Day 9

Hola from Costa Rica! This isHayes, Casey, Jack, and Mary Kate. Elizabeth, Taylor, Abby, and Anna are acrossthe table from us eating mamones… That is truly all they do nowadays. Jack andHayes have become accustomed to eating cereal with HOT milk everyday forbreakfast and rice with HOT milk for dinner. When we say hot we mean MUYCALIENTE! Hayes wants to let everyone know that lizards do not make goodearrings, but they are very good at piercing and fun to catch. Our homestaysare very irreplaceable and rare. Mary Kate and Casey have a sister (they don'tknow her name so they call her ella), a brother (Alejandro), parents (Madre yPadre), a granddad that doesn't move, another set of grandparents (Abuela yBudda), and a little cousin (Mono o Jefferson – pronounced HEEFF-ersón). Caseyand Mary Kate go to bed at 8 every night and accidentally told Madre that theyonly eat sandwiches for breakfast.

Yesterday, a little boy urinated onMary Kate (and she found out the hard way what “CaCa” means), Hayes got puppy “attacked”.  We visited a self-sustainable farm whereHayes ate every single plant that he was handed. Casey, Hayes, Mary Kate, andJack all ate peppers that are ranked 7.9 on the Scovil scale (the one thatmeasures how hot things are) – normal peppers are ranked around a 4. Hayesdecided that one or two peppers weren’t hot enough for him, so he shoved awhole bushel into his mouth and ate them all WITHOUT WATER! “I’ve never drooledso much in my life, Mom” – Hayes Brown.

Casey and Mary Kate’s nights arevery, VERY noisy.  We have a hard timesleeping for we hear the 3 herds of cows, 9 pigs, 40 something chickens, 2turkeys, and grandpa snoring.  Hayes andJack have Papa firing up the truck, some strange bird in the Yuka field that“koo’s” all night, and the phone ringing nonstop, but that is about all thenoise that they can handle.

We have to go collect mangoteensfor snack, but we will be back later! Also, we will tell you if Hayes’s peeactually is purple from all of the beets that he ate. He wants everyone backhome to keep their fingers crossed and keep his urine in your prayers!!!

We love and miss all of you! Wewill keep our adventures interesting so we have good stories!

P.S. we aren’t allowed to doshout-outs to people that aren’t in our family. Don't think we are forgettingabout you! We still think about you all the time ;) we just aren’t allowed toname you specifically.

ADIOS!!!!

Casey,Jack, Mary Kate, and Hayes

Hello from Costa Rica, this isAnna, Elizabeth and Abby. We are all staying in the same homestay and it isnear Aby and Taylor’s and also the teachers. On Thursday we were introduced toour Costa Rican family, and since then have settled in. We spend most of ourtime with our new 12-year-old homestay brother Joseph, because our 16-year-oldsister, Jacklyn, gets home from school at about 4:30 and immediately startsmaking dinner. We don’t see too much of our mom, Ana, because she is always atwork when we get home, and dad is usually out working on the farm with hisfriends, and their large machetes. We quickly found out that conversations aren'treally an option since they don’t understand anything we say. But On Friday wedid all get to take turns milking a cow named Lola. She was very nice. Ana is acook at the Chilimate eco retreat (where we have been doing our ServiceProject) so needless to say, we are well fed. What do we eat? Shockingly, Riceand Beans. We have other thing of course, chicken, plantains, salad and lotsand lots of juice. That may be the only thing that people here like as much asrice and beans, juice (or fresca in Spanish). Mango fresca, star fruit fresa,watermelon fresca, guava fresca, mandarin fresca, passion fruit fresca, sugarcane fresca, and a suspicious white fresca that we thought had oats in it.Despite the language barrier, the family is very nice and the kids are good atacting out things we don't understand. Every day at 8:15 we meet Javier, Aby,Dr. Tormey, Taylor and Mr. Scott, then proceed to walk the 4 k to Chilimate.Usually, by the time we get to the work site, we can’t distinguish the sweatfrom the rainwater. All we know is that we are wet. The rain here comes down intorrents and on the metal roof, makes a sound comparable to a jet taking off.That is another thing about Costa Rica, everything is wet, and nothing everdries. Our project is to clear out a small section of rainforest that hasalready been cut down. Yesterday we raked/shoveled all of the debris thatcovers the ground into piles, and it will later be carted out in wheelbarrows.There are two other teachers from San Francisco that are working with us. OnSaturday, we also got to stop at small stand where a few local women wereselling crafts and the group picked up a few little things. As long as the raindoesn't wash us away, we should see ya’ll soon. We love you J

Don’t worry Dad I got some Lizano J -Elizabeth

Thanks for the translating app Dad,you have saved us from many awkward meals. –Anna

Don’t worry, I’ve only been chasedby a few monkeys J -Abby