Today we woke up at around 7:00 and got ready for a day of hard work, but lots of fun. We walked outside to find that Maribeth had made us delicious scrambled eggs, rice and beans, and of course accompanied by Costa Rica’s famous Lizano sauce. We took a short bus ride to Coyote where we were greeted by the Hogar Tierra and it’s reforestation program staff, eager to see what we were going to do for the day. We met Edgar and as soon as we got there, we were put to work. We loaded all different kinds of plants onto trucks, did some replanting, and then unloaded the plants at the new greenhouse site. Edgar would constantly tell us to be careful with the plants, clearly sharing his love for nature. Taylor describes Edgar as an “unreal human being” because he made us all laugh. He taught us all about healthy living and about the interconnectedness of nature, and gave us some advice about activism. Despite the fact that we were covered in dirt and Jesus’s ant bite (He’s okay!), it didn’t matter because we all made each other laugh and enjoyed each others company. It’s really surprising how close a group can become after only knowing each other for 5 days! For lunch we went to a local restaurant where we all had meals with chicken, fish, rice, salad, fries, and tropical juices. When we were done with our work with Hogar Tierra for the day, we rode the bus back to our house and on the way we saw Howler Monkeys. We were all exhausted so we all showered then took naps or read. For dinner we had rice, potatoes, salad, and beef. Looking forward to beach cleanup and learning about waste tomorrow!
-Liv