Lets find some sunshine through this rain
I am sorry it has been so long. The other day i typed away my life on here and then the computer froze and I lost everything, I am not so impressed. It has been a week since I posted so I will try my best to cover everything. We have planted more grass of course, and more trees. If you can remember that mountain I mentioned earlier, the most intense thing of my life. Well we went back to help the environment university students plant trees, I didnt realize this was happening high up on the mountain. Of course I jumped in when they said the guys were going to carry the trees up, I grabbed a container of like 6 trees and I started my treck with brigitte, I regretted it as we started to incline up, those trees are not so light. We hauled about 300 trees up, however there was many of us so it helped. Still, another intense work out. I ended up getting really sick before I could even plant any, atleast I helped with getting them up there. The flu caught me at the wrong time. Of course it started raining, so getting down the mountain was a bit sketchy, and a few falls were in order. That night we went swimming at the hotel downtown, and then called it a day.
Sunday was no relaxing day this time. We hauled in to the back of the truck, apparently thats okay here. Hold on tight and lets hit those sketchy very curvy roads.The view was amazing, and if it wasnt so cloudy we could have seen the ocean! We arrived at the organic farm to the happiest lady greeted us, her and her husband manage the farm, and it happens to be right on the side of the mountain, amazing. They grow all their own fruit, vegetables, chickens for food, and everything you can imagine. They have this generator where all the compost goes from everything, and that is what heats and generates energy for their home. Its so cool how these people live, and how environmentally sustainable they are. We ended up feeding the chickens, and then doing some maintenence in the coops. The lady was so appreciative of our work for her, and then we had the best meal of our lives. Salad, rice, beans, pasta, potatoes, so many veggies.. I was in heaven. And then it rained so we ended up playing with the kids, and also getting to know the older ones in the family. THey even brought out the goat to milk, I wasnt so keen on that one, however brigitte and mel jumped right on there. We enjoyed the farm so much, we are going to spend a week later on working there, i would love to learn more about the way they run things there, and I know the lady could really benefit from our help. The ride home was so funny. We all were in the back again, it was pouring rain, and I was losing it because the truck didnt sound so good, and I was trusting the breaks on that thing for my life, with all the inclines, and the fact I was on just an edge on a mountain. Jorge our group leader was scaring me by not holding on to anything and pretending to wind surf I was losing it, being the typical amy worrier. But we made it home safe, for saucy sunday where we ordered pizza and it was glorious.
Monday we woke up very early because our work this week is in Santa Maria a community about thirty minutes away. We are working for the coffee plantation. We went on a tour and learned about the entire process of coffee starting at the trees where the coffee beans are growing. This place too is carbon neautral these people are just so cool! This plantation ships to places all over the world, and also to local farmers. They also have income from tourism, with the tours they give every week. They also give money to their nursing home, in town so this place really keeps their town going. This town is actually the first place in the world to be carbon neutral with most of the energy they generate. I am proud to be working for them, to help improve their community. Anyway our focus is to turn this 100 year old stone home, and yard in to a local souvinear and coffee shop for tourists or local people. The yard has over grown, and we are re vamping by taking out all the dead stuff and cleaning out the house. It has been some intense labour for sure. We only have a week, so our goal is to make it much cleaner so the boss will see something in it, and it can employ people to take on the work we started. Also the english lessons we give can employ people to work there when the shop and cafe is up and running since its an important thing to know here if you wish to work in tourism. We had some doubts working for such a huge corporation, however we got the answers we are looking for.. and our work will benefit the community for sure.
Monday night we had our first english class, over 50 people showed up, it was over whelming however so great. We just did some icebreakers and got to know some people. I was surprised by how many people actually knew some english. We split people in to different levels, and we will have three classes a week with each class being a different level, and everyone will be welcome to come any time. This really made me happy, to see people wanting to learn and to help make that difference for them. ENglish lessons here are very expensive, and everyone wants to learn, so they can get better jobs. I am excited to be a part of that.
Tuesday was a day so do some laundry and clean up. Most of us our sick so that was sign its time to clean our the house. Also we were wearing dirty clothes for awhile, I still am.. as my clothes are drying. We went over to Diegos moms home to do some laundry. Diego is the one who owns the house we are staying in and works for catursa the tourism company we are in partnership with. He is a really funny person and always keeps things positive at home. I spent the afternoon sick in bed once again, I wish I could just shake this sickness. We had our level one english class in the evening and a good 15 people were there. We went over the basic alphabet, and the sounds of different letters together.
Today we were back doing maintenence at the coffee plantation, more shoveling, and that sort of thing. Its starting to look a lot better already. I wish I could stay and see the final outcome! I am loving the cafe they already have, I have already got 2 mochas from there, I am missing my iced caps from back home, so it is giving me that fix. I will for sure be bringing lots of coffee home, and also I discovered these yummy chocolate covered coffee beans, you might be lucky and get some! We finished around three, and didnt miss the bus this time, apparently the busses are on tico time here too.. I am used of it now.
Tomorrow we are back at it, i love getting up at six and walking up mountains to get to the bus stop.. just kidding its not that bad. well kind of. Also funny amy sotry of the day.. we have this big plastic container we always bring our lunch in which is usually rice and something. Well Jorge made rice in a rush this mornning, and it almost made us late. I took the rice out of the crock pot, and it melted the plastic container, I didnt realize how hot it was. Yup I screwed up that one as we were supposed to be out of the door. We grabbed the leftovers from the night before and were on our way. Sometimes I just cant do things the proper way, good thing everyone was laughing at it.
