27 Months of La Pura Vida

This is it...my Courts for Kids project is just about officially over.  One of the best weeks of my life is wrapping up and I feel so incredibly accomplished now that it is over.  Last night with the team, we had our final debrief that I was a part of and were asked to share our highlights and "lowlights" of the trip and then everyone would say something about you that they liked, were surprised by or consistently saw.  After sharing my thanks to Derek (the CFK president), the administration and the team for the hard work, almost every student on the team said they LOVED this past week, fell in love with the community and all its members and were so thankful for all the work that was put in to make sure they had a great trip.  Then the cameraman, Dekota, said he was blown away by the fact that I am even here at 23 years old, how much I have already accomplished and how much respect I have in Linea Vieja...I was almost in tears after the wrap up, absolutely incredible.  We certainly had difficult days, days with little community help and moments of stress but the team bounced back from everything and overcame every little obstacle to make sure they were able to finish the court and bond with the community.  The most common thing I heard both from the K-state members and community members is how quickly such a deep bond was formed between two completely different groups and how hard it was to say goodbye.

I am going to let the pictures do most of the talking because if I try to describe most of this, you will only get part of the picture, plus it will keep this update under 10 pages of writing, better for the both of us.

Wednesday: Traditional Dancing/Traditional Games

I am going to start here even though the team really arrived Tuesday.  Wednesday morning, after having to go to the airport and guiding the bus driver to the hotel (a whole story in itself..), we started out around 815 from the city of Alejuela in the central valley.  Instead of taking us on the highway, my Google Maps took us the scenic route through hills and mountains which was beautiful but for an old bus loaded down with 24 people and all their luggage...it was pretty damn scary!  We almost stalled out on hills, fell backward a couple times, and then lugged up the rest at around 1mph.

We got to the community around 1, met Edgar in the colegio, dropped our stuff off and immediately began working on the first of 8 concrete forms.  Luckily Jorge was happy to just be there with the gringos and some other community members showed up as well and we finished our first line within an hour and a half.

That night was traditional dancing and traditional game night.  I had the idea of traditional dancing but the colegio directors completely stole the show with their traditional games and how they got both ticos and gringos involved in jump rope, jacks, musical chairs, juggling soccer balls, sack races, etc.  After a presentation by the colegio to the gringo team about the colegio and Linea Vieja, we jumped right into the activities.  I was absolutely blown away by the event and how open the team was to participating.  I even participated in the sack race and managed to trip and fall in front of everyone on the first night!  And to top off the night, I even had a dance dedicated to me by the group of colegio students, who then also made me dance with them.

Thursday: Community Bingo

The day started early, around 5:30 and work started around 7 in the pouring rain, cold and dark day.  Little community support showed up and I was a little worried about the rest of the week because the rainy season had definitely started meaning most morning would be rainy and cooler if not the entire day.  But the team was incredible once again and the PCVs that showed up (Francisco, Lindsay) were kicking butt helping translate orders, introduce community members and easily pull their weight in construction.  While we didn't have the necessary community support, we were still able to get another 3 of the 7 remaining lines finished and ended the day being halfway done with the court!

During the night, the colegio had organized a bingo event to include the team, the first time a CFK team ever participated in a community bingo event.  There were probably nearly 200 people at the event including the team and there weren't even enough bingo cards to sell and no chairs left for people to sit.  

Then it all changed...

Around 7:30, after an hour or so, half the team wanted to go back to the church and eat dinner.  Unknowingly, a group of 15 or so team members were split up accidentally into a group of 11 and a group of 4 females.  As the 4 girls were walking along the road in front of the benches I made, a team of 2 Costa Rican kids (approx. 20 years old), walked out in front of them, showed what appeared to be a gun, and demanded they drop everything.  Luckily, another PCV, Lindsay, was with them and handled the situation really well and was able to support the other 3 at the time.  She managed to hide her phone from the thieves and call me a minute after it happened.  I then told Edgar who then made an announcement to the community gathered at bingo.  Almost immediately, 50 people stood up, ran to their cars and motorcycles and took off looking for these kids who were stupid enough to ride off on bikes.  In the moment, I really wanted these guys caught by the community because I knew what they would have done to them if they had found them.  It turns out these punks are fairly well known (by the police as well), the community knows where they live (not in Linea Vieja) and is still waiting around for them to show back at their houses.  The girls left early Friday morning to make an official report to the OIJ (the Costa Rican FBI) but were not able to complete the process yet.  If anything good came out of this incident, it helped to unite the community, really showed the team that they were part of our community and they really do care for the well being of the team.  Many of the team identified this moment as their highlight and "lowlight" of the trip because obviously what happened was so awful but it really expedited the process of integration and bonding between the two teams.

