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Costa Rica Trip - Kurt and Jackie's Journal
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9
Day 1
Greetings from Alejuela in Costa Rica. We have safely arrived at the beautiful Los Volcanes hotel, and our team is almost complete. We’ve had a few of the standard travel issues but slowly and surely we’re almost all here. Four team members, Ron, Dave, Tiffany and Dave, have finally arrived.
After a quick cab ride from the airport, we moved into our rooms and headed out to explore the town. The streets here have been quite the experience; cars have the right away! Look before you cross! Most of us ended up at a local establishment where we sampled the local food. So far, so good! Then the rain came. It’s been raining since about 2:30 this afternoon. It will be interesting to see how this impacts our build activities as the rain is pretty standard for each day.
On a first impression, the team is bonding very well. I give credit to the exemplary leadership of team leaders Don and Cate. Costa Rica is beautiful, as are the people that live here. We saw many mountains and lots of lush landscape as we flew in. Everyone seems to have smiles on their faces and despite all the traffic, we seldom hear any cars beeping their horns (unlike some other cities I’ve been to!).
We have an early dinner tonight, and tomorrow we head out to Palmares. On the way, we’ll be catching an eleven-hour tour to see many attractions including a volcano (not sure which one but there seem to be many here!), a coffee plantation, and a relaxing river boat ride.
Day 2
The following entry was written by team members Jackie and Marcia.
Greetings from team Costa Rica! It’s Jackie and Marcia with today’s update. Day two in country was an adventure. We started the day muy temprano (very early). First on the agenda was a tour of a coffee plantation. We sampled some awesome coffee and learned how the coffee bean picking and processing functions worked. Tons of labor goes into these processes. The plantation was not only informative, but also very beautiful with many varieties of orchids, Costa Rica’s national flower.
Poas Volcano was next on our trip. The volcano was 8,000 feet up in the clouds and unfortunately, we were truly up in the clouds and only saw the vast crater appear for about 10 minutes. After the volcano, we went to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens. We saw birds, frogs, butterflies, snakes, monkeys and four of the most beautiful waterfalls in Costa Rica.
The last leg of our four-in-one tour was a boat ride on the Sarapiqui where we saw an iguana, bats and howler monkeys. Part of our group had fun teaching the ‘chicken dance’ to some of the locals. We observed the lush vegetation of the rainforest, the 90-degree hairpin turns every 200 feet and cliffs on each side of the road.
The bonding continued on the way back to our new hotel where we enjoyed a dinner of drinks, bananas and chips. The team found that, collectively, we are great at both karaoke and trivia. We’ve found the best advice we were given for the trip was to always carry a rain jacket and be flexible. Until tomorrow... adios!
Day 3
Greetings from Team Costa Rica! It’s day three in the country and everyone is alive and well.
Throughout the week, we’ll be introducing three to four of our team members each day. Today, meet Dave, Chris, Cate and Dave.
- Dave Aberwald, 38, Finance Partner. Proud father of 2 boys, an expert bowler and accountant at night. Enjoys working on home projects with his dad.
- Chris Kelly, 32, Web Site Solutions. Mother of two who enjoys triathlons.
- Cate Christenson, 37, corporate and commissions systems. Enjoys nature, photography and travel.
- Dave Anderson, 46, FSO. Once upon a time, knew how to play baseball. Enjoyed the Vikings’ win today.
Day three in Costa Rica began with a team meeting where we met with our coordinator, Leo Carazo Rojas. This is Leo’s first build with Habitat for Humanity and we are excited to be his first team. We will set the bar high, I’m sure. After our team meeting, we took a short trip to Grecia where we toured Our Lady of Mercy church. This all-metal church is the focal point of the city. The church was very beautiful and ornate.
Next we drove to Sarchi to visit the world’s oldest water-powered ox cart factory. On the way, we stopped to see the largest ox cart, which is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. The craftsmanship on each cart is truly amazing. These carts are still used today to transport coffee to and from the plantations. We ended the day shopping where everyone found something special to take home. It was another great day in Costa Rica, which was enhanced when we learned of the Vikings and Packers victories!
We start building tomorrow! Everyone is getting eager to meet our partner family and actually begin working on a home. So far on our journey, we've been blessed to experience some truly beautiful sites in Costa Rica. The people here are very ecologically-minded and care about their country a great deal.
We would like to begin sending trivia questions from the facts we are learning on the trip. Today’s question is:
How long does it take a coffee plant to produce and harvest its first beans?
Watch tomorrow’s blog for the answer.
