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Location: San Jose
Hola to everyone at home reading this. Today was our first full day out in Costa Rica, and I’m already in love with the country. The different views and wildlife have been beautiful so far and not to mention how nice everyone is here and how cute all the little kids are. I can’t wait to keep discovering new parts of Costa Rica and meeting more people.
This morning we woke up for breakfast at 7:30 and had eggs, fruits, toast, coffee, and tea. We all enjoyed it, and the coffee was exceptionally good, in my opinion. Then we got ready for the bus to pick us up at 8:30 and headed for the preschool in La Carpio which was founded by the director of the Costa Rican humanitarian foundation, Gail. When we arrived, she taught us about the land we were on, and it’s history as well as her view on how to get out of poverty. (Should be pictures of her writings on a white board). After this, we walked around with her to get a feel for the community. She told us many stories about the different houses they built and how the people they had helped as we were walking around. In one road there were a bunch of little boys playing soccer together, and we talked to them for a little, and then Gail sang to them a little song in Spanish and asked them to sing back. They kept going back and forth on who would sing to us and even tried getting some other friends to do it. They ended up not singing to us, but it was very funny and cute to watch them.
After that, we went to a community center that Gail also helped build and when we went in a little girl came in and hugged Gigi. She was only 4 and seemed so happy that we were there. Then we walked back to the preschool to have lunch. When we were done with lunch, we went to a women’s house and started to work. We cleaned the walls and floor to prep for paint and waxing. We also took out a wall to make the house more open. We worked with the kids there, which made the work more fun. Then it was time to take the bus back to the hotel around 3:30 and we just relaxed by the pool and in our rooms till dinner at 6:30. We ate broccoli, teriyaki chicken, and rice with Jello for dessert. After we had some reflection time and a discussion about our expectations and what had already impacted us from that day.
That was our first full day in Costa Rica!