Día 3: Cultura

¡Hola, pura vida a todos!

Aquí estamos reportando en vivo, Nicole y Susana – las GGLs y las Líderes del Día de hoy. (¡Qué chiva!)

Emilia and Diego serving us delicious breakfast!

(Back to English, everyone.) Today was a fun-filled, history-packed second full day here in Turrialba, Costa Rica. Our theme today was Culture, and our Glimpsers – after being woken up by Susana banging pans and Nicole blasting “Eye of the Tiger” on a speaker at 6 am – jumped head-first into a day full of learning! We ate a hearty breakfast made by our wonderful, local culinary artisans, Emilia and Diego, which consisted of eggs, traditional gallo pinto (beans and rice mixed together), fresh fruit, bread, and Natilla (a Costa Rican sour cream).

Students outside the first church that was built in Cartago – it was never fully finished, so these are the ruins.

Then we hit the road to the providence of Cartago, which we learned used to be the capital of Costa Rica. We spent about 4 hours in Cartago (which is also our PC Mila’s hometown!) being led on a tour by Luis Diego Herrera, who is also a local from the area. The students had a chance to immerse themselves in cultural history as we listened to Luis and walked through Cartago, visiting important landmarks and seeing the community out and about on this lively Sunday.

They were encouraged to reflect on how history plays a role in the development of a country, as well as how history can influence current affairs. Many students drew connections between what they learned about US history with what we learned about Costa Rican history today – including the importance of questioning the source and identifying the dominant narrative.

For lunch, we went to Cocina del Santuario, where, after having saved enough seats for our group before the post-Mass rush, the students all patiently waited in line for the buffet of food. Once we filled up on energy, and had a bit of rain, we made our way to La Guaria, a local souvenir shop with handcrafted artisan goodies owned by William and Priscilla. The students had a lot of fun picking out cute little gifts and trying out their new Spanish phrases of the day: “Cuánto cuesta(n)?” or “How much does it cost?”, “Qué chiva!” or “How cool is that!”, and “Me regala” or “Can you give me…?”

After a quick stop at MaxiPalí to pick up some snacks and take a look around, we came back to the base house to read, play ping pong, continue to get to know one another, and choreograph a synchronized swimming routine in the pool! (Results to come!)

Nachos for dinner!

At dinner, Emilia and Diego introduced us to a twist on nachos – Costa Rican style! It included chips, meat, beans, lettuce, and pico de gallo which was then topped with ketchup, mayonnaise, and cheese – a delicious combo indeed. ?

At our nightly meeting, we were so impressed by the level of reflection, deep thought, and internalization of our quote and question of the day which was talked about during small group discussions. Your students are really growing as responsible, global citizens, and we are so proud of them!

Concluding our portion of the nightly meeting, we officially passed the torch to Cruz and Brady H. – our brave, first youth Líderes del Día for tomorrow! They earned their stripes by doing a one-armed push-up (Cruz) and pistol squats (Brady H.). ¡Les pasamos el sombrero – buena suerte!

-Susana y Nicole