A close friend of Mark's said that we shouldn't write about only the positive because what travel adventure is solely positive? All travel involves "bumps in the road". Well, here is our latest "bump", complete with a happy ending.
We arrived at Finca Quijote de Esperanza outside of Turrialba, Costa Rica two weeks ago and not long after our arrival, our experience turned negative. We decided to leave earlier than we had planned. Departing a volunteer commitment is a first for us because having volunteered many places, we are used to differences in personalities; however, the emotional environment at the farm was more unhealthy than we considered reasonable. As you can see below, the work, the accommodations, and the food were agreeable, but they did not outweigh the attitudes of the farm owners, resulting in our decision to move on.
Highlights from the farm are as follows. Enjoy!
Our cute room in the volunteer house:
Using a compost toilet. We do our business in the bucket (within a box, which has a toilet seat on top). Then, we throw the toilet paper in, and cover our business with a scoop of saw dust. When the bucket becomes full, it is taken outside, covered, and left to ferment, before it is thrown with other composting materials for use as fertilizer. It does not smell. In fact, the weirdest thing about it is that you don't have anything to flush. So the whole process is quiet, with background sounds of flowing river water and birds singing.
Delicious left-overs for breakfast:
Mark in the woodshop, using a router for the first time, sawing, contructing a bunk bed for which he had drawn the plans!
Chatting with the Tico neighbors.
Lindsay working with sweet Raquel in the nursery, speaking Spanish and learning about life in the Costa Rica countryside. Mark, Lindsay, Raquel, and her little sister:
Our fellow volunteer (Markus) from Germany who loved chewing on sugarcane!
Visiting Raquel's church in her home town of Jimenez. We were toured around the small town, invited for lunch and afternoon coffee (in people's homes!), and were treated seriously like their family. They did not know our complete belief system or history, but sincerely expressed Christ's love to us.
Meeting Raquel's finance, David, and learning about their wedding plans, hearing about their meeting story, and seeing the 2-story (rare!) house that Raquel's father is building for them with his bare hands.
We were invited to play soccer with everyone on Sunday, but it rained hard all day. Instead, we fed the baby cows!
Mark and I learned about the process of putting shoes on horses, then Mark and I (alone!) moved the herd one field to another.
(Soon after the above picture was taken, Mark lengthened his stir-ups so they would be the proper length.)
Going with the Tico neighbors to Turrialba and having to disembark the bus to cross the shaky bridge. Everyone was happily compliant, as it was a normal occurrence for them.
Mark witnessed the birth of puppies to one of the dogs, Girafa ("Giraffe") or Girlfriend (she has two names). Mark got a towel for her to keep her and her new puppies warm. Also, as Girafa was giving birth to each additional puppy, other newly-born puppies were crawling around (they are blind upon birth), so Mark helped them to Girafa's belly so they could stay warm and eat. (No pics)
We are sorry we had to leave this farm early, but as you can see we did not waste any time moving on, as the entry above shows!
Zip-lining!
After our pulses had slowed and we returned to our social hostel, enjoyed lunch, then headed to a local coffee shop to learn about the coffee roasting process.
The roasted coffee being released for cooling:
Using a compost toilet. We do our business in the bucket (within a box, which has a toilet seat on top). Then, we throw the toilet paper in, and cover our business with a scoop of saw dust. When the bucket becomes full, it is taken outside, covered, and left to ferment, before it is thrown with other composting materials for use as fertilizer. It does not smell. In fact, the weirdest thing about it is that you don't have anything to flush. So the whole process is quiet, with background sounds of flowing river water and birds singing.
Delicious left-overs for breakfast:
Mark in the woodshop, using a router for the first time, sawing, contructing a bunk bed for which he had drawn the plans!
Chatting with the Tico neighbors.
Lindsay working with sweet Raquel in the nursery, speaking Spanish and learning about life in the Costa Rica countryside. Mark, Lindsay, Raquel, and her little sister:
Our fellow volunteer (Markus) from Germany who loved chewing on sugarcane!
Visiting Raquel's church in her home town of Jimenez. We were toured around the small town, invited for lunch and afternoon coffee (in people's homes!), and were treated seriously like their family. They did not know our complete belief system or history, but sincerely expressed Christ's love to us.
Meeting Raquel's finance, David, and learning about their wedding plans, hearing about their meeting story, and seeing the 2-story (rare!) house that Raquel's father is building for them with his bare hands.
We were invited to play soccer with everyone on Sunday, but it rained hard all day. Instead, we fed the baby cows!
Mark and I learned about the process of putting shoes on horses, then Mark and I (alone!) moved the herd one field to another.
(Soon after the above picture was taken, Mark lengthened his stir-ups so they would be the proper length.)
Mark witnessed the birth of puppies to one of the dogs, Girafa ("Giraffe") or Girlfriend (she has two names). Mark got a towel for her to keep her and her new puppies warm. Also, as Girafa was giving birth to each additional puppy, other newly-born puppies were crawling around (they are blind upon birth), so Mark helped them to Girafa's belly so they could stay warm and eat. (No pics)
