Reflecting On Our Time Spent In El Paraíso

Day 11 – Tuesday,  June 19, 2012

        Today, we said our collective farewell to the school at which we had been working, as well as the town of El Paraíso. In the morning, as we put the finishing details on the playground next to the local school, I felt proud of our work. In conjunction with the people of El Paraíso, many of whom worked with us on the playground, we had accomplished something that would touch the lives of many of the town’s children. When we stamped our handprints on the wall of the school in the same brilliant colors we used to decorate the playground, I felt that I, as well as the rest of the Holton girls, had really made my mark on this community. Later, at the fiesta to which all of our homestay families and their friends were invited and at which we also celebrated Bernardine’s seventeenth birthday, I realized not only what I had given to El Paraíso but also what it had given to me. In this beautiful place, my homestay family and the rest of the people with whom we interacted taught me by example. When I sat chatting with one of my friends’ homestay moms about how the food of Costa Rica was “tan mas rica de la comida de los Estados Unidos” (so much tastier than the food of the United States), I appreciated how much my Spanish improved from the examples of my homestay family.

        When a man who had worked on the playground with us offered me a fresh-cut leaf of aloe for the angry red sunburn on my legs, I realized how much staying in El Paraíso has taught me about simple kindness and hospitality, and how important these virtues really are. Perhaps most importantly, at the end of the fiesta as we were preparing to go home for our last night with our families, I comprehended how much this village has taught me about how to truly enjoy life, live in the moment and make the best of what’s available. In this place, I’ve swum fully clothed in a river, I’ve milked a goat, I’ve learned the art of nonverbal communication, and I’ve enjoyed some of the best fruit in the world. Here, I’ve enjoyed myself more than I have in the last 5 or 6 months combined. As I say my farewell to this town, I can truly say that El Paraíso has taught me how to live the rest of my life: with the people I love beside me, with compassion for others, with thankfulness for what I have, and with enjoyment through every moment of the day.   

- Alexandra