¡Hola!
Day 3: We hopped on the bus bright and early and took a delightful four-hour road trip to our host village, Bonanza Norte. On the way, we stopped at a great restaurant on a mountain overlooking beautiful scenery. When we arrived in Bonanza Norte, the village threw us a welcome party. Everyone practiced their Spanish with the locals and played games with the younger kids. The food was prepared by amazing cooks and the atmosphere was fantastic — we all danced to the music the village played. We ended our night excited for our stay here!
Day 4: With the sun shining earlier than most of us are used to, our first morning in the village was a little disorientating, but we pulled through and organized ourselves to prepare for the upcoming tasks and start our group project. The objective of our group project is to complete and beautify the village’s soccer changing room and primary school. Our first task of the day was priming the changing room building (el vestidor), on which we will later paint murals. Our most daunting task was digging a 6’-6″ hole in the ground, which will later be used as a well for the team showers. We also painted the kindergarten bathroom for beautification purposes.
After lunch, we played an intense and satisfying game of futbol, and we bonded more with the local children, teenagers, and adults. Every night we have a team meeting during which we discuss how the day went for everyone and play fun team-building games. We went around the circle and everyone described the day in one word — descriptions included sweaty, tiring, exciting, new, and satisfying. We also played ¨Little Sally Walker” and a sneaky game of Mafia, which really brought the group together.
All in all, the past few days have been amazing. Our Spanish is getting much better! We miss everyone back home!
Abrazos,
Putney Community Service Costa Rica Group B