The Hottest of Hot (Agua, that is)

Author: Zoe
Location: Flippin sweet bus, hot springs
There were many highs and lows on the 29th of July. Beginning with a low of saying goodbye to our home stay families and then a four-hour bus ride, which included an intense game of Jotta. But when we arrived at he supermarket and then a dip in a hot, delightful and of course delicious thermal pools at our new wonderful hotel that looks over a sizzling and active volcano. We were filled with joy. This morning I was woken by the piercing of the rooster and the delectable smell of empanadas, eggs, and big surprise Gallo Pinto! As amazing as breakfast was, leaving our families caused many tears to fall. We all received our family pictures form Friday's fiesta! Which will be treasured forever with our family portraits in hand my comrades and I boarded our bus were we soon arrived at the best milkshake place know to man. Although the mint chocolate chip milkshakes may make Evan a wee bit gassy, that was by far the best flavor to order. After stopping for milkshakes, my comrades and I stopped at a local day care to pain a wall of theirs. Finally arriving at Kyoto, everyone was eager to take a dip into the many thermal pools that awaited us lifeworkers. After dinner some of us still wanted to go swimming once again and were lucky enough to be able to lay in the hot tubs while stargazing. A good end to our day, everyone then went to sleep anxiously awaiting for tomorrows horseback riding mud bathing.
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The First Farewell

Author: Erin L
Location: La Carpio, La Cine
We all got to sleep in this morning (9 o'clock) and were well prepared for our final day in La Carpio. Activities at the street fair included hopscotch, jewellery, coloring, jump-rope, balloon animals, and airplane flying. I was at the jewellery making table with Paris, as soon as we sat down the kids swarmed us. We can't help that the kids love us. From our area if you take a casual glance around you would see smiling kids faces running around going crazy (and also you would see Mike and his new balloon making skills being put to the test by sugar high kids). As a farewell to the kids in La Carpio we presented them with a delicious cake and said goodbye. Later we all went to el cine, due to some hook-ups by Gail we got to see the much anticipated Harry Potter movie. Even though it was in English it was fun to read the Spanish subtitles. This has been a very Harry Potter enriched trip with two of our members in the group reading the 7th book, you can always hear the angry; Stop talking about Harry Potter I don't want to hear anything!! After the movie we were all picked up by our homestay families and taken home, out on the town, or to a fiesta depending on the family. They wanted to spend the last night with us. It was sad knowing that this was our last night with our families, we are all gong to miss them very much.
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The Grand Entrega

Author: Louise L
Location: La Carpio
After weeks of hard work on the playground, today was the day that we got to reveal our creation to the kindergarteners of La Carpio. With faces full of excitement and anticipation, the little boys and girls filed into the back lot where the playground awaited them. Us life-workers got assigned the task of acting out what not to do on the playground. The five rules were no garbage, no pushing, no defacing the walls or equipment, no eating, and a single file line when entering the playground. After the revealing ceremony, the kids were given watermelon, as well as Popsicle stick "keys" sating "su playground de esparanza" meaning "your playground of hope" to commemorate the event.

That afternoon, we went back to Anna's ranch and were given the option to stay and enjoy some free time at the ranch, or to go back to our homestays. Everyone besides Hilary, Deborah, Richard and some of the boys went back to their homestays to relax. We found out later that we missed out on an intense game of sardines that they all played in the pouring rain!

After a few hours of some much needed relaxation, everyone and their homestay families gathered at Anna's ranch for a potluck fiesta. The night was filled with tons of good food, music, and dancing. From the games of musical chairs, to being graced by the voices of other life-workers singing karaoke, the night was a hit; all the while, Cascade was blinged out in a gangster shirt and cornrows. The love and compassion expressed and symbolized by the life-workes and the families that night are what lifeworks and the humanitarian foundation are all about.
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The Grass is always greener

Author: Jusitn L
Location: La Carpio, San Jose
I was greeted this morning by a pancake breakfast, having slept through the previous P.B. (pancake breakfast). I was super pumped. Right then I knew today would be a good day. Team lifeworks 07'assembled at Anna's house around 8 and withdrew money for the day's shopping spree in San Jose. Before we could shop however, we returned to la Carpio to finish up our murals and lay sod. After housing our grassy carpets as to maximize the soddage and minimize the dusty rocky-dirt-age. Team impressionist art finished up completing mural scenes of butterfly wings and anatomically inaccurate mountain climbers. We wrapped things up around noon and headed over to San Jose to commence "shopping extraoanza 07". The group split up and meandered through endless alleys lined with merchants and their crazy selection of Costa Rican treats. In the end, the group amassed over a mile combined length of machete blade and countless canastas, along with shoes and mamas chines, which are small strawberry-like fruit covered in wiry barbs that, Once cracked open house white orbs that although have the consistency of a goat's eyeballs, are dee-lishus (in elan's accent). After returning to tour home stay house, team LW assembled once more at Anna's to construct small giveaways for the kids at tomorrows grand opening of the playground. We wrote, "su play de la esperanza -FHCR/LW" on heart Popsicle sticks. Tomorrow promise to be an exciting and rewarding day as we hand the playground over to "los nios de la epsperanza" of La Carpio. This is J-bone signing out. Representing the Garden State- See ya.
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Some Natural Healing

