Orientation - Dia Dos

Today was a long day but surprisingly leisurely too — it’s probably the Tico Time. 😉 We had an early breakfast at 7:30AM at home then headed to  Maximo Nivel, the hub for all activities where we met our guide Oscar who would give us an orientation for the Construction Renovation project. It turns out orientation was a 2 hour tour of the site including its history! The project we are working on is one of two called the Bethany Project and the first was called Project Abraham. The entire tour was given in Spanish so thank goodness for our unofficial interpreters 2 volunteers from Colombia and my cousin! I picked up words  here and there but I have a looonnng road to fluency lol. Our guide explained that a pastor with a church in California partnered with an unconventional Costa Rican pastor to build a church to support the local community. It includes: housing for single mothers, daycare centers for children, housing for orphans and scholarship opportunities for college for the mothers. ALL GRATIS(free-of-charge) for recipients.  Not only is the opportunity incredible for the community members, but they learn the message of Jesus surrounded by beautiful murals painted by local boys who were once essentially menaces to society. 

On the site we will be working on the future office building and surrounding garden. It took about 45 minutes to get there from San José. Tomorrow morning, weather permitting, we’ll head there at 7:30 AM and stay until 11:30.

Next we had lunch again at La Gata! Still nice ambience though pretty empty this time. It was poppin the day before which was Dias de Padres, (Father’s Day). 

We headed back to Maximo and were advised to check out be Jade museum and Chinatown nearby. The Jade museum explains the historical and cultural significance of the jade stone in Costa Rica. Unfortunately, my credit card was declined … and I had to spend 15 minutes outside on hold waiting for an agent then verifying my purchases with them 🤦🏾‍♀️ . 

Them: Uber $.48

Me: Yes

Them: Uber $3.00 (yes a 15 minute Uber ride is that cheap!)

Me: Yes 

Them: (spelling) A-C-H-I-N-G-A-O $14.35

Me: Yes… I mean is that a restaurant?

Them: Ok, yeah

…. And it went on

Once that got squared away. I really enjoyed the museum. The exhibit felt like anthropological overview of Costa Rica and the Mayan influence on ceramics and jade sculptures. 

We stayed till the museum closed at 5pm and took a walk through Chinatown stopping in a store filled pikachus and jiggly puffs… and many more, but those are the only two Pokémon characters I know…. 

We Ubered back to Maximo for a salsa lesson! It was really fun and taught Zumba-style as opposed to with partners. One hour in we were hot and sweaty and ready to go. Our instructor suggested we learn one more dance style besides salsa! Swing which is a local Costa Rican style. Lots of jumping, criss-crossing legs, etc… almost like a twist and a sock hop! Maybe I’ll find a video online and post it. Found one: Costa Rican Swing Dancers

By the end of the night we were pooped. We’re gonna sleep so well. We had dinner and an empanada, showered and went to bed! I’m about to be knocked out! Night!