Adios!
Day 4
Greetings from Team Costa Rica! Day four in the country was a rewarding one as we were on the build site and met the partner family.
First, let’s meet a few more team members. Today we’ll meet our three Dons, who we appropriately call, “The Dons.”
- Don Keeley, 43, Corporate Procurement. Is our money manager on the team which keeps him busy as $1 = 500 colones (multiply by 2 and divide by 1000).
- Don Oleson, 57, Financial Consultant from Tampa, FL. He has several black belts and is our major protector.
- Don Stingle, 42, IT - Field Sales Systems. Our fearless and very adept co-leader.
Our first day on the build site started with introductions to the worksite coordinators, followed by a prayer. We met Marlene, the future owner of the house. We were touched when her daughter, Andrea, thanked us all for helping to build her new house. Today was a day of serious physical labor! The team jumped right in and started digging foundation trenches for the house. Dirt was loaded into wheelbarrows and hauled away. Lots of digging, loading, hauling and many sore muscles later, all the trenches were completed. It’s amazing how much work the team completed in such a short time. Jill’s new saying for the team is, “If it’s teamwork, it doesn’t seem like work!”
A small group also helped put the second coat of paint on the interior walls of another Habitat for Humanity house located two lots away. The group worked side-by-side with relatives of the owner, forming a true partnership with our new friends. We finished the job and got to share the joy and excitement with the owner as we helped her hang pictures of her family on her newly painted walls!
The team continues to experience new food and today’s specialty was fresh-cut sugar cane. We couldn’t agree on the taste, but some said it was like ginger root while others thought it was like chewing gum; nonetheless, all agreed it was sweet. We also enjoyed more plantains with our lunch.
We continue to work extremely well together and I, for one, am amazed at the camaraderie that’s developing. Everyone pitches in to help and watches out for each other. Today we were reaching top production when the rain let loose! And rain it did. We were lucky to have all of the 100-pound cement bags unloaded before the major downpour. Even though it rained for almost two hours, spirits were high and some took advantage of the down time for a siesta and others for bonding. We were touched by the generosity and care of the home owners as they made us an afternoon snack of coffee and cookies. We continue to appreciate the people of Costa Rica and their endless smiles. It will be difficult to leave this place on Sunday.
And now for trivia time. The answer from yesterday’s trivia is three years. It takes three years for a coffee plant to mature to produce coffee beans.
Today’s trivia question is:
How many Habitat homes have been built in Costa Rica?
Day 5
Greetings from Team Costa Rica! The word for day five in the country is accomplishment!
But before we delve in that, more on our team. Today meet Jackie, Jane and Jill - our three J’s.
- Jackie Hintz, 40+, Field Talent Acquisition. Excited to have learned the art of rebar and is co-blogger on the trip.
- Jane Zilch, a woman of a certain age, Retirement Strategy. Is a life-saver on this trip as she speaks fluent Spanish.
- Jill Deuel, 36, Thrivent Financial at Home. Mother of two; always smiling and making small talk with the locals.
The major task facing us today on the build was rebar. We needed to complete the rebar in order to be able to pour cement tomorrow. The rebar team was up to the task and worked on the rebar before, during and after the rain. More physical labor was in store as 50 400-pound panels needed to be unloaded from the trucks. Four people were assigned to each panel and they navigated down two narrow planks. You can only imagine the smiles when the last panel left the truck! The last team worked on excavating a site for another Habitat home, using pick axes and shovels and most without the use of a wheelbarrow. The team decided to purchase a couple of new wheelbarrows to help with all the excavation work. We will all return home with muscles we didn’t know existed.
Today we were joined by a group of Canadian volunteers who worked side by side forming a new partnership. We were also visited by the future homeowner, Marlene, who provided snacks of fresh watermelon and bananas for the team. The weather proved to be very fickle today. The temps were sweltering in the morning and by noon, the rain set in. Even though this affected our productivity, the local toads seemed happy. We have come to adjust to this weather pattern and some are taking advantage of the down time with an afternoon siesta.
We continue to be amazed at the generosity of the people. Everyone waves and smiles as we pass. (Now, understand with 19 people walking around in matching red shirts people may stare, but we still feel their warmth.) Small things are making an impact on us - the smile of a child playing on the street, a shop owner finding someone who speaks English to help us out, a friendly little dog who came to visit the site and bark his hello, and our work site coordinator who’s patience is endless. Costa Rica is making its mark on our lives.
Answer from yesterday’s trivia question: More than 600 Habitat Homes have been built in Costa Rica.
