Thursday, June 30, 2011

Last Full Day of Work

The last full day of work at the San Rafael School for the Costa Rica Crew started out with numerous small jobs getting us closer to the completition of our work. Some members put some finishing touches on the classrooms built last year with primer and paint. Others cleaned up the concrete mess created by the new wheel chair ramp and drainage system outside of the new classrooms. Meanwhile chisel-abbed studs like Vince and Ryan  chiseled away concrete and dirt to make way for the drainage pipe from the bathroom.   After a delightful snack of fresh pineapple, papaya, sandwhiches, and quesadillas, the crew enjoyed a lovely game of soccer on the rocky pitch before heading back to work.  In the hour before lunch, the crew touched up the bathroom with primer and paint. After a delicious lunch of rice, beans, egg, and tomatoe, the crew returned to the pitch for some more footie. Soon after, a truck arrived with the long-awaited "tiny toilet" for the bathroom. The Crew then continued to work on the bathroom with primer and paint. Later, Javier, Vince, and I boarded "Guillermo" or "Gill" (our big white van) and headed to the hardware store in San Marcos. There we picked up various supplies for the bathroom in addition to tastfully picking out the tile for the bathroom floor and wall. When we arrived back at the school, we wrapped up a few projects and headed home for the day.

-Hale





Wednesday, June 29, 2011

And yet another work day in Costa Rica! Today a lot of tasks were completed, the bathroom walls are all up and the pipes are almost all put together. Today Mrs. Bauer and I worked on planting grass so that the kids can have a “nice pitch” (as Hale Ross would say) or a nice soccer field. I have been doing a lot of the painting and I finished my butterfly today. The constructer we have is so great, he is so fast at building and really has talent. He even had this shirt on that said “Dad, with a few loose screws” this shows he likes to construct. So as far as working we are making great headway. Later after working as a group we will visit the High School and also take a tour of the coffee shop. This coffee shop is so good and if you watch my video from today it will explain why this coffee shop is amazing. Today has been a great day!
-Clare
Paintings by Mrs. Bauer and Clare on outside of classroom

Paintings by Javier and Clare

Current state of the bathroom inside the kindergarten classroom

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

San Rafael Construction Day 4

When the Costa Rica crew arrived at the school today, both children and teachers weren’t there. The teachers were on a strike and only the cleaner and lunch lady came to the school. Therefore, we worked without noisy kids around, and no one to play soccer with during the breaks. We started building the bathroom for the first time while others finished painting the inside of classrooms. In the bathroom area, we cleared the tile floor and began building the wall for the bathrooms. Some of us also finished painting the outdoor drawings. We also dug some channels to make room for the outdoor pipe. After the days hard work, we finished with a few group activities. They consisted of passing hoola hoops around a circle of 7 of us holding hands. Then, we also played a game called key touch; where each of us had to touch randomly scattered numbers from 1-20 and back down to 1. We ended the day by going to the Coffee shop and drinking some of the most delicious coffee.
-Felix

Ryan's Birthday

Last night we celebrated Ryan's 15th birthday at one of our homestays. Along with the majority of our homestay families, we enjoyed empanadas that we had made followed by dinner, a huge cake, a pinata and games of cards and billiards. Feliz Cupleanos Ryan!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Day 8 of the Costa Rica trip started at 7:00. After eating breakfast, each group was picked up from their homestay family and taken to San Rafael School. Our mission for the day was to finish filling in the septic tank ditch with rocks and dirt. To our dismay, the drainage pipe we had painstakingly constructed was layed at a bad angle. After picking away the concrete, we reset the pipes and admired our finished work. After a quick snack of bread, mango slices and watermelon, we resumed work on the ditch. Our strategy was to transport a large pile of rocks into the ditch in order to lay the foundation for a septic tank drainage system. Once we had completed this, we began filling in the ditch by shoveling dirt and small rocks into it. After an hour, we took a quick break to play a game of soccer with the school children. After our game of Fifa, we returned to see a large machine finishing our work. We left the ditch to eat delicious lunch of rice, beans, eggs, and pasta. Full from lunch, we played another round of soccer with the surprisingly physical school children. As the daily thunderstorm set in, we retreated inside to paint one of the class rooms. All in all, a good day of work and play.

