Aid & Development (No. 4)

Hello family and friends!

Previously, on The Adventures of Global Glimpse: August 6th was a chill day spent at the base house. Today we had the second guest speaker visiting us! We started our day with some fresh bug bites and a breakfast of French toast with fruit. Then we started our mental warm-up with some morning stretches to get our blood moving. Our quote of the day was “True development must be in harmony with the needs of the people and the rhythms of the natural world” by Sulak Sivaraksa.

We thought that it was about understanding the needs of the citizens to create an impactful, long-lasting project. Our question of the day was “Who is responsible to ‘develop’ whom?” Although we did not discuss this as a group, we individually contemplated the deep complexity of this debate — are technologically advanced countries morally obligated to help “develop” their less developed neighbors? Afterward, we all voted on including nap time in our schedule. Most of us were still tired from our long day out yesterday with the families and were in need of a siesta.

Then we had our first CAP (Community Action Project) seminar, where we learned about the previous delegations’ projects and did a fun activity modeling different countries’/communities’ relationships. After a quick break, we had stew from our wonderful chefs Emilia and Diego. Their food is always delicious and we find ourselves looking forward to every meal!

After lunch, we had the long-awaited nap time/quiet time where some made bracelets out in the lounge area while others went to sleep. After we woke up at 1:30 pm, we set up the balcony area where our meetings are held, so we could prepare for our guest speaker. We eventually welcomed Rodrigo Mendez and his daughter Emma to our accommodations. We learned about the unique beauty of Turrialba and how we could make projects using the seventeen sustainable development goals.

Following the presentation, we had some extra free time when Mila took some Glimpsers to the market (pulperia) to buy some snacks and materials for a fun surprise. During the time, the shoppers were out some took naps, played pool, made some more bracelets, or just had fun conversations with the Global Glimpse Leaders (GGLs). We were all having so much fun that we almost forgot about dinner! For dinner we had NACHOS!!!! With the handmade cheese by Audrey and Nicole from La Florita cheese farm.

After dinner, we had our nightly meeting where we recapped our day and “Passed the torch!” to our next leaders, Tyler and Marisol (who you’ll be hearing from next!). As we ended our day, we earned our surprise, which was a bonfire with s’mores. We are just about to be hitting our halfway point in our trip and we have been having a wonderful time here in Costa Rica.

With our new friends (our critter friends, other fellow glimpsers, and amazing GGLs),
Audrey and Mari