Habitat's Global Village Trip | Costa Rica 2014 Day 5

The following entry was contributed by Global Village team members. 

What became our favorite day thus far started out like those preceding it. Early rise - earlier for Nick who has taken to running up the mountain at 4:30am with one of our leaders, Juan Carlos – and for the rest of us, a groggy stumble to dress and get coffee into our systems as quickly as humanly possible. There is something odd about this time of day for our group, in that there is any eerie quiet. An almost “calm before the storm” of boisterous camaraderie that soon takes over as we set foot in the bus to head to the work site.

At the work site, it was another day of “trowels and tribulations”. Filling in seams and cracks with mortar…and cracking a few jokes along the way. It’s become a trip of horribly awesome puns followed mostly by groans and heads shaking in disbelief that that pun had been somehow worse than the previous. For others, the day was filled with more trench digging. The group self-selected into teams – some of us into the detailed and tedious trowel work and others into the less meticulous, but intensely laborious clearing of earth. We are all starting to find our groove in the chosen work and even getting the occasional grin of honest approval from the foreman and local crew.

Similar to previous days, a hearty meal was provided by the woman in the association as well as a chance to purchase some of their hand-crafted works. They’ve taken sustainability to its fullest, not only in their building materials and cooking methods – but also in craft. Many of us purchased tote bags made from a combination of coffee bean bags and brightly-colored fabrics. The souvenir will be a great reminder of this trip…and how vastly important coffee has become in our current daily lives. So much so that we are now requesting coffee at breakfast, coffee at morning break, coffee at lunch, coffee at afternoon break…coffee, Coffee, COFFEE! It’s really no wonder we get louder as the day goes on.

After completion of the day’s work came two activities. First stop, the mushroom-shaped building reminiscent of the Smurfs for some homemade ice cream. Not unlike Baskin Robbins, there were many flavors from which to choose – but many were unfamiliar to us as they were made with fruit native to Costa Rica. A light rain began to fall as we enjoyed the cold treat. The light rain became a steady sheet and we found ourselves gathered under the protection of the mushroom hut. A slight break in the rain afforded us enough time to clamber back onto the bus to finish the short remainder of the journey home. Upon realizing the proximity of the ice cream stop to our residence, we jokingly scolded our team leaders for keeping it a secret all this time.

Next stop, the Futbol field. Still raining at this point…with child-like excitement, we ran onto the field to play a pick-up game -- hats versus no-hats. Teams were comprised of a mix of our local leaders and us foreigners. While we were all there to have fun, you could definitely sense the competition was on! I was captain of team ‘Mae!’ (meaning “dude” in Tico slang). While we were defeated in the game, we definitely won style points as Kate pulled off some amazing slip-and-slide moves in the slick grass. The general consensus is that we may have more sore or pulled muscles from the futbol match than from working on site. Surprisingly, we all made it out of the match in one piece.

The energy from the match continued through dinner and on through to the morning for a handful of us still somehow awake (oh yeah…probably the gallons of coffee). We learned a lot about current politics in Costa Rica and the similarities in some of our issues with the disparity between classes. We also talked a lot about music. In a world without a common spoken language, music was definitely a tie that bound many of us together – finding out that our top 3 artists were shared amongst us. I think my favorite of the topics, however, was regarding first impressions. We shared with Juan Carlos our first impressions of him and he of us. It was a general consensus that he had a kind face and gave off a vibe that exuded contentment and happiness with life. Our first impressions couldn’t have been more true of one another. He has definitely shown us the true meaning of Pura Vida.

As Nick and I talked about what we would include in our blog, it was with complete agreement that we should attempt to explain our grasp of Pura Vida. The Tico phrase, literally “Pure Life”, has become the most meaningful part of our experience here. In essence, it embodies the concept that life is too short, live it the moment, appreciate what you have rather than focus on what you don’t. Every local volunteer we have worked with on this trip has so much heart, so much passion for life. With their example, it is hard not to be inspired to live a lifestyle of appreciation and gratuity for all that we have. Cold showers and 6+ people living in 450 sq. foot homes and somehow, these people of Costa Rica find more happiness than I have seen yet in my experiences with people living in the United States. Less is more. Life is for living. Pura vida.

- Julia & Nick