Today’s question:
How many people in Costa Rica live in substandard housing?
Day 6
Greetings from Team Costa Rica. The word for day six in country is perfect!
Let’s meet more of our team members: Jon, Kristi and Kurt.
- Jon Rusten, 26th anniversary of his 39th birthday, ACT. A grandpa with energy and the trendsetter of the team.
- Kristi Mueller, old enough to have a 2-year-old, IT Finance. Becoming more fluent in Spanish every day as she tries to communicate with everyone; loves spending time with the Costa Rican children.
- Kurt Brandenburg, 45, IT Field Sales Systems. Our co-blogger and also voted the dirtiest member of our team.
Today was a perfect day. First of all, we had no rain! Although we spent much of the day in the mud, at least the skies stayed dry. We had an early start and were at the work site by 7 a.m. We thought the rebar was finished yesterday but alas, we found we needed to get in the foundation trenches and finish up the last corners of the rebar to prepare for the cement. Cement mixing was the job of the day. Team members spent many hours mixing, hauling and dumping cement to form the foundation for the house. Gravel, water, black sand, and cement were mixed together to form the final product. Kurt found out that it was NOT a good idea to try to get into the mixer with the cement. The last members of our team spent time cleaning the other Habitat house to prepare it for completion.
Today was also the day of our intercultural activity. The team met with classes of two of the partner family’s children and hosted a baseball game. The children were so excited to learn and play the game, and many caught on very quickly. We were so impressed with the behavior of the kids because they played so well together and cheered wildly for their teammates. The smiles, thank-you’s and hugs will stay with us forever.
The second half of our intercultural activity was learning to cook empanadas. Marlene’s aunt taught all of us how to prepare empanadas and we each ate the creations we made, except for Don Stingle, who decided to eat someone else’s. Auntie beamed with pride as each of her students ate and enjoyed their meal.
There were so many special highlights of the day; here are just a few. Cate and Kristi played Uno with the children. Jane was greeted by one of the worksite coordinators with a kiss on the cheek. Jill, Tiffany and Cate gave piggy-back rides to the kids. We listened to the teacher give us thanks for not only the gifts of the baseball and bats, but for spending quality time with her class. Everyone pitched in to help with the rebar. The work flow of the cement mixing team.
Once again words cannot describe the memories being created, the work getting completed, the lives being changed. Each of us will leave this place a better person than when we came and we will leave this place with one less family living in substandard housing. God truly is great!
The answer to yesterday’s question: Currently 200,000 people in Costa Rica live in substandard housing.
Today’s trivia question:
How many wheelbarrows of cement were hauled today?
Day 7
Greetings from Team Costa Rica! Day seven in the country and the word of the day is production!
Let’s meet three more members of our team - Marcia, Mark and Ron.
- Marcia Pethke, has worked more than ½ her life at Thrivent, Corporate Document Management. Wants to thank her family for allowing her to participate in this trip.
- Mark Theisen, 40+, Safety and Security. Father of two and an exchange student, he’s been keeping everyone safe and healthy on the trip.
- Ron Deonauth, 31, Product Solutions. Aspires to travel the world and has already seen over a quarter of it.
Today was a very full day of major production. We were also blessed with another day of no rain! One group turned the foundation we’ve been working on all week into a house by putting up prefabricated cement walls. It’s amazing how the day started with only rebar and cement and ended with a vision of what the house will look like. The partner family will have a two-bedroom home very soon. The goal was to have all of the walls up by end-of-day and the team delivered!
Because our productivity has been so high, we were able to dig the foundation for a second home. The trenches were a bit more difficult to dig with all of the rain we experienced this week. Nonetheless, many sore muscles and dirty bodies later, all trenches were completed! We continue to impress the work site coordinators with our high rate of production.
We have become a major highlight on the street we are working on. More and more people show up each day to watch the work we are doing and many more kids are showing up to play Uno, each one bringing a bigger smile than the last.
Here’s a little bit of information on Naranjo. Population of the city is approximately 30,000. The city is built on many hills and our climb up to the worksite each day provides our daily requirement of exercise. Naranjo produces many fresh fruits that we get to sample daily.
Tomorrow will be our last day on the build. We’ll be finishing up as much work as we can on the house and also have a few surprises in store for our partner family. Every passing day brings with it so many new experiences that we will all hate to leave behind. It was amazing today when 3:30 rolled around and it was time to clean up; no one wanted to leave until the last bit of work was completed. We are all so grateful that we were chosen to be part of this extremely rewarding experience that we will take with us forever.