- Nick Blake

                                             Students admiring the power of machinery.

Videos from Friday & Saturday

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Sunday in the Cloud Forest


Our day today started at 8, when the Costa Rica Crew began our drive up to the cloud forests in the mountains of Costa Rica. We drove up to an elevation of 9000 feet above sea level! Before we began our hike in search of the beautiful Quetzal bird through the forests, the group spent time in the hummingbird sanctuary, waiting and hoping that one of the birds might land on our fingers. Throughout the trail we stopped to learn about different types of trees, some being over 1000 years old. Unfortunately it wasn’t Quetzal season, but we still had a lot of fun in the forest. We played games prepared by Javier that helped us practice our skills for spotting different unnatural things in nature. Once we got back to the resort, we all enjoyed a delicious meal that left us all full. The fresh trout was “muy rico.” We ended the day with a movie night at Nick, Hale, and Felix’s house. We all watched Date Night and ended the day with laughs.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Making Our Trip Carbon Neutral

The Costa Rica Crew began this morning by waking up and boarding the van at 8:30, an hour and a half later than usual. Today, instead of working at the elementary school, the crew drove to a large mountain in the town of Copey. There, we carried young trees to an empty space on the mountainside. The crew cleared spaces three feet in diameter, and dug holes just big enough to hold the small-sized roots of the trees. For two hours, taking small breaks to rehydrate and reapply sun block in between, the group planted sixty plus trees. What was once a barren space with a few weeds and other plants had transformed into a lush forest of baby trees.

The crew then traveled back to the bottom of the mountain and began a discussion about green house gasses. The group named a few of the gasses and brainstormed ways how we could lessen the output of said gasses. The crew touched upon buying less, traveling by car less, and reusing more. By that time, lunchtime had rolled around. We drove in the van down the mountainside to a local trout farm. However, the whole town had gathered in the cemetery for a funeral, forcing us to return to our home stay families for lunch. Hours later, the Costa Rica Crew met up once more at the Cafeteria Privilegios for milkshakes, cake, and coffee. Some of the pictures and videos taken today are posted here on the blog. Hasta Luego!   - Ryan

Friday, June 24, 2011

San Rafael Day 2

Today was a heavy work day, balanced with fun. Our projects consisted of painting the outside of a classroom and inserting a drainage ditch. 
Here is a picture of one of the completed walls:
The other wall was a bit more complicated because we had to work around windows.  Here is a video showcasing the work involved with the other wall of the classroom and the beginning of the drainage ditch:

The video isn't uploading...

So, I'll just describe everything. 
For the drainage ditch, we had to chip away at the existing concrete in order to make room for the half pipe.  After several hours of intense labor, the pipe fit into the ditch and we had to make the cement in order to hold the pipe in place. 
On the other side of the classroom, a few of us labored in the sun, working to delicately paint the wall/windows.  Claire handled the finesse work, while the rest worked at covering as much wall as possible with big paint rollers. 
Pictures!!!

We intermittently took breaks to play soccer with the children.  They are all very good. One little boy, about 7 years old, weaved his way through Felix and Ryan and neatly put the ball into the goal past Eleanor.
That's all for today. 
Hasta luego!

Videos from Day 1 - San Rafael

Thursday, June 23, 2011

First Full Day in Santa Maria

The crew in the ditch of rocks they moved.


Olman lowering the septic tank into the hole.

Clare painting a red-eyed tree frog on the side of the new classroom
            At the beginning of the first full day in Santa Maria, the Costa Rica Crew awoke at the unearthly hour of 7:00 and headed to the San Rafael School to begin its first day of work. Upon arriving at the school, the crew was introduced to the school’s principal, Omar, and the head contractor, Olman, who explained the group’s project. After applying supple amounts of sunscreen and undergoing intense hydration, the crew began its work day under the hot sun in the “cool”, “dry” environment of Santa Maria. The first task of the day was transferring stones from a gigantic pile in the school’s courtyard to the drainage channel for the septic tank that the crew aims to install.


The crew moving rocks - nice squats!

