The Final Days

Greetings from San José!

In our last post, we shared happenings to the point of our fourth day of work. From that time until now we have finished the project, played soccer with our host families, danced our hearts out at the farewell party, said our goodbyes (for now) to our families, and had a bunch of fun on our way here to San José.

On our last day on the work site we finished laying the tile floor and had to say goodbye to the great friends we'd made at the high school. The school gave us a final thank you ceremony, complete with a singing competition where we had to go up against the Costa Rican students and race to sing karaoke. The loser got water ballooned - as shown below by Jack and his new friend Deiberth (also known as Cotho). We danced with the students on the newly tiled floor and thanked Don José, who had worked with us all week as the foreman of the project.

Jack, the champion 

The new floor at the high school!

All smiles with our Tico friends

On our day off from work...Saturday morning...we got to 'sleep in' until 8am and woke up for breakfast with our families and a game of soccer in the town's plaza. Don Ángel, Jamie and Jack's Costa Rican dad, coaches a team of kids from Paraso. We joined them, along with members of our host families, for tug of war and an intense game of soccer held in the ever-present Costa Rican downpour. It was so much fun to play alongside the families (on mixed teams of our group and the community members to keep it fair of course) and Jack and Yichuan came in clutch with some goals for both sides. Just like oranges at halftime in the glory days of peewee soccer, we had watermelon and pineapple and cantaloupe halfway through. 

A waterlogged post-game group shot 

Players and spectators ready for the fun

After soccer, we got to spend some time with our families before heading to Don Daniel's for a final fiesta. Don Daniel opened the party with some Spanish karaoke and ended it in the same fashion, and there was lots of dancing (Cotton-Eyed Joe and Gangnam Style and salsa selections included) and laughter and family bonding in between. We got to see each other with our families and the whole community - all together for the first time all trip - and it was a great way to begin the goodbye process. 

An attempt at Michael Jackson karaoke 

The girls' host family

The teachers' (and our guide, Sarah's!) host family 

Jack and Jamie's host family 

Yichuan and Daiden's host family, with Don Daniel in the center 

This morning, we had the melancholy task of saying goodbye to our beautiful families. There were lots of tears and promises to return to the place we had made home for a week as we got on the bus to take us to Chilamate.

The group at Chilamate Resort one last time

We also went to an ethno-botanist named Jaime. Ethnobotany is the study of the relationship between humans and plants - a big focus in the eco-friendly society that is Costa Rica. Jaime was a total character and taught us all about the abilities and tricks of indigenous Costa Rican plants - leaves that can be used as toilet paper, plants that act as bug repellant, and fruit that can dye your skin (so don't be alarmed when we all come back with blue tattoos). It was really interesting, and culminated with homemade banana and pineapple ice cream, so it was definitely 100% worth the early wake up. 

Jaime teaching the group about the beauty of the nature around us 

After one last snack at Chilamate, we were on our way to San Jose, stopping for lunch and souvenirs before arriving at the hotel. We were all easily distracted by the luxuries of hot water and being able to flush the toilet paper and (the huge bonus) a pool. The group did a last meeting and shared our appreciations from the trip - everything from each other to the community of Paraiso - and ended the evening with a group hug. Tomorrow we'll adventure through the city for a bit before making our way to the airport, and then we'll be on our way back to the States.

See you soon & Pura Vida!

Jane, Veronica, and Grace