Author: Gwen
Location: La Carpio, Quitirrisi Indigenous Healing Temple
Today on a particularly damp day, it was quite humid (duh) and hot. We started off our day on a bit of disappointment when we found out that we wouldn't be spending our precious Frankin's (dollars) on goods. Instead we would be going to meet the medicine healer of an indigenous group that originated in Costa Rica. Anyway we went to La Carpio and half of us got to teach the cuties in kindergarten and the other half started our murals. Of course mine is the best with a rainbow and a sun wearing shades but other than that we all did an awesome job. Since we had moved in with our homestay families the night before, we couldn't wait for our 5 lbs. Lunch pails made with love . We actually got in trouble because we started going to town on our pear juiceboxes and gallo pinto, before cleaning up, but it was definitely worth the wait. When we had packed up and headed towards the mountain. We spent the next hour painting the boys' hands while they were sleeping and we documented the whole scene. Upon arrival we had to gallop through thundershowers and soggy clay down to a hut. We were greeted by the son of the healer and were introduced to physical and spiritual sickness that the world faces today. We then ventured into the world of plants that did miracles. During which Mother Nature decided to take a shower and make us run to the hut and hover over a fire in order to warm our buns. Little did I know that sparks would get on my legs, but I survived. After we crushed sugar cane and made juice, it was definitely the best sugar high I have ever experienced. We returned to the rancho where we learned the art of salsa and became the next dancing with the stars. Peace in the middle east, I'm Gwen and Out.

Big bugs to rafting to adoption day

Author: Zara
Location: La Selva y Aguas Bravas (Sarapiqui)
This morning it felt as though we woke up at the break of dawn. We were getting ready to leave the biological station, la selva, but only after our breakfast at the cafeteria and our tour through the jungle while getting eaten alive by mosquitos and melting from the humidity. The highlight of the day was by far the river rafting on the sarapiqui river. The two hour ride was filled with embarrassing moments such as crashing helmets with Deborah and missing the raft when trying to swim against the current with Justin. About half way through, our guide relinquished control to Deborah who took his position and proved her ability to captain the raft and steered the raft to safety. At the end of the trip, everyone had a chance to prove their bravery by jumping off a ten meter bridge. Everyone had been looking forward to this moment, and once we jumped, everyone was angry that we could only jump once! We then had an amazing lunch at Aguas Bravas. Many were sad to leave the place and of course the very good looking staff. We then loaded the bus, ready to greet our homestay families upon our return to Santa Ana in three hours. I was paired with Kelsea to stay with an amazing and excited family. They have three kids: a gargantuan 15 yr old boy who is apparently the best goalie, a 12 yr old girl who is a very intelligent and diligent student, and a 9 yr old boy who likes to terrorize their seventy-something yr old dog. Dinner was immediately served once we arrived and thankfully our clothes were given to get washed. Kelso and I tried to carry on conversation with Lorena (in spanish of course). We got ready for bed around 8 o clock since we were so tired, but not before we had some rich and sweet hot chocolate out on the porch.


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Travel, boating, eating and strolling around in the jungle.

Author: Kelsea
Location: La Selva
We woke up this morning at the nice late hour of 8:00. The day definitely began as a scorcher. The breakfast table was covered in the usual array of bread, fruit, eggs and gallo-pinto. We made the long three hour trek in the boat where a dance contest that occurred between Hillary, Richard, Gwen, and Even. Gwen and Evan promptly schooled Hilary and Richard on what was expected. We arrived at the Turtle Relax, where we were served a delicious lunch consisting of salad, rice, plantains, and chicken in a savory sauce. After tummies were filled, everyone piled onto the very welcoming air-conditioned bus for the two and a half journey to la selva resarch station. There was a lot of commotion in the back of the bus and the bus driver had to politely ask Evan to stop crawling over the seats. We arrived at La Selva where we decided to go on a jugle walk. Sadly, we didnt see much but a blue jean frog and leaf cutter ants, but I remain hopeful for our guided walk tomorrow. Sweaty and tired, we were delayed in taking our showers because the staff decided that the hot and sweaty life workers needed to play the human knot game. We divided into 2 groups: the Californians versus everyone else. The everyone-else easily tooled the Californians, but Ricardo rigged the second round making it impossible for us to win again. We retired to the showers and ate a buffet style dinner. I was pretty excited to have chocolate milk. Following dinner, a forum was held about making choices. Well, early to bed because we have an early morning.
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FUN CITY!!! Egg laying, ice cream, painful games, boat rides, and super fun times with hot dutch boys.

Author: Evan
Location: la Isla De amor y tortugas: tortuguero
The morning after a very eventful night in which a few curious and hungry (for food/adventure) lifeworkers decided to try their fate and venture beyond the fluorescent pink iron gate of happyland, the delicious breakfast of huevos, bread, OJ, coffee and what else but gallo pinto was surprisingly not awkward at all. However. Ally "bossyb' accidentally spilled her OJ all over the waitress but all was well or rather happy in happyland. Sad to leave our 1985 spring break themed "resort", we ventured on a 3 hour MTV boat ride to tortuguero. After 2 hours of crocodiles, Dutchmen, doritos and monkeys, we arrived at our rest stop and devoured the most delicious and savory meal of fried chicken, platanos, tomatoes, the works. Bloated and satisfied by our feast, we continued our boat ride to Tortuguero. Anyway, the hotel-WillisLodge is the bomb with its cute cabins (very Parent Trap) and talented chef. After swinging on the hammocks and dinner, we went to town and took a walk on the beach, which we could not swim in because the water is infested with deadly sharks and scary riptides. However, Our time at the beach was still fun, playing trust games and Red Rover, which isn't that fun. Sweaty and bruised and sandy and bitten from the games we went to the town and bought ice cream. Yum. Then, after that little escapade, we bounded back to the hotel to eat and talk some more. Dinner was delish and consisted of the usual rice and beans and chicken. But, the highlight of this copious meal was the exquisite mashed potatoes. Holla. I love potatoes. Almost as delicious as the potatoes was our exciting walk to watch a mamma sea turtle lay her 5000 eggs. Oh, and the turtle was bigger than me. Hooray. Still astonished by this life-changing experience, we ("my comrades and I" as Andrew would say) trekked back to our lodge stumbling over gnarled roots.
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Meeting Cabecans, Clinic Construction

