a glimpse into the sun.....

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buenos tardes from Caños !
It seems like its been much longer than 2 weeks since I´ve written in here.... so much has happenned , so much to tell!
First off I want to say GRACIAS to whomever is reading this right now. Im one of the only people that brought a lot pictures of ´life back home´ and because of this I feel I´ve thought about everyone alot. from banff to vic to lakefield to good ol pside.... I still reminise about you all and definetly miss ya!
ok down to the costa rica sweetness...
since writing in here on the 25th of Feb, I´ve experienced the warmth, compassion and excitement that the beautiful town of Rio Chiquito has to offer. In the first couple of days there we did the touristy thing like i mentioned in the last blog, but since the fourth day in Rio we´ve been working our butts off! The village is acutally fairly well off so the improvements they need made are pretty well seen as luxeries or commodities to the town. All the same, they are REALLY appreciating our sweat and long hours being put in. The first couple days we split up into groups , some of us working on painting the community hall roof (you shouldve seen the old roof .... everytime a gust of wind came by you´d think the tin would fly off and nail you in the head!!) and some of us working on digging a trench for the new sewage system. huge bonding over the painting, and huge muscle gained over the picking and digging. ohhh one memorable working moment was when i was assigned to PICK through one foot of concrete so that they could stick a tube from the toilet into the ´shit tank´!!! everyone else was happily digging and painting and laughing while working together, while there I was singing Aretha Franklins´ I WILL SURVIVE to myself. haha definetly some good thinking alone time if nothing else. the best part was three hours into my picking when Don Albero (the old McGiver dude that runs the town´s construction etc) came over nonchantly with an electric DRILL! my stomach toppled and I felt a bitter sweet emotion , great that I could join the gang´s fun work, not so great that my past three hours work would be accomplished in a merely 10 minutes of drilling. haha beautiful. This is certainly one thing I´m learning more and more by the working day ... laughing is a much more effective and useful strategy than becoming frusterated. I admire the hard work ethic instilled in the Costa Ricans we´ve been working with. Im constantly in awe of their stamina and dedication to the job ahead of them· no joke we wake up at 630am and they´ve already been at the job for half an hour, then proceeding to work through to 6pm with MAYBE one hours rest. Its incredibley inspriational! What is acutally more so inspiring is how involved they allow the rest of the community to be ... from kids aged at 7 to elders aged at 75, each persons hands are worth something. Its been a bit tough noticing the different tasks us women are given then the men... the three guys on our trip are certainly handed more ´muscle work´then myself and the other 4 girls would be. Although, I must say, im proud of pushing myself thus far.... there hasnt been one logg I havent tried to carry 300 metres on my own, nor one 13 foot tin roof slab I havent proceeded to portage across the community centre. I find the more I use the I THINK I CAN approach the more I prove to myself I acutally CAN lift, tackle and accomplish. Sweet feeling ! This week we´ve been working on re building the fence and building the inside contents of their new community kitchen. The fence has been an intense process...... undigging the molded and eroded previous fence posts, shaving slash sanding down the new wooden posts, painting their bases with tar, lugging them over to the fenced area, digging NEW holes for these posts because Don Albero and Giovani (our CR working bosses) seem to take pleasure out of re measuring where the posts go (argg! haha ) and then finally placing the horizontal wooden posts across to make it look like a conventional fence! The kitchen stove and sink are definetly my first lessons in measuring, leveling, and paying specific specific attention while someone is giving you directions!! I love working alongside the members of the community that come out on their breaks to work with us... my spanish is slowly improving, waiting for the morning I will wake up and ramble into a completely fluent monologue! right....!
Onto the Costa Rican people I´ve been influenced by so far.....ahhhh where to begin!!? The charm and inclusiveness and constant positive attention we have received from the community is overwhelmingly amazing! Waking up to screaming children outside our room is enough to give me my energy for the entire day! Somehow there energy seems everylasting... they work , either in school or on their farms, then have a daily game of soccer (coolest deal ever guys.. pick up ´football´ with everyone and anyone that can basically walk!) at about 4pm, then disappear from our sight for about an hour then return to the school to blast the music and dance their butts off until at least 9pm. We all feel like such lazy asses when we´re napping at our first break from heat exhaustion and lack of mental stamina! haha but the heat is definetly something we´re learning to become accustom to. Ok...with the children...ahhh I wish i could just send you a video of them! When doing ANYTHING they are beautiful, hilarious, kind and generally excited about life. As i felt in Baja, Mexico this time last year, I am learning the most from those that are younger then me. Some of the ones you´ll have to remind me to tell you about when I get home are Diana, Marylous, Meylin, Y Ariela, Juan Carlos, Brian and Katya. All different ages and all so unique. What I find is that there are quieter kids in the class, but none SHY or lonely. Everyone is friends....its so amazing to see how nurturing the older ones are to the younger ones. Even if you only have two siblings by blood, you have at least 7 others in spirit and love! I think I speak for all of us when I say that we´re very attatched to them, and are dreading leaving them in two weeks time! The language barrier is basically non'existent with these kids... using the little spanish we know, hand actions and some crazy sherades (haha YES, its usually me participating in the sherades, its way too much fun sometimes hahah) we are able to have full out interesting and personable conversations. Great story about Diana. Brief background on her´She is 14, the eldest in the elementary school, and very confident in her looks, abilities and knowledge. She uses these strong qualities in the most amazing of ways though...She is one of the warmest, most helpful people I think I´ve ever met. SO, last friday I was homebody (clean room, bathroom and cook 3 meals and two snacks for the group) and chillin out in the kitchen. She came out of the classroom and over to the barred door we have in the kitchen . Expecting her to ask me to sign her autograph slash address book (an obsession each little girl has formed with us, getting ALL possible information about the canadians!), I walked over casually. She then proceeded to hand me eye brow tweezers while saying, ´HIL, AQUI, TU NECESSITO ESTE..!´(HIL, here, you need this!) hahahah i cracked up! Its reassuring to know when I dont care about my personal maintence I have lovely costa rican teens to keep me in line! she was extremely happy when i cleaned up my brows, gotta love her!

