Day 3

Written by DJ DAUGHTRY , student
Edited by Mr. Moreland

I would like to say that today was tough. We woke at 5:30 to eat at 6:30, so we can get out and work. Because this is Costa Rica's rainy season or winter it rains a lot, which in turn means they have early and long days. So similar to the average Tico or Costa Rican we got up early and went straight to work. It was amazing. I personally love working with my hands and doing hard labor because it just feels good to me, but this was different because it wasn't just mindless work, it was work that really helped the community. We helped finish a cement road.
Some of the reasons this job really benefits the community:

• La Carpio is what is know as a squatter town, mainly Nicaragua immigrants,
  
• Because it being a squatter town the people have no right to their land, and
  
• The only way they get full access to their land is to build roads, sidewalks, indoor pluming and such

So by doing this we are really helping La Carpio. And we have another early start tomorrow!

Another thing I want to talk about before I catch some sleep. is a CCI or Cross Cultural Incident. In class before we talked about how there are general cultural differences between Latin America and North America. One we talked about and I observed was the fact that here it's more about team work than self glory. In the Dos Pinos factory we were told how they are a co-op or a cooperative. In a nutshell this means that they are not like a corporation who has one main leader, rather the Co-op has many and equal share holders. All these share holders cooperatively provide leadership. They are all equal and make decisions as such. And this is a major change from American business philosophy.

All in all I'm having a great time. Today was no rain which I loved, and the food gets better everyday. Today we had new drink made out of fruit that grows in the back yard!