Using squat techniques that would make the infamous Ian Healy proud, the crew was able to lift the heavy stones and escort them to the channel via wheel barrow. After the crew “handily” diminished the large pile of stones, it began the task of removing water from the hole for the septic tank. At this time, the very artistic Clare and Mrs. Bauer began painting in drawings of indigenous Costa Rican animals on the walls of the classroom that last year’s group completed. In the manual labor group, Eleanor courageously stepped up to the plate and voluntarily jumped into the murky, water filled hole to become the key link in a quite efficient bucket line. After some tedious, wet work, the crew was able to mostly drain the hole through its bucket line in which Eleanor filled each bucket from the source and passed it down the line of workers where it was finally emptied into the drainage channel. At this time, Olman and the crew attempted to install the septic tank only to discover that the hole was much too deep. Consequently, the crew broke out the shovels and began the difficult task of filling the hole with rocks and the hard, rocky soil. After a few hours work, the hole was raised to within half a foot of the correct depth. At this point, the crew had been working hard for hours under the hot sun and had accomplished much more than expected. Therefore, Olman ended work for the day and the dirty, tired crew returned to their home-stay families for showers and lunch.

After a few hours, the crew was picked up from their separate homes and brought to the center of Santa Maria for an urban scavenger hunt. Prodded by the promise of prizes for the completion of the hunt, the crew broke up into groups divided by the home-stay family arrangements and quickly set off on the hunt. After about an hour and half of discovering Santa Maria’s history and key land-marks, the crew arrived at the Santa Maria’s Coffee Coop Café for the conclusion of their quest. In the end, each group accomplished the task and attained the prize of a delicious beverage at the Café Privilegios, a shop that the Lonely Planet travel guide rated as one of the top ten places to have coffee in the world! In addition, Javier passed out tickets for a hyped soccer match for later that night. At the conclusion of their coffee break, the crew had a deep discussion about world issues until returning to their home-stay families for a quick dinner before the match. Although it was tiring and busy, the Costa Rica Crew had a great first full day in Santa Maria.
-Hale

Hale, Felix and Nick enjoy their post-race treats

Vince, Ryan, Eleanor and Clare opt for cake and milkshakes

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Arrival in Santa Maria de Dota

After an early morning hike at Hacidena Baru, where we saw a 3-toed sloth, toucan and mangrove hawk, the crew ate breakfast and left for the curvy, slow drive over the mountains to Santa Maria de Dota. We arrived just before lunchtime and the students met their homestay families. The rest of the afternoon was spent getting to know each other and tomorrow we will begin working at the school.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Beautiful Beach and the Wonderful Waterfall!

Before Zip Lining!
The Costa Rica Crew at the Beach!
Day two with the Costa Rica crew was an exciting day! This morning we got to breakfast at 7:30, well at least some of us, the rest of us had some "alarm trouble". After a quick, and I mean quick bite to eat the crew was out to the rainforest for some awesome and fast zip lining. It was very hot on the hike up to the top of the zip line, but totally well worth it. Going down the zip lines was refreshing and the crew got views that look like they should be printed on post cards!

After some flying through some trees with monkeys and other wild life the crew packed their bags and hit up the “beautiful beach” and went out to lunch. The pizza made the crew feel like they were in Italy for a few minutes, so good! Soon after, the crew headed to the beach. This beach is a black sanded beach with epic waves and caves and so many amazing views! I happen to have my flying disk that came in handy to play with on the sand. Mrs. Bauer as kind as she is bought the crew very fruity tasting pops after the beach. Vince even said he wants his home stay family to keep some for him in their icebox. Then the crew went to the fresh water waterfall and it was so much fun to jump from rocks (don’t worry parents we were VERY careful). Then we returned to the resort for a mid day swim and played “marco polo”. Well what a day, a lot of swimming so the crew needs to sleep well tonight! The joke of the day was when everyone called every single animal a “tapper”, funny because no one in the crew has seen a tapper. So long story short for family and friends “today was great”.

