Hola! We’re back with Immersion B’s second weekly blog. We are just coming up on the end of our first week here in Las Brisas, a small village located in the northwestern hills of Costa Rica. Las Brisas is a close-knit cooperative farming and dairy community, in which we are working to make improvements to the local “escuela”(school). We are each living with our own local host-family during these two weeks and learning the ins and outs of daily life in one of the countries rural zones.
Before we dive into all that is Las Brisas, we have to share a little bit about our jungle adventure. On the morning before we left for the village, we went on a hike through Manuel Antonio’s state park. The hike was more for leisure than exercise for a change. As we hiked through the jungle, we were greeted by sloths, jungle crabs, vultures, and numerous monkeys. Our trail led us to a tranquil, white-sand beach, where we swam and soaked up the sun. There, we took some time to reflect on our trip thus far, as well as speculate on what Las Brisas may be like.
We arrived in the village after a half-day bus ride. We bid farewell to Felix, our trusty “conductor” and introduced ourselves to our new neighbors. In the next few days we accomplished a lot. We’ve been painting walls and fences, in addition to mixing and pouring concrete by hand - which we can assure you is quite exhausting. Everyone has maintained an impressively positive attitude throughout the difficult work and the occasional dose of culture shock. The traditional basic foods, afternoon downpours, and lack of wifi hotspots have demanded a certain amount of flexibility.
When we’re not working at the school, we keep busy by participating in a variety of sports. Our group members can be found at the local soccer field, in the gymnasium playing basketball, or hanging out with the local kids who are enjoying their summer break. Just the other day, we celebrated the 4th of July with another Walking Tree group that is staying in a nearby village. A great time was had by all! We ate pizza, chips and homemade guacamole with some local desserts to top things off. After we had our fill, we felt the itch of the “soccer bug” that inevitably spread through the group. Despite the downpour we made our way to the local cancha (soccer field). It was a big game, Immersion Group A vs. Immersion Group B (us). Apparently our practice in Pura Suerte made the difference as we went on to win 5-3. Before the match, we bet that the winners got to paint the other team with mud... you’ll see some amusing photos below.
This weekend we plan to take a short break from our work and tour a famous active volcano in La Fortuna and visit the local hot springs. Hope all is well back home, stay tuned next week for another update on our community projects and side adventures.