Author: Michael
Location: Zent Indigenous Village, piedades to limon
Today, the group was awakened in our hotel, El Maranon at 5:30 in th morning by our skipper gwen. Everyone rushed to pack anything that they might have forgotten for our 4 day trip to the talantic coast. After a rusched breakfast in the hotel's restaurant we hopped on the bus and were on the road by 6:00. everyone feel asleep due to the previous night in which most people gor a few short hours sleep. We were awakened around 8:30 when we arrived at a local Soda "roadsied restaurant" in which we woudl have a "buffet" breakfast. After about an hour long breakfast, we got right back on the bus for a one hour ride to an indigenious village called Cabeca. Once we arrived we were greeted by Cabecan tribe members whoose native tounge is not spanish, but Cabecan. They began to show us some of their daily tool-less activities such as ligthting a fire and making dolls and purses. We then unloaded six 45lb. Bags of cement off the bus and walked on a 45min. up-hill trek to the heart of the village where we helped build a local clinic for the Cabecans. Aftger moving several boulders and digging many holes, we walked back down the trail and ate a lunch of rice and chiken. During our lunch it began to pour and once done, we rushed back on the bus and enjoyed a long awaited visit to the supermarket in Limon. Where our next hotel, "Happyland" is located. After a swim in the hotels pool, everyone took showers and ate a chicken dinner. Now everone is anxiousl for tomorrow trip to Tortuguerro.
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Andrew Chaffee - 2007-07-19

Author: Andrew Chaffee
Location: La Carpio and La Promesa
A knock on the door and a grunt from the other bed began my July 19th in Costa Rica. After breakfast with my comrades we loaded up the bus to head off to La Carpio, to work on the kindergarten's playground. We arrived at the school like everyday before and began to break our back with hard labor. Shovels clinking, wood knocking, hammers slamming, hard breathing; these were the only sounds to be as members of LWCR2 came together to get their job done. Everyone was satisfied at the end of the day, for the actual playground was completed. Of course, there was still much more work to do, but fortunately that would all wait for a future date. My comrades reloaded the bus, and the driver took us somewhere we had never been before; La Promesa (the promise), the women's community in Costa Rica. This was a place where all the houses were owned by the women instead of the norm in Costa Rica, which is where the men own the house. This at first did not seem very exciting, but before I knew it I was up on my feet and dancing to Costa Rica music with all my companions. I couldn't help but show of my breathtaking skills in the dance circle that soon formed, I have a feeling all were impressed. Sooner or later, aka when we were all wiped out from dancing our feet off, the women's community waved us off and we were on our way home. The night ended with myself and all my comrades relaxing at the gazebo, and by some ungodly bout I found myself in bed with the cool hands of sleep coaxing me into dream world.
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Project: personal hygene to the river community. Other Activities: Zipline

Author: Ally Barranco
Location: Piedades
The morning began with a dance party!! That was led by the SKIPPER aka Evan aka Mamma E. On the way to la Carpio we stopped and bought supplies to make bags of home supplies for families in the poorer part of La Carpio. The group went to the river community and passed out bags of soap, toothpaste and deodorant to the families. Later we went up into the RAINFOREST and ZIP-LINED. It was purely Baller! There were ten lines that we went on. Louise on her first try forgot to stop and rammed straight into the tree!! (she was fine) the people in the river community greatly appreciated our giving-ness. It was only a little that we had done (or so we thought). But they greatly appreciated it.
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Another day in Paradise

Author: bershire the Great (Zak)
Location: Manuel Antonio to Piedades
We were abruptly woken by the pounding and playing of the squirrel monkeys on our metal roof, and soon after notified that it was time to get out of bed. Later we realized we were woken up at 6:45 instead of 7:30 as planned. However, we spent the time by feeding bananas to the dozens of monkeys frolicking in the trees. (they would come up and take the bananas out of our hands!! The eggs, rice and beans were tasty but the fruit was the highlight, as always. We returned to our rooms to pack up and head off to the beach with our bathing suits still damp form yesterday, therefore it seemed like and eternity too me (my bathing suit was really wet). Finally we got to the beach and us guys were the firs to race to the water, not needing a quick tanning session like some others the girls joined us and we flipped over and under frontways and backways into the waves, and body-surf the day away. At least utile lunch time. One of us was unlucky enough to get stung by a jellyfish, but to her fortune no urine was involved (we had our first aid kit with us). When everyone seemed to be fatigued from the rip-tiding ocean, mozied on over to the bus located at El Mono Loco (The Crazy Monkey). There was a race for the back seats but we all know who won but we weren't poor sports and mingled with the ladies as our staff and the coolest man ever, Jos had told us. We got back to our "awesome" hotel and quickly showered then took off for a 3 hour bus ride to our previous hotel in Piedades. Madlibs, song games, word games and story telling made the ride seem like an hour or so, or at least in our minds. Later that night before bed, we learned about coffee and the plantation we will be visiting tomorrow. We did this on Hilary's laptop in the Rancho, a private rec room, also where the guys are sleeping do to other group of not as cool Americans that are currently filling up all the rooms in OUR hotel. It could've been some of the girls, but we were told that the girls couldn't handle the bug situation here. Overall, today was another success, hoped to be followed by another. Peace Out, Bay Area Represented!!
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Fun on the Beach

