Day 4 – Turrialba Tour

Today was our fourth full day in Turrialba! We started the day with a beautiful breakfast and a game of Simon Says which helped raise moral on a particularly cold morning. Today’s leaders were Hannah and Shekinah who practiced punctuality and adaptability throughout the eventful day. After morning warm ups and breakfast, we went to catch the 9:10 bus which ended up arriving at 10:30.

The late bus ended up being a blessing in disguise since we were allowed to take refuge from the sun in a community center. As thanks for allowing us in, we helped to move tables and blow up balloons for the birthday of Elani, a little girl who turned 2 years old today. Hannah and Shekinah lead us in singing Feliz Cumpleanos to Elani. Some of our group also got an impromptu tour of the local church after Sunday Mass had ended lead by Doña Carmen. The community came by and waved at us and we got to interact with the children of Turrialba.

When the bus finally came, we rode it all the way to the town of Turrialba where we walked and visited the Central Park and got a brief history lesson about the origins and development of Turrialba. We found a McDonalds stand that only served ice cream and we all helped ourselves to our first taste of McDonalds since leaving the USA.

We had the privilege of visiting Santo Pan, a famous Turrialba bakery that serves delicious breads and donuts. After exiting the bakery, the weather took a turn for the worse but we faced it with high spirits, some of us (Cruz specifically) even danced in the rain. We braved the rain all the way to the supermarket where we stalked up on snacks and popcorn for our Movie Night (We are watching “Rio”), and finally purchased a soccer ball to play with.

The private bus ride (We decided against a public bus due to the rain) home was very sleepy and wet, but spirits were lifted once again when the sun came out during lunch and we finally got to hear our families’ voices. Talking to our families was the push we all needed to make it through today, ten minutes on the phone changed our moods so much, it almost seemed like magic.

We had our second Community Action Project Seminar today and worked together in groups to brainstorm how we will go about digging in the trenches tomorrow, to bring clean water into all areas of the community. We got to work in groups and think of supplies we would need to bring with us to our dig site, what the groups should look like and how we should rotate to maximize resting time and working time. We got to present our ideas to our fellow glimpsers in a “Shark Tank” fashion, imagining that they were our funders for the project. We explained our visions for the project and why these water pipes will be so important to the community.

Today during free time we had somewhat of a Pool marathon (I don’t know how we still haven’t gotten bored of playing Pool and Uno), as well as a sudden fascination with card tricks. Hannah demonstrated some captivating shuffling and magic tricks that allowed everyone to come together and learn something new.

Despite the long day and the sudden turns of the weather, dinner made the day perfect. The lovely ladies in the kitchen served us cheeseburgers and fries that gave us a taste of home to go hand in hand with hearing our families’ voices. The popular vote for Movie Night was the movie “Rio” about a tropical bird who learns about his culture and his environment which matches what we learned as Glimpsers today.

During the Nightly Meeting we discussed the questions ‘Can one person make a difference?’ and ‘How does it feel to support others?’. We talked about our experiences learning about Turrialba and how us as people made an impact today by helping set up a little girl’s birthday party. Big Love of the day went mostly to our GGL Leaders who helped guide us through a hectic day. Even though the day was all over the place, we certainly made the most of it in the absolute best way possible. Some of us danced in the rain, had our first hot shower of the trip, learned how to shuffle cards and even danced traditional dances to show off their talents for the night.

Our word of the day to end our Unity Clap was Turrialba, a fitting word since our day revolved around learning and experiencing the beautiful town we are staying in right now.

P.S. I’m washing the dishes and cleaning up after myself hunni, just like you would be concerned about. Frogs are out every night but I can’t bring one back for you 🙁 I love you very much. – Shekinah

P.S. Today was a great day, I miss you all so much and I can’t wait to see you guys. I tried coffee for the first and last time yesterday, it was way too bitter for me even with the three spoons of sugar I put in it. I had popcorn and Mike and Ikes today and it made me think of our movie nights. I am having so much fun here but I still can’t wait to go home. I had a lot of fun writing the blog for tonight and I hope you guys like reading it, I haven’t gotten to write a lot but its nice to be able to write out my thoughts for today. Anna and all my new friends say hi and they are all going to come visit from New York before the summer ends. I love you guys so much, I can’t wait to see ya’ll again. Love, Hannah

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