Leslie's Day 6 Blog!!

Pura vida!!

Today has been very, very fun!! It's crazy to think that the day after tomorrow we are going to be coming home!! I have had an amazing time!

This morning we left at about 7:00 to start our busy day! Breakfast was yummy, again, where we had watermelon, pineapple, pancakes, toast, and, guess what else? Yes, you got it! Rice and beans!!

We started out with planting some pineapple trees. Because of recent storms, many of the pineapple plants were killed, so we were helping reforest Costa Rica.

After planting the trees, we went to visit an elementary school. It was pretty small (in 1st through 6th grade there were about 45 kids), and the kids spoke very little English. They knew as much English as we did Spanish, so it was hard to be able to communicate with them. After we all introduced ourselves and we gave them the supplies we brought, we all started playing different sports. A soccer game was going on (very fun!), jump roping, and so on. Then I went and got my string off the bus and a bunch of us taught the kids to make bracelets (without talking because no one understood the other language) and gave them all some finished ones we had had from before. They all seemed to really like them!!

Next, we went back to the pineapple plantation to learn about how pineapples are produced. It was crazy how much he a pineapple was worth though - a 1 pound pineapple only cost 28 cents, about 60 cents if it was organic. Back in Wisconsin, it costs about $5 to get a one pound pineapple!

Then we went for a small hike to a waterfall! It was very pretty and super fun to swim in!!

After that, we went to a different part of the farm to have lunch. After a delicious homemade lunch, we milked cows and learned how to make cheese! It was very interesting to see how it went from milk to cheese. And it only takes a few hours!

On our way to the Hot Springs, we stopped and our tour guides bought us all ice cream or pop! It was very good!! The hot springs were very relaxing and the strawberry smoothies were very yummy! It was probably my favorite swimming experience in the whole trip!

And now we are all sorting through and packing our suitcases and blogging!! Tomorrow is repelling down waterfalls and then souvenir shopping!! Very excited!!

With love,
-Leslie K.