Last week I was with a brigade in Sarapiqui in Northeast Costa Rica to work on 4 houses that were in various stages of completion. This group has donated a lot of money to Habitat so they requested to have four houses to work on in different stages so they could see all the activities involved in the construction. I don’t typically work with brigades but I was invited to help out the coordinator in everything construction related and to help with translating. It was pretty fun but at the same time challenging.
To start out with it rained the whole week. We didn’t see the sun at all. The region is typically a hot and humid jungle climate, but not this week. Just in order to walk around on the site we had to put down gravel and rock because it was very muddy. I had a schedule all worked for dry conditions which basically became useless due to the weather. The brigade ended up being 22ppl from Oregon plus we had between 10-15 local family members helping us work each day plus 10-15 Costa Ricans that Habitat had invited from the Central Valley. So each day we had between 40-50ppl working on site who needed jobs. Due to the weather we were limited to what we could do and spent a lot of time filling drainage ditches for septic tanks and shoveling mud. That kept about half of the ppl busy and the other half would come to me in English and Spanish asking what they could do to help. At times it was pretty chaotic but in the end we managed. The brigade had some really good workers and the contractor was really good with them. He helped me out by recognizing that some of the brigade members were capable of doing things that typical volunteers wouldn’t do and that really helped. We had some ppl that were cutting ceiling trim with a table saw and others who were up on the roof helping install the roof sheeting. Despite all the work we got done the week wouldn’t have been complete without some drama.
The first day of construction one of the brigade members had gotten something in their eye and by night it had gotten really red and painful and we had to take her to the hospital. I was freaking out. At first it was thought that she may have something very severe and if we didn’t get her to a major hospital in San José she might lose her vision. So needless to say I thought we were on our way to San José, 2hrs away, pitch dark, not having eaten dinner, wearing athletic shorts, sandals and a t-shirt, and having no money on me at all. Why was I involved? Translate. The brigade coordinator stayed at the hotel with the brigade and our regional coordinator who didn’t speak English drove while I went along to translate. I took a medical Spanish class in college but that was two years ago and we were talking about technical eye stuff. Yikes.
We decided that first we would stop at the regional hospital in Puerto Viejo that was on our way to San José first to see if we could treat it there. Puerto Viejo is not that big of a town and I had been there before and by chance we had to stop by the hospital for something. Well it being dark and ppl stressing in the back seat the last thing I wanted to be doing was asking people on the street where the hospital was. Luckily my memory served me right and we got there on the first try. I remember helping them get checked with the other Habitat employee I was with and I was showing him how my hand wouldn’t stop shaking from the nerves. After that though everything began to calm down little by little. Turns out whatever she had gotten in her eye was gone and it was just inflammation from having rubbed it so much. So the doctor gave her a patch and a prescription for generic eye drops. After all was said and done I was really impressed with the public health system. In the guide books they always say go to a private clinic, but for what we needed this worked out swell. We didn’t have to wait long to see the doctor, she understood a lot of English so it made my job easier and the whole time we were there they never asked us to pay anything or to see any insurance papers!
Only other iffy part of the week was trying to leave Sarapiqui and get back to Alajuela. Since it had been raining the whole week there was a lot of flooding and mudslides going on so we decided to wait it out an extra day and try to come back on Sunday. We really didn’t have too much of a problem, except we crossed a road that had about a foot of water running over it. Maybe not the best idea looking back on it but it was set up so we just followed a line of cars that were crossing all at the same time which was good because the water was dirty enough that at times you couldn’t see where you were on the road. They had ambulances and transit police there too keeping an eye on it all. We lucked out leaving when we did as the water was still rising and I think they closed it shortly after we crossed it. Kind of funny though shortly after we crossed it we had to pull over to let a bicycle race pass us and they were headed right for the flooded part of the road. Only in Costa Rica. The other really cool part about the week was how active the local families were.
The leaders of this brigade had previously donated to help construct a housing community located really close to where we were building and the beneficiary families of that first build really did all they could to show their appreciation. They organized throughout the week to provide us with snacks and serve us lunch at the construction site. One afternoon they organized a tortilla cooking lesson and then we taught them how to make hamburgers. They are all really great with me. They had been asking me about hamburgers for about a month so it was great to watch them savor the long awaited burger as they can’t afford that kind of food. Really cool though how motivated the working poor can be. They already have a plan in place to develop the community, they have put in a proposal for funds to improve the roads in their community and have dreams of building a mini mall in the area that faces the main road. Having visited a few times before and then spending the week with the brigade I feel like a part of their community.
I have a running joke with the other volunteer who lives in her own community up in the mountains. She teaches English and works on other community development projects so basically the whole town knows her by name. I always kid her that I am super jealous of her popularity and wish I had my own town. Living in the city you just don’t build that kind of small town atmosphere. Well I think I found my neighborhood in Sarapiqui. The little kids there saw me and literally latched on to me and wouldn’t let me go. They would call me “Juice” or “Toasty” for Dustin or Dusty. I dn they have trouble with the D in my name and Toasty is a brand name for chips so it is easier for them to remember. Really cool neighborhood though I have to add it now to my list of places to visit every time I come to Costa Rica.
