Costa Rica Service Program Blog

Costa Rica Service Program: Don does marketing

2012-01-30T21:08:00.010-06:00

Today our first work day at San Rafael, we were warmly greeted by members of the Development Association Alex, Guiselle, Carmen and Amalia. Alex explained the work project, the history and data about the Association and area. Once we had the work project specifics we went through a team skill session to review enough so the leaders could best utilize our team. Of course, coffee was served in celebration and we were of to the community center to start the project. Don a retired Electrical Engineer , Alex and Allan went through the specifics of the electrical project and determined necessary materials. They put a plan together that was satisfactory both technically and within budget. Allan and Dick dug a trench alongside Wilber and Steven, our local counterparts approximately 25 mts long, 3 feet deep and 1 1/2 foot wide to change the "arial electrical cables" to an underground set-up more suitable because of the high area winds. The ladies Jean, Simone and Carmen washed down the block fence in preparation for painting tomorrow with a hose and some brooms.

Lunch was prepared by Guiselle at her house were we sat for lunch. We had a tuna and vegetable rice dish with beans on the side with a refreshing lemonade made from "sour oranges"
It was topped of with coffee and pudin with raisins.

During the afternoon hours the trench was finished and the cleaning of the fence continued. Don also did some marketing for our team. Alex put some speakers atop his jeep and connected them to a microphone so Don could invite community members to join our Conversational English classes to be started tomorrow at the local primary school. We hit a water pipe that had to be fixed before washing continued. But we were near the end of the work day anyway and transport soon arrived in a timely fashion.

Our team goals session was held before dinner . To exchange understanding and To fulfill our promise with Global Volunteers mission were amongst them.

Dinner was served at the hotel a typical casado: rice, beans, cheese, picadillo de papa, plantains. A game of Bananagrams was played to entertain those who like games similar to scrabble. Allan brought out a wonderful dessert of glazed dried fruits that he prepares himself.

Thank you all for a wonderful start to the service program.
Nia -Team Leader

Global Volunteers : Costa Rica Service Program Day 8

2012-01-18T10:02:00.003-06:00

Day 8

Thought of the Day offered by Paula:

Go placidly amidst the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible and without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant, they too have their story. Desiderata

Journal by Linda:

The wind blew itself out last night. It blew and blew keeping Paula awake all night. But with the dawn came clearing skies and a bright sunny day that turned warm in the afternoon. We headed down to the conservation office after breakfast where Walter showed us the "trap cameras" that are usually set up in the forest to take pictures of the animals. They were "drying out" because of the amount of moisture that collects in them makes them inoperable. He also showed us the very professional looking brochure they had put together to inform people about the corridor of forest that is being replanted to attract the "Bell bird" which is endangered.

Then we headed down to our work project where the construction crew had already started work. We were joined today by 16 yr old, Oscar, Walter´s cousin. The crew had made great progress since our quitting time yesterday. We helped hold the panels of aluminum while they were nailed in place and handed what was close to 2x4´s to the carpenters to secure them as beams for the shed. Then aluminum panels were secured as the ceiling to the shed. One of the volunteers who had helped with construction at a hotel is going to request that they contribute some panels.

Walter showed us where he and the students are collecting the temperature of the air and earth as well as the rain fall. They are charting this information to help them study how the effects of rainfall and temperature affects the growth of plants and therefore food for the birds and animals.

After an early supper of delicious empanadas, we were picked up for our ¨"night tour", which starts early here close to the equator. It is pretty dark by 6 pm. Johnny, our guide, is very knowledgeable. We found out that he supervises and teachers the other guides. We went to the Santa Maria Reserve which is private. We were surprised at the number of people that were being guided through the forest but when we got away from the other groups, all we heard were the sounds of the forest which was very intriguing. It was amazing how Johnny could spot the small insects and lizards. Among the things we saw was a sloth, a poisonous vipor and coati. Although we heard an amaradillo move 3 times through the brush, we didn´t get to see him. And, of course, the stars were brillant out there in the dark!

Time to turn in,

HASTA LA NOCHE,

Linda

Global Volunteers Costa Rica Program :Cultural Experiences: Meet the wildlife

2012-01-15T12:26:00.007-06:00

White-faced coati's are inhabitants of the Cloud Forest. Here is our friend that visited us several times. Unfortunately, uninformed or misguided tourists will feed them crackers and other process foods to take a close picture. Creating an artificial dependency they will not be able to supply once they leave in a few hours.

This is one of the many reasons why our volunteers' support is important. Environmental education is pivotal for the sustainability of our country. Our volunteers have helped maintain the trails at the Sta.Elena Reserve to help people learn and preserve the Cloud Forest. The trails are the training grounds for the school kids to become responsible tour guides for the area while earning a living right after high school.

This team is also going to build a storage space at the school gymnasium to store the plastic, carton and aluminum cans recovered in the Monteverde Area. Thursday saw the leveling of the grounds for the area. The campaign is aimed to teach responsible garbage disposal and the funding raised from the sale of the recycling materials will help pay for other projects.

Volunteers supporting environmental education, highschool kids raising funds for an objective while protecting the planet and becoming more educated and better citizens of the world, throw cultural exchange and friendship in the mix! There is no way to loose! It'll be an interesting week!
Nia

Costa Rica Service Program: Day 4

2012-01-11T22:04:00.002-06:00

Message of the Day offered by Linda:

To create is to boggle the mind and alter the mood. Once the urge has surged, it maintains its own momentum. We may go along for the ride but when we attempt to steer the course, the momentum dies. Sue Atchley Ebaugh

Journal by Paula:
Today started with yoga for Paula only and our thoughtfully prepared breakfast by Zelmira and our morning meeting.

We then proceeded to the Conservation Office and were greeted by Walter and other cheery people. Walter told us that today would be the last day at the Reserva and that tomorrow would start at 7:00 a.m. with a cheese making presentation by Raphael....yum! and then we would start our construction project at the Collegio which is helping with the storage shed.

We proceeded up the mountain to the Reserva to continue trail clearing. We managed to clear almost half of the trail in the three days that we worked at the Reserve. Gabriel was so pleased with our efforts. I will never forget the grin on his face as he praised us for a "a job well done!" We were able to see Arenal since it was so clear today. We climbed up on to a tower.
We were also lucky to see small black and yellow birds with red on top of the head - one of them was performing for us! We also saw the white-nosed coati again who also was entertaining us. Xavier, our new French friend, helped with the clearing today as well.

Linda, Nia and I came back to town and had an espresso and talked and talked and talked and then prepared for dinner.

Lots of good rest for Day 5.

Day 2 -Reserve Maintenance

2012-01-09T22:59:00.003-06:00

The morning started with a yoga sessions with Linda and Paula and Monica from Texas.

Linda, Paula and Nia met for breakfast and Paula read her journal entry for day 1 and Linda read her Thought for the Day.

We then walked to the Conservation Office for the Colegio and met Walter, a graduate of the Colegio who graduated from the Colegio in his speciality of Eco Tourism. He gave us a presentation about the relationship between the Collegio and the Reserva Biologica Santa Elena. There are three agencies that work together....the Reserve, the Colegio and the Park Service. There is another reserve sponsored by children called The Childrens Eternal Forest to reclaim the forest for wildlife.

Linda and were pleasantly surprised by the change of work planned for today. We were asked if we would like to help with trail maintenance at the Reserve today because the manager of the construction project at the Collegio was not available....we were thrilled!

Walter, Nia, Linda and I jumped into a shuttle and headed for the Reserve and ,oh my gosh, it is more beautiful than I imagined.

Walter then proudly gave us a presentation and showed us videos of the animals captured at night on the cameras that had been placed at the Reserve in August.......they are the most breathtaking and exciting videos of animals I have ever seen.This was all made possible by a young tourist from the United States who raised money to purchase the cameras.

We then received rakes and followed Gabriel up the trail where he gave us our assignment....to rake up the fallen leaves that have fallen on to the gravel, pick up the leaves and throw them off to the side to make the trails safer for walking and to preserve the trails themselves.

We did that for a couple of hours and then had lunch in the cafeteria and returned to finish the project. We were surprised by a visit from Xavier from France who has been volunteering at the Reserve. He jumped in to help and we had a lovely conversation with him.

Then it was time to board the shuttle for the return trip to Santa Elena. We then walked into town and had coffee at the Common Cup Cafe. We had a lovely time talking about our day and other world happenings. The owner of the cafe told us that the small coffee growers do not like Fair Trade and they sell their coffee through the cafe and on the Internet.

We had some time before dinner and had another great dinner prepared at the Mar Inn and again talked and talked with a teacher from Texas. We then had our Goal Setting Session to better help us achieve our goals for participating in this Service Project as a Team.

Nighty' nite!

Paula

Paula chronicles the first day

2012-01-08T20:49:00.004-06:00

Today was the beginning of our Team Project at the Colegio in Santa Elena. Linda and I are so happy to be part of this team and to have Nia Salas as our Team Leader.

