Day 6!

Our group in our trip t-shirts!

Friday morning we returned to our work site for our last (half) day of work. We were scheduled to work until 12pm, then have a Eucharist with some of the people from Santiago, then have lunch, then head to the beach.

Our task for the morning was making more concrete, only this time there was something a little more exciting in store for us. The crew chiefs had placed the rebar pieces into parts of the trench, and the cement we were mixing was being poured on top of the pieces of rebar to hold them in place. It wasn’t exactly a wall or anything, but it was great for us to see part of the construction beginning before we left Costa Rica. We worked hard, mixing concrete, shovelling, and more, and our church service started a bit on the late side.

The back-breaking work of mixing concrete.

Ray, helping put the rebar in place.

What the base of the rebar looks like before it goes in the hole.

Martha and Lauree, taking an important break to tree climb.

After the work, Meaghan and Father Allen, one of the priests that helps serve at Santiago, led the service together. The first part of the service was in Spanish, with English readings from members of our group. Meaghan preached a short but moving homily, with translation help from Hubert, the exuberant! The Eucharist followed in English. The experience of gathering in that beautiful and simple church, with our new friends from the Santiago Mission raising their voices in song with us was very meaningful for everyone present. Just outside we could see our work from the week, but what we realized was that even more important than the physical structure we have to show for ourselves, the relationships that we have formed with the people in Estrada is the most important thing that we will take away from here.

After the Eucharist we ate one final meal with our friends in Estrada, and piled into the bus, dirty and tired (as usual) to head to the beach. We stayed the night in Porto Viejo, which is on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. Our hotel was called Cariblue, and when we arrived we momentarily forgot about our tired bodies as we headed over to the beach to laugh and play in the huge waves. After the beach we enjoyed more water time in the hotel pool before cleaning up for dinner.

Meaghan preaching while Hubert translated.

Michelle and the kids taking communion.

After the service we enjoyed a meal out together and spent only a little time walking around Porto Viejo before heading back to the hotel for another much needed night’s rest. Some of us have found ourselves missing the digging a bit, though we are very grateful to have the chance to enjoy each other’s company on the coast in Costa Rica!

Our hotel in Porto Viejo!

Day Five!

Our day began with a visit to a local high school. We met the principal of the school, and he explained the educational system of Costa Rica. The kids were very excited to have visitors and show off their school. There are 550 children at the school, and they have a new facility. When the principal came seven years ago, he had 200 students in one old blue building with no air conditioning. They now have a computer lab, and know that learning computer skills and English is their ticket to a better future. Here are some pictures of the morning:

The school is 5th through 12th grade. This is the old building.

Our group, waiting to meet the principal.

Huberth, a member of the Santiago congregation and a retired teacher.

Huberth and the principal.

More pictures of the kids - they were happy to have their photos taken!

After leaving the school, we went back to our work site at Santiago, and were given new assigments to hand mix on the ground concrete, scoop it into wheel barrows and haul it to the site. The pictures are self-explanatory.

After many mixes of concrete, we ended the day with a fun session with all the local kids who had been hanging around in the trees and watching our progress. They have been the bright light of this trip. Lots more pics from today are below!

The work site progresses - note some gravel is at the bottom of the trench now.

A water break for tired workers.

Joanne continues to paint, and Daniel admires her work.

Filling in the trenches with gravel.

It was heavy.

A wheelbarrow full of concrete!

LIFT!

George, our general contracter. (His t-shirt reads "Too Blessed to be Stressed")

One of the neighborhood children.

Singing and dancing at the end of a long day!


The kids on top of "the mountain!"

Blog written by Joanne Kilpatrick

Some odds and ends...

While we´ve told you about our work and the days we´ve had here in Costa Rica, we thought we could also add a little more information about some of the other aspects of this trip. We want you to have the full picture! So here´s some stuff we haven´t fully explained...

EARTH:

We are lodging at Earth University, which is a large school about 50 minutes from the church in Estrada. The students come from all over the world and study sustainable agriculture. The rooms where we are staying are quite nice, and while there is no air conditioning, it´s quite cool at night. We eat our breakfast and dinner in the cafeteria here with all of the students, and the food is great! There´s also a small store where we can get snacks at night. The school has a pool and recreation area (though the pool is kind of buggy), AND they do our laundry for a small fee! That has proven invaluable after the long hot days. Here are some pictures of the campus:

The Heat:

Um, it´s pretty hot here. Not Sahara Desert kind of hot, but still the kind of heat you´d rather not be digging in. We thought the bugs were going to be our biggest enemy, but it´s definitely the sun - the bugs aren´t actually that bad. We´re pretty amazed with ourselves and how... special... we look at the end of each day. You may not want to see these, but here´s some pictures to prove it. Meaghan´s sunburn after day 1 with lots of block on, and Michelle, still sweaty after spending over an hour in an airconditioned bus.

