My name is Brad, and I have the unique privilege of working with twenty fantastic trip members and two equally fantastic staff for ten days down here in Costa Rica. This blog will serve as your look-in to the activities we are doing, the work that we have accomplished, and some of the other fun things that we have going on down here, south of the border.
This specific trip is a ten-day community service trip. What that means is that the trip members we are working with understand that this is not just your normal vacation – we have traveled down here to challenge ourselves physically, emotionally and socially to make some pretty major changes. The work we are doing takes place in communities that are drastically different than anything any of us have ever seen before. But, before we talk about that, how did we get here?
Day One of the trip was a travel day. Many of the trip members met up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for our group flight. After a couple of card games, we boarded our flight and headed south. Once in Costa Rica, we checked into customs (alongside a local Costa Rican top level club soccer team…not a big deal) and then made our way to the hotel. The hotel is beautiful, tucked in between the Cordillera Talamanca mountains of San Jose. Once at the hotel, we gathered as a group for our first ever team meeting, where we talked about trip expectations as well as the “Pura Vida” way that people live down here.
In Costa Rica, “Pura Vida” translates literally as “pure life,” but for the people here (the Ticos, as they call themselves) it means so much more. “Pura Vida” means to appreciate what you have, to live life to the fullest, and to generally just enjoy the world around you! Similar to “aloha” in Hawaii, it is used in a multitude of ways – as a greeting, goodbye, or even as a sign of gratitude. For example, “Hey, thanks for the help.” “Pura Vida!” We embraced this mentality as we headed to sleep and prepared for our first push out of our comfort zones in the morning.
Day Two was white water rafting day! We went rafting at Exploradores Costa Rica, which we were told was ranked a top five white water rafting destination IN THE WORLD. Man, this place did not disappoint. In a word, I would describe the white water rafting experience as exhilarating. The trip took about three hours, as we rafted anywhere between class 2 and class 4+ rapids. The trip even included a lunch that was freshly made by our rafting guides, who were also local to Costa Rica, and included some of the most delicious pineapple any of us have ever had. As we made our way through the beautiful rainforests of Costa Rica, serenaded by the Cicadas up in the trees, you could tell that this group was growing closer together by the minute. We had a blast, but in the back of our minds, we knew the real reason that we had traveled down here was just about to begin.
Days Three through Five were service days. Our community service took place in a community called La Carpio, a neighborhood of San Jose. There, we worked with the Costa Rica Humanitarian Foundation. We heard from the foundation’s leader, who told us to “be ready” to do some really awesome work.
La Carpio is an extremely poor community located in San Jose. To give an idea of the conditions that the people here live in – we were told to play soccer with the kids. There was no field, so we played in the street. We were told to paint houses. We painted aluminum “fences” that served as walls for their homes. We were told to dig a walkway through a hill so that we could pour in cement so that the hill would not fall on a woman’s home. Okay, that one was actually very accurate. It was unbelievable to see our trip members’ (and my) reactions to these conditions – because as opposed to saying, “man, this is rough. This sucks. I don’t want to be here,” the response was the 100% polar opposite.
Our TM’s dove right into this work, doing everything imaginable – painting, coloring, digging, playing, donating, all with no regard for any of their personal things. It was fine that their shirts got paint on them, or that their shoes may have gotten a little scuffed up. Why? While our TM’s have done great work, we have all been inspired to do this work by the people who live in La Carpio. The people who live there have so little, but are pleased by so much. The TM’s LOVED playing soccer with us in the street; the adults were so grateful for us just to be there, and any work that we did was just an added bonus. We did so much good work, and it was so gratifying to see the finished product and all that we had accomplished over the course of our three days there. As a group, we reflected and came to the following conclusion: our time in La Carpio was life-changing, showing us the beauty in the simplest things that life can provide us.
Honestly, my most favorite part of this trip so far was the service. With that being said, we are now heading north in Costa Rica to Rincon de la Vieja, where we will be engaging in some very necessary down time (shameless plug to tune in next week to hear about some of the incredible things we will be doing!). From there, we will head west to Flamingo for our second service trip, as well as some really fun excursions.
It’s crazy to think that this trip is already halfway done. The group that is down here in Costa Rica is truly amazing, and is living life the “Pura Vida” way. I couldn’t be more proud of this group of honorary Ticos, and can’t wait to see them grow even more as we head into the second half of this trip.
I will close this blog in true Costa Rican fashion, by saying…
Pura Vida y Hasta Luego,
BD
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