2/23/2009

At 6:00 last night I left my house in Chimacum, WA and flew all night arriving successfully in San Jose at 12:50 pm. My plan was to meet former EM summer staff, Chris Salmon, who will be serving as a translator for the next few days. Amazingly, Chris and I ran into each other right away and in short order we were through immigration. Our bus driver Rodrigo and his friend Oscar were waiting for us. After lunch with Rodrigo and Oscar, we went straight to a hostel owned by Rodrigo. It is very nice by Central-American standards, so this is a good place for teams to stay in the future.

Our objective over the next few days is to connect with all of the necessary people to prepare for two upcoming teams. There will be a team of Indiana Wesleyan students arriving on Saturday; they will be in Costa Rica for 8 days, and the next team will be arriving the following Saturday. Both teams will be going deep into the Costa Rican jungle inhabited by the indigenous Bribri tribe. The Indiana Wesleyan students will be coordinating the logistical preparation for the next week’s team as part of a leadership course they are taking. The next team will then be doing a work project in one of the villages. This task promises to be both a challenge and an adventure for both teams.

Since we are not traveling to the Bribri reservation until tomorrow, today we had some time to get acclimated. (This was not a challenge since it was a beautiful sunny day of 80 degrees with a nice cool breeze.) We walked the streets of San Jose for about 2 ½ hours enjoying the weather and the people. It’s 9:00; Chris is already sleeping and I am feeling the long night of travel and lack of sleep. Still, tomorrow our rental car arrives at 8:00, and I am anxious to get started!

Josh G.

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