Clare Jessey

The Resort that Helps the Environment


Today was a very exciting day for the Costa Rica crew.  Our first full day in the beautiful country was full of educational, adventurous, and fun experiences. We started the day as an audience with the visionary and founder of Hacienda Baru, Jack Ewing.  Jack described his efforts to restore the deforested, cattle pastures of Hacienda Baru into a thriving, diverse wildlife reserve, which we enjoyed today.  Jack told us about his original purpose of exploiting the rich land to breed cattle and his change of heart due to a growing love and appreciation of the wildlife that he developed as he spent his free time exploring the land.  As a result of Jack’s dedication and will power, the Hacienda is now the home to thousands of species of wildlife creatures.  Now, the goal of Hacienda Baru is to restore, conserve, and protect the biodiversity of Costa Rica.  As the Hacienda grows, Jack hires more employees who share his appreciation for nature, who will play an important role later in the day.   After our long walk through the jungle and the tropical beach, our delicious lunch of “Arroz con Pollo” (Rice with Chicken), and “Arroz con Vegetales” (Rice with Vegetables, for the vegetarians in the group), and a brief ciesta, the group reconvened to plan our interviews of the previously mentioned, nature loving employees of Hacienda Baru.  We interviewed the kitchen workers, a security guard, the storekeeper, and the neighbors:




Composting, Trash & Recycling Bin


Clare and Eleanor (Interviewed: Storekeeper)à
In the resort’s gift shop, there was an abundance of eco-friendly art for sale, from masks to cutting boards to wooden figurines. When talking to the storekeeping, she informed us that the Hacienda Baru Resort buys from the native population surrounding the resort. This helps the local economy and promotes the usage of eco-friendly art. The art is made of the dead bark of local forest trees. Due to the condition of the dead wood, the art shows worm holes, mold, and other imperfections on the s/urface. These qualities give a uniqueness character to the figurines in the gift shop. By picking up dead wood instead of cutting down live trees, the native population helps maintain the lush rain forest that we are able to explore this week.
Hale and Vince

Inside the kitchen

When we found a chance to interview the cooks of the small, homely, Costa Rica kitchen from which we enjoyed our meals at the Hacienda Baru, we discovered that these cooks were also taking many actions to protect and supplement the resort’s biological environment. For example, the kitchen avoids the pollution used to ship processed foods and imported crops by only using organic foods and locally grown crops in their dishes. Later, the cooks take the food not eaten by their guests and dispose of it into a large compost bin located outside the kitchen. The groundskeepers of the hacienda use this compost to fertilize the luscious plants growing throughout. In addition to composting uneaten food, the kitchen also recycles many items that they used. In similar fashion to how the kitchen restricts pollution in the shipping of crops, the hacienda also restricts its use of energy by air drying sheets and towels rather than using costly, wasteful, and eco-damaging dryers. Likewise, the hacienda preserves energy by using solar panels to heat the water in the rooms. The friendly security guard who patrols the grounds says that it is his duty to protect the hacienda and ensure the prevention of unwanted guests. Although the hacienda suffers minor problems from small-scale poaching, the security effectively protects the treasured wildlife of this beautiful reserve.
Ryan, Felix, Nick
The trio of us were given the difficult task of interviewing some local turtle caretakers. As we trekked through the rainforest, we struggled to devise a plan as we gazed upon the exotic plants and animals. We eventually came to Martin’s house and greeted him. We asked if we could have an interview with him and his assistant. As we attempted to bridge the language barrier, we interviewed him about his job. His job consists of transporting turtle eggs to a safe environment, protecting them from predators, and then transporting the eggs back to the beach to be hatched. Martin explained how he and his assistant have to make sure the temperature of the sand is exceptional for the eggs to be hatched. Right before they hatch he brings them to the shore, twenty to thirty meters from the ocean, so they can safely return to the sea

Hand Painted Ornaments



Clare showing off a cool mask


Laundry Air Drying


Solar Heated Water Tank



Sunday, June 19, 2011

At Baru!!!

Hacienda Baru, Dominical, Costa Rica!

What an amazing place surrounded by this beautiful rain forest, and the sounds... it's alive!

Videos and pics coming tomorrow!


Our journey has began

Costa Rica here we are! We have landed and ready to head down to the Pacific coast!! We'll let you know when we get there as well!!
Pura vida
Javier, Gretchen and the gang!!