Update: On Friday my group went white-water rafting at Rios Tropicales in the province oof Limon, a 2 and half hour bus-ride away. We ate breakfast upon arrival, and then proceeded to the river! I ended up buying sandals to wear because flip-flops would not have worked out. This just goes to show that I (once again) should have invested in the right kind of shoes! Its the "cheap-fix gene" that I inherited that has really come through in me during this trip. Buy quality folks, buy quality. We rafted on class 1,2, and 3 rapids, and my raft even made three rescues! None of us fell out of the boat, but we grabbed some other rafters who did not escape the rapid's power. Needless to say, we came home exhausted.
On Saturday we spent the day working with children at a ublic park called La Sebana, not La SABANA(which is a town north of San Jose, where we nearly ended up!) The kids we worked with are mostly Nicaraguan, and the children of refugees who fled to Costa Rica during the Samoza years. They do not have green space or running water at thier disposal, so the soccer field and swimming pools were a huge draw. We also did arts and crafts, and ate a lunch together. Its incredible to see how positive many of these kids are, despite thier poverty and lack of material items. During lunch it was frustrating to see our volunteers asking for more food and serving themselves ahead of the kids: some of them might have recieved only that single meal that day. It was a real eye-opening experience. One problem we did encounter was the clothing some of the girls wore. I encouraged them to dree conservatively, for cultural and practical reasons, but at the end of the day some of them still felt uncomfortable. This led to a "girl talk" given by myself and the other woman group leader that I had hoped to avoid. No such luck!
On Sunday I was feeling very under the weather. I was running a low fever, and my food was going through me! Consequently I felt very low energy and slightly dehydrated. I spent much of the post-service time napping in the afternoon, and I went to bed around 9pm. Today I am feeling much better, and I have still been drinking lots of water.
Also, I had to take two of my kids to a clinic here in Costa Rica. One boy has been having allergic reactions to something, cause still unknown, and his eye and face have been swelled and itchy. Another girl was running a fever and her throat is swollen. I accompanied both of them to thier doctor's visit, we walked away with perscriptions, and I am now spending time here at the hotel with one of them while she rests and rcoups for the rest of the day.
Tomorrow we travel to Monteverde, and being sick on that trip would be no good. I hope that they begin feeling better soon! In my case, the key was sleep. With a good rest, I hope she will be back to normal. That was something though, that I had hoped to avoid. I am not a fan of clinic trips, especially ones that put me in as interpreter.
Its now lunch time, and I have to figure out what to do for dinner with my group. I have no menu to work with. Its also time to call the hotel in Monteverde and check on our reservations...while I'm at it i had better check someone's temperature.
Nurse, nanny, personal assistant: Its all in the job description.
I hope you all had a very Happy Fourth of July! I missed fireworks here in Heredia.
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