Immersion B: Service Projects, Volcanos and Hot Springs

July 24th, 2008 | Costa Rica Immersion Programs 2008

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For this posting, we asked several of  the participants to write it for a different perspective. Enjoy!

Friday
Friday was the first day we began work at seven. It was the most challenging yet most successful day so far. To add to our morning tiredness, we had to re-level a large portion of the sidewalk from our previous days work due to a friendly cow taking a nice midnight stroll over the entire thing! Although we were so lucky to have a cement mixer, Paul decided it was a good learning opportunity to mix the first cement batch by hand (fun!). After our first batch was laid we began to use the mixer, which sped things up dramatically.

Although it was easier to use, we had to carry the cement to the sidewalk in wheel-barrows, which caused many spill incidents and a partially paved road! After lunch, we were so determined to work because of the lack of rain. Because of the amount of determination in our group as a whole, we continued to work until 5:30 without any complaints and finally finished the first section of the sidewalk. Before going home, Paul asked us what time we wanted to start work tomorrow because of how much we had worked today. Paul and Alissa suggested 8am but Grace piped up and requested to start work at 7am! We all went home to enjoy a delicious dinner, shower, and sleeeep!

Saturday
On Saturday, a few families went to the market to sell and buy goods. The members of the group that were still in the village went to work at 7am, thanks to Grace. We spent our morning finishing painting the fence of the school and continuing to dig the area for the sandbox.  Everyone went home at lunch to eat with their families. In the afternoon many of us returned for a volleyball match against a local high school team. It was a close match- we won the first game but they came back and just barely beat us in the following two rounds. After the match, we mixed up the teams and played together with our Costa Rican neighbors for a few more rounds.

Sunday
Each group member did something different with his or her family. Each of us will share our day with you.

Miriam: Today I was supposed to go fishing, and although it was a nice day, my father said that there were no fish. My family then decided to spend our beautiful sunny day at the zoo. There were many different types of animals, however the animals are treated much differently here. The cages are much smaller and dirtier, and the locals that go to the zoo do not respect the animals. After the zoo, I went to a funeral of a family friend that died because of cancer. Funerals are very different here, and people pray out loud. Overall Sunday was a great cultural experience for me.

Kelsey:  Today I thought that my family was telling me that they were taking me to go meet Orlando’s (my father) uncle.  I was very mistaken.  Once I got to the uncle’s house I realized that the uncle had passed away and we were coming to pay our respects.  The situation was very sad and a little awkward.  However, my day improved drastically after that.  My family took me to San Carlos for a super good lunch.  We also visited a cathedral and a park.  We continued on to San Ramon where we went into another church for part of a mass.  In San Ramon, my family also showed me a shrubbery park.  Then they took me out for ice cream and we headed for home.  On the way home we also saw a sloth on the side of the road.  It was a very eventful day

Monday
On Monday we left town at 8:30am for La Fortuna. The drive only took 2 hours and we arrived at 10:30am, which was much earlier than expected. Once we arrived, the view of the volcano was spectacular. We spent the rest of the day wandering the town and spending too much money. Around 4:00pm, we all returned to the hotel and sat around the pool. One of the highlights of the afternoon was when Madeline, one of the pickiest eaters on the program, ate a bug in front of the whole group, continuing a disturbing trend within the group! 

At 4:30pm, we all got on the bus to head to the hot springs for a fun night. When we got there, we explored the hot springs for the first hour. At 6:00pm, we got dressed and saw the first American food since we’ve been here. Not to mention it was an all you can eat buffet. Sadly, no one ate less than three plates! The dinner was so good that it inspired someone to blurt out “THIS IS THE BEST MONDAY OF MY LIFE!” After stuffing our faces, we returned to the awesome water slide and amazing hot springs where we all hung out and relaxed until closing time. After leaving the hot springs, we decided to get a closer look at the volcano, where we saw the lava flowing down the side. It was awesome!!

Tuesday
Tuesday we all got to sleep in as late as we wanted for the first time. We spent the morning in the town hanging out and getting our last necessities before heading back to La Legua. On our way home, we stopped at La Fortuna waterfall for which the town was named after. It was not nearly as long of a hike as our first waterfall hike, but it was still beautiful. The water was very cold but extremely blue. We had fun swimming with trout and floating with the current. After hanging out for about an hour, we hiked back up to the bus and headed home to La Legua.

Wednesday
On Wednesday we began our day at 7 am. We stretched to some awesome 80’s music and then proceeded to start our project for the day: Leveling the sandbox, where we are going to build the new community playground. Most of our day was spent shoveling dirt from one side of the sandbox to the other. A few select people were chosen to paint the basketball hoops. (which look quite nice!) On an unfortunate note, Diana, Jourdan, and Paul were feeling fairly ill.

However, they have recovered and are feeling much better today (Thursday). Unfortunately, our work came to a sudden end when a huge storm blew in… massive amounts of lightening, thunder, and rain ran through the village of La Legua. (It was sweet!) Due to the rain, none of the children of La Legua chose to attend the English lesson. Therefore, we brought back an old tradition of playing the game of mafia! As usual, Akash was god and the usual victims were killed off. ☺

Following our games of mafia, many of the group walked to Paul and Alissa’s host family house to make some delicious cookies, while some went to play pool at the cantina. After a hard work day and a lot of rain, the group headed for home for a warm dinner and a good nights rest!

This blog was written by: Kaley, Kelsey, & Miriam

PS, a special hello to the families of Miriam, Kaley, and Kelsey! We miss you a lot and can’t wait to see you again!