We went to Limon!!! Now....Nicaragua!!!

Sooo...we went to the beach! Playa Cahuita, to be exact, in the Limon province. It was great!! So let's just do this day-by-day :)
-Friday: We headed towards the Atlantic coast on Friday morning after a charla with Alex Grant about race/diversity in Costa Rica, specifically in the Limon province. It was a great thought-provoking charla, that allowed us to be honest about some previously held ideas about race and racial interactions in our own context. On our 3 hour drive to Limon (yes, that means Lemon), we stopped at coffee, pineapple, and banana plantations. Did you know pineapples grow on the ground and not in a tree? True story. And a banana "tree" is actually a banana PLANT. Keep 'em straight. Anyway, at the banana plantation it was so weird to be there (for my 2nd time) and to just see again all the people that work everyday packaging bananas for the US and Europe. We wanted to go out and walk among the banana plants like we did my semester, but they had just sprayed pesticides, and so we weren't allowed to go into the field. Hm. But there were workers out there, and we EAT the bananas out there, but we couldn't walk among them? I don't know, that's just weird to me. People always ask, but isn't it better that these people are being given "good" jobs instead of just left alone? I don't know, is it really better to work in a job where you don't get paid a fair wage, where you're exposed to pesticides that can cause sicknesses? Complicated.
So the rest of Friday was spent getting to Limon, and then I went out with the staff for a good supper at the Black Star Line Restaurante, where we had some good rice and beans (they say it in english in limon!) and then we headed to TCBY for some yummy desert! :)
-Saturday: We traveled from the center of Limon to the Kekoldi BriBri reservation, where for the first time I translated (!!!) that was so exciting! It went a lot better than I had thought, the time flew by, it felt like 2 minutes to me but really she talked to us for 2 hours! Crazy! :) We went to the beach, which was beautiful, and it only rained just a lil bit! :) Haha then we saw some monkeys, who got really close to us and tried to steal all our delicious fruits! Jerks. But they were cute (minus when they were hissing at us and showing their sharp little teeth!) Then that night we all ate together at the same Black Star restaurant, and we danced the night away, sweating our butts off in the hot humid weather, and we even had an impromptu limbo contest, which was awesome!! :) Then we headed back to the hotel and I chilled on the porch with a bunch of students, talking about deep stuff and not so deep stuff, and just sharing life together. It was great! :)
-Sunday: We headed to a Methodist church in the morning, where they sang hymns (totally awesome!) and the people were sooo amazing, they made us feel totally and completely welcome! :) On the drive back we watched Monsters inc, which was a great bonding experience as usual! :) Then we all finally arrived back in San Jose and headed back to our host families after a great weekend of activity and yet, relaxation. :)
So now things are in a bit of a whirlwind at the office as we prepare to head to nicaragua at 6:30 am monday morning! :) I am very excited, and not as anxious about it as the first time around, I think now I'm a little more able to do this "one day at a time" thing, and not worry about anything until it's actually happening to me. :) So pray for open hearts, and for us to see how God is working through us and in us. Pray for our host families, that we will not too badly disrupt their lives, and that we can show them hospitality and compassion like they are going to show us. :)
Thanks for reading, know that you are all daily in my thoughts and always in my prayers!!!
Con Amor.