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Location: La Carpio and Escazu
To whoever may be reading this, it’s Mia and Raquel!!! Today the group spent the day in La Carpio, which will serve as the site of most of our community service while here in Costa Rica. The day was mostly introductory, led by the CRHF’s (Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation) Founder Gail, or as she is locally referred to “Giselle.” Giselle shared with us her model for success: a spiral with multiple singular spirals that are each representative of an important facet of life, be it food, shelter, and education. We then toured the area, walking through the streets of La Carpio to the site of houses fallen to fire last week. The residents of those houses, with help from the CRHF and Giselle, acquired supplies and material to reconstruct their homes, which are down an extremely steep road. Cinder-blocks, metal rods, and bags of cement, waiting at the top of the steep road, were being moved very gradually downhill, and so, the group jumped in to help. An assembly line was assembled, mostly us volunteers joined by the owners of those homes, and the construction materials were moved downhill. The group felt very accomplished and was treated to “trits,” a local ice cream, afterward. The group toured La Carpio further, seeing the Model Education Center and the Library of the area, all established by the CRHF. After lunch at the CRHF’s building, we departed for Escazu, where the Little Theater Group of Costa Rica is based. After hearing about the tragic fire in La Carpio, the Group gathered donations for the children living in those homes and attended a hosted movie viewing as a means of supporting the international community through film. The film, “Lost in Florence,” was based on a man who found love both literally and figuratively, He discovered his aptitude for an Italian sport and his love for an Italian woman. It was pretty good, and you can watch on Amazon. 😉 After a packed day, we are now back at our hotel, Dos Palmas Country Inn in La Garita, and are heading to the pool to go swimming. We are all great friends already and are looking forward to what is to come shortly!!! Tune in tomorrow to hear more about our amazing Costa Rican experience!!! – Mia and Raquel 🙂