Author: Julia Tanenbaun
Location: Manuel Antonio
As did yesterday, today started with a bang, actually many, which belonged to the pounding wakeup call that each door received this morning by our skipper, aka alarm clock. This early wakeup call was followed by a breaksfast of fresh fruit, toast, cereal and jams, which included my new personal favorite, pineapple. We then said goodbye to the El Marannon and moved on to our three and a half hour bus ride that would take us to our beach weekend getaway. Although a particularly tough bus ride for me, I got to talk to Viktor, the ride was immediately made better after stopping the bus to see a river full of alligators. They were huge, but for some reason refused to put on a show for us, maybe it was because they were wild. Once we finally reached the Cabaas de Pedro Miguel, our hotel, we were immediately rushed off the bus to see all the monkeys hanging around the hotel, although they soon left after enjoying many, MANY bananas. After meeting Jos and enjoying an amazing lunch we then headed for the beach. Once there we took a hike, which my shorts and shirt will pay for, it was very muddy. This led us to an amazing beach with probably the warmest water I have ever been in. We could, and did, last for hours just swimming in the water. After the hike back from the beach we were set free to go explore the local market of Manuel Antonio, which I might add is AMAZING. Once we arrived back at the hotel we were greeted by Jos, his wife and an amazing dinner of steak, chicken, rice, beans, pineapple, and rice pudding (yes dad be jealous it was the best ever). After dinner we all played Mafia and rhythm maker. During these games we all came together to enjoy the hilarity that ensued. Soon we realized that it was already 10:45 and that was why we were all so tired. The best part of today was Jos's speech about life. He was very inspirational and told us that we were all very special and how good giving is for a person's body and soul, he really captured what it was that we were setting out to do. It was great end to a day filled with adventure.
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Project: Orientation

Author: Travis Strickland
Location: Piedades
The first day started off with a bang as I fell flat on my face while trying to navigate my way to the door for the 7:15 wake up call. Everyone gathered together for our first breakfast together and we then met soon after for an orientation and discussion. At first everything seemed slightly awkward due to the fact that I had not memorized anyone's name, but that feeling of strangeness would soon start to dissipate through the day. Meeting people has never been a strong aspect of my personality, but after only one day I already feel more comfortable with my fellow lifeworks members. After a 2'ish hour orientation, which included some fun activities, we had lunch and prepared for our departure into la Carpio.

This was the first time I had ever been immersed into real poverty, and it was a real shock to see how theses people lived. One thing I will never forget is when 3 small children entered the school we were in; completely beaming and happy. This small gesture gave me insight into how strong these people really are, and how they are happy and thankful even though they have next to nothing. We also went to view the site for the playground that we would be constructing over the next few weeks.

Once we returned to the hotel we were given some free time, everyone gathered together to make bracelets. After this time we all gathered together and stood on a small carpet for 25 minutes as we had to figure out how we could flip it over while standing on it. All together this was a good start to a very exciting adventure!!
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The First Day

Author: travis Strickland
Location: Piedades And La Carpio
The firs day started off with a bang as I fell flat on my face while trying to navigate my way to the door for the 7:15 wake up call. Everyone gathered together for our first breakfast together and we then met soon after for an orientation and discussion. At first everything seemed slightly awkward due to the fact that I had not memorized anyone's name, but that feeling of strangeness would soon start to dissipate through the day. Meeting people has never been a strong aspect of my personality, but after only one day I already feel more comfortable with my fellow lifeworks members. After a 2'ish hour orientation, which included some fun activities, we had lunch and prepared for our departure into la Carpio.
This was the first time I had ever been immersed into real poverty, and it was a real shock to see how theses people lived. One thing I will never forget is when 3 small children entered the school we were in; completely beaming and happy. This small gesture gave me insight into how strong these people really are, and how they are happy and thankful even though they have next to nothing. We also went to view the site for the playground that we would be constructing over the next few weeks.
Once we returned to the hotel we were given some free time, everyone gathered together to make bracelets. After this time we all gathered together and stood on a small carpet for 25 minutes as we had to figure out how we could flip it over while standing on it. All together this was a good start to a very exciting adventure!!



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Cuatro de Julio en Costa Rica

Author: Freddy
Location: Cuatro de Julio en Costa Rica
I heard it. Loud and clear. Once again. The infamous call of a rooster in the early morning. Fortunately, this morning it was at 6:15 rather than 5 o'clock. Nonetheless, I was unable to sleep any longer at about 6:30, so I made the mistake of wandering downstairs. This mistake caused me to be very hungry later, not because my home-stay family is not feeding me, but because mi mama began preparing my breakfast as soon as I walked down those steps. We left the house at 7:30 to meet the rest of the group at Ana's house. Once the whole group was present, we loaded the bus and headed to La Carpio to jazz up the wall we built by painting some murals. On the bus, Hilary, Deborah, and Richard informed us that we would also be playing with the kids in La Carpio; the plan was to set up some sort of street fair for them. Some of the street fair attractions included jump rope games, coloring, and face-painting. I was at the face painting station for a while and did my best to accommodate the children's desires, most of which were: puma, dragon, or flower. Over where the kids were drawing it was apparent that the kids had never been told that their pictures were muy bonita or muy bien as they continuously showed their finished products to our group for approval.
When I rotated out of the street-fair activities and back to painting, a couple of interesting things happened. First, Angela and I painted bananas so real-looking that I wanted to reach into the wall and grab one. Second, we had an unexpected visitor. When we first opened the lot on which we were building, Gail explained that there was a jail next to it. We all noticed the double barred window to the jail cell, but simply shrugged it off. Today, however, we were all under the window when we heard a sort of farting sound, obviously made by the mouth and the tongue. I was confused at first, but someone pointed out that someone in the jail cell had made this noise. The jail mate continued to poke his head our every few minutes and said things that I will not repeat in this entry. He eventually must have lost interest or have not liked our taste in music and stopped yelling things. After our day of work at La Carpio, we went back to our homestays for a siesta before the fiesta.
At about 5 o'clock p.m. we all arrived at Ana's ranch with our homestay brothers and sisters to play games. Soccer, Frisbee, and relay races were among some of the most popular activities. Relays included, among others, wheel barrel an adaptive version of egg and spoon race; in the absence of eggs, Hilary and Deborah made use of their surroundings and had us use freshly picked limes instead.
Later on, the parents arrived with their pot luck additions and we all sat down to a FABULOUS dinner. There was soup, chicken, rice, pasta, frijoles, and everything else you could imagine. By the end, we were all stuffed. After dinner, we were surprised with fireworks in Ana's yard (only in Costa Rica, can you actually sit directly underneath the fireworksHow cool!). Next we sang the National Anthem and then listened to our host families sing the Costa Rican National Anthem. Delicious cake followed and we once again ate until we were about to explode. Then after a night of fun, food, and fireworks, we returned to our houses for some much needed rest.