The Work:

I know we´ve told you about the kind of work we´re doing, and you´ve seen the pictures. Our writers up until this point have been extremely gracious and positive when they have talked about our digging experience. But we need to tell you, digging this foundation is HARD WORK. We get to the site at about 8:30am, and we dig until about 4pm, and we are shoveling heavy, clay-filled dirt and heaving it up over our heads onto huge piles of dirt. There are moments throughout the day when we are all certain we can´t possibly lift one more shovel of dirt, but something will keep us going - the laughter of the children that will someday enjoy this building, an icecream break, or good conversation with the other members of our group. By the end of this week, we will have done nothing but dig. One of our work project leaders told us today it would take five of his men 15 days working from 5am to 5:30pm to finish this work if we hadn´t been here. That makes us feel pretty good. It´s hard, but gratifying, and we keep joking about how important a firm foundation is for a building. Here are some of the less glamourous pictures of us working in the trenches:

The Children:

We´ve mentioned them in our other blogs, but we are completely enamored by the children in the neighborhood. They approached us tentatively on the second day, and we enjoyed a game of soccer with them. This morning they came to the site more quickly, and there were more of them. They brought more of their friends thoughout the day, and they watched us work, followed us to the store, played with us, and sang with us. It´s so meaningful to spend time with them with the hope that they will enjoy the building that we are helping to provide. In our tough and tired moments, it´s impossible not to be uplifted by their beautiful faces...

Day Four!

It has been four days after TV died in our hearts. Food has become scarce, other than beans and rice. A few of the crew members have started a streak of beans and rice at every meal, Stuart seems to be in the lead with 11 (Sunday lunch through Wednesday dinner).

Today began with the usual breakfast followed by an uneventful bus ride to the work site. When we arrived we were happy to find that the trenches had not been refilled. We happily began work and had some happiness. As we began work we were filled with a great sense of being happy. J

However we were filled with a tremendous sense of sadness as we were informed that we needed to dig 12 six foot deep 2x2 holes in our trench. Sadly this was yet the beginning of a series of unfortunate events. I personally was digging my trench (effortlessly of course) (I am Ben Kaiser) when I was informed sadly that the extra hole for the trench was an extension of the corner and not just a deeper corner. L

We spent the next two hours digging down the extension to the depth of the regular trench. This was difficult to do and balance yourself so as to not fall into the trench. It was slow going but the camaraderie helped to pass along the time.

One bright spot was our hired help. He arrived about three hours into work and set into one of the corners. After about thirty minutes, I looked over and was discouraged to notice that he had already matched my days work. He was a great help and continued at the same pace to finish his corner.

Joanne spent the morning painting a beautiful painting of the church.

At lunch time we were again greeted by Mrs. Spence and her daughters armed with delicious rice, beans, potato salad, plantains, and meat. After lunch we gave “El Obispo” the hospitality gift we brought him. In return, he delivered a speech on the missions of the Costa Rican diocese, and gave us wooden cross necklaces. The bishop was a speedy worker and helped us the “hole” day.

The Bishop speaking with us at lunch. Bishop Hector taking a break from digging.

The afternoon was more of the same. The greatest excitement came when we struck water in one of trenches. It was a thrilling sight to see that we had finally dug to the water table. This fun lasted us until Meaghan and Michelle began playing with the youth of the neighbourhood. We were filled with joy watching them sing and dance.

Another highlight was when we walked down to the local store and had ice cream treats.

The rest of the day passed without incident and we headed back to Earth tired and dirty. We showered and headed to the cafeteria for another delicious dinner.

We are thankful for another safe day at work and look forward to tomorrow.

Written by Benjamin C. T.V. Kaiser and Nick Kruyer

Day Three!

Today was a wonderful day for several reasons. When we made it to the church our tools were there, those that were helping with the build were vibrant and we had a visit from the best supervisor, Daniel Spence. It is a joy to be in the presence of a man like Mr. Spence. Very supportive and always willing to share a story or some history of the area, like when we dug up a miller stone and found out a sugar mill was in the area many years back. The foundation that we had begun digging the day before did not seem as deep as when we last left it, but by the end of the day we had three- fourths of it dug out and not much of a fourth left for the next day.

Mr. Spence, helping with the digging.

Many of us retained our duties as diggers and Ray Brown got promoted to shaping rebar for the concrete that was arriving for the foundation. Everyone had a role to fill knocking down the soil we were piling in the middle so more may be added, cleaning up the side walls of the trench so it would be the right width, or generally helping anyone that needed an extra hand while they were shovelling.

Ray, working the rebar.
Mrs. Spence provided lunch for us again today. We enjoyed rice and beans for a change rather than beans and rice which are the staple food of the area. She also provided a treat of a wonderful drink that was part tea and part lime, which at the time was manna from heaven for a thirsty body.


Mrs. Mavis Spence, our amazing cook!
The group enjoying the lime iced tea.

In the Episcopalian sense of community fellowship some of the younger missionaries took a break from the trenches and reached out to the youth of the area by playing soccer. In my opinion, hearing the laughter of kids lent some energy to the work we were doing and a reminder of what we are partly here for and the duties we are performing.

Playing soccer with the local children.

After a day of thorough work we returned to Earth (I still smile at that phrase) had dinner and recouped by taking a swim or just enjoyed kicking up our feet.

Written by Jason Davis

Fernando, our bus driver, tour guide, laborer, travel agent, and much more...

(A quick note to readers: We´re having some small difficulties with the Costa Rican computers. Sorry if the blog looks sloppy!)