la cumbre

Sorry I havent had internet for the past few days then wasnt feeling to great, but here is the latest update :)

Wednesday was the hardest day I think I have had since I got to costa rica. We had the opportunity to teach some english classes so that the kids got the chance to hear native english speakers. We were thinking telling a bible story maybe 2 or three times, but no, we taught, count them, 9 english classes to kids all under the age of 11. I lost my voice halfway through the day, and if yall know me, that only happens when I get swine flu. But it was a good experience and was a definite confirmation that I am to teach high school kids, not elementary :)

Thursday morning we got up and headed out to an adventure came called “la cumbre,” meaning “the summit” although it was in a valley. Tiffany came here 2 years ago, so she wanted to see some friends she had at the camp, and I tagged along. We got the chance to do a lot of rock climbing in their gym and hiked to a waterfall, where the others got to go down behind it. I had to wait because they didnt know if I had experience doing these kinds of things. So you know, I just sat down and read and finished my book, “the Help.” I thought it was incredible, so if you are looking for a good book to read, go grab it :) But, yea, I did discover that I really like climbing, so friends, when I get back I want to go, even though im no good at it.

We also did a little bit of work at camp, to help them get ready for new groups to come. They dont exactly have a lawn mower for the huge areas of grass that they have, so instead they use weed eaters. And me and tiffany’s job: raking grass. Yes thats right, we raked fields of grass on hills, on flat lands, on rocks, raking. It was fun though. Just to be outside and the weather was beyond beautiful. I think it was the first day I was here that I did not see any rain. Literally I have been here for almost 4 weeks and it has down poured every single day. We took a slight nap in the grass outside of Tio and Tia’s house (the aunt and uncle of the camp I guess you could say). And one afternoon we did a deep cleaning of a campers cabin to get everything ready for the groups to come. At night we would hangout with Tiffany’s friends Vince and Efrain and watch movies and drink hot chocolate. I may have forgotten to tell you that this camp was about 8000 feet in elevation so at night it got down to about 40 degrees. Efrain gave us a little heater after the first night. And I think besides the times we were outside cleaning up around camp I did not feel my toes for 4 days straight. I slept in 3 pairs of socks one night. No joke. Hot chocolate was my best friend this weekend.

Overall though we had such a fun time. We rode there and back in a little pick up truck with our luggage in plastic bags in the back so that they could stay dry. But as you can tell, me and small backseats dont like each other. A little thing called claustrophobia. It was so great being back in the mountains and out of the city for a few days. Here in Tres Rios we cant just leave the house and walk around whenever we want because its not necessarily the safest place in the world for 2 gringos to be walking around, so it was nice to be able to go for a walk at camp.

Sunday when we came back I started feeling kind of sick to my stomach and had a really bad headache, so that was no fun. Being sick is not fun, being sick at school is really no fun, and being sick in another country just stinks. Mom gave me a hug over skype though. Monday was a hard day of working since I really couldnt eat anything. Jherson told me I could just hangout so I kind of did, but thats awkward when everyone around you is working, so I did a little work too. Monday was our day trip to Quepos (pronounces KAY-POS) where we met up with Outward Bound and their group of about 20 kids who were backpacking around Costa Rica for different amounts of times. We painted a church and Tiff and I went on a little photo adventure of the island we were on.

But a little about the island we were working on, its name was Cocal. Here is a beautiful island on the pacific coast that is under a lot of poverty. The people that live here, simply live here because its where their family lived, and so on for generations. No one really owns the land, but they have lived there for so long, that they basically take it as there own. But the government came by recently and saw that this place was no an acceptable place to live. They were given a certain amount of time to fix everything up or the government was going to not necessarily take over the land, but basically something like that. And when we were walking around taking pictures I just cant get this voice out of my head asking us “when is the housing exam?” The lady thought we were from the government or something. And its just crazy that these people are trying to fix their homes and still dont know if it will e good enough. But seriously, I can shake that voice. Cocal was a beautiful place but the beaches were completely empty and people there just had faces of desperation when we would walk by. It was a hard place to be, but there wasnt much I could do.

Today has been a fun day in the office just translating things for the website since Jherson likes things to be listed in English and Spanish. We have just been helping out with that and are getting ready to go over to Pastor’s house to have dinner with him and his family. Sunday was his birthday and we made him chocolate chip cookies and a great card that said “feliz cumpleaños pastor” love, your favorite chapas (since thats what he always calls us. So thats all for now!

I also may have forgotten to mention a dog at the camp that let me do whatever I wanted to do with it, like climbing a boulder and pretending it was Pride Rock from the Lion King.

Love.