A WEEK BUILDING ABROAD IN COSTA RICA
It was during freezing cold Montreal winter, when my friend came up with this genius idea: What about going on a volunteering trip to Costa Rica during spring break? We would get the vitamin C we needed from the sun and would use the same opportunity to contribute to a cause.
After travelling through the airports of Montreal, Newark and Houston, we finally landed in SanJose. We were hosted by a fantastic Costarican family with who we would share meals everyday. After breakfast, the older son would drive us to the project site.
The aim of the project was to help build an extention to a church as a kids playground in a very poor neighborhood of Barrio Cuba. The work was done in teams of people coming from all over the world in order to experience hands on construction for a good cause.
The two weekend days were spent discovering coastline beaches and national parks and exploring the fascinating landscapes of the Costarican nature and biodiversity.
Apart from the nature, and the construction work, what struck me most in this experience was the people. They are genuinely warm and generous no matter how much they have, which reminded me of home. Costaricans are pure people, and as they would say: Pura vida!