The day started with a yoga class in the now called Yoga Room (formerly TV Room) at Alajuela Hotel facing the sun to begin the class and set an intention for the class and then having fun using the bean bags as props.

We then had breakfast together in preparation for our Orientation. Nia reviewed topics from our Volunteer Manual, answered specific logistic questions that we had and then provided us with Spanish phrases for our use in Costa Rica and at the project site.

We packed our bags, said good bye to our room and brought our bags downstairs and enjoyed our lunch together before hopping in the van with our driver Andre who was kind enough to stop for us to get coffee and espresso. We started our journey to Monteverde making two stops along the way to make the ride more comfortable.

After about two and one half hours on the paved road, we turned on to the bumpy and dusty road for our ascent to Monteverde. Nia provided us with all kinds of information along the entire trip. And then we were in Santa Elena at our home for the next weeks.

Linda and I walked into town for a little while and then sat and read and then enjoyed a fabulous home cooked meal of rice and blacks beans.

The moon is fabulous tonite and Nia caught a couple of good shots.

Time to turn in in preparation for Day 2.

Team Volunteer,

Paula K.

Janet joins the joy

2011-12-27T06:44:00.002-06:00

The start of a new week, and the team was as busy as ever. Janet started her first day, and Rachel initiated her by joining hands and elbow grease to clean the last of the classrooms from top to bottom (well, not exactly ¨top¨since the ceiling was metal and didn´t need cleaning) and prep some fencing for painting sometime this week. Tina was busy most of the day gathering grass and planting it along with some local volunteers -- pretty much all of it in the middle yard which was dug up and leveled by Taylor last week. And, speaking of Taylor -- he was quite the Renaissance man today! He helped lay rebar and pour cement in the trench he dug last week, gathered up some fencing to be repurposed in the new backyard and many other things way too many to mention.

As has become the custom, the last hours was spent teaching English to the local volunteers -- and some of the local volunteers became teachers themselves when they taught some Spanish to Janet, who has a lot of catching up to do!

And when our work day was over, we got a very special treat when Alex took us to a wonderful family-owned sugar mill. Out of gratitude for the work the team has been doing for San Rafael, we were given a special tour of how sugar cane is made into molasses and how molasses is made into candy -- even got to try a few (or more) bites of it. Yum. After the demonstration, we took a walk through the fields to see the sun set over the bay and the mountains -- an absolutely breath-taking end to another productive and enjoyable day in Costa Rica.

Janet

Tina narrates friday's service program and personal weekend activities

2011-12-26T09:24:00.003-06:00

Our day began as usual with a lovely breakfast at our hotel and reading of the prior day´s journal plus the quote of the day. We discussed how our teaching was going and compared notes from our prior evening of prep work. The day was cloudy, rainy and overcast and falling before the holiday weekend affected the turnout for work. Several people once again, but not as many as had worked together on Thursday. Xinia continues to be the unofficial jefe who helps direct the work of the group that is present each day. A new San Rafael friend, named Nidia, worked with Rachel and I on cleaning the exterior of the school building, including a thorough scrubbing of the concrete which was covered in many layers of mud and dirt. We wished for a power sprayer, but got along with elbow grease, brushes and enthusiasm instead. Taylor was once again at the rock pile, wheel barrowing and also again working on moving dirt and leveling ground. We also worked hard to clean the drainage area in front of the school. Rachel and Tina crossed the barbed wire fence with shovels in hand to dig a deeper trench to allow water to drain away from the school. It was one of our dirtiest jobs and most physically demanding. As always, Taylor was a big help, wheel barrowing away the final load of rock and soil. Due to the wet and cold morning break featured coffee along with tamales left from the prior day and a hearty lunch was served as well. As we finished our San Rafael day a bit early to allow the local folks time to prepare for the holidays, Rachel, Tina and Taylor spend extra afternoon hours preparing our English lesson materials.

Weekend

The holiday weekend was a joy for the team of Taylor-Rachel-Tina, as we enjoyed the arrangements Giovanni made for us to hike at the Arenal Volcano and to dine and relax at Valdi Hots Springs on Saturday. The bus-boat-bus trip is lengthy, but fascinating and the Hotel cabinas at La Fortuna were superb...what a lovely landscaping job at that establishment and a very nice restaurant with very kind staff. After Christmas morning breakfast at the hotel, we bus-boat-bussed back to Monteverde on a truly sunny & beautiful day, arriving in time for another fine meal at Mar Inn before dashing off to the Canopy Tour. Although Nia discouraged us from the zipline, we couldn´t resist and the three of us found the experience thrilling! At evening time, we welcomed our newest volunteer, Janet, to the group and shared a lovely Christmas evening meal together. An unconventional holiday for us, but a very memorable one!
Tina

Beautiful Rachel inside and out

2011-12-21T20:16:00.002-06:00

12-21-2011:

This morning we were once again greeted with a wonderful breakfast eggs, fresh bread with piña (pineapple) and the breakfast version of rice and beans called gallo pinto (the dotted rooster). We then headed out to San Rafael to meet the rest of the crew, the community, and began to get to work. Today was unlike the rest because Tina, Taylor and I got to work together cleaning out a classroom. Although this my sound simple it is just the opposite. Have you ever mopped the ceiling with a wash cloth and a broom? I don't think so. I might add in on Taylor´s behalf that before the cleaning job he did push the wheel barrel full of earth across the property about 18+ times with some other muchachos in order to prepare the land for a grassy garden area so the kids will have a place to play, which used to be a mud pit because the land floods all of the time. After a wonderful cafè break our day took a bit of an unusual turn in that the volunteers were asked to teach some of the community English. We were broken up into three groups: Tina worked with the adults, Taylor worked with the teenagers, while I worked with the children of San Rafael (who are very smart by the way). I think we as volunteers are learning more from them than they are from us. ¡Pura Vida!

Tired Taylor trends on!

2011-12-21T20:03:00.001-06:00

Today was extremely eventful, however it was also exceptionally tiring. We started this morning at 7 with a wonderful breakfast and an always pleasant recap of the previous day via Tina, followed by an inspirational message from John Lennon. After breakfast we packed our packs and took the bumpy 20 minute shuttle ride San Rafael what was suppose to be a day of painting and planting, but boy were we ever wrong. The first half of Rachel and Taylor's day consisted of digging a trench that seemingly extended all the way to china(for drainage not for quick escape). After our early day tasks the entire work team was extremely exhausted so a hardy lunch was required. Once the team had eaten a bountiful lunch we were sent on a mission to get grass from the local high school but were almost immediately sidetracked via an amazing display of ancient clay craftsmanship and a somewhat makeshift game of soccer. Once we got back on track we went to the school to gather the grass in a way none of us had ever seen before....a machete. Once we had enough grass to return back to the primary school we endured our long walk back. We returned back to the Mar inn around 4 pm and were all so exhausted we almost immediately fell asleep. After dinner we all discussed our plan of attack for teaching English to the local San Rafael residents, we in turn actually helped teaches Spanish to the entire team a little better.

On the First Day of Service Program ...my true love gave to me...

2011-12-19T20:13:00.007-06:00

We began the day with a hearty breakfast from our hosts at Mar Inn and a crash course in survival Spanish from Nia, followed by a rollicking ride on the rutted dirt road winding northwest to San Rafael. Along the way we stopped twice so that Nia could exchange embraces with townspeople with whom she had worked on other Global Volunteer projects and also to take pictures of the stunning views all around us. At last we disembarked at La Escuela where we were greeted by the project leader Alex, who introduced us to a dozen local volunteers including two Carmens and two Sonias. While Rachel (aka Raquel) and her novio Taylor helped the San Rafael PTA members dig into the earth, hauled heavy fencing and plant grass, Tina cleaned cielings, walls and windows of an elementary classroom. Morning break for incredibly sweet fresh pineapple was followed by a delicious comida featuring beef and an afternoon break of piping hot coffee and amazing hand-made empenadas prepared in la cocina de la escuela. Nia photographed our efforts in minute detail, including our introduction to the coffee-picking out back of the school. The day´s end brought a performance of folkdancing by students in the freshly-scrubbed classroom. On the journey back to Santa Elena we were treated to a rainbow, a view of Nicaragua and a herd of cows crossing the road. A meeting to establish our goals went quickly due to an agreeably cansado[tired] and hungry team. We enjoyed another of Zelmira´s delicious meals and purchased our Holiday weekend tickets from Giovanni. The highlights of the day were many, but I will always remember Carmen´s wisdom: she told us she laughs so that she doesn´t grow old.

