one, I know, who did not get diarrhea during this festival. Therefore, I have identified a new psychological state: "Bowel-Envy." And since 100% of the human waste produced at this festival was proudly donated to a local farm, I sincerely empathize with those that inherited our lively liquid "humanure."

Amelia and I had to report to the jungle a few days before the festival, to help set up our environmentally-correct carnival which consisted of bamboo and banana leaf structures and plates (no plastic plates!); composting showers and toilets (which make porta-potties smell like lilies); amateur plumbing (I know because I did it myself!); lots of sawdust; and mud, lots of mud. (To this day, I am still finding mud in unimaginable places: How did that get there?!) We also conducted a funeral for a pet parrot that was killed by one of the guard dogs.

I should mention here, en route to the Osa Peninsula, precisely two minutes before boarding a puddle-jumper from San Jose, Amelia was busted for carrying marijuana. Note to people carrying contraband on planes: Put it in your check-in luggage! It was the most pleasant drug seizure I have ever encountered. The Costa Rican police were polite, if not accommodating, repeatedly assuring me that Amelia was not going to be arrested and no, she would definitely not make this flight, but no worries, she will be on the next flight to Osa.

Basically, Amelia's punishment was hours of paperwork (in Spanish), missing her original flight, a $25 fine, and a very stern warning that should she be caught again with herb, she would be deported. The police convinced me to get on the plane, without Amelia, and she would join me a few hours later in Puerto Jimenez. Needless to say, everyone on our plane, who turned out to be the volunteer Recycle Team, had witnessed the drug seizure and empathized with us. These would be my first new friends at Painforest Aid.

Our core volunteer Security Team was just as diverse as our bowel movements: two old-skool hippies (complete with guitar and incense); a couple that looked like they just walked out of a GAP commercial; Mike (who turned out to be the only paramedic at the entire festival); a fun waitress from Dominical; a desperate housewife; and our sweet and patient Team Leader, Steve. All of us were put in one cabina on the festival grounds, and for a week, it felt much like summer camp on an episode of Lost.

I have never worked, or organized, a festival of this size, so I cannot assess the festival organizers' organizational and management skills, but my firm impression throughout Painforest Aid was in a word: Chaos. I can only speak as a Security Team volunteer: 10 people are not enough to cover 20 acres, 24 hours, for 3 days in a rainforest.

We, on Security, worked our culos off trying to prevent people from stealing cases of beer, stealing sound equipment and instruments, crashing backstage, and deflecting obscenely drunk people (which were usually other volunteers.) And because we were clearly identifiable by our neon gear, everyone and their cousin came to us with their problems: ranging from missing bands to missing children; from water issues at the campground to exploding pipes (that would be my work!); from the pungent odor of the composting toilets to disgruntled vendors and locals, even relationship problems and interpreting.

I managed, purely by disorganized luck, to get stationed at the VIP Lounge for bands for the entire festival. Early on, I discovered that if I asked band members to bring me beers, organic brownies, smokes, and whatnot, they would be accommodating. Therefore, I was rarely sober during the festival. This is also how I learned I had been shouting "Kiss my neck!" instead of "Kiss my ass!" (in Spanish) and this explains a lot.

The music at the festival was a funky combination of surprisingly high quality reggae (my fave San Jose reggae band, Kingo Lovers, were there!), bluegrass, country, heavy metal, rock, and even a stunning classical performance by Tico pianist Manuel Obregon and an American violinst, Nancy Buchan. On Sunday night, when most people had left, we all celebrated Tico rocker Pedro Capmany's 21st birthday with much gusto and Chinese beer (with ginseng!)

Overall, Painforest Aid was like a Costa Rican reunion for Amelia and I because we got to see most of our friends, who live scattered all over Costa Rica, in one place at the same time. We got to party with all the bands and of course, for the ICCCR, it was priceless networking with conscious people.

The highlight of the festival for me, personally, was actually the night before the festival opening. Ebony and Jesse, the GAP couple on our Security Team, had to spend the entire night guarding the stage (and all its equipment.) So we took mattresses, a bottle of rum, candles and flashlights, and set up camp on stage, under the stars. I did Osho Zen tarot readings while others smoked Cuban cigars and as the surfers say, "talk story."

As it turns out, following the festival, most of the Painforest Aid volunteers and attendants ended up two hours north, in the beach town of Dominical. Amelia and I traveled to Dominical to look at properties to make our new home and work base. Therefore, one could argue that the festival continued well into the following Wednesday, the grande finale held at "Ladies Nite" at Margaratu. Next year, for Rainforest Aid, I hope to have our own ICCCR both, with activities, and mosquito nets.

This is Kelly reporting from the jungle.

by Kelly N Patterson

Rainforest Aid Dates and Location

Rainforest Aid takes place over the Summer Solstice (mid June) each year on the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica For more info, check out the Rainforest Aid web site.

Accommodation in Costa Rica

Hotels in Costa Rica

Rainforest Aid Video

Enjoy chillin' to fine tunes, bashin' bugs and doing your bit environmentally into the bargain, then Rainforest Aid may just be the best fest for you. Check out the vid to get inspired by the beguiling Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica.