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?


Flickr Photos from Today

Flickr Photos from this Voyage