Rachel starts the team journal

2011-12-18T20:16:00.000-06:00

We woke up for our first official day in Costa Rica at 8:00 AM to meet downstairs for breakfast (pancakes and fruit) :). After the wonderful breakfast we began our first work task. We had our first official meeting that consisted of Introductions, General Principles, and Guidelines and of course Health and Safety conditions. One of the main ideas that Global Volunteers strictly enforces is working "hand in hand" with the community which means that we not only will be able to help the community which we are assigned, but we will get to know the community personally as well! After our meeting we took a beautiful drive from San Jose to Santa Elena. On the way to our destination we stopped at the restaurant "El Jardin," from the restaurant we were lucky enough to see a beautiful view of the Gulf and the Mountains (which is very rare considering the restaurant is located in the cloud forest). We then continued up, down, and around the mountains where we got to experience the "Costa Rican massage." We arrived at the Marr Inn in Santa Elena after a long day of traveling but we were rewarded with once again another beautiful view. Once we arrived at the Inn we made sure to cover some more of the Guidelines as well as team building characteristics such as respect, deferential, altruistic etc. Nia made sure to prepare us for our day to come and explained what was to be expected! We are all extremely excited to begin this project!

Rachel

Team 212 +213: Bachata Class at Colegio

2011-08-04T21:25:00.002-06:00

Global VolunteersTeam 212 and 213 : Oh what a night!

2011-08-03T20:15:00.003-06:00

As slowly we start to say good-byes, A night of Musical exchanges, Wilfrido and Marian came to sing typical costarrican songs (Cana Dulce pa' moler, Guaria Morada, Patriotica Costarricense, Soy Tico)and some boleros like Cielito Lindo, courtesy of the Mar Inn owners Zelmira and Geovanny.

Our group sang the OhPura Vida Oh Costa Rica Volcano hiccup song they composed over the weekend.

I even got a gift of spirit, a serenade from Grant, our musical prodige from Virginia! Thanks Grant one of the best gifts I have ever gotten!

Each individual on these team has been such a blessing for our little town of Sta. Elena, everyone has contributed in such a beautiful giving way! Salud to you all!

Global Volunteers Team 212 and 213: Got Milk?

2011-08-03T17:59:00.004-06:00

After painting the milk farm at the local Colegio, one by one our volunteers got a chance to milk "Basurita" .

She was happy to let them test out their skills. Thanks Chepe for finishing the day with a.... squeeze!

Global volunteers Team 213: Family time...priceless!

2011-08-03T17:35:00.003-06:00

Global Volunteers Team 213: The Smiles put in a smile at Colegio

2011-08-03T17:31:00.002-06:00

Team Smiles painted the garden beds and railings at Colegio today. The whole entrance is looking pretty and fresh and it just brings a smile to one's face!

Global Volunteers Team 212: Chepe's place gets a facelift

2011-08-03T17:25:00.001-06:00

The team including Meah, Cyndi, and Laura paint the milking barn at the Colegio. Chepe Farm caretaker) is really happy that this helped his "place" look better.

Global Volunteers Team 213: Gets down and dirty

2011-08-01T13:04:00.004-06:00

Team Smiles gets to work on the gardening at the high school. Several insects were found too!Andrew demonstrates the wildlife.Along with the kids from the Accounting "specialty", they cleaned and planted the gardens at the school. Five year old Caroline joined in the fun of service and left her mark!
Goal check: have fun!

Global Volunteers Team 212: Paints clouds for Daniel

2011-08-01T12:51:00.002-06:00

Coco and Laura not only finished the light blue color in the Agricultural room , but painted very realistic Clouds in the ceiling. Previous team must be exhilarated that the job was finished!

The link between groups of volunteers is an important part of the contribution. Thanks to all in this link!

Global Volunteers Team 213: Arrives in Costa Rica

2011-08-01T08:12:00.000-06:00

Team Smiles arrives in San Jose to serve at the local Colegio (Technical School 6th-12th grade) alongside Team 212 that arrived at last week. Gardening , designing a self guided map and building trails are part of their service program. Bienvenidos a Global Volunteers COSTA RICA!

Global Volunteers Team 212 : Colegio Continues

2011-07-28T17:31:00.001-06:00

This morning I woke to another well made delicious breakfast and the coffee I am now extremely addicted to. After breakfast we went back down to the school to work. While the group was working on the trail again I was shadowing with a farmer named Rafael. He first showed me how to make cheese. It got kind of gross at times. First you let the milk sit and go solid, then you dump the milk that is still liquid out of the bin. That's the hard part then comes the easy part, all you have to do is squeeze out the remaining liquid and pop it in the freezer. I think you all know what comes next, washing. We hosed the place down and dumped hot water on the floor. It kind of felt like the place was on fire with all the steam After that we put milk out for the cows and then gave them some corn meal. One of the cows kept stealing the others food. By then it was time for break so I went up to the library with everyone else to sit and talk.

After break it was back to work. This time we went up to the barn and fed the pigs,ducks,and ducklings. Then Rafael took out the ducklings, it was so cute to see them all in a little cluster. Probably one of the most fun things today was collecting the eggs from the chickens. As soon as we walked in they started screaming their heads off and they were happy about us taking their eggs. Rafael taught me how to get the chickens off their eggs, pick them up and put them some where else. After we cleaned the eggs and through the broken ones to the fish I went down to lunch. I had a heaping helping of exotic Costa Rican pizza, with some pork, and what I believe to have been mango juice.

After lunch I went back to the barn to find a pig had given birth!!!! It was the most amazing thing I ever saw! Five healthy piglets suckling, then all of a sudden two more came right out! But they didn't stop there two more came out while we were gone. So after the commotion died down we went to clean up the fields and scoop up left overs from the cows. Boy, are they sloppy eaters! After that we went to hose down the pigs and the barn itself. Well after that, he had the school boys doing every thing and before I knew it they were trying to kill a duck ! After that unforgettable experience I watched them peal off the feathers and start to boil the duck. Thank god mom came and got me because I was about to puke. After a long hard day of work we went up in the forest to enjoy some time with the students. Well that was soon ruined by thunder and lighting. We came back to the hotel and relaxed for a few hours, then we had some dinner. The dinner consisted of delicious mashed black beans, tortilla chips, and rice. Well I guess you could say that today full of firsts! I am so lucky to have this chance to see all of these neat things.

Brandon, 12 years old

Global Volunteers Team 212 a.k.a.Team Trails

2011-07-27T17:34:00.002-06:00

Journal #2: July 24, 2011

The American writer, Louis L’Amour once said that “No memory is ever alone; it's at the end of a trail of memories, a dozen trails that each have their own associations.” This quote is appropriate to describe our second day working in the Santa Elena region of Costa Rica. It was quite memorable all surrounded around trails of memories that we will keep for a lifetime. First, after preparing for the day, our nose followed the trail of a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit (including a new fruit called “mammon chino”, pancakes and a hot-dog-like sausage. We also tried various pastries bought from the local bakery…yummy J Then we packed our bags and trailed off to our job assignment at the Santa Elena school. When we arrived at the school, we met Steven (the high school coordinator) and Daniel (an Agriculture teacher) and discussed our skills and what we’ll be doing at the school during our time there. Then we meet with some shy, but polite 11 grade students who were studying agriculture at the school. They told us about the school and gave us a tour. We were truly amazed by the amount of classrooms and different subjects that the students could take such as eco-tourism, food and beverage, agriculture, among others. Santa Elena had everything that you’d expect a school to have, but with one exception. During our tour, we followed some trails that led to a dairy farm that produces milk and cheese for the school to sell. We also saw the school’s pond filled with fish for the students to practice fishing. In addition, no one trailed behind when we toured a barn surrounded by birds and filled with pigs. It was quite a unique experience to see how the students learn their areas of focus by using the school’s to promote hands-on learning. After our delightful tour, we trailed into the cafeteria to drink some coffee and eat some cookies.

And then we went to work. Trails, trails, trails!!! Our project for the day was to work on a trail that was on the school grounds. Daniel explained what we should do and we got started on our trailblazing project. It was a great time because each of the volunteers worked on different components of the trail such as digging gravel and dirt, making holes to place cement blocks, and covering the trail with dirt and gravel. The Santa Elena students were building the support frames that outlined the trail . Even though we were working hard, our minds didn’t trail off. We were learning new things about building trails in Costa Rica, but also learning new vocabulary related to our work. For example, we learned the meanings of “pala” (shovel), “tierra” (dirt), “escate” (stake), “lastra” (gravel), and (of course) “sendero” which means trail. We had a great time because we were able to see bit by bit how our cooperative work was transforming into a trail for future students and tourists.

After a good lunch of chicken and rice at the school, we followed the trail of people who wanted ice cream to cool off before we hit the trail again. It was delicious and got us ready to concure the trail ahead. We worked and worked and made progress on the trail, but unfortunately at 3 p.m. our workday ended. We said “happy trails to you” to Steven, Daniel, and the students and returned to the hotel. After relaxing for a bit, our noses again followed the trail to a scrumptious meal of beef, rice, potatoes, and homemade cinnamon rolls. Afterwards most of the group followed a trail on a night walk tour to see the nocturnal animals on the reserve. In conclusion, as you can see Louis A’mour’s quote is perfert for the day that we had. Although it was literally centered around creating a single trail at Santa Elena School, in the end we were able to create many associated memories in the process.

Global Volunteers Team 212: Dura Vida?? Pura Vida!

2011-07-25T22:10:00.002-06:00

July 25th 2011

What a fantastic day our first day of volunteering turned out to be! We started with a delcious breakfast at the Mar-Inn of eggs, toasts, fresh fruit (watermelon, bananas, and papaya) and then headed out to work. July 25th is the Costa Rican holiday of the Annexation of Guanacaste (Nicoya) so we worked at the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve. The reserve opened in early 1992; the land was orignally forest, then cut down to build pastures for cattle, and eventually the reforestacion began.

Walter, one of the reserve workers, introduced us the reserve and the history of it. The reserve works in tandem with the high school in Santa Elena. According to Walter, the highschool orignally offered a lot of agricultral classes that dealt with farming cattle, chickens, etc. Now, they cut back a lot of classes that deal with farming agriculture and introduced botany type agricultural courses for students as well. From my understanding, high school students who specialize in the latter will work at the reserve for class, and after graduation work there for an internship\externship. Walter also mentioned that him and some of the other reserve workers really enjoying paying futball americano and built a team and they play other teams on a synthetic turf field in town.

At the reserve, we helped haul gravel up a hill approximetly 1\4 mile up a hill into the forest. The gravel is being used to maintain some of the trails that have been built throughout the years. We started work about 8(?) o´clock. We had lunch at the reserve and it was delicious -- we had rice, beans, pork, juice. After all of our trailblazing (not quite, but poetic license let´s be dramatic...) through the forest, Walter and the other reserve workers showed us pictures of animals that their night cameras had caught. There were wild boars, pumas, and a leopord!! Glad we saw the pictures after we out of the forest for the day!

When we returned to Mar-Inn we relaxed, walked down to the town, had a meeting, and ate dinner. I must say, today was a success! :)

Global Volunteers Team 211: Welcomes the Patron Saint of Costa Rica

2011-07-20T15:13:00.002-06:00

Today, our generous crew of volunteers got to experience the visit of the Virgin of Los Angeles, Patron Saint of Costa Rica. Last year about a million (out of 4 million total population) Costa Ricans made the pilgramage to the Basilica en Cartago. The pilgramage occurs on August 2nd a national holiday but before that event, the association of taxi drivers, drives an authentic replica around the small villages of Costa Rica so everyone that is unable to do the pilgramage can participate. Monteverde got her visit for the first time in it's history!

In preparation, Jenny and Christina our parrish leaders, had Nolan Madi and Brianna create a poster in spanish to welcome her. Take a look !

Global Volunteer Team 211 First Project.: TADA!..Check!

2011-07-18T16:45:00.002-06:00

First Storage room cleaned, painted, washed every item and restored. Check!

Global Volunteers Team 211: Profile Nolan

2011-07-18T16:30:00.003-06:00

Nolan is 6 years old. In between all the karate moves, he has managed to help paint the storage room at the local community center, classify the Parish's music Collection and inventory the supply room ten by ten!

Global Volunteers Team 2011:Profile Madison

2011-07-18T16:25:00.004-06:00

This is Madison. She is 12 years old, comes from San Diego, CA. Loves horses and dogs. She is volunteering with Global Volunteers at the Sta.Elena Community Center for two weeks in Costa Rica. She has inventoried and labeled the center’s belongings, like 165 chairs. She has also painted the supply room in a yellow color. She washed 385 items of dishware along with her family to put back into the painted storage space. Madison has enjoyed painting and having ice cream next door at the end of the work day.

Global Volunteers Team 211: profile Brianna

2011-07-18T16:21:00.002-06:00

This is Brianna. She is 9 years old. She enjoys horses and bugs. She is going on to fifth grade at Stoneranch Elementary School after the summer. She has helped wash the dishware items at the local Sta. Elena Community center and helped inventory the chairs for events. She also painted the storage room a nice yellow color. She enjoyed painting the best this week. She really liked the snake farm , frog pond and butterfly garden. She plans to go camping after the service program with family.

Journal by Brianna: "It was are second day at work. When we got there we finshed cleaning the last dishes. It was super fun. Then we had a good lunch and went back to work. After lunch we stared to paint. It was sooooooooo much fun. We painted almost the whole supplies room. Once all are work was done we got ice cream. I had a lot of fun today. Before dinner we went to the snake farm. I learned a lot and it was super fun!"

Global Volunteers Team 211 arrives

2011-07-18T16:18:00.001-06:00

Journal By Madison:

We slowly woke up and ate a breakfast of banana pancakes and fresh fruit. After our exciting Spanish lesson taught by Nia, we finished our packing and hoped into the van. The three and a half hour drive sounded horrible, but we made the best of it. We had 2 stops. The first at the garden place (1^st bathroom break) then at a souvenir shop (2^nd bathroom break) But before leaving, we got some delicious ice cream from Pops. Yum! Once at the village, we went to our cozy hotel and settled in. Once organized, we sat down for dinner, were we had chicken, rice, beans, plantain, salad, and some juice. Then we showered, brushed teeth and jumped into our warm cozy beds. Good night! Can’t wait to start work tomorrow. J

Global Volunteers Team 210 Cheerleading practice

2011-07-05T10:52:00.002-06:00

Jessica and Jeana taught local women and kids how to cheer lead on the fourth of July.

Kids learned the moves to "Lady Gaga"during a break from painting and roofing.

Cart wheels !!! Wheeee!!! It's a happy team.

GlobalVolunteers Team 210 spends July 4th roofing

2011-07-05T10:15:00.005-06:00

Journal by Michelle:

Day 10, Monday, July 4th, 2011
Last night was wild, I heard horses going down the street at 5am, Cats & dogs fighting. Woke at 6am and got ready for the day. We had a great breakfast of fruit, pancakes with honey, coffee & hot chocolate. We went over goals & team building, and what we´d be doing today. Jeana had the ¨Thought of the day¨and Omar had the journal. Our Shuttle arrives at 8am to take us to the site, we are to be going to both the Community Center/Church and the school. The school is on break this week, but its expected the kids we´ll be there. Well, we just got arrived at Mar Inn at 4:30pm. We did not make it the school, instead we worked all day at the Center/Church. Matt, Omar & I helped Nicasio fix a lead in the water line on the side of the road. It was buried about 2 ft. down. I was sorry Heather has left us-Miss you & Brittney! We found the leak pretty quickly, dodging a couple of semi trucks on the one lane road, which we had filled with dirt, that they ran over. The rest of the gang, Gloria, Jess, Jeana, Minor, Ugo, Gerardo were sanding & painting the framework for the new metal roof. It poured rain & we all got wet.

Our first time really since we´ve been here, thunder, lightening the whole works, (our Fireworks). We waited it out & then it was time for lunch at Idali´s-as always a wonderful rice, beans, salad, friut, & chicken in cream sauce-yummy! While we ate it poured again. We waited it out. We head back to the center & Minor, Hugo Gerardo & Nicoisio are all hand mixing concrete on the driveway. We load into wheel barrows and pour the bathroom floor as the sun comes out. Matt & Omar, Jessica, Gloria & me wiped down the framework and started painting again. Marlena & Blanco cleaned the storage room up, it looks great. Jeana & Jessica ran around with 2 year old Lindsey, Marlena´s daughter, too cute. It was a productive day-even with the rain. We hopped on the shuttle@4pm & headed back to Mar Inn. Everyone fights over who gets in the shower first! Dinner was at 6pm, Zelmira made hamburgers on the grill for the 4th of July, I made Gloria´s potato salad & we roasted marshmellos in the rain. It was a great end to gorgeous Costa Rica and a busy day.

Arriba! Arriba! Team 210 Global Volunteers Costa Rica Program

2011-06-28T18:19:00.002-06:00

Eight volunteers descended last Saturday from their respective planes to go on a mission...The first two days had Heather, Omar and Mat digging for sand: project: mixing cement for the bathroom complex at the community center , Brittany, Jessica, Jeana and Gloria prepared wood and building scaffolds for paneling the teacher's quarters. Michelle helped the outside of the building with "facial scrub" and the inside was cleared , cleaned and organized for work by all.

Along with Elbin, Hugo, Minor and Marlene the ceiling framework is been built and the ceiling panels are starting to come up. So was the outside ceiling in the school house.Demolition of the lunchroom ceiling was initiated to rebuild .

Materials have arrived, tin roof for the bathroom complex at the community center and much more. It'll be a busy Wednesday!!

Planting trees to off set carbon footprint.

2011-06-20T13:13:00.002-06:00

Journal by Ella:

All 3 of us were working on the project in the green house reforestation with the native costarrican plants... sifting the soil to separate it from stones, then filling small plastic bags with it. Small seedlings were then transplanted into the individual bags and watered. Someday Igor will bring his children to see the trees that he planted.

Global volunteers Team 209 Colegio images

2011-06-16T15:23:00.002-06:00

Team 209 Global Volunteers: Strong Showers keep us inside

2011-06-16T14:52:00.004-06:00

The strong "green season" rains keep our team inside during the afternoon work time. Ella here is shown painting the door frame of the local high school Agricultural classroom, in the back Daniel the teacher.

Leonid was moved to the tourism class up the mountain to paint wood today. Igor continues to work with Rafa and takes care of the high school farm. His day consists of milking cows, making cheese, feeding the pigs, chickens, ducks and washing and maintaining the facilities.

Team 209 : Global Volunteers Costa Rica at local highschool

2011-06-13T16:18:00.002-06:00

Our team starts the day by digging posts to replace at the new greenhouse site. This new construction will house growth of the reforestation trees (planted at Colegio site and the Santa Elena Reserve) and hydroponic vegetable garden.

Here Ella , Igor and agricultural teacher Daniel measure the plastic ceiling on the basketball court.

Tomorrow the structure will start coming up, but making cheese will be on the agenda by request.

"Here come the Russians" is our affectionate team name.

Ella and husband Leonid, defected from the USSR in the 90's and made a life for themselves in the USA as distinguished physicians. They traveled to Costa Rica with younger son Igor to offer him some "perspective" since Igor attends a private military school and has the benefit of many luxuries.

Team Leader is quite proud of the first day's work! Good Job Global Volunteers!

Canitas primary school gets new entrance

2011-05-26T14:09:00.005-06:00

Team 208 The project continues with building of a new ramp for the Canitas Primary School entrance. Rain waters got stuck right at the school entrance before today.
After the installation of the cement culvert , and ramp (cement mixed by hand)and digging of the ditches, the primary school will be a healthier , prettier place to come study.

Tonight our volunteers present donations to the Canitas community Health Post and Women's soccer team and say goodbye to the village and new found friends. Soccer demonstration and community potluck dinner to finish.

On behalf of Global Volunteers MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS a Cathy, Kirk, Bobby, Chris and Davone POR VENIR A AYUDARNOS!!!

Miami Dolphin Davone Bess helps Canitas

2011-05-23T17:27:00.003-06:00

Aside from helping tile , clean up ditches , Star Miami Dolphin Wide Receiver Davone Bess has been connecting with the local kids.

He has reached out to play soccer but has the patience to teach anyone who is willing to learn some first class American football.

Here is a sample and thanks Davone for teaching a few Costarricans how to follow the game and you this coming season. We admire you when you signed up to help, but we appreciate you for the interest and affection and humble spirit that you carry with you.

Tiling continues in Canitas Community Center

2011-05-23T17:20:00.000-06:00

Our crew of five tread on with tiling today as week two starts off.

Massive rain kept us inside in this project. The many volunteer teams over the years have constructed this massive community center for a community of about 100 people.

Today as the downpour "aguacero" came down to proof the gap this center fills for the kids , they had a healthy place to play and exercise.

Cathy: Thought of the Day: Individually we are one drop. Together we are an ocean. Ryunosuke Satoro

May 25 Journal: Monday was a productive day. All of us were on hands and knees cleaning the kitchen tiles and then Chris and Roberto and several local community helpers grouted the kitchen while Devone, Cathy and Kirk worked with Franklin to continue tiling the Snack area. Break found Davone and Roberto getting routed in a soccer game with two local teenage girls...score 25-10!
The afternoon found us working with several community members as we finished cleaning the grout and continued to tile until quitting time. The rainy season has started in earnest. Kirk Cunningham

Breaky and go to work

2011-05-23T16:16:00.004-06:00

The COS program starts with a hearty breakfast and then a morning meeting. Then it's out to go to work. Our tiling project continues as the local leaders and volunteers work alongside our volunteers. The tiling will procure the kitchen opening for business to raise funds for the town development projects and to fund the sports teams in the area.

Laying Tile in Canitas

2011-05-20T16:57:00.002-06:00

Thursday started off with a BANG! As we prepared for work, we all wondered if the carpenter and the tools were going to make an appearance today so we could get rockin with this tile. As we pulled up to the work site, the crew was already there and just about to walk in! Everyone seemed super excited, and we all got to work.

We soaked the tiles before laying them, nearly finished the kitchen area, and got a good amount done in the snack area as well. Overall, it was a fantastic day. Don Victor worked with us all day, as did most of the children. We met Manuel, Jorge, Orlando, Franklin the carpenter, and Wilma the soccer coach. All very nice people. I'm not sure how the other Volunteers feel, but it seems like everyday we work we become more and more a part of this small town that isn't even on the map called Canitas.

Stay Flexible!

2011-05-19T09:35:00.002-06:00

Today started with another incredible breakfast of bacon, eggs, and coffee. We were a couple minutes late leaving for Canitas but soon got underway with sunny skies ahead and great hopes that we would arrive and see a truck filled with tile sitting there waiting for us. We had no such luck so me, CK, and Roberto cleared out the drainage ditches up near the health office and lumber yards, while Cathy, and Captain Kirk put the finishing touches on the bare floors for the tile. They joined us soon after our lightning coffee break to rake up the grass in the front yard of the health office, while me, CK, and Roberto explored the area a little and took some pictures. Lunch was bomb, we had steak and more beans. I love beans. About ten minutes before lunch was over the rain came and washed our morning work down the drain, literally. Hanging out with Don Nicco's family was a humbling experience, seeing them so happy, just in each other's company, made me want to toss away all my televisions as soon as I get home.

Miami Dolphin Davone Bess helps Canitas

2011-05-18T16:34:00.003-06:00

Miami Dolphin Wide Receiver Davone Bess spends his "lock-out" time serving the small northern town of Canitas in the Monteverde Region in Costa Rica. Today it was cleaning up culverts in front of the local Health post. And in time the help came! The downpour two hours later, was measured at 3 inches of rain in less than a minute. The swift action by Global Volunteers team number 208, prevented the local health clinic from being flooded today. Team mates , Manager CK and Bobby "Roberto" Stoffel joined Davone in this task. In the picture, from left to right Marciano, Bobby, Davone, Don Nicho, CK and in the back youngster (and Davone's new quaterback costarrican protege) Jeremy "chilling" with them. Handsome Team!

Kirk and Cathy

2011-05-18T16:28:00.002-06:00

Our Cunningham team from Arizona cleans out the recently cut grass at the Health Post. Thanks guys for being great examples of our servant/learner under the local community philosophy!! We are very proud of your work!
Nia- Global Volunteers

Materials arrive at the Community Center

2011-05-18T16:12:00.003-06:00

Cathy, Kirk and Robert helped download the ceramic tiles for the Canitas Community Center. They prepared the floor by filling and cleaning the floor. In solidarity the driver donated the transportation.

From Cathy's journal :
May- 17: Today began with Robert, Chris and Davone taming the jungle, also known as clearing trees from around the community center. The excitement of hacking with machetes quickly disappeared as black flies claimed them for lunch. Kirk and Cathy spent the morning preparing floors for tiling...scraping, washing and sweeping. After lunch Chris used his experience in concrete work to patch the cement floor, and Robert applied a blue adhesive. During breaks, Davone, Chris and Robert introduced the local boys to American football and joined in pickup games of soccer.
Today we learned the true meaning of community in the term community center. Because school was not in session today, flocks of children, babies in strollers, and parents all stopped by to visit or play soccer. By the time our day ended, our cirlce of friends had grown to include people from ages 3 months to 70 years old. Our conversations in broken Spanish with translations by Nia has helped us create new bonds and friendships.

New Team in Canitas

2011-05-16T11:07:00.002-06:00

The day started off with breakfast, and everyone learned about Davone Bess and Chris´ intriguing training diet.

We started our trek up to St. Elena around 1 PM, and the views were amazing. Most of the mountain roads were close to very steep drop-offs and were quite narrow as well. We took two breaks, plus a break for pictures during the trip. I would not want to drive up the mountains, but rather hire a driver instead. We arrived at the hotel around 4:30 PM, and had free time until dinner at 6. Davone and Chris chose to workout for a short time. I (Bobby) chose to check out the downtown main street, and Kirk and Kathy chose to do the same. The main street has a few souvenir shops and at least one restaurant. The time spent here in St. Elena will be a welcome change of culture. Dinner was mucho delicioso, and included steak, enchilada type thing, local vegetable bathed in oil or butter, and ended with chocolate cake. After dinner, the crew is now aware that our host can cook very well!!

Happy Labor Day

2011-05-01T14:23:00.001-06:00

Happy Labor Day in Costa Rica today!! Today's nationwide holiday will be marked by many processions, the day off from work for most, and a presidential speech.

Costa Ricans are renowned for their gregarious and fun-loving nature, and it’s contagious during the numerous fiestas, horse parades and carnivals celebrated throughout the country. These festivities provide a great opportunity to sample tasty food, make new friends, and learn the local traditions of this fascinating country.

~ Information courtesy of CostaRica.com.

