Time to Catch Up on the Fun!

Alyssa, 17

I haven't blogged since Day 2, and today is Day 5! We've been so busy, hustling from place to place, and trying to get caught up on sleep. Here's a recap of Days 3, 4, and 5.

Day 3 - We started off the day by going to the Legislative Assembly for an interview, and also got a tour of the building. After lunch, we went back to La Carpio for the last time. It was one of the best experiences I've had. We (both our group and people from La Carpio) worked together to create a road. The hardest part was mixing cement by hand! Well, with shovels. But it's a lot harder than using a cemement mixer! Once our work was done, we had a small gathering to present our group's donation to the La Carpio community. Nate, Patrick, Shalyce, and I presented a community leader with the donation and each reflected on our experiences working in La Carpio. Then, we had cake and Coke! I don't drink pop, but the cake was really good. It had caramel and fruit in it. A few of us also bought purses made by a few of the women in La Carpio.

After we (FINALLY!) got back to the hotel after a long ride in traffic, we had dinner, which really surprised me. First off, there were no rice and beans! Instead, there was mashed potatoes. And the meat was fish! Which usually, I HATE fish, but I tried it, and it was really good. I even had seconds! I was happy I ended up trying it, despite the fact I thought it would be really gross. Traveling to another country has really surprised me in the sense that I am being a lot more open minded about things like food, which I would have never tried before.

Day 4 - Today started with probably the best breakfast we're going to have. We had cantaloupe, pinapple, and a ham and cheese croissant. I love cantaloupe and pineapple, so I was psyched. The first thing on our itinerary was a trip to Dos Pinos, a local dairy cooperative. We got to see how things like milk and ice cream are made, and get a lot of information about CAFTA and how the tariffs on trade between the US and Costa Rica and going to change over the next 10 years. The end of the tour was spectacular, complete with ice cream and stuffed animal cows!

We had our second interview after lunch, at the U.S. Embassy. I was really looking forward to going there because I heard so much about it and I wanted to see what it was that they did for Americans. We learned a lot about what people do there, how they help Americans, and the process of becoming an officer in international embassies. One of the officers also gave us a few travel tips! This was really helpful to me because I plan to travel more in the future.

Last night, we went to a Jazz Cafe. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it wasn't too different than just a restaurant with a live band. I had never really listened to Latin Jazz before, but it was better than I expected it to be. I really liked how the piano was played, it sounded so cool and different. The only downside was that we didn't get back to the hotel until 11:30! Which would have been fine if we didn't have to get up so early for Poas today!

Day 5 - Got to wake up around 6 to leave by 7:30! First we went to the high school to pick up the students. We had about half of us and half of them in each of the two buses. I really liked that we got to talk to them on the (long) ride to the Poas volcano. I talked to Paula the entire ride there. She is very good at English and we found so much to talk about. It wasn't constricted to just, how old are you, and what type of music do you like. It was about everything from our school classes, who are friends are, where we like to go to hang out, and just everything we could think to talk about. The volcano was really clear of fog, so we got lots of great pictures. On the way back, I talked to Larry and Pepe a lot, they were so funny. It is really interesting trying to break a language barrier, even if we know a bit of Spanish and they know a bit of English.

The high school students came to our hotel for a small get together. It was so fun. We listened to music, attempted to dance, and ended up playing hand games. Who knew that other countries played Slide and their own version of Stella Ella Olla! I miss them already and they only left a few minutes ago. I can't wait to get back home and e-mail my new Tico friends.

We are leaving for Yorkin in the morning and we won't be able to blog again for about a week! I'm worried about the food we will have to eat, but I'm doing much better with eating rice and beans and today I even had squash soup. Weird, right?

I miss everyone back home and I can't wait to see you guys when I get home.

Fun Day!

Ashlee, 18

Today was a fun and interesting day. This morning we went to our interview at the Legislative Assembly hall and learned a lot about Costa Rican history.

This afternoon we went to La Carpio to help pave a road and it was hard work. I didn't think that I could ever do work like that. In a way today was easier to work because it wasn't as hot as yesterday. This experience today made me really appreciate where I live and the way I live.

