YouthInkwell Publishing

This story really begins at the airport.

Now, at this airport were several very tired and hungry people.  That group of people included Ivy, Cate, Cate’s mom, Jennifer, Matt, Matt’s dad, Maurice, and me.  During what seemed like an interminably long (three hour) wait, I 1) sang showtunes with Matt, 2) received the last phone calls I’d receive in a long time, 3) read sonnets, 4) engaged in a fierce camera war, 5) vegetated, 6) escaped from strange Asian cult members guarding the bathrooms, 7) realized I left my two truffles at YouthInkwell, and waited and vegetated some more at the front of the airport with Ivy