Tomorrow is my birthday, for which I’ll be going to Panamá to celebrate. Yesterday I invited the Alajuela office over to my house for lunch and cake. Pretty low key, I’m not overly excited about 23. Honestly the only good thing that I can think of is that 23 was Michael Jordan’s number. Tomorrow is also Thanksgiving, but that doesn’t exist here, just like Halloween.
To start out with it rained the whole week. We didn’t see the sun at all. The region is typically a hot and humid jungle climate, but not this week. Just in order to walk around on the site we had to put down gravel and rock because it was very muddy. I had a schedule all worked for dry conditions which basically became useless due to the weather. The brigade ended up being 22ppl from Oregon plus we had between 10-15 local family members helping us work each day plus 10-15 Costa Ricans that Habitat had invited from the Central Valley. So each day we had between 40-50ppl working on site who needed jobs. Due to the weather we were limited to what we could do and spent a lot of time filling drainage ditches for septic tanks and shoveling mud. That kept about half of the ppl busy and the other half would come to me in English and Spanish asking what they could do to help. At times it was pretty chaotic but in the end we managed. The brigade had some really good workers and the contractor was really good with them. He helped me out by recognizing that some of the brigade members were capable of doing things that typical volunteers wouldn’t do and that really helped. We had some ppl that were cutting ceiling trim with a table saw and others who were up on the roof helping install the roof sheeting. Despite all the work we got done the week wouldn’t have been complete without some drama.
The first day of construction one of the brigade members had gotten something in their eye and by night it had gotten really red and painful and we had to take her to the hospital. I was freaking out. At first it was thought that she may have something very severe and if we didn’t get her to a major hospital in San José she might lose her vision. So needless to say I thought we were on our way to San José, 2hrs away, pitch dark, not having eaten dinner, wearing athletic shorts, sandals and a t-shirt, and having no money on me at all. Why was I involved? Translate. The brigade coordinator stayed at the hotel with the brigade and our regional coordinator who didn’t speak English drove while I went along to translate. I took a medical Spanish class in college but that was two years ago and we were talking about technical eye stuff. Yikes.
We decided that first we would stop at the regional hospital in Puerto Viejo that was on our way to San José first to see if we could treat it there. Puerto Viejo is not that big of a town and I had been there before and by chance we had to stop by the hospital for something. Well it being dark and ppl stressing in the back seat the last thing I wanted to be doing was asking people on the street where the hospital was. Luckily my memory served me right and we got there on the first try. I remember helping them get checked with the other Habitat employee I was with and I was showing him how my hand wouldn’t stop shaking from the nerves. After that though everything began to calm down little by little. Turns out whatever she had gotten in her eye was gone and it was just inflammation from having rubbed it so much. So the doctor gave her a patch and a prescription for generic eye drops. After all was said and done I was really impressed with the public health system. In the guide books they always say go to a private clinic, but for what we needed this worked out swell. We didn’t have to wait long to see the doctor, she understood a lot of English so it made my job easier and the whole time we were there they never asked us to pay anything or to see any insurance papers!
Only other iffy part of the week was trying to leave Sarapiqui and get back to Alajuela. Since it had been raining the whole week there was a lot of flooding and mudslides going on so we decided to wait it out an extra day and try to come back on Sunday. We really didn’t have too much of a problem, except we crossed a road that had about a foot of water running over it. Maybe not the best idea looking back on it but it was set up so we just followed a line of cars that were crossing all at the same time which was good because the water was dirty enough that at times you couldn’t see where you were on the road. They had ambulances and transit police there too keeping an eye on it all. We lucked out leaving when we did as the water was still rising and I think they closed it shortly after we crossed it. Kind of funny though shortly after we crossed it we had to pull over to let a bicycle race pass us and they were headed right for the flooded part of the road. Only in Costa Rica. The other really cool part about the week was how active the local families were.
The leaders of this brigade had previously donated to help construct a housing community located really close to where we were building and the beneficiary families of that first build really did all they could to show their appreciation. They organized throughout the week to provide us with snacks and serve us lunch at the construction site. One afternoon they organized a tortilla cooking lesson and then we taught them how to make hamburgers. They are all really great with me. They had been asking me about hamburgers for about a month so it was great to watch them savor the long awaited burger as they can’t afford that kind of food. Really cool though how motivated the working poor can be. They already have a plan in place to develop the community, they have put in a proposal for funds to improve the roads in their community and have dreams of building a mini mall in the area that faces the main road. Having visited a few times before and then spending the week with the brigade I feel like a part of their community.
I have a running joke with the other volunteer who lives in her own community up in the mountains. She teaches English and works on other community development projects so basically the whole town knows her by name. I always kid her that I am super jealous of her popularity and wish I had my own town. Living in the city you just don’t build that kind of small town atmosphere. Well I think I found my neighborhood in Sarapiqui. The little kids there saw me and literally latched on to me and wouldn’t let me go. They would call me “Juice” or “Toasty” for Dustin or Dusty. I dn they have trouble with the D in my name and Toasty is a brand name for chips so it is easier for them to remember. Really cool neighborhood though I have to add it now to my list of places to visit every time I come to Costa Rica.
Tomorrow is my birthday, for which I’ll be going to Panamá to celebrate. Yesterday I invited the Alajuela office over to my house for lunch and cake. Pretty low key, I’m not overly excited about 23. Honestly the only good thing that I can think of is that 23 was Michael Jordan’s number. Tomorrow is also Thanksgiving, but that doesn’t exist here, just like Halloween.