Answer to yesterday’s trivia question: 150 wheelbarrows of cement were hauled during yesterday’s foundation pouring.
Today’s question:
Costa Rica is approximately the same size of which U.S. state?
Day 8
Greetings from Team Costa Rica! Day eight in the country and the word for today is emotion.
Let’s meet the three remaining members of our team - Sheila, Steve and Tiffany.
- Sheila Kruse, 41, Bank Customer Service. Enjoys motorcycling and Fahrenheit 420.
- Steve Wendt, 50, Business Risk Management. Enjoys mountain biking and hauling dirt in wheelbarrows.
- Tiffany Lynch, 29, Architecture and Engineering. Is one hard worker with an endless amount of energy.
Today we climbed the hill to our worksite knowing this would be the last time. With heavy feet, sore muscles and hearts filled with emotion we made the trek up the hill. What began so many months ago would soon be coming to an end. Roberto and Marlene had a dream to one day become homeowners. Thrivent Builds and Team Costa Rica had a dream to help. Together, the journey began with many of us unprepared for what lay ahead. The work was very physical and labor-intense. We were cheered as we completed another trench, laid re-bar, mixed cement, hung walls and dug more trenches. We continued to be greeted by the locals passing by and we automatically said, “Buenos dias!” as if we had been here forever. The “friendly” neighborhood dog, who on day one of the build would not stop barking at us, now played among us like a friend. The families who were so shy in the beginning now looked to us for a game of Uno or to lend a helping hand.
Although I had been warned that the going away party on the last day would be the highlight of the trip, I was not prepared. The families of all three of the homes we worked on were present. It was truly a joyous celebration with laughter, many smiles and great food. (We even enjoyed an ice cream cone for dessert!) The children screamed with laughter as they took turns hitting the piñata, each eagerly awaiting the treats inside. (I thought I was going to lose my head a time or two as the big boys took a whack.) Gifts were presented to the partner families; although the gifts seemed small to us, the gratitude was huge. Not a dry eye could be found. Our Thrivent family had grown. Luis and Eliezar, our work site coordinators, had become our brothers in partnership. Marlene, Rosibeth, Ana and all of their families have become our families. The good-byes were difficult and the hugs long lasting - no one wanted to part. And so we left by saying, “Until we see you again, my friends.” The bus trip back to the hotel was the quietest I’ve ever heard; everyone was consumed with the emotion the week had left them. Tomorrow will be a day of reflection and relaxation as we prepare for our trips home.
The answer to yesterday’s question: Costa Rica is approximately the size of New Hampshire.
Today’s question:
What is the size of a typical Habitat house in Costa Rica?
Day 9
Final Day
Greetings from Team Costa Rica! This will be the last blog entry for Team Costa Rica as we are heading home tomorrow.
Today was our last day in Costa Rica and we enjoyed a little rest and relaxation. We started early by saying goodbye to our friends Will and Gaudy, who took very good care of us at the Casa Marta Hotel. Our bus ended up being a little small but Jon’s creative packing skills helped provide room for all of our suitcases and us, too.
Our “rest and relaxation” event for the day was a canopy tour. After being suited with harnesses, we headed off into the rain forest. We trekked through the rainforest on ground or over very wobbly, suspended bridges ending on a platform where we were ‘hooked’ onto the zip line and on our way through the rainforest. We were traveling anywhere from 30 to 100 feet above the ground. The final zip line was deemed ‘big daddy’ and was quite the thrill ride – 750 kilometers long and speeds up to 52 mph. The team’s response to the tour was: awesome, great, good, cool and spectacular!
Ten days ago, 19 people joined together to make a difference. Today, we leave Costa Rica as friends knowing we made an impact. We are all excited to return home to our families, ready and willing to spread the word and be ambassadors of Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity. We highly recommend this experience to everyone!
Team Costa Rica would like to take this opportunity to send thanks to many people.
Thanks to all of our supporters who donated money or took part in our fund raisers.
Thanks to our faithful readers of the blog and for those of you who sent messages to us during our adventure.
Thanks to our families for allowing us the opportunity to participate in our Thrivent Builds Worldwide experience.
Thanks to Jane for being our interpreter and saving us more than one time.
Thanks to Don and Cate, our fearless leaders, who took great care of us.
Thank you to Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity for providing us the opportunity to go on this trip. We will always be grateful for this life-altering experience.
And lastly, thank you to Costa Rica for the memories. We will never forget your beauty. We will never forget your hospitality. We will never forget your smiles.