thriving | Costa Rica Day 4

This, the last day of our work here in Costa Rica, was an amazing day. We played soccer, held another clinic, met new friends, and helped give a community clear fresh water. Amazing.

From the coastal hotel where we stayed, we ventured up into the mountains of the Talamanca region. At the base of the mountain were miles and miles of banana trees. I was in awe of all the trees that lined the streets, they spanned for as far as your eye could see, bananas hanging on every one. We turned off the street and up a dirt road. When I say up, I mean up…this road was pretty vertical and our bus had to park near the base of the mountain. The majority of our team had to hike up, except those of us carrying supplies.

When we arrived to the small village, the Bri Bri people were a bit hesitant to greet us, save Herman. Herman came straight up to us and began a conversation, pointed us to a tree and showed us that by picking the leaves, breaking them up and rubbing them on our skin, we’d created a natural insect repellant. It smelled so much better than our canned counterpart, let me tell you! Herman was an instant friend and walked among us asking to help or to show us anything we needed, or anything he thought we’d be interested in.

We set up a clinic in their clinic building. We were amazed at their organization. They knew we were coming and so made a list of all the people who would need to be seen that day. So wonderful! Along with the clinic, we cleaned their school desks and coated them with a new coat of varnish. We enjoyed meals together as well as nature. There were many creatures in this village, a sloth, a snapping turtle and a red eyed tree frog.

This is Egidio. He was our driver for the entire week, but he was much much more. He is a friend and a wonderful man with a fantastic heart. The people of the Bri Bri are his people, in fact. He and his brother are the ones who helped to coordinate our trip into this wonderful village. Here he is with is beautiful mother, Teresita. She was so kind and had a great sense of humor. loved getting to spend time with them.

The joy that you see below melts my heart. So much so that it brings a giggle out of me. Nathan has this game that he plays with the kids (he did it in la Carpio, too!) and they have the best time playing it. I don’t know what it’s called but I think the gist of it is this: There are two groups. Each person in group ‘A’ has a partner in group ‘B’. the groups make two circles, one inside the other. They begin to walk in circles, but the direction is opposite of the other. Nathan will tell them to walk and walk and walk, then all of a sudden he’ll say stop. They have to find their partner and then he gives them some crazy instruction. Like Hug! or get back to back! or piggy back! or carry someone! And it all happens very quickly, which, of course, is why you see all the happiness below 🙂 PS, Nathan, totally stealing this game for the next time I need something fun to do 🙂

I love these two photos below, two of our team helping out, but in different ways. It really goes to show that whatever your gifts are, you are needed.

In addition to all of the other projects we worked on, the most rewarding one is the water project. The villagers here had only had dirty water the entire time they’ve lived here. They have either collected rain water or used the water that has collected in other places. Trust me when I tell you that it was easy to see that the water was not healthy for them. They’d had past history of sickness and parasites. So our team got to work, running hoses, digging into the mountain, getting the water to the container, and lastly putting the filter on.

Herman and Kerry working on the line. I love that Herman was so interested in helping out and learning about this water well.

I know this photo is a bit blurry, but I was laughing. Micah, the guy in the grey shirt had just made a Chewbaca noise into the hose. I loved Mark’s reaction 🙂

Sadly, I was unable to be there for the big reveal of clear water. The rain was beginning to come in and we had to be sure to get most of the team down the mountain safely. luckily, my new friend Sunni was able to capture the event as well as their reactions. I asked her if I could use a few of her photos to complete this story, and she obliged. Thanks Sunni! xxo

My friend, Antonio, was the first to drink the clear water. So cool.

A big part of helping a village install clean water is to be sure that they are able to maintain the filter. This is the mayor of the village. I was told that when she’d begun to try to clean the filter herself, all of her village friends were able to help her along and make sure she was doing it right. I love this so much. They are now able to have clear water. What’s more amazing is that as long as it’s maintained, the filter will filter up to 1 million gallons. Amazing.