Our first day of adventure began two days ago with a 3:45 am wake up call for me and a ride to the airport with Omar, Zac, and Matthew. We arrived early and didn't miss our flight (normal for most, can't always say the same for myself)! Our flight to Pheonix was almost empty but despite being tired I chose the amazing views as we flew by Santa Cruz and the whole Monterey Bay over a comfy nap. We were excited to be off and what better way to start the trip than with an aeral tour of our home? Once in Pheonix we set up camp at our new gate and crashed until the rest of the crew arrived. 12 hours after later we finally boarded our red eye flight to San Jose, a completely full flight. We wresteled our way throught the night trying to get as much sleep as we could, some of us succeeded more than others. All of us walked off the plane at 5:15 in the morning feeling more like we should be ending the day instead of barely starting it!
Our guides Jonathan and David picked us up and drove us to a nice breakfast spot in the heart of San Jose were we tasted our first traditional meal: gallo pinto. A plate full of rice and beans, fried plantains, fried cheese, eggs, a thick corn tortilla and a special sauce for all of it. Much needed to begin to feel more like a human again. I got to sit next to David and talk with him one on one for a bit and as the conversation flowed smoothly through a variety of interesting topics I could feel that we were in good hands and this made me feel excited to have sought out this opportunithy to be here. After breakfast they gave us a brief tour of the center and the most important historic buildings. Besides the buildings something that caught all our eyes was a wall the length of a couple of blocks covered in beautiful murals. The murals contained many different ideas and themes and it was inspiring to see that the artists were seemingly not sensored in their expressions even though their art was being diplayed in the absolute center of town.
We loaded up in our little bus again and this time hit the hardware store to hunt for the rest of the supplies we needed for our project. Poor Branden was really the leader of this activity and the only one with a clear list of what we needed, so we all took turns trying to help him as best we could while the rest of us zombied around just trying to stay awake. We fianlly managed to round up most of what we needed and headed out in the bus while poor Branden and Karl still made a couple more stops for parts. Everyone else passed out in the bus and by lunchtime people were feeling a bit better. After lunch we were fianlly ready to leave the central valley and head into the mountains to Providencia!
It felt so great to be driving up the winding roads catching greater and greater views of the central valley below. The sun played with the clouds and illuminated the lush greenery all around us in different ways. At the turn off to the winding steep road down to Providencia David pulled over the bus and made us all hop out for a talk. He explained to us that we were very close to the highest point on the whole pan-american highway, close to 12,000 ft. It was pretty cool there even with a hoodie on, and he told us that when he was a kid, they would have to drive over this part of the highway with blankets in the car because it was so cold and the ground would even be covered in frost at times. Then he asked us to look around at the small shrublike vegetation that was growing around us and told us that these were actually small trees, not shrubs, and that they would most likely not be there the next time we returned to Costa Rica due to climate change. The heating climate there had allowed once lower lying vegetation to grow at higher elevations, and this would eventually crowd these special trees out. It was a sad and humbling, but important moment as we stood there amidst the trees and came to understand that we have a responsibilty to these trees to do what we can wherever we are to reduce our climate impact. I kept a leaf that came off in my hand as I said to goodbye as a reminder of this moment.
The dirt road led us down steep terrain and all of the sudden David was pointing out the trout farm to our right that we will be working on; we had made it to Providencia! We were greeted in the community center by our host families and the dream program kids who perfomed a fokloric dance for us! It was sweet, but what was even better was when they made us get up and do it with them! I love to dance but I was proud that our whole group got up and did it even though I know it was a large step out of some people's comfort zones. Finally we got a short orientation and were sent home with out new families! I am rooming with Alia, and our house is cozy and just right. Our family is sweet, we have three little sisters! I think breaking the ice today went well and I look forward to getting to know them better.
Everyone else around me is in bed already and im headed that way too... after verry little sleep in the last couple days im sure ill be out before my head hits the pillow.
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