Viaje a Limon (Trip to Limon)

This past weekend, the entire LASP program traveled to Limon, Costa Rica, a province on the Carribbean Sea! Wow, what a busy weekend. We fit more into a weekend than most people fit into a week of traveling!

Friday:
We left around 10:00 a.m. and made several stops along the way to Limon. First, we stopped at a coffee plantation. I didn't know that coffee beans before they are picked look very much like berries. After the coffee, we made our way to a pineapple plantation. Did anyone else think that pineapples grew on big palm trees just like coconuts? Well, I did! Actually, they grow in a plant that isn't very tall. It was SO hot when we were learning about the pineapples. Next, we went to Restaurant Ellis and had a delicious buffet style lunch. The best part of the lunch were the drinks because we basically had pure pineapple smoothies. SO GOOD! Now that we refueled, we were ready for our next destination, DelMonte Banana Plantation. This was my favorite part of the day. I got to see how the bananas were grown, preserved, and packaged. I learned all about the horrors of pesticides and the monotony that the workers face each and every day. I have tons of pictures from this place and I would love to tell you what else I learned!

We arrived in Limon at about 5:00. We had free time and basically we could explore the city. We formed small groups and ventured out to complete interviews for a paper. We had to interview 3 people in Spanish about poverty and racism in Costa Rica. Trust me when I say that the people in Limon are very interesting! Dinner was very American: a HUGE hamburger, fries, and delicious juice. By this time it was about 9:00 and some of the group returned to the hotel. I stayed out with about five others and we went roller skating. This was unlike any other roller skating experience I have ever had. First of all, I was wearing flip flops and I had to stick my bare feet into gross skates. Second, the "rink" was about a quarter of the size of one that I was used to. Spanish rap music was blaring and we were basically the only people in the place. But, my first judgement were wrong because we had a BLAST. It was so much fun and I must have gone around at least 100 times!

Saturday:
Bright and early on Saturday morning, we headed out to see the Bri Bri people. The Bri Bri make up part of the indigenous population of Costa Rica. Unfortunately, the indigenous population all live on reservations and are quickly losing their culture. We talked with this really nice woman for a long time. She told us all about her culture, religion, and what it is like to have their culture disappear. The Bri Bri people raise iganuas, which can be used for food and making all kinds of stuff.

After the Bri Bri reservation visit, we headed to the beach: Cahuita National Park. This park was BEAUTIFUL! We swam in the Carribbean Sea, ate a delicious lunch, played ultimate frisbee, and saw monkeys! The rainforest is literally right next to the beach. It was great to relax but unfortunately it was cloudy all day and it even rained!

LASP had another really fun activity planned for us for the evening: dancing! We went to a educational center where they had a big room. We had a Carribbean style meal and a band play for us. We danced or attempted to dance for a couple of hours! So much fun!

Sunday:
Sunday morning I went to Catholic mass. It was half in English and half in Spanish. Very interesting to observe how other people praise and worship the same God I do. We left right after the service and got home around 2:00. I watched Miss Congeniality 2 with my family and then I even got to watch the SuperBowl! For part of the game, I attempted to explain the rules to my host family. That is very difficult to do for many reasons, 1) They don't really have football down here. 2) I would have trouble explaining football even in English. 3) How in the world do I say words like "quarterback" and "field goal" in Spanish?

Anyway, this weekend was the best weekend I have had since I have been here in Costa Rica. It was exhausting but I learned so much. I took over 100 pictures and I am going to put a few up. F.Y.I: the pictures don't really capture the beauty of everything!