ok so i have to sum this last part up quickly.... the canadians. although my perspective of the 7 people has changed ever so drastically since the last blog, I STILL think I was graced with the best YCI group ever! Im probably the closest to Roger, we´re too similar in some ways haha you know how i laugh at my own jokes when no one else will laugh at them!? I fiNALLY found someone who does the same! he´s wicked outgoing ,pretty hilarious AND to top it off he´s organized and loves lists. nuts i know. haha But ya, the group... Its incredible how much we´re learning from eachother acutally. I can´t say the whole road has been smooth, nor pleasant, but we´ve certainly talked through our differences. I´ve lived in close quarters before, however, never THIS close, for this long. I can guarentee I will have some funny stories of how much group drama there has been in the last week when I return home.... (not worth writing about haha some its just so ridiculous! haha but i just laugh it off) A huge thanks to the campies that taught me the COMPLIMENT game(sit in a circle, start with one person saying something they like about their own personality, then each person in the circle saying something nice about that one person, gradually moving through each member of the circle)...it brought our group together last night in the most positive and ´warm fuzzy feeling´ way!! Everyone was skeptical of how ´on the spot´ it put them at first, but my the end I had people kissing my feet for introducing it to the group. We really needed it. we have group meeting to discuss everything from dishes to annoying sleeping habits, talking walking yelling,etc, to peoples problems with others. this is where we´re all finding the great challenge in the trip so far i think..but as Ryan put it yesterday, in retrospect we´re really doing amazing for coming together the way we have ....given the everyone was strangers two weeks ago!
roger and I were the two sent to Caños today....getting fruits,veggies, money for people, birthday present for Lauren who´s celebrating 19 this weekend and researching on the internet for our ALL ABOUT CANADA CONFERENCE we´re putting on for the community tomorrow night! yikes, so stoked to dress up in red and white and paint myself silly with canadian flags! yeeehhaaaa
alright we´re outa here, time to get some orange Fanta (unfortunately started drinking pop out here, so gooooddd though and way better than risking their tap water) !
pura vida,
peace and love,
post me a blog comment !
love from hiLs xooxoxoxo
ps mom i tried calling you today but only got the answering machine. i´ll try again tonight!

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Cob-der-cuts-a-la-la-la-ne-hutz-a-dirt-in-squawwww.....fin-hehh.
Cob-der-cuts-a-la-la-la-ne-hutz-a-dirt-in-squawwww.....fin-hehh.... wahts my dear, how are things going, its so cool to think were all explorign the planet, chea, put some damn pictures up, and i dont think your blogs are long enough...cough cough...anyhow, i want to bbq on yer deck man, and pump soem fat tunes. i saw yer parents in Norhtern Thailand, i was quite surpirised, i reckon they have told you by now, cause they said they would be telling you in a few days afdter i saw them, so i reckon you know that they are there, i guess their jsut goign for a few weeks? anyhow email me you goof...Much love Evan