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Hey All,
I know it's been a while since I've written an entry, but it's been busy! We've done so much over the past week and now I'm excited to fill everyone in.
I'll start with our trek to San Ramon last Saturday. Most of the Beyond crew went to Puerto Viejo or Panama last weekend, but Erin Norris and I had class, so we stayed behind and took an excursion of our own. We traveled to San Ramon in the morning by bus and started exploring. It was a fun feeling being able to just explorer for a day. It was a great destination for a day because everything is so close in that town. Additionally, that is where the Arba basketball team - the team I'm training with - practices and plays. We went to the gymnasium first and coincidentally ran into one of the players. He then showed us the bus station so we knew where to go to get back, and then recommended a Colombian restaurant to us. It was fantastic. We both had a sampler platter to try everything. After lunch, we walked around the town a little bit, taking in the surrounding views and experiences. We bought me a new shaker water bottle, but more importantly found a hideaway café. In the café, they serve some of the best cinnamon rolls and blended drinks. Reference the pictures to see what I mean. After the afternoon snack, we returned home to San Jose to go out for a tica friend's birthday at a salsa/merengue bar. A VERY fun experience after dancing for 6 hours.
Next big day was August 1st. After class on Wednesday, a group of the Beyond students made the pilgrimage to Cartago for Día de la Virgen. The is a national holiday where 2 million people from all over Costa Rica and surrounding countries WALK to a church in Cartago. Our walk was 4 hours, but we had an exceptional pace. Doing it again, I would love to take a more "scenic" pace to enjoy all the intricacies of the walk. But once we got there, it was amazing: a beautiful church that you could enter by foot, or more traditionally on your knees. At night they lit up the church with all kinds of lights, there were news crews everywhere, and people still filing in. We had to return early because we had tickets to Batman in San Jose, but there were people still filed up walking in San Jose when we arrived back at 8pm. It was pretty typical to arrive in Cartago at 3am or 4am in the morning. The walk was an awesome experience.
While most people take the following day to rest because it's a national holiday and nothing is open, the Beyond students had sports camp. We traveled to a poor neighborhood outside of San Jose and played games on the playground with the children of the neighborhood. They were so much fun to play fútbol, basketball, and tag with. They seemed so happy that the gringos came to play and so grateful with so little. It put a lot in perspective that day; how to be happy without the materialistic things that many are accustomed to in the States. Additionally while we were there, we worked with a local foundation called Funda Vida to sort some toys for them in their building. They too are an incredible group working to provide a place to play and organize sports and games for children and young people. Overall, this was the most rewarding day thus far since I have been in Costa Rica. The poverty level was nothing like anywhere I have seen in the US. But somehow the people were making the most of it, and to be able to bring joy to those in that environment was an amazing feeling.
-MM, Pura Vida
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