Interviewing and finishing up work in La Carpio

Matyas, 16


Today was a rather long day. We got up early to get ready for our interview with a person from the PLN (one of the major political parties here in Costa Rica) his name was Francisco, but he went by the nickname "Chico". He was a very talkative man, but still an entertaining one. He would answer each of our questions with a story that usually lead to a different topic, but then he would go back and finish what he was saying before. The down fall of the interview experience was that we had to get into dress clothes (button shirt, tie, suit jacket, slacks, dresshoes) and the building wasnt using it's airconditioning! I thought for sure that I was going to get heat exhaustion, which I think I was actually pretty close to getting because my head was killing me by the end of the interview. I'm doing fine now and am quite content because of the work we finished in La Carpio.

Today in La Carpio we mixed up cement by hand and shovel, not by and machine or mixer or anything. It was a pretty back-breaking job, with all the bending down to mix up the gravel, dirt, cement mix and water together with the shovels. Then when we finally got it to its ideal conditions we layed it down to the area where the metal grid was layed down and the people who lived there were gliding a long piece of wood over the cement to level it out. Alyssa and I were asked to level part of the road by this method and I found it to be pretty fun.

The part that moved me the most though was after we had finished the road and given the donation to the people, Rosario (a lady who was a co-owner of the daycare in La Carpio) got us a cake and Coca-Cola to eat and drink as a sign of her, and the rest of the community's gratitude. I just found it moving because these people barely have anything in the first place, yet they had gotten out of their way to get us a treat for a sign of gratitude. I wasn't expecting any kind of material "thank you" and I was fine with that because I just wanted to help them, so when we DID recieve a cake and cola, I just felt really appreciated.

Let me catch you up

Cherie, 17

I have barely blogged this whole time, so theres going to be a lot I have to catch you up on.

Day 2 - Yesterday was a pretty amazing day. We went to La Carpio in the morning, and though I felt really sick from not eating anything, I still had a good time and got work done. I think I spent a good hour or two trying to "beat the rock," as Mr. Oliver would say. It took a lot of work and time, but eventually Alyssa and I got this huge rock out of the dirt. Then we took a bus ride to the high school, where we played games and spoke to our penpals. That whole experience was interesting and exciting too! I didn´t eat dinner but I did have some chicken at lunch!

Today - Today´s experience at La Carpio seemed to be more signifgant than yesterday. I felt a lot better eventually, so I felt good enough to do more work. It was really hard mixing the cement and shoveling the rocks over and over again, but it felt good. I don´t think I´ve ever worked that hard in my life! We did an interview before we went, and though it was kind of awkward, it went great! 

Now it´s time for the really exciting news! At dinner, I thought I wasn´t going to eat again, but I decided that that wasn´t a good idea, so I tried the fish, and it was delicious! I also had a good amount of chicken at lunch and they gave us cake in La Carpio, so today was a really good eating day.
I got a lot of good photos from yesterday and today, that I hope to be posting later on when I have enough time. For now, I need some sleep because apparently building a road is tiresome!

P.S Hello to everyone at home! I miss you dearly! I hope you're not all crying from my absence, I will be home soon. (Ms. Wilds, you owe me a box of teddy grahams! :))

Ah.....

Daontay 18

Today I woke up early again, which is nice. I think it's something about being in a beautiful new place each morning that causes my body to wake up with the Sun. We interviewed a member of the PLN at the Legislative Assembly. We had deep questions, but the answers we received were about the history of Costa Rica as opposed to the personal beliefs and thoughts we were hoping for. We also took a brief tour of the building, and heard more about the history of Costa Rica.

The work in La Carpio has ended, though it remains incomplete. I didn't find it life changing or hard. When something needs to be done, you just do it. I was pretty sweaty though I must admit. My shirts have never been so wet. We worked pretty well together. I wish we could have finished though.

We had our first encounter with the rain, which I find to be very soothing. Standing in the entry way of the small market, trying to keep out of the rain, I watched the people as they walked by. That is also something I find soothing. I like to imagine what their thinking, where they're going, or what there about to do. My imagination now has new stories to feed off of.

And the weather is amazing. All of the people who went last year talked about how hot it was but I don't think it's hot at all.

Tomorrow is going to be a big day. I need to rest. Ah, sleep and showering have never felt this good.

At the Legislative Assembly