Feliz dia de independencia!

Hola from Costa Rica Community Service A, officially two weeks into the program! We had a great second week in Tujankir, beginning with with a long day of work followed by a dip in our new favorite river, el Rio Celeste. The following days sped past as impressive work was completed on both the community kitchen and the locker rooms. Jorge, one of our key contacts, workman and head of the town government told us that we have done more and worked harder than previous Putney groups!

In addition, the English classes and LeAndre´s (one of our students) well attended hip hop dance class took off this week. Every day more kids show up and we are excited to see attendance increase. Every week, our students take turns teaching the English classes. On Monday, a few girls went to Don Gerardos farm to milk cows, make tortillas and plant corn. Yesterday, others worked with Dona Patricia to make tamales, participating in everything including the plucking of the chicken, making the dough and preparing the vegetables. The mural has also taken off and we hope to finish it next week. We have been busy!

Tomorrow we have planned an exciting hike to a waterfall, followed by a Fourth of July celebration. On Sunday we are off to the National Park at Volcan Arenal and are very excited. Please help us keep this a surprise. . . our students are madly guessing where we might be headed!

We wish you all a happy July 4th, and we will be sure to write again shortly!

Saludos,
Shiri and Jake