The following post features student writing.
Bonanza is a small village of around 180 families. It is quite different from home. For example, there is no WiFi, hot showers, nor air conditioning. We sleep on the floor together, and share the bathroom between 13 girls! The boys share the other casita that they live in. Despite these new ways of living, we are enjoying ourselves.
Life here in the village of Bonanza is much different than anything I have seen or been a part of. Here in Bonanza, we wake up at 7 a.m. and eat homemade Costa Rican food, prepared by Maria Elsie and Yesenia. The food is amazing! We have lots of rice, beans, plantains, and yuca. Somehow none of us are sick of it.
Hard day’s work paying off!
After breakfast we head down the road to the school where we have been breaking concrete for the past three days. We are breaking the concrete because this specific outdoor classroom floods all the time. We finished breaking all of the concrete so we are starting to place the cement to raise the floor so hopefully it will not flood. The work is definitely hard but it also can be lots of fun. We are all together, listening to music, and working.
At 10 we come back and take a break for 30 minutes. During this break we eat some delicious fruit and some of us go get other snacks from the local stores. At 10:30 we go back to the work site and continue the work that has to be finished. We work until noon and then we come back and eat a delicious lunch. After lunch is our personal time. We have two hours to do what we want to do. Most of us nap and others play games, or work on our individual project or just talk. Then at 2 p.m. we get back to work for two more hours. These 2 hours are usually the hardest for everyone because we are the most tired. At 4 we are done for the day. We go back to our house and socialize, shower, play games, or whatever we want to do. Without WiFi, we are back to basics! We are finding other ways to communicate and entertain ourselves.
Overcoming the heat! Working hard!
Then we eat dinner at 6 p.m., followed by an activity that Sam and Juliana usually organize. We sometimes go to Maria Elsie’s house to play pool, which is always a lot of fun. Then we go back to the house and we are all very exhausted. We have a short meeting with the group where we share our highs and lows of the day, and get to know each other better as a group. Then, finally we are able to go to sleep at around 10 p.m.
We will keep you updated as the project progresses!
Until next time! Pura Vida!
– Alice P.