Pura Vida!
We have finally arrived in Paraiso! On Sunday night, we met our host families and settled in for the night to prepare for the days of work ahead.
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Grace, Veronica, and Jane with Doña Ginette (their Costa Rican mom)
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| Jamie and Jack with their Costa Rican mom and dad, Doña Antonia and Don Ángel |
The following day we started the day at the school with an ice-breaking game of Paranoia with the students, followed by cleaning up the floors of the campus in preparation for refurbishing the dining hall eating area. After two hours of rinsing and scrubbing, we were invited to an English class session where we got to work closely with students of our same age and talk about traveling.
After a long walk in lots of rain, we arrived at Don Daniel's organic farm (la finca). After eating a delicious lunch of pollo, arroz, frijoles y picadillo, we had a brief introduction including Don Daniel's personal story and a condensed tour around the farm due to the weather. From the tour, we learned how black peppers are processed for sale and helped out shredding and packaging these peppers. Another part of the tour included feeding pigs and learning how to blend compost.
The family of Don Daniel and many in Paraiso have been negatively affected by biochemicals which is why Don Daniel decided to start his organic farm. He is a community leader who is doing a great deal to protect himself, his family, and his community.
"You can only learn when you are out of your comfort zone" says Sarah, our instructor of the trip. Each day we've challenged ourselves to explore new things and meet new people. Having been away from home for only a few days, we are becoming more and more familiar with the lifestyle of our Costa Rican families and going with the flow.
Hasta pronto,
Yichuan and Jack
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