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Sarapiqui

Author: Sarah
Location: Sarapiqui
After packing our bags at La Selva and eating breakfast we meet up with several jungle guides and split up into two groups for a nature hike. We saw ants as big as Cheetos, very smelly pigs, Macaws, spiders almost as huge as the ones in Jumanji, and legions of army ants. The first group also claims that they were privy to the second-ever jaguar sighting in the history of La Selva, though proof remains to be seen. Then we got onto the buss and went to the white-water rafting headquarters. It was the maiden voyage for many but our experienced guides assured us of the upcoming AWESOME time. Once we were a little bit down the river many stopped to jump off a side cliff into the water. Even further along we pulled ashore for a much needed break with watermelon (sanda) and pineapples (pia) during this break we climbed the giant hill to the top of a swinging bridge and a proud few bravely jumped of it. Despite Richard's claims that the bridge was a mere thirty feet above the water, we all remain convinced that it had to have been at least 100ft!!! The last leg of the trip presented a fabulous opportunity to test out physics knowledge on a not-so-stable swinging vine. The principle in question is the one about gravity. The process of overcoming gravity and swinging up turned out to be more difficult than previously thought as Sawyer found out when he broke it on his second attempt after a remarkably familiar brave few had tried it out. After a classic, and now familiar, Costa Rican lunch of chicken, frijoles, and rice we began our trip back through the mountains towards San Jose. Along the way we stopped at a gorgeous waterfall and had a great time getting way too close to the edge. Shortly after this we stopped at an unsuspecting roadside stand where Jorge once again cleaned out the Pringles section. Another two hours passed and we finally arrived back in Santa Ana to meet our home stay families. And that is where the real fun started. The reports were all spectacular, with different stories from each house. The themes that remained constant, however, were undoubtedly food, fun, ad then more food. Sydney described a fabulous evening of games like Hide and Seek and Tag during which Sydney was almost attacked by the Lorena family ferocious Chihuahua . Josh and Richard had nothing but praise for the Seguro family's hospitality and awesomeness. Josh even helped their host mother, and English student, with her homework. Mia and Laura also had and exciting linguistic experience as they tried to read their phrasebook while jumping up and down on the trampoline at their home stay family's house. Sawyer and Jorge were fed to their hearts content (no small feat) and frijoles were in no short supply. Freddy and Max spent some quality time with their host family and looked at pictures from their aunt's wedding. However, Max, in trying to tell the bride how pretty her wedding (boda) picture looked, instead said how he had loved seeing the pictures of her birth. After a few confusing and abashed minutes of discussion, however, this mix-up was resolved (with lots of laughter ensuing). Deborah and Angela spent their evening repairing the damage that the lifeworks boys had inflicted upon her beloved Shamu dolphin stuffed animal. Their host mother kindly helped them to sew up a few missing stitches while they all watched Ice Age in Spanish. Ella and Hillary had the most lasagne they have ever eaten in one sitting and insist that it was also the best. Russell and Brad joined Colleen and I to ride the ATVs that our family owned. Despite the fact that I almost crashed into the first ever moving tree, a great time was had by all. In summary we all had an INCREDIBLE day and look forward to being back in la Carpio to finish our beloved wall.


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La Selva Biological Station

Author: Josh
Location: La Selva Biological Station
After breakfast at Willis we had a nice relaxing boat ride back to Limon. On the way back we saw even more monkeys. We had a wonderful lunch at the Relaxed Turtle. Once we arrived at the biological station we put our stuff away and had a spirited, awesome, somewhat violent game of Spoons/Kemps. This was followed by a great dinner where everyone thoroughly enjoyed the chocolate milk. That night we played human Jenga in the staffers' room (see photo). Then we had a great lifeworks forum about destiny, with people spread across several bunk beds and a few rafters. Everyone had really good ideas and interesting opinions. Everyone was so into the discussion that we talked about it for several hours till we realized we needed our sleep for the day ahead, which would be here in about 6 hours.
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Limon to Tortuguero

