The following post features student writing

This morning we had toast, pancakes, and omelettes. Shortly after we headed to the project site and continued work on the church. We continued plastering the walls, and sanded the ones that were already completed from the previous day. We were unable to continue the work on the sidewalk due to rain in the morning. We added cement to the pillars on the outside of the church. For lunch a few people helped cook beef stew, vegetable stew, and rice. As usual the food was delicious! Dania, our local contact, gave us many pineapples, so we had some for dessert. After lunch we headed back to work and kept applying plasters to the walls. Although we did not finish we got very far and we will most likely finish on Monday. We ended work early to visit a cacao farm, which was down the road. The owner of the farm was the father of one of the people from the community who helped work on the church (Luis Carlos). This experience was one of a kind, because when cacao fruit was brought to Costa Rica, this farm was one of the first to grow cacao after the cacao famine of 1970. Moreover, during this trip we gained a newfound appreciation for bugs by discovering that they play a crucial role in the pollination of cacao flowers. Essentially without bugs it would be more difficult to crossbreed the plants to create a more flavorful chocolate.

This excursion ended at 6 PM, when we went to dinner. For dinner we had more stew, which was equally as good as the first time. After dinner, we played music on the speakers and had a jam session. We returned to the Cheese Factory tired and ready to sleep to get ready for TOMORROW’S RAFTING TRIP WOO! So hype 🙂

Hasta luego,

Amy & Avery