Dear friends and family,
Today was very different from the rest of the week. There was very little work but a lot of
interactions with the Costa Ricans. We woke up around 5:40 A.M. and went to Mass. Fr. Philip kept his homily short, which was good since we were all tired from getting six hours of sleep. He preached on the Psalm, which was pretty unique, and he used three points as usual. After Mass, we had breakfast, which consisted of eggs, rice and beans, and plantains, as well as my daily cup of coffee (sorry Mom, but I need it). During breakfast, we were told that the San Francisco group, my group, would be accompanying the Guadalupe group to their site. We left for the Guadalupe site around 8:00 A.M. The bus was full of singing, as usual, and it was nice to have Br. Francis’ guitar for that purpose. When we arrived at Guadalupe, we headed down a rocky road to a home of one of the locals, where we would spend most of the day. Once there, we got to watch some oxen turn a machine that removed the sugar juice from the sugarcane. Throughout the rest of the day, we got to see the process of turning this sugar juice into a fudge-like candy. These processes included boiling and molding the sugar. At the end of the day we got to try some. It tasted different than normal candy, but it was really sweet and good. When we weren’t watching them make candy, we played with the children and ate whatever amazing food they set before us. Around 10:45 A.M., we were given a “snack”. This snack was two tortillas with rice, plantains, pork and beans stuffed between them. It was really good, but I ate so much that I was stuffed when lunch came. Lunch was a bowl of soup with a bunch of different stuff in it, and though I wasn’t able to eat that much of it, it was really good, as usual. After lunch, we headed over to the soccer field where we had a large, really fun game of soccer with the kids. After the soccer game, we headed back to the house where we tried the fudge-like candy. Then, we headed across the street to the place where we had lunch for a snack (sweet bread and this tortilla-like thing) and some more coffee. Unfortunately, I left my bag at the house across the street in the open. It started to rain, but I totally forgot about the bag for another thirty minutes. Luckily, when I retrieved the bag, I realized that it was mostly waterproof. Mostly. While we were waiting for the rain to stop, we played games like Telephone and just talked. Some time later, we headed back to the bus and drove back to San Isidro. There, we took showers and had free time. I am writing this during free time.
To my family:
Mom, Dad, Marshal: on Thursday, I banged my knee into the ground. It swelled up really bad
and I had to ice it, wrap it and take a day off yesterday. Luckily, when I woke up this morning, the
swelling had gone down and there was no more pain. Though my shoulders are sore from making and shoveling concrete and dirt, and I might not be as well rested as I normally would be during the summer, I am really enjoying this trip and all the experiences that come with it. The food is amazing, the people are nice, and the work is rewarding. I love you guys and I will see you in less than a week.
Nathan Comeaux