Author: Jorge
Location: Limon to Tortuguero
This morning after a delicious breakfast we took a five minute van ride over too the docks where we were greeted by Willis. Once aboard his two launches and well on our way to Tortuguero, I realized that I had left my bag and my passport on the bus*. The reason I lost my passport with my bag was that I did not feel the need to tell the staff that I, in fact had two passports, only one of which I turned in when explicitly asked for my official documents. This situation was not as bad as it seems for I had remembered my two bags of snacks. So while I munched on my snacks and enjoyed the jungle tour my fears about the location of my passport slowly faded. The jungle tour was amazing!! We saw lots of wildlife. We got within almost reaching distance of the granddaddy of all crocodiles while we discussed who could wrassel him into submission. Then we were set upon by a whole group of monkeys who were obviously trying to tell us something by the way they screamed at us. All too soon we arrived at the hotel on the river. We spent the next hour trying to discover how many people you can fit into four hammocks (eleven for those who are wondering). From Willis we walked over to museum were we learned EVERYTHING there is to know about green sea turtles. Armed with this knowledge we attacked the trash on the beach so that the turtles might have a clean spot to lay their eggs, (100-120 per nest). That night our turtle knowledge came in handy, as we tracked down one in order to observe her laying her eggs in the dead of night. This is made especially hard by the fact that turtles are so fast on the land. After watching her lay her eggs we all realized we were dead tired and decided to go to bed. Tomorrow would be another full day.

*Don't worry I got my passport back. Hi Mom!
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Happyland!!!

Author: Mia
Location: San Jose to Limon
This morning began very early, with a paranoid skipper, Laura Brett asking what time it is with the answer being 3:11 am. A couple of hours later, at 5:45, I was told to get up and get going. Not two minutes after she left to get everyone else up, I heard Jorge!!!! Russell!!!! GET UP!!!!! Ha! That didn't even get them up, so I heard the whole story of their grand awakening later on the three and a half hour bus ride, which was long but beautiful. After the first two hours, we stopped for breakfast at a cool little restaurant. It had a nice little fire and the food was delicious. Another hour later, we met a group of indigenous people. These people were simply amazing. Just two years ago they had just started to learn about art, school, language, etc. They had several crafts that were simply stunning. They had made decorative animals out of bark cloth, which is a tedious process in the first place. They also had an assortment of necklaces and other jewellery. Gail and the others played with some of the kids. This was very funny considering they were trying to explain how a Frisbee works via gestures. Then we were shown the school, by one of their teachers. He told us about the background of the school building and it was shocking. The progress it had made in the last two years was really amazing. After all this we went to Happyland. Yeah! It's great! There are everlasting rainbows and horses! And huge pots of Gold!! Uhm no. it's the hotel. We had a lot of fun in the pool playing on the slide and seeing who could do the best imitation of a seal. But I must say the showers are pretty nice. I can just imagine when we are all home taking our showers, well all think Ah. I haven't had a shower like this since. Well, since Happyland.
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Mystic museum adventures

Author: Russell
Location: Santa Anna
I woke up to banging from Ella (my neighbor) she came to my door and I said I was up. Jorge and I got out of bed about 30 minutes later, and made our way to breakfast. I ate pineapple, very great pineapple, juicy, luscious, fresh pineapple. Soon after I took my malaria pill. We got on the bus and went to the school in La Carpio. Today was hot and sweaty, we finally started building the wall, these cement blocks are over 100lbs. Furthermore we have the pleasure of lifting them over ten feet in the air with out the use of machinery. It was quite the workout, and Jorge felt very manly doing it. He shows me his muscles a lot, they aren't very big. Don't tell him I said that. We got on the bus and ate hamburgesas on our way to the children's museum. We got to hang out with the kids from the kindergarden in La Carpio for 3 hours in the museum This is not as fun as it sounds. The museum is a horrible place filled with shinny distracting lights and giant red buttons. You have to click every button out of sheer wonder. When we were trying to escape, Brad and I got lost, a mechanical man (a model of the first Costa Rican astronaut), began speaking to us, I was frightened, I ran. I pushed buttons on my way out, of course. Finally on the bus ride home, I gave Brad a head massage. We hanged out until dinner, and then we had some lasagna, and peanut butter sandwiches (odd native food??). Well right after dinner I began to write this so I don't know what will happen the rest of the night. Maybe Shrek (in Spanish), maybe the usual guy conference, maybe sneaking around with my clown mask on (I secretly bought this today at the museo). Tomorrow we leave early to make our way to Tortuguero. Good night.
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Quincienera

Author: Hilary
Location: La Carpio, Colinas del Poas, and El Maranon
Today was my fifteenth birthday! I was very excited for my birthday but was not expecting anything other than maybe a few 'happy birthdays" I woke up to the joyous screams of pleasant birthday messages through the surprisingly thin walls, from Russell, Jorge, Morgan and Sydney. We arrived to the school in la Carpio and began mixing cement. Although we spoke to the children in the hallway, we mostly worked on our "playground project." As time passed, I became tired. When I took a long awaited water break. I noticed three kids that had peered over the fence. They asked me if we were building a medical clinic, in Spanish. I replied that we were in the process of building a playground. There faces lit up with beautiful smiles. Suddenly I was inspired and began to work more diligently. The three kids stayed and observed out work, until we finished. As we left, the children hospitably said "adios" along with their jumping and waving. We were off to the zip line site, as Deborah, Russell and Richard sang old Backstreet Boys songs. Along the way, we inquired about Hilary's (the counselor) high school days, (very funny). We arrived to the zip line site and we strapped into our safety gear. The zip line was very fun. I thought I was going to crash on the last line since it was so very long. Lunch was delicious (muy rico). Then the waiter brought out a cake and everyone sang happy birthday. The cake was really cute because it contained chopped apples and watermelon on the sides with the amazing butterscotch or coffee (couldn't tell) flavored cake. I was very surprised and happy because I had just met these people last week and yet they were all so caring and thoughtful about my birthday. Everyone's zealous attitudes about the day made my fifteenth (quinceinera) birthday on e of the best I've ever had. We traveled to the market where everyone staked up on junk food and we headed to our hotel. Dinner was also very fun, we shared stories about our favorite birthdays memories. The hotel staff brought out another cake (I've never had two cakes before!!), which was drizzled in chocolate syrup (my favorite). Everyone sang happy birthday again, and ate cake but soon the cake became a facemask for Hilary, Ella and myself, (compliments of Colleen, Richard and Ella) we headed down to the "Ranch" and began an activity of ordering facts based upon the history of Costa Rica. Russell busted out some interesting 90's music and others created a funny massage circle. After the activity was finished, Richard taught us how to salsa. Everyone got into it and was a rousing success except for a few stepped on feet and my predilection for spinning whenever I felt like it. My birthday was one of the most fun ones I've had and I couldn't image better people to spend it with!
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June 26th Blog entry

