By: Andrew Skemp, high school student (Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020)
As we approached the tree house, I eagerly awaited the shower I would take with water cold as ice. The road was bumpy and made of gravel as the bus slowly drove towards our destination in the pitch black of night. The tree house was very nice and the shower was cold as expected. I enjoyed it very much. In the morning, we woke up very early and we traveled another hour to where we would work for the day in Shiroles. Suddenly, the bus came to a halt in front of a raging river where the road did not continue. It took a moment to realize that we were about to drive through the river. From this day on, I can no longer say I am the best driver I’ve ever met, for that title belongs to our driver, Manior, the man who was brave enough to cross the rushing waters.
We arrived at our destination an hour after leaving the tree house and began to work. Today, there were muy perritos en la casa(many puppies in the house) that wandered from the street into the work space and out the back door. One of the dogs was especially hyper, however, it walked with a bit of a limp. The day went on and I met a native of the area named Luis that spoke a bit of English. As I talked to him, he said he was born and raised in the region we were in and that he had picked up English from tourists who visited. The houses, access to water and health care may be more modest than the most have in the U.S. but Luis described his life as full and happy, a true pura vida.
This trip has demonstrated to me that it is not the items or wealth that can bring you happiness in life, but it is the people that surround us and the way we approach life that can bring us happiness. Thank you to the people that I met and the experiences I have had here in beautiful Costa Rica.
Central America 