Less Than 24 Hours in and Already Broke a Rule

That margarita that I enjoyed yesterday. You know, the good one. The one I got at a local bar for 2,000 Colones. It was against program policy. **sigh** How is it that I've only been in the program for one night and already I broke a rule? Well, I signed the paperwork saying that I would not partake in any bebidas while in Costa Rica, nor enter any bars, nor have anything to do with alcohol while in the community of Puriscal. Vodka on the rocks -- nope; lemon drop - nah-uh; a shirley temple -- probably pushing it! Good thing I don't drink very often.

Today we got started on the clean-up process for the school. Our task was to complete the knocking down of some small walls, moving the concrete, re-bar, etc. and moving the stuff to  a corner of the yard. We spent about 2.5 hours on this manual labor, in the sun. If ever I needed a reason to remember why I went to college, this manual labor today was enough of a reminder. Looking at the pictures, between the 5 volunteers (3 women, 1 teenager, and a pre-teen), 2 female staff members, plus some random kids from the school, it doesn't look like a whole lot got accomplished. Fortunately, this is a small project that we are pacing ourselves on. Tomorrow, we'll clean up the residuals of the concrete and rocks, and begin the painting of the tin roof. It may not seem like a "big" job, but we're breaking up concrete and rocks by hand, under direct sun and some intense humidity.

It was nice that on this first day, many of the kids were willing to pitch in a hand to assist. You can see them here in the photo to the right.

I learned that the public school that we are helping has 70 students. They receive a budget of $3,000 for all of their materials (including groundswork), food for the kids, and classroom supplies. Thus, community involvement and volunteers such as ourselves is critical for this school. Yet, Costa Rica boasts a literacy rate of nearly 94% of its population. That's amazing when you contrast that to the amount of money, time, and effort that is put into our school districts back in the states. Moreover, the school is attempting to be environmentally sensitive by taking an active stance in the Bandera Azul program. A program focused on helping children learn and have a stake in their environment. Wowsers!

The Tools of Our Trade

These are photos of the front of the school below. These items you see in the photo are recycled items (e.g., tires, tiles) that are recycled to make something beautiful within their school.