Author: Sydney Ledo
Location: La Carpio, La Promesa, and El Maranon
Today was yet another memorable day, which began with breakfast at the hotel's restaurant, and people seemed to enjoy the buffet's offering of pancakes and fruit. The bus ride was successful with David back as our driver. The children at the school in El Carpio greeted us with their typical enthusiasm and adorable smiles. While half of the group taught in various classrooms, the others happily lugged around heavy cement boards and dug trench-like holes. We ate lunch at noon and then left for a 30 minute drive to the women's center at "La Promesa". The women used to live in a community like the river community, but with their own work and the help of the foundation, have now been living in La Promesa for five years. This brief trip was a lovely treat. Here, we enjoyed lemonade and cake, were taken on a tour through the streets and shopped the handicraft tables covered with special jewelry. While all these activities at the women's center were really great, the best part of the visit was the dance party that took place upstairs. I was very sad to leave. We returned to the hotel on the earlier side to shower and make phone calls back home. Later that night we all gathered to watch the movie "Voices Innocentes," which is about the civil war that happened in El Salvador. Conflicts like this one caused many of the people who live in La Carpio to come to Costa Rica as immigrants.
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A Rollercoaster Day

Author: Laura Brett
Location: La Carpio, the River Community, and the Doka Coffee Farm

Over the past few days, I think that we have all been fairly amazed at how quickly we have all bonded and the feelings that we have shared through what we have experienced. We'd probably all agree that today has been the most extraordinary and humbling experience so far. Last night we prepared pictures and posters to help teach the kindergarteners in la Carpio about numbers, communication and animals. We assumed that half of us would be involved in that today, while the rest performed manual labor, but actually these three themes were central to everyone's day. From what I have heard, teaching the kids was extremely fun and the rest of us look forward to our turn tomorrow. Don't think that we didn't have fun though. Hauling rocks and digging holes may not sound exciting, but with the right people it is absolutely hysterical. To go back to our three themes, numbers took on a new meaning as the guys raced to dig the deepest hole (they were deep; I fell in one), and communicating as we tried not to kill each other with shovels. Our animal space was certainly filled while we filled what will eventually be a playground. The shovelers broke into a deep rock-filled hole that Adri was convinced was a secret grave (and actually managed to convince almost everyone else). It turned out to really be a water path for plumbing AND home of a "sapo enorme" - a HUGE toad. Actually, four of them. Absolutely enormous, and absolutely petrified, and making me really glad that I had gloves. We managed to get a lot of work done today, even as I had to come to terms with the fact that NOT all worms can be spaced. Sacrifices must be made.
After lunch, our day took on enormous emotional turn, as we walked down to the river community, where many of the poorest families in La Carpio live. We took bags of food to each family along the river. And though we've all had different levels of experience with poverty, we were all deeply moved by the conditions we saw. The way these people live is an absolutely foreign idea to Americans, where most of those whom we think of as poor would be considered fortunate and even privileged by some of these families. Talking to some of my fellow lifework members this evening about our reactions and feelings was so meaningful as we all realized how our perceptions have changed, and the ideas we have of what we want to accomplish have developed.
For a bit of fun learning (not to mention caffeine), we next visited a coffee plantation. Well, we meant to visit it next, but we actually got a bit lost and instead took another scenic route for a couple extra hours. Maybe it was a test of how much we really wanted to get there, but at any rate we were certainly rewarded when we got there by a huge table of fresh coffee. The coffee was wonderful, maybe too wonderful. We could hardly concentrate on the actual tour. The tour was really fascinating though, especially since we had not only our tour guide for a coffee making expert, but also Hilary, our resident coffee GENIOUS. I'm sure none of us will think of our coffee the same way again, especially since we've gone (literally) elbow deep in barrels of dried coffee beans. After the tour we got to go to the gift shop that AMAZINGLY not only had chocolate covered coffee beans but also free samples of said beans. We left with plenty of gifts for friends, family and ourselves. And for one who will remain nameless (otherwise, he'll kill me), he has a bit of a crush on the tour-guide-lady. It's been a busy day, and an extraordinary day, and probably will be long day after all of the coffee, but we've all agreed that it's been an incredible, life-changing day as well. And the best part is that it's only the beginning, right?


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Crazy Monkey

Author: Ela
Location: Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio and back to Piedades

Today we hiked in the National Park. To get there, we crossed a small river in local boats, which literally pushed from one side to the other in a few feet. It kept us from getting wet sneakers however. Hiking was strenuous but rewarding, we say the Pacific Ocean from the jungle. The scenery was green and lush and the beach was refreshingly fun. The weather was warm and sunny, perfect beach weather at La Playa Escondida! We saw iguanas and monkeys. We all tried to conquer the waves kneelng on the beach and trying to stay in one place against the surf. The funniest part of the day was hearing one of my favorite Cold Play songs played as a salsa remix while we ate our casados for lunch at "El Mono Loco" Restaurant. I would have to say the entire day was amazing so I can't choose one best thing that happened. But in the evening, we made food baskets to pass out and prepared lesson plans for working in the kindergarten tomorrow.

