Costa Rica

I am still reeling from my week long trip to Costa Rica. I saw the beauty of the coast and the forests, but I also saw the slums. Abject poverty in third world conditions. They have an illegal immigrant population of native Nicaraguans that come in. They are outside of the government healthcare system. In some ways it's similar to what happens in the US. They come and work the jobs like picking coffee berries for 2 dollars a baskets.

The clinic we worked at was a few minutes drive from one of the slums in Alajuelita.

Here's the pharmacy where we filled prescriptions the doctor handed through the window and the office where he saw the patients. We would also help by pulling files, taking BP, temp, height, and weight. The doctor would let you sit in on the exams and explain in English what they were there for.

A beautiful young girl outside of the clinic.

We weren't allowed in the slums. It isn't safe apparently since you have to walk in, but they drove us to the edge on the dirt road.

This was outside the soup kitchen that we went to visit.

I did get to see some of the tourist things while we were there. Our first day there we went to a coffee plantation, had a traditional breakfast, went to Poas Volcano, and a waterfall.

On Friday we had a short day at the clinic. We went to the beach and I went ziplining for the first time ever! It was so much fun. By the way, it was incredibly hot when we went ziplining, hence my lovely sheen of sweat.

I truly enjoyed my time there even though I didn't speak enough of the language. Our house mom spoke only Spanish. Thankfully, the other girl we were rooming with for the week spoke more than I did and she helped a lot! I don't know if I'd ever get used to throwing my toilet paper in the trash or living behind fences. However, I did like the fruit. Fruit is always in season. I could get used to that!

FIMRC is doing a great thing in Alajuelita and other places in the world. I am very glad I went. It's eye opening. Would I go back? Yes. I think the next time I do a mission I want to be a nurse or working on my Master's so I can do midwifery work abroad.