Discovery A- Hola from Manuel Antonio!

June 30th, 2009 | Uncategorized

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Hola from Manuel Antonio! We just returned from an amazing and adventurous day at the beach! Most of us got the tan we had hoped for today after a fun-filled day in the water and on the sand. The day began with some lounging and hanging out and then the fun began when we started surf lessons. Caleb, Emily, Lilly and Molly could really ride those waves! We also played some beach volleyball where Brad and Brittanie showed off their athletic talent. The afternoon ended with some shopping at the markets, which were filled with homemade jewelry, pottery, wood trinkets and other cool accessories.

Last night we ran into another Walking Tree Group (Immersion A) group at the beach! We decided to get everyone together and had a big bonfire where the groups met and mingled and played a massive game of charades. It was a pretty neat experience for them to meet other young people and share their adventures with each other.

We spent the past week in Canaan, a small village of 150 people. While in Canaan, we worked on two specific projects: painting a school and mixing and laying cement for a community kitchen floor. The students worked really hard throughout the week and both projects were finished early! In addition to painting the school, we also added a large mural of a river scene with Costa Rican wildlife on the front wall and some smaller nature scenes on the classroom walls. Although no one claimed to be artistic, the murals turned out beautiful Nick sketched out a great scene and the local villagers loved the final products! Coral, Tess, Elizabeth, Karen and Jaya really added their artistic touches to the school mural.

The cement mixing was hard work and required a lot of muscle. From moving sand from the river bank to scooping rocks and mixing and moving cement in wheel burrows, it was a lot of labor but everyone worked hard without any complaints. Brad, Stephanie and Molly were real troopers!

The week ended with a big fiesta at the community salon where everyone shared a meal and had a dance party with both Costa Rican and American music. We even did the “train” through the salon and everyone joined in. In addition, it was Ann’s birthday so we sang “Feliz Cumpleanos” (Happy Birthday) and ate some homemade cake to celebrate!

Although a week seems like a short stay with our host families, we truly connected with the people there and some shed tears as we parted ways and drove down the road to begin a new adventure. Andrea and Brianna loved their host families so much they never complained about having to hike up a whole mountain to get home everyday! Courtney mentioned her home stay as being the most memorable event of the trip and Carson also bonded with her host siblings and raved about the food that her family made every day. The students loved their home stay experience and really learned about the day-to-day lifestyles of the people of Canaan. We even played a soccer game with the villagers and Lindsay helped show the Costa Ricans that soccer is not just a guy sport!

Tomorrow we head to the national park in Manuel Antonio where we hope to see lots of monkeys and wildlife! We have enjoyed our time together so far and cannot believe that it is coming to an end!

PURA VIDA!