Habitat's Global Village Trip | Costa Rica 2014

The following entry was contributed by Global Village team members.

Costa Rica 2014 | Day #1

Our group arrived from different places to be welcomed in a grand fashion by the HFH group from Costa Rica. Local program manager Diana and Director Andrea gave a heartfelt summary of the project we are starting to create a community for 44 families in Sabalo, Costa Rica, 1 hour from the Panama border. Valeria, another HFH Costa Rica employee, modeled the gift bag items of T-shirt, safety vest, goggles, gloves and information manual. We described ourselves in one word each: spunky, dependable, excited, spicy, tenacious, bibliophile adventurous, purposeful, child like, grateful, intrigued, blessed, friendly, gregarious, super hero, renaissance, detail oriented (passionately), reserved, adaptable, happy, and thankful.

Twenty HFH volunteers, our two HFH guides, Adrian and Juan, and our drivers Mauricio and David began our journey of discovery at 7ish AM Sunday morning.

First stop was the Tacoles River where we had a chance for a pit stop, a refreshing coconut drink or mango smoothie, and our first glimpse of about 20 crocodiles sunning themselves on the banks of the river. No volunteers surfaced to go feed the crocs. At the bridge overlook, a young man approached our group to thank us for our HFH work as he and his family were the recipient of a HFH home a 10 years back. It had changed their lives. We were heartened by the feedback on the impact of HFH in Costa Rica.

Next stop was a Maxi Pali (super market) where Tracy purchased new clothing for the trip as Delta misplaced his luggage. The over/under betting is that the clothes might show up by Wednesday or not. Tracy also slammed his thumb in the van door and announced that he might as well take on the role of experiencing all the mishaps for the entire group. What a guy!

We stopped briefly at Jaco to take pictures of a gorgeous beach where they held a world surfing competition two years ago. Our route took us past palm plantations around the town of Quepos, the gateway to one of the main national parks, Manuel Antonio.

We finished our meandering and frequently stopped 9 hour bus ride through scenic Costa Rica with a 45 minute Costa Rica back rub-- the ride up the steep rocky road to our destination, Asoprola, a quaint “hotel” association run by the locals. It has amazing mosaic tile features in the dining room and a unique rubber tire climbing dragon. The observation deck above the dining room has stunning views of the sunsets over the mountains.

We checked into our rooms…quaint “cubicles” that provide separation but limited isolation. All the better for team building (good night John boy…). We had a great meal of traditional Costa Rican food. Leaders Dave and Rebecca reminded us of the important mission of the trip to create safe, decent, affordable housing. So much for serious, then we got on to fun! We finished the evening with some boisterous bonding that echoed throughout the hills, proudly announcing the arrival of Twin Cities HFH. 

The group (mostly) retired early as wake up for our first day of work will be 5AM. We are stoked for what will be a most amazing building journey of faith and fellowship!

 

- Vicki & Roger