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"La Vida Entra Por La Boca" -Quote from Jose, the hotel manager

Author: Morgan
Location: From Pedades to the Beach at Manuel Antonio

The skipper Max woke us up early to have a typical Costa Rican breakfast of scrambled eggs and gallo pinto prepared by Mama Maria at El Maranon. Then we went on a bus ride for five hours with Don Victor, the best bus driver ever (he has a belt with a bus buckle and his name engraved in the back!). In the middle we stopped at a bridge which we walked across and saw tons of giant crocodiles. We also encountered Costa Rican delays when a broken bridge added an hour to the bus ride. Staff solution: bus yoga. We then went to Manuel Antonio to the beach, where we bodysurfed and real surfed. Even though the weather was cloudy, the beach was still really fun. We swam and played Frisbee with some locals on the beach and their dog Betoen who caught more Frisbees than we did. We went to the hotel for the night. We had dinner and our first Lifeworks Forum on Giving Your Word; it lasted for hours. We all had a lot to say.

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Day 1

Author: Bradley Korman
Location: Earth

Ah the pressure. They keep me here holding only a small candle for light. I'm told meals, as well as sleep, will be witheld until I finish this. If anyone finds this, please send help, though it may be too late. Plus, I will have finished by then, and will allegedly be allowed my basic necessities.
Today we bonded. Everyone here is closer than their actual family now, and depending on how the rest of the week goes, there is talk of defecting and living as a tribe in the rainforest. The afternoon's pouring rain is a slight deterrent however.
We woke up this morning and enjoyed an extravagant breakfast. Orientation took place at the Rancho de Ana, which also has an orchard. The fruits, including mangoes, jocotes, and oranges, were great fresh picked from the trees, until out Health Officers discovered that hornets enjoyed the same fruit! In the end, the hornets won a little bit, but much fruit was enjoyed.
Aside from hornets, there was other wildlife interested in our orientation. We also met a squirrel who was quite attentive throughout. We took breaks to play frisbee and align ourselves according to middle initial without talking.
Once we were properly acquainted we went to La Carpio and organized the cement blocks we will use to build the playground wall. We also cleaned the street and prepared the front of the school for a mural, and made progress on the path that will lead from the school to the playground.
After all was said and done, dinner was served, and then we came to where I find myself now. Most of the others have gone to bed, and now must I, as I come to the close of this letter/blog/thing. Adios!

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"La Vida Entra Por La Boca" -Quote from Jose, the hotel manager

Author: Morgan
Location: From Pedades to the Beach at Manuel Antonio
The skipper Max woke us up early to have a typical Costa Rican breakfast of scrambled eggs and gallo pinto prepared by Mama Maria at El Maranon. Then we went on a bus ride for five hours with Don Victor, the best bus driver ever (he has a belt with a bus buckle and his name engraved in the back!). In the middle we stopped at a bridge which we walked across and saw tons of giant crocodiles. We also encountered Costa Rican delays when a broken bridge added an hour to the bus ride. Staff solution: bus yoga. We then went to Manuel Antonio to the beach, where we bodysurfed and real surfed. Even though the weather was cloudy, the beach was still really fun. We swam and played Frisbee with some locals on the beach and their dog Betoen who caught more Frisbees than we did. We went to the hotel for the night. We had dinner and our first Lifeworks Forum on Giving Your Word; it lasted for hours. We all had a lot to say.
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The Longest Day

Author: Shelly Dean
Location: San Jose, Museo de los Ninos, La Carpio
The day started off with a pancake breakfast that a group of boys slept through. After our WONDERFUL breakfast everyone got onto our bus and we were off to San Jose. In San Jose we went to the childrens museum where we helped chaperone the little kids from La Carpio. The museum was huge and filled with the most random things that ranged from how to brush your teeth to animals in the jungle. The little kids had lots of fun in the museum and were screaming or running around us many times over. As soon as we finished our tortillas for lunch in San Jose we headed to La Carpio to try and finish up the playground. It ended up taking a lot longer than we espected and we didn't head back to the hotel until dark. The wall we set up in La Carpio was the biggest challenge. Atfter we got all the poles up, one of the wall slabs was too big. So after we spent a wonderful synchronized time jumping up and down on it to get it in place we realized that the slab had pulled the post in the wrong direction. So we got to play in the dirt and dig up all the concrete we had just poured and reset the pole. We then decided to shorten the slabs so they would fit better. This solved the problem and before we knew it the wall was up and it was dark. After a long day we got back to the maranon and had dinner rounded out with ice cream!!!
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Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz

Author: Cascade Zak
Location: La Carpio, Doka Coffee Estate, Piedades
Today I woke up knowing there would be a hard day's work ahead of us. We arrived in La Carpio early in the morning and split into different groups and got to work. The schoolboys and girls were all looking out the window and saying hello. At first we were both distracted with each other, neither being able to concentrate on working. The hole digging got a little tedious after a while, but it was made easier with the vision of the kids finally having a proper place to play. After a couple of hours of mild manual labor, we successfully leveled the ground from small rolling hills into a smooth round table top and started to set up the playground. Later in the day, we set out on a relaxing tour of the "world's best coffee plantation." Along with a million coffee trees (literally), the Doka Plantation had banana trees and a 99 year old coffee bean machine. The evening activity was a showing of Voces Inocentes, a powerful movie about the young Chava and his heart wrenching struggle during the civil war in El Salvador. Right now it is almost 10, and my foot itches. Goodnight.
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