Susan 's journal

2011-03-23T22:28:00.002-06:00

We awoke to another sunny day, only to discover that our team was going to be down by one. Colton developed a stomach virus. After a quick run into town for ginger ale and bread, Colton was left in the care of Giovanni and Zelmira, and his cell phone, with instructions not to create international charges unless necessary. It was off to the community center to continue the bathrooms. To our surprise, Minor had been hard at work and we were almost finished. Connor jumped into working on the walls, while the rest of us cleared a walkway around the back. Progress happened rapidly and the scaffolding was removed from the walls. They also cut the pipes and placed the septic tank in the ditch. It was so much fun to see a project move along almost to completion. We took our now familiar stroll to Elvin's house for another delicious meal. Though hot, sweaty, and tired, the kids engaged in a lively conversation about when we could return to Cebadilla.
After lunch we shifted our focus to the school. Connor, Chase and Cadyn played soccer with the students while we got organized. After retrieving a frisbee from the roof, we got back to work. Minor outlined an area to lay concrete while Connor and I dug it out for him. Then we attempted to pull down a section of the roof to be repaired. The going was tough and hopefully we'll make more progress tomorrow. I have been amazed and impressed at how hard the kids have worked, and how inventive they have been when taking initiative. On the way back to the hotel they were talking about all we have accomplished and how much more spanish we need to learn!

Colton seemed recovered enough to join us at the table. Since everyone was hungry, we had an early dinner, then walked through town to the serpentarium, with a stop at the Common Cup for smoothies. We met the Atlanta born owner and a student from Chevy Chase bound for Duke in the fall. We promised to return to roast our own personalized coffee! At the serpentarium we saw a ton of snakes we hope to never see in the wild, and over the course of an hour watched a boa constrictor shed his skin. Very cool! Time for the tired crew to get some rest.

Cadyn 8 years old journals a day with Global Volunteers

2011-03-23T21:52:00.001-06:00

We woke up and got dressed (including sun tan lotion, water bottles, the first aid kit, and work stuff). Then we had a delicious breakfast of hot dogs, cheese, gallo pinto (rice and beans mixture), fruit, and for a drink melon juice. Then we had a meeting where Connor read his journal entry and Colton read his thought of the day. Then finally the Mango Tangos were off to work. At work we made a fresh new layer in the blocks, filled in the blocks with rocks, and collected rocks for inside the blocks. Then we had lunch. It was a delicious lunch of beef and vegetable soup called “Olla de Carne”, fruit, rice, and salad. Elvin played his guitar for us and we played a mini game of soccer before we went back to work. We did some more stuff with the blocks, and took a few breaks. The van picked us up early today and we had an early dinner. Dinner was also delicious. We had cheese and bean empanadas, beef and vegetable rice, and salad. For drink we had fruit punch, and for dessert we had coconut and sugar cane crisps and little white and pink candies. The candies were squishy and sweet. Then we had some time to do whatever we wanted. After that, we went on a night walk. The animals we saw were two sloths, three stick bugs, two huge crickets, a lot of headlight bugs, a raccoon, a huge ant colony (leaf cutter ants), an armadillo, bats, sleeping birds and a tarantula. We also got to see stars and also a beetle been eaten by the leaf cutter ants. On the night walk we also saw lots of cool and interesting plants. Then we went into town, got ice cream and snacks, and did some errands. We went back to the hotel, and then went to bed to charge our batteries for the next day!

Journal by Connor

2011-03-23T21:48:00.002-06:00

Journal by Connor:

Early Monday morning, the Mango Tangos [our chosen team name] prepared for their first day of work.

Filling up our water bottles, and covering our exposed skin with suntan

location, we were ready to go. After enjoying a delicious breakfast

(courtesy of Zelmira) we packed into the van which would deliver us to

Cebadilla. When we arrived at the local primary school, we filed out of the

van and headed towards the building. Ten steps en route for our destination,

Chase, our water boy, accidentally released his precious cargo of H2O

hydrating the local vegetation. Meeting the local scholars, we then

proceeded to play a friendly game of soccer. The work

soon started and we all helped to finish a triplet of bathroom stalls

earlier started by a different group. We worked various jobs ranging from

carting stone, to mixing cement. Half way through the day, we hiked to

Elbin´s house for a scrumptious lunch. Hot and worn out, this was a much

needed break. Once our meal was digested, we placed more blocks and nearly

completed the filling in of the septic field. Mom and I decided that

multiple people should fill in the space between the blocks because with

only one person manning the job, the progress was far too slow. So we copied

the contraption earlier designed to speed along that process. After cleaning

up and saying our goodbyes, we climbed back into a van to begin our journey

back to the hotel. Following the confirmation that the horse was in fact

sleeping, we dropped off our gear at base camp. A hard earned break soon

came after consisting of, Colton, Mom, Cadyn and I devouring a luscious

variety of ice cream. Concluding our day with dinner and an evening meeting,

we settled down and thought about what a great day we had just experienced.

Connor powers through batches of cement

2011-03-21T16:23:00.003-06:00

Connor mixes several batches of cement for teammates to pour the bathroom complex walls in Cebadilla this morning.

Global Volunteers Team 207 Costa Rica volunteer abroad

2011-03-21T16:18:00.003-06:00

As team 207 Global Volunteers in the Costa Rica Service Program, continues the link of volunteers, Cebadilla's community center bathroom complex gets support. Chase and Cadyn collect rocks to fill the drainage ditch for the Septic Tank system. Hard work under the sun!

Colton cements

2011-03-21T16:11:00.002-06:00

Colton spent the better part of his day today filling up the gaps and cracks of the cement walls for the community center in Cebadilla, 7kms north of Santa Elena, Monteverde Costa Rica. Colton is volunteering abroad through the Global Volunteers service program in Costa Rica.

Susan learns to align cement blocks today

2011-03-21T15:58:00.002-06:00

The work began slowly today, but that didn't stop volunteer Susan Harrington from getting promoted swiftly from handing blocks to "aligning and leveling blocks".

Former Volunteer Posts AMAZING YouTube Videos!!

2011-03-14T10:45:00.001-06:00

We at Global Volunteers are privileged to work with so many wonderful volunteers, partners, and supporters each and every day.

Last week, one particular volunteer, Graham, truly knocked our socks off when he shared a 9-part video series he had created about Global Volunteers and posted on YouTube!! These videos feature the travels and experiences of numerous Global Volunteers (particularly one tight-knit group from New Jersey) and we welcome you to take a look at these exceptional videos by using the link below.

Thank you, Graham!! And for the rest of you... ENJOY!!

Global Volunteer Retrospective Video (Costa Rica): http://www.youtube.com/user/endlessmug#p/u/40/7zikdfb-9Zo

A Volunteer's perspective

2011-03-02T16:04:00.003-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zikdfb-9Zo

Here is an interesting perspective on the Costa Rica Service Program at CASEM. And yes we use that path a lot ! It keeps holding and it has know beautiful hydrangeas on the sides.

Service and See Nature

2011-02-27T15:31:00.003-06:00

Our Service Program hours run from 8am to 4pm. Despite the ample work service schedule volunteers find time to enjoy local attractions.

This fine specimen , known as the Mot Mot bird was spotted just right outside the Coop before a workday. He was waiting for the gardener to finish cutting the grass, a nice opportunity to feast on the crawlers below!

Gravel, Cloud Forests & Traditional Dance!

2011-02-24T21:30:00.001-06:00

Thursday, February 24th

Thought of the day and Journal by Chris: "A forest of these trees is a spectacle too much for one man to see." - David Douglas

Today we finally got to see the cloud forests! We started off the day graveling trails with the Colegio kids as well as a few European volunteers who worked at the reserve. We thought we'd just be carrying gravel down a hill and dumping it but we ended up needing to carry it about a half kilometer through the rain forest over hills and valleys, it was tough work.

After lunch we had a slight change of pace and took a guided trip into the cloud forest which was absolutely gorgeous. Once we'd seen a good amount of forests we went back to the high school where some students performed typical costa rica dances for us which were very cool!!

To finish off the day, Jorge and the kids took us out to pizza and the kids presented us with gifts and Jorge gave us all certificates of our work. It's been a great time, and tomorrow we get to travel back!

Why Volunteer?

2011-02-21T13:13:00.006-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1OvFPotEVU

Many people ask me why I do what I do, here is my answer through my favorite song by "Chambao" a spanish group the song is called "Dibujar en el aire una cancion":

Ya no quiero vivir con los temores/ I don't want to live with fears anymore
que prefiero entregarme a la ilusión/ I prefer to surrender to the illusion
y lo que creo defenderlo con firmeza/ what I believe I will defend  firmly, without a history that drags me


Y si un dia me siento transformao´/ and if one day I feel transformed
y decido reorientar la dirección/and I decide to change direction
tomaré un nuevo rumbo sin prejuicios/I will take a new path without prejudice
porque en el cambio está la evolución.../because change is in evolution

Evolution ...in change their is evolution

Que mi camino se encuentre iluminao´/Hope the path is always illuminated
y la negrura no me enturvie el corazón/ and never hold darkness in my heart
y el sentimiento al escoger entre los frutos/ the feeling of choosing between the  results
decisión para subir otro escalón,/ a decision to take the next step forward
vivir el presente hacía el futuro/ live the present towards the future
guardar el pasado en el arcón./. leave the past were it belongs

Trabajar por el cambio de conciencia/ Work for a change in conscience
dibujar en el aire una canción....una canción./. to Draw a song in the air!

