Day 3 – COMMUNITY DAY

Hello everyone! Today we got up and had an American style Breakfast. After we ate, we participated in a bonding exercise where we found common ground with our peers. We ran around to warm us up for the treacherous journey to get to the houses we were visiting today for Community Day. But before our departure, our wonderful PC, Memo, would explain Co5ta R1ca in numb3rs. We divided into 4 different groups, each with a different Spanish speaking Lider Del Dia (LDD).

Citlalli – Today we visited Doña Rosario and spent most of the time cooking and cleaning. We had amazing conversations about the differences in our cultures. We ate a very good traditional dish called Casados and for a sweet treat we ate her own style of arroz con leche. My group and I had an amazing time!

Heidi- Today I visited Doña Carmen, we spent a lot of time talk to her asking her questions about her lifestyle and her childhood. She made us some desserts like raspberry ice cream. We also played one of her favorite games, Bingo.

Nadia – Today I went to Dona Milas house. When we arrived, we went straight to the butterfly garden and saw so many beautiful butterflies. Also, we saw cows and baby pigs. They were so adorable. After a while we went back to their house and tried sugar cane. It was juicy and fresh. We also tried a new fruit that none of us had ever had. I think the name was ¨water apple.¨ It tasted a bit more bitter than I expected. Afterwards we got to cook. We made pollo con arroz. It was filled with SO MUCH FLAVOR. Later we got to make tortillas con queso and it tasted like an arepa. WOW, I wish I could take all the ingredients home – it was so yummy. Unfortunately, by the time we were ready to leave, it was raining, and I forgot my raincoat. I had to wear a trash bag lol. Overall, it was such a good day. I hope to visit more places like this again. It was an amazing experience.

Jonathan – Doña Johana was the Doña I was assigned to. The second we arrived, we were greeted by her two dogs, which were named Matcha y Negro. They were wonderful to be around and instantly threw us into adventure by taking us around their land. They took us around their butterfly garden, which was a new way of generating income. We were also able to look around their farms, allowing us to see baby pigs, and cows. Soon after we found ourselves back at their house where we were quickly fed granizados, or snow cones, that were produced in house. We´d see her get to work and start on cooking up the lunch that she´d soon feed us. We had a hearty meal full of rice, cooked potatoes, ternizado, and pollo en salsa. After we demolished the meal, Doña Johana started prepping the fresas con crema. Although she whipped it up together in an instance, it was one of the most scrumptious fresas con crema I´ve ever had. Leaving a lasting impression on the entirety of my group. It forever embedded Doña Johana in all of our hearts.

After we visited the community houses, we trekked home through the pouring rain. Luckily, our rooms were warm, and we all took nice showers. We then learned about our CAP project. We learned that we will be working along ASADA San Rafael to build infrastructures. We stared the design process.

To end the night, we had a nice dinner with chicken burritos, chips, and cheese muffins. We then had our nightly meeting where we passed the torch. Overall, our experiences were filled with so much fun, yummy food, and lasting memories.