**On a side note, the bingo event raised over 450.000 colones (over $900) which made it one of the most successful bingos in history**

Friday: Culinary Specialties

After the previous nights events, I wasn't even sure that the project would continue, honestly, I thought the team would say they had no other choice but go back home.  However, that wasn't the case, in fact, just the opposite; no one wanted to go home and they were all ready to get to work by 8ish after the 4 girls involved in the incident went into Guapiles to make a formal police report with the OIJ (Costa Rican FBI).  After nearly running out of gravel the day before, we decided we would have to scrap putting fencing around the court in order to buy another truck full of gravel for the court which thankfully arrived around 9 Friday morning.

The day's events were a shared lunch with the community where the team cooked BBQ chicken and the local police donated arroz con pollo and then any community members that arrived to share the food would also bring a small portion of traditional food to share with the team as well.  One of the best lunches I have had in a long while.  BBQ chicken, tortillas, arroz con pollo and BUSH'S BAKED BEANS from the states!  It worked out really well and I got the team cutting the heads off the chickens, plucking the feathers and cooking them.  While we were waiting for the food to be cooked, I also organized a small Carrera de Cintas event so the equestrian girls could get up on horses and show the community some moves (which the 4 girls loved!).  I think a lot of the men were even surprised the gringa girls could handle the horses let alone participate in an event that is traditionally male dominated.

We didn't get a whole lot of work done Friday but the community finally began to show up and support the project (enticed them a little with some free food), the team was able to relax a little and take it slow and the event went extremely well.

Saturday: Getting to know the rest of the community

The last day of construction started later again as it was pouring rain again in the morning.  Once the rain let up, we got right to work on the final couple forms which we finished up before noon thanks to a big showing again from the community.  We had to order another 40 bags of cement to finish but that came early in the afternoon Friday so we were all set for the rest of the construction.

The rest of the day were guided tours of our community, highlighting the nature and beauty of the community.  We started with a hike though the hiking "trail" behind the colegio that Edgar really wanted the team to experience.  We split into 4 groups so that each group had 5 K-state students, a PCV and a colegio student.  Some loved it, some hated it...lots of mud, bugs, spiders, too few monkeys, no sloths...Then we took a walk to the river where some K-state students jumped in, dived in, swung in on a rope swing.  It was kind of a last minute decision so no one had suits on and since it was rainy and chilly, not many people really wanted to get in the brown water but said if they had suits on and if it was hot, they wouldn't have hesitated.  However, the team was able to see further into the community, see how many people here tend to entertain themselves and see more of the nature Costa Rica is so famous for.

Sunday: Inauguration

Finally, after month of planning, stress upon stress, worries big and small, the court was completed in the morning and the rest of the morning was spent preparing for the inaugural lunch to celebrate the court and the team's final day in the community.  The ADI bought a 65 kilo pig (just for reference, the pig killed when my family was here was close to 100 kilos), people donated yuca and platanos, tortillas, and drinks.  It was an amazing amount of food and the cooks did a great job of making sure the team got to try a wide variety of meat from the pig not just one type.  One kid from K-state also offered to knock out the pig before the other community member jumped on it and killed it...not the greatest experience for most involved.  After an extremely powerful practice swing against a tree, he was told to do it lighter but pulled back last second and barely even stunned the pig for a second, it squealed its head off the entire 20 seconds until it finally gave away.

The rest of the day was spent eating into a food coma (seriously some of the best food I have ever eaten), playing soccer, teaching basketball, and enjoying seeing the community and the K-state team really bond for one final time.  I estimated there was probably around 250 people from the community around at one time plus the 25 gringos.  It was incredible the amount of people and amount of food we were able to provide and Derek, the CFK president said it was the best meal he has had in Costa Rica ever!!

The kids seem so interested in learning basketball and how to play it.  The past 2 days since coming back to the community, there have been a couple people "playing" basketball during the afternoon and we started the conversation about installing the lights for the court which should hopefully be done within the coming month.

Thanks so much for reading as always, this has been such an amazing, life changing experience for all those involved and I really hope the community will continue to cherish and use the court for the years to come.  One final thank you to all of the K-State team and administration, all the incredible Peace Corps volunteers: Lindsay, Francisco, Mark, Lucy, Elizabeth and Eli, all the community members that helped make this project a reality and Courts for Kids for helping connect communities like ours and groups like K-State makes these projects a reality!!  

-Conor