I am also really enjoying the jam in a bag here, best jam I have ever experienced. That too will be coming home with me ha ha, jam on crackers my usual snack if you were interested to know. Apparently I will only be bringing back food with me. Well I am so happy if you lasted this long listening to my words, might be too much but thats a short version of a very intense week.
I will be better for posting next time. Sorry if I havent answered messages,
Also keep track of Melanies blog too, if you want some visualizations of things!
http://brbcostarica.wordpress.com/
Pura Vida,
Sunday was no relaxing day this time. We hauled in to the back of the truck, apparently thats okay here. Hold on tight and lets hit those sketchy very curvy roads.The view was amazing, and if it wasnt so cloudy we could have seen the ocean! We arrived at the organic farm to the happiest lady greeted us, her and her husband manage the farm, and it happens to be right on the side of the mountain, amazing. They grow all their own fruit, vegetables, chickens for food, and everything you can imagine. They have this generator where all the compost goes from everything, and that is what heats and generates energy for their home. Its so cool how these people live, and how environmentally sustainable they are. We ended up feeding the chickens, and then doing some maintenence in the coops. The lady was so appreciative of our work for her, and then we had the best meal of our lives. Salad, rice, beans, pasta, potatoes, so many veggies.. I was in heaven. And then it rained so we ended up playing with the kids, and also getting to know the older ones in the family. THey even brought out the goat to milk, I wasnt so keen on that one, however brigitte and mel jumped right on there. We enjoyed the farm so much, we are going to spend a week later on working there, i would love to learn more about the way they run things there, and I know the lady could really benefit from our help. The ride home was so funny. We all were in the back again, it was pouring rain, and I was losing it because the truck didnt sound so good, and I was trusting the breaks on that thing for my life, with all the inclines, and the fact I was on just an edge on a mountain. Jorge our group leader was scaring me by not holding on to anything and pretending to wind surf I was losing it, being the typical amy worrier. But we made it home safe, for saucy sunday where we ordered pizza and it was glorious.
Monday we woke up very early because our work this week is in Santa Maria a community about thirty minutes away. We are working for the coffee plantation. We went on a tour and learned about the entire process of coffee starting at the trees where the coffee beans are growing. This place too is carbon neautral these people are just so cool! This plantation ships to places all over the world, and also to local farmers. They also have income from tourism, with the tours they give every week. They also give money to their nursing home, in town so this place really keeps their town going. This town is actually the first place in the world to be carbon neutral with most of the energy they generate. I am proud to be working for them, to help improve their community. Anyway our focus is to turn this 100 year old stone home, and yard in to a local souvinear and coffee shop for tourists or local people. The yard has over grown, and we are re vamping by taking out all the dead stuff and cleaning out the house. It has been some intense labour for sure. We only have a week, so our goal is to make it much cleaner so the boss will see something in it, and it can employ people to take on the work we started. Also the english lessons we give can employ people to work there when the shop and cafe is up and running since its an important thing to know here if you wish to work in tourism. We had some doubts working for such a huge corporation, however we got the answers we are looking for.. and our work will benefit the community for sure.
Monday night we had our first english class, over 50 people showed up, it was over whelming however so great. We just did some icebreakers and got to know some people. I was surprised by how many people actually knew some english. We split people in to different levels, and we will have three classes a week with each class being a different level, and everyone will be welcome to come any time. This really made me happy, to see people wanting to learn and to help make that difference for them. ENglish lessons here are very expensive, and everyone wants to learn, so they can get better jobs. I am excited to be a part of that.
Tuesday was a day so do some laundry and clean up. Most of us our sick so that was sign its time to clean our the house. Also we were wearing dirty clothes for awhile, I still am.. as my clothes are drying. We went over to Diegos moms home to do some laundry. Diego is the one who owns the house we are staying in and works for catursa the tourism company we are in partnership with. He is a really funny person and always keeps things positive at home. I spent the afternoon sick in bed once again, I wish I could just shake this sickness. We had our level one english class in the evening and a good 15 people were there. We went over the basic alphabet, and the sounds of different letters together.
Today we were back doing maintenence at the coffee plantation, more shoveling, and that sort of thing. Its starting to look a lot better already. I wish I could stay and see the final outcome! I am loving the cafe they already have, I have already got 2 mochas from there, I am missing my iced caps from back home, so it is giving me that fix. I will for sure be bringing lots of coffee home, and also I discovered these yummy chocolate covered coffee beans, you might be lucky and get some! We finished around three, and didnt miss the bus this time, apparently the busses are on tico time here too.. I am used of it now.
Tomorrow we are back at it, i love getting up at six and walking up mountains to get to the bus stop.. just kidding its not that bad. well kind of. Also funny amy sotry of the day.. we have this big plastic container we always bring our lunch in which is usually rice and something. Well Jorge made rice in a rush this mornning, and it almost made us late. I took the rice out of the crock pot, and it melted the plastic container, I didnt realize how hot it was. Yup I screwed up that one as we were supposed to be out of the door. We grabbed the leftovers from the night before and were on our way. Sometimes I just cant do things the proper way, good thing everyone was laughing at it.
I am also really enjoying the jam in a bag here, best jam I have ever experienced. That too will be coming home with me ha ha, jam on crackers my usual snack if you were interested to know. Apparently I will only be bringing back food with me. Well I am so happy if you lasted this long listening to my words, might be too much but thats a short version of a very intense week.
I will be better for posting next time. Sorry if I havent answered messages,
Also keep track of Melanies blog too, if you want some visualizations of things!
http://brbcostarica.wordpress.com/
Pura Vida,
Comments
Post a Comment