Monday Feb 21-Chris

2011-02-21T12:35:00.004-06:00

Chris Rose is in to the second week if his first Global Volunteers trip in Costa Rica. After enjoying a well deserved weekend of suna nd relaxation, he is up to his 24? repaired chair. Jessica assists while he secures the back of the seat today.

Monday Feb 21-Judith

2011-02-21T12:31:00.002-06:00

Judith joins 3 high school students to paint some metal grids. The girls are in 11th grade and are specializing in Food and Beverage. The metal grid is for their classroom. Lots of RED!

Marv and Dor say good bye

2011-02-18T14:12:00.000-06:00

Marvin and Doris say goodbye to the Costa Ric service program in Monteverde. They were here only one week but it was enough to fill our hearts with warmth. Thanks for the support to the Coop!

Team 206 February

2011-02-18T12:27:00.000-06:00

Chris, Judith, Doris and Marvin hang out during lunch to say good-bye. Doris and Marvin a five time volunteer couple headed towards Sugar Beach this weekend while Chris and Judith headed to Puntarenas for some well deserved fun in the sun .

Chris repairs chairs at the highschool

2011-02-16T20:09:00.003-06:00

Chris is volunteering at the local Monteverde high-school for two weeks, repairing chairs and desks. Chris's background in set design came in handy to quickly put back together the numerous chairs and desks that needed repair. Here he works with Francis.

Judith takes on the grids

2011-02-16T19:50:00.002-06:00

Judith takes on the "Food and Beverage" building grids at the Sta.Elena High School and paints them with Sylvia.

The local education institution trains kids in two main areas: Food/Beverage and Ecology/Tourism. Kids choose an area to specialize in all through 12th grade and they are able to get a job in the tourism industry as as soon as they graduate.

This High School is one of 90 technical high schools in Costa Rica. It serves a student body of 300.

Global Volunteers Camaraderie

2011-02-16T19:32:00.003-06:00

We spend a significant amount of time building our teams. Costa Rica Team No. 206 is working both at the local High School fixing chairs and desks and working at CASEM, the local Women's Coop. But after work they come together to share the days highlights and coffee caramels.

Here is Chris ,19, from Chicago, who has become quite popular at the local high school, as he tests his skills after dinner with Marvin and Doris who are serious wagers. The camaraderie developed spans generations ! Peace

Dynamic Duo: Marvin and Doris

2011-02-15T14:09:00.000-06:00

The 61 year married couple makes braids with yarn to sell at cost to the CASEM COOP members.

All that black!

Our Hotel such ...detailed service!

2011-02-14T21:08:00.003-06:00

Our gracious hosts at the hotel, Geovanny and Zelmira, handed out candy and roses to everyone on our team today. Happy Valentine's Day!

CASEM Diner opens it's doors!

2011-02-14T20:56:00.002-06:00

After a year and 7 months of work, dozens of coffee sticks sanded and varnished, walls painted, items demolished , storages built, alongside the CASEM Coop, the diner was inaugurated this past saturday and today on Valentine's Day opened it's doors to the public for the first time. Congratulations CASEMCOOP!

Off to the Coop & High School!

2011-02-14T19:26:00.001-06:00

February 14th, 2011

Thought of the Day offered by Judith: "The highest form of wisdom is kindness." ~ The Talmud

Journal by Judith:

Good morning all,

Our day started with a lovely heart gesture straight from a romantic himself Marv. Our breaky delight was topped off with candy hearts that made the day seem bright even though the ¨cats hair¨rain was upon us.

After breaky Team Ra Ro Ro (our last names in alphabetical order.) was off and walking/riding to our work sites.

Doris and Marv were off to the CO OP to fill their morning with yarn, yarn, and yarn. There were spools, melting of colors and all sorts of yarn stuff. Unfortunately the work day was called slightly short but there is promise of more yarn, and yarn like terminology that we will get to share and learn from tomorrow.

Chris and I were off the the local high school one of 90 high schools in Costa Rica. This high school in particular caters to young adults interested in the agricultural industry and the food and beverage industry. With that said one of our young hosts longs to study medicine in the years of academia ahead of her.

We met many fascinating folks, George our host, Steven another host and many lovely young folks. Chris and I shared the local berries, sampled the goat cheese produced at the school and worked just enough to feel accomplished.

The animals, greenery and friendly faces made for a lovely day. Among the many highlights I will discuss over the next week or so was meeting a lovely man named Rafael. I suspect he is somewhat complicated as well as talented and frankly from what I witnessed today he definitely is part of the glue that makes this local high school work.

To end the work day we all came back to our rooms to a lovely rose, nothing could have been more simple or beautiful...it was a nice day!

A day in Canitas with Global Volunteers

2011-02-11T14:40:00.001-06:00

Will Major put together this wonderful compilation of how a day in volunteering goes by in Canitas. Thanks Will!

Job Well Done!

2011-02-11T14:26:00.000-06:00

A Job well done is better than a something well said .....Maayan and Atula, Mother and Daughter team, proudly grace the Canitas walkway that will allow kids to walk safely to school.

An amazing 100 meters of cement was built by a team of 10.

Thanks all for the amazing rhythm developed to work and befriend all!

Cheers to the efforts made in tiny Costa Rica !

Be really proud of what you accomplished I know we are!

Brave Atula finishes her program

2011-02-11T14:23:00.000-06:00

As we headed down the mountain Atula conquers the Ox carrying the cart. The beautiful specimens turned out to be twin bulls and the Ox Cart Campesino let her try it out.

The Ox cart hearding with the "punzon" (sharp stick) is a lost art. Ox cart were used to transport goods like coffee. The Ox cart hearding how-to was transferred orally from one generation to the next by farmers.This art was pronounced Intangible World Heritage by Unesco in 2006.

Freemans say goodbye to the Costa Rica Programs

2011-02-11T14:17:00.001-06:00

Andrew says good-bye to Vilma and excepts a gift from her with a smile.

They headed out to beautiful Tamarindo and later Ecuador. Happy Surfing and enjoy Latitude 0 0 0.

Willie shows off the communal gift

2011-02-09T20:39:00.002-06:00

Our team gets ready to say good bye and signs a soccer ball that will be handed publicly to the Canitas Community for all the kids to play.

The ball has been signed by everyone , including our lovely Canadians ;)

Walkway makes progress

2011-02-09T19:35:00.001-06:00

The walkway makes progress beyond the driveway, surpassing the 50 meter long mark. Yeah Team ! Miss "the Canadians"!

Tough Atula

2011-02-09T19:33:00.001-06:00

Atula takes over gravel duty and supervises bucket filling for the cemento mix.

Perilous descent

2011-02-09T19:27:00.002-06:00

Our lovely bright yellow, cement mixer was brought down the mountain through the plantain field , it took a while , but all were safe and ready to mix.

Finally a sign!

2011-02-09T19:16:00.003-06:00

Today we had the luxury of road signs. Willie is inspired by the design and rock collecting began again.

Cañitas Gothic

2011-02-04T16:45:00.003-06:00

A donation of new shovels (or working under a hot sun all day) inspires our volunteers in more than one way. This piece of 21st Century "art" portrays a couple in non traditional roles volunteering in Cañitas outside of Sta.Elena in the Monteverde Region. The shovel symbolizes hard labor, under a blazing sun! Thanks Team for keeping your good humor through the long hard days of digging, mixing and puring cement! -Nia

Atula and Maayan work together

2011-02-04T16:31:00.003-06:00

Atula and Maayan make sure enough moisture is on ground to pour cement. In the background the small school of Cañitas. This walkway will serve our young students to walk safely to/from the one room education center.

Young Diplomatic league

2011-02-04T16:10:00.005-06:00

Jesse and Willie (U.S. Delegation) Maayan and Jericha (Canadian Delegation) present our cooks with some flowers. Nicely done! -Nia

Girl Power

2011-02-04T16:04:00.002-06:00

Nancy and Judy handle a big 110 pound cement bag.Next bag! -Nia

Second breakfast

2011-02-04T15:58:00.002-06:00

Will, Willie,Riel, Nancy and Andrew enjoy some arepas (costarrican pancakes), coffee and juice at the Casa club before heading out to mix cement.-Nia

CEMENTO!

