What an experience...

The two weeks that i have been volunteering in Costa rica with Maximo Nivel have been a gret experience. The first week that that we were here we did a program called the "holiday experience". During that time we visited daycares, where we were able to paint murals and play with children, threw parties for young children who are less fortunate in the slums, and spent time with elderly people. During the weekend, we had free time to do as we pleased, so i decided to travel to La Fortuna and the Arenal Volcano and check out more of this beautiful country. The second week of my stay I worked on a project at a nearby orphanage caring for aprozimatly 8 children between the ages of 0 though 7 years of age. The children love to play, dance, and simply be held, as they dont generally recieve that love and attention for anyone. While here, i was able to stay with a wonderful host family with a couple of other volunteers as well. My host "mom" is such a wonderful woman, and her children are also part of the Maximo staff. Being that i am vegan, she gladly accomodated and cooked all of my breakfasts and dinners vegan, we were to provide lunchs for our selves. At Maximo Nivel during the evenings, there are days where they host activities such as free cooking classes.. YUM! and also free salsa classes. The activities here were a lot of fun and helped me to meet new friends from around the world, as we were all here for the same reason we were all able to connect in some way. The only thing i wish was different within the programs were the lentgh of time that we worked during the day. My hours with the children were between 9am to 12pm. Although i did love having so much free time to explore the country and be on my own without work, I would have loved to have been able to spend more time with the children or been put at two programs at once, one in the morning and one in the evening to make me feel that i was making even more of an impact in the community. I know that those children cherished the time and the attention that we were able to give to them, although short. Would i do it again.. OF COURSE I WOULD. The staff at Maximo are people, and now friends that i will never forget.