Hello again from Las Mesas! Life here is tranquila and bonita. Everyone is doing so well, and we are sad to think that we only have a few short days left in this wonderful town.
We continue working on our community service projects every day during the week. This past week, we finished both projects at the local Catholic church. We painted the Sunday school rooms a beautiful blue (after sanding, sanding, sanding!), and we built a stone wall along the outside of what will one day be a field on which local kids can play soccer and other games. José, our maestro de obras of the stone wall project, was a wonderful, patient, and joyful teacher. And once, when we found an ant hill in a wall we were smoothing out, he stuck his hand in and destroyed the whole thing. With his bare hands! The students certainly got a kick out of that one!
Now that we are finished at the church, we have begun our third project at the local cemetery. We just finished washing off the fence that surrounds the cemetery, and on Monday, we`ll paint it. We`ll also paint the cemetery`s shed. We continue working on our storage room at the school, mixing cement and laying brick. Yesterday, we completed the roof and laid the cement on the floor. We´re hoping to finish the project on Tuesday or Wednesday, just in time to celebrate our accomplishment before we leave the town.
The students are also working on their individual projects, which are all interesting and so different. A few kids have painted lines and a key on the local basketball court, where they play ball with local kids. Others are working on making thank you cards (for all of those who have helped us out here in Las Mesas) out of recycled paper. Others learned how to milk a cow just this morning! They`ll use the milk to make a local Costa Rican sweet cheese. Other students are teaching dance classes, teaching classes on how to make bracelets out of yarn, holding a small basketball workshop (on the freshly painted court), tutoring a friend in English, making a collage of photos of children to donate to the school, and painting a mural in a local gathering place. We keep busy, that`s for sure!
On Thursday, we cleaned our house and said to it a tearful goodbye before leaving for our homestay families. The students are all staying with different families in various parts of Las Mesas. After meeting with the families last week, Jesús and I were very excited for the kids to meet them, stay with them, and learn from them. They are all wonderful, hospitable people, and we are certain that the homestay will be an incredibly valuable (and enjoyable!) experience.
Last weekend, we attended the local school´s end of the year fiesta, where we played with our friends, learned to dance merengue and cumbia, and watched the town crown their king and queen. We also took a long awaited trip to a beach (about 2 hours away from Las Mesas), and we brought along some local friends. Although we prepared heartily for intense sun, we were greeted by a downpour of rain. Already wet from the rain, we thought the warm Pacific Ocean was a treat! We spent the better part of the day enjoying the waves, throwing frisbees, and taking walks on the beach.
The students are also working on their individual projects, which are all interesting and so different. A few kids have painted lines and a key on the local basketball court, where they play ball with local kids. Others are working on making thank you cards (for all of those who have helped us out here in Las Mesas) out of recycled paper. Others learned how to milk a cow just this morning! They`ll use the milk to make a local Costa Rican sweet cheese. Other students are teaching dance classes, teaching classes on how to make bracelets out of yarn, holding a small basketball workshop (on the freshly painted court), tutoring a friend in English, making a collage of photos of children to donate to the school, and painting a mural in a local gathering place. We keep busy, that`s for sure!
On Thursday, we cleaned our house and said to it a tearful goodbye before leaving for our homestay families. The students are all staying with different families in various parts of Las Mesas. After meeting with the families last week, Jesús and I were very excited for the kids to meet them, stay with them, and learn from them. They are all wonderful, hospitable people, and we are certain that the homestay will be an incredibly valuable (and enjoyable!) experience.
Last weekend, we attended the local school´s end of the year fiesta, where we played with our friends, learned to dance merengue and cumbia, and watched the town crown their king and queen. We also took a long awaited trip to a beach (about 2 hours away from Las Mesas), and we brought along some local friends. Although we prepared heartily for intense sun, we were greeted by a downpour of rain. Already wet from the rain, we thought the warm Pacific Ocean was a treat! We spent the better part of the day enjoying the waves, throwing frisbees, and taking walks on the beach.
This weekend, the kids will stay with their homestay families to spend time together, practice their Spanish, and learn more about the town.
Highlight of the week: we saw a real live sloth! Right up close. It was at eye level, and we could get close enough to touch it! (Although, most of us didn`t.) It was certainly a rare sight, and we all walked away in awe.
We leave for our adventure travel week on Thursday, after finishing up our projects, enjoying our fiesta de despedida on Wednesday, and saying some difficult goodbyes Thursday morning. It`s sad to think that we will so soon be leaving our home here in Las Mesas.
We hope everyone is well at home!
Highlight of the week: we saw a real live sloth! Right up close. It was at eye level, and we could get close enough to touch it! (Although, most of us didn`t.) It was certainly a rare sight, and we all walked away in awe.
We leave for our adventure travel week on Thursday, after finishing up our projects, enjoying our fiesta de despedida on Wednesday, and saying some difficult goodbyes Thursday morning. It`s sad to think that we will so soon be leaving our home here in Las Mesas.
We hope everyone is well at home!
Abrazos,
Hannah and Jesús
Hannah and Jesús