2011-02-04T15:21:00.003-06:00

Cement mixing starts ...with an automated cement mixer no less! WOW! Jose Luis dropped by with that baby as Nicho directed operations. Andrew is assisted by Atula as the first batch gets mixed!-Nia

Here is the famous root they took out

2011-02-02T10:31:00.001-06:00

There is still some obscurity surrounding who took this root out but everyone is really proud it happened.

13 year old Willie writes about his volunteer experience

2011-02-02T10:20:00.005-06:00

There aren’t words that can describe the day we’ve had today, in Spanish, or English. I have experienced so many new things, seen so many new animals, and watched so many faces brighten as they smile. So here is my modest attempt to describe our adventurous day.

The first thing in the morning, I woke up to the bright sun of Costa Rica, and it is hard to believe, when you see how bright it is, that it is the same sun we may see in America (or especially Canada). We had a breakfast of pancakes, and I loved it so much that I would fly around the world just to taste it again. I could already tell it was going to be a good day.

Upon arrival at our volunteer town, Cañitas, we were greeted by our soft, scruffy, local friends, the dogs (los perros de Cañitas). Soon, after heavy sunscreening and putting on gloves, we walked briskly to a large pile of rocks, where we shoveled mounds of dirt and sand and smoothed them onto the ground. Laughs from everyone were heard as we aggressively papparazzied a tiny little plastic cow on the rocks and in a small ditch we’d dug yesterday. Another very important piece of news was that Native American leader, strong Judy, resigned her position to strong Andrew, as he pulled a giant redwood tree out of the ground with his bare hands (with a tiny bit of help from Riel and Ronald).

Later, Maayan, Jericha, and I were assigned to cook in the kitchen. The old women that we worked with were so nice, and laughed at one of Jericha’s small mistakes with an egg, as she smashed it on the side of the oven with a little too much force. We were impressed by our own courage when we tried what we thought to be goat, that turned out to just be pork. My Spanish did not cover this area of subjects so well, apparently…

At lunch we ate pleasantly, with tea, watermelon juice, and massive amounts of Lizano salsa as the main staples. The delicious Costa Rican traditional foods seemed to bode well with everyone. Maayan seemed a little angry though with her ancestors, for making rice pudding, with the “interesting” texture it has.

After lunch, we had our daily game of soccer, that involved species from dog to human, and humans from Costa Rica to Canada. Riel though, seemed to be a close second to Spot (the name we gave to one of the dogs) in soccer. They barked with their approval.

Later, after much more digging, wheelbarrowing, and looking for “palas”, or shovels with Keilor, or Elena, we went home to see Jesse and my mom. Unfortunately for Jesse and my mother, Jesse was sick and could not come to this day of work.

Finally, we went on a nature walk in the dark near Santa Elena. We saw a beautiful array of animals, including kinkajous, sloths, toucanettes, tarantulas, and so on. It seemed like the perfect way to end a perfect day. But oh no, it wasn’t. At about 8 o’clock, we pulled back into the Mar Inn driveway, thinking silently, and aloud of the animals we had seen. When we came inside, we watched some Spanish dubbed Dog Whisperer, and played an extremely enthusiastic game of Parcheesi. After about half an hour, everyone started yelling at me to go up and write this, so, here it is; a day in Monteverde.

Ditch is huge

2011-02-01T19:18:00.001-06:00

The ditch dug on Monday was so huge ..cows can come drink water

;)

Our team ..our very own modern family!

Walkway leveling

2011-02-01T19:16:00.003-06:00

Walkway leveling continues today , work project starts to take form and volunteers feel more confident that they will be able to work through the mountain to make this happen! Go TEAM!

Maayan and Jericha fall to the charms of a "local"

2011-02-01T19:08:00.002-06:00

Maayan conquers wheel barrow action

2011-02-01T18:56:00.002-06:00

Maayan manages difficult maneuvers with wheel barrow today ...after playing goalie in a soccer game! Way to go Maayan!

Definitely open to new experiences!

Strong Judy from Canada hawls wheel barrows of dirt to make way for sidewalk

2011-01-31T16:35:00.000-06:00

Riel from Canada starts wood for sidewalk

2011-01-31T16:29:00.002-06:00

Let the games begin!

2011-01-31T16:17:00.004-06:00

So...the primary school kids need a sidewalk to walk to school..our ten brave volunteers from Halifax, Canada , Jersey in the States started this enormous task under a blazing sun by digging the culvert in front of the existing side walk

New team arrives on Saturday January 29th

2011-01-31T16:09:00.003-06:00

Jesse, Jericha, Willie and Keilor round up shovels to start digging.

Journal – Day 1 – Santa Elena, Costa Rica

Today, January 30, 2011, in San Jose, ten of us began our first Global Volunteers adventure under the leadership of Nia Salas. The night before was not promising – we were already down 1½ people before our journey began: Yolanda had sprained her ankle and could no longer come with us, and Jessie was visiting the medical clinic with a bad case of the flu.

By morning, Jessie was coming around and we bid farewell to Yolanda. It was time to get down to the business of volunteering. Our first task was to learn the names of our fellow volunteers by playing the name game. (I lost the game, by the way, by forgetting the name of the person next to me. Sorry, Atula, I shall never forget it again.) After we found out a bit about our team members, Nia took us through the finer points of working as a volunteer in a cross-cultural situation. It was a lot of information to take in, and I can’t say that I was able to absorb it all. Three things the stuck with me were: (1) volunteers eat often; (2) learn to go with the flow; and (3) when in doubt, just say “pura vida”. It sounds good to me!

After lunch, we left Orquideas Inn – with the colourful toucan, the squawking parrot and Marilyn the Dog – for the three-hour trip to Santa Elena. The gently winding, paved roads eventually gave way to a very bumpy, twisting roller coaster of a ride into the Monte Verde region. The terror of riding along sheer drop offs was surpassed by the spectacular views over the green Costa Rican hills down to the Pacific Ocean. Eventually we arrived in the bustling tourist town of Santa Elena. After exploring the town for a bit, and enjoying our dinner of red snapper, the Freemans introduced us to the game of Left, Right, Center, at which Andrew and I demonstrated our extraordinary skills at this difficult game by winning. While the adults compared stories of life in Canada, Costa Rica and the United States, the kids ventured out in the dark to the nearest supermarket, returning with bags of candy to share.

So we begin this adventure excited to find out what this experience will bring. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” If that is the case, then with this group of volunteers, we can truly achieve something great.

Pura Vida!

Recognize this little road?

2011-01-26T10:23:00.004-06:00

This little road into Canitas is getting a new sidewalk so kids that walk to school can come safely and free of mud during the rainy season. Canitas is a small community of about sixty families nestled in the country side. Some might say it is a "forgotten" place. Life is simple here, farming, coffee picking and family.

Most kids around here walk to school. No sidewalks are available in the area, so it is muddy, most likely, in the rainy season. Kids ages , 3 to 10, that attend the 2 room schoolhouse (kindergarten and primary school until 6th grade) would compete with passer by cars and jeeps to walk on the road. We would like to help them be safe from now on. Build a proper sidewalk for kids to walk on. Hopefully be a catalyst for safer roads for the kids around Santa Elena.

Three community groups will organize themselves to match our 10 volunteers starting this coming Monday. We will be building this from the primary school to the main road, lots of digging lots of mixing of cement!
Wish us luck!

Nia

Jena sends Christmas Card describing her experience

2011-01-11T20:13:00.002-06:00

Jena and family from Lafayette, LA, send me their beautiful Christmas card describing their Global Volunteers experience last summer! Thanks C family!

FACES of CAÑITAS

2011-01-06T14:51:00.001-06:00

In representing the Global Volunteers at Casa Club Closing Ceremony, this poem was written to express appreciation and gratitude to the wonderful people of Cañitas

FACES of CAÑITAS

It is a rare occasion when I can speak for one group to another

But in the last two weeks
you have touched us, our hearts
with the different faces of Cañitas

the smiles in your eyes when we met
the smiles of the girls and boys who had helped us
the seasonal rain
the sound of the very high wind

A trail that journeys through farmland
that goes
to the top
of the mountain

Blue morphos
A precious view

The food has different faces as well
roasted coffee
rice, beans, eggs with salsa
pancakes with honey
aracache appetizers
empanadas with cheese
Salsa Lizano
Imperial beer

Varied faces
like the colors of the rainbow
one can see almost every day

We will remember the last two weeks
working together
playing soccer with the children
learning how to cook Costa Rican food

We hope the people of Cañitas will enjoy
Casa Club
with new paint
of colors orange, red-brown, and yellow

A mirror
of the rich land and pure water

Many Thanks to Everyone for their hospitality and generosity

We could say we have lived
PURA VIDA

--Emeline Contreras-Forrest
Global Volunteer, Costa Rica, Dec 2009 - Jan 2010

CASEM gets new kitchen

2010-12-29T11:57:00.004-06:00

Casem gets new kitchen for the dinner , it will probably open in January.

Please notice the tables we have been working on hand in hand with them also have surfaced!!

Yeahh!! For CASEM!!