Day 6

Costa Rica/2011 Day 6:

Today is the first day to meet our host families. Edwin (padre) 38, Loraina (madre) 34, Alejandro (niño) 14 & Yerlin (daughter) 9. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met in my life. They have welcomed Debbie & me with open arms. They also loved the gifts we presented them with. (Of course that included Ensworth t-shirts)
Alejandro & Yerlin had school today. They are returning after a two week break.

Today we visited two elementary schools. The schools are both K-6 grade. They were neat & welcoming to visitors. They also have plenty of work that needs to be done. The students wore navy blue pants or skirts & a white shirt with black shoes. They all looked very neat in their uniforms. They also loved for us to take pictures of them.

After our visits we headed over to Chilamate for lunch with Davis & Meghan. We were served lunch with the utmost hospitality & the food was delicious. Following lunch we were in for a huge surprise.

We head into town to visit the Rainforest Cacao Plantation. This visit included a hike & the hike is over one of the most shaky & dangerous cable bridges I have ever seen. Nonetheless, I crossed it with ease because of the encouragement from my colleagues. Oh, I forgot to tell you my eyes were closed most of the way. It was swaying from left to right, it was shaky & wobbly. I prayed & swore all in the same breath. After I finish praying I make it to the end with wobbly legs trembling with fear. (but I made it) On our hike we see howler monkeys, spiders, sloths & about a million species of ants & insects.

In the middle of the hike we stop to learn the entire process of making chocolate. The best part of it all is that we taste the chocolate throughout the process. Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, melted warm chocolate, chocolate drink, & the bean through it's whole process of being made into chocolate. This is a tedious & time sensitive process, but once it's complete it tastes so delicious.

We will begin our work in the community on Wednesday. Let the service learning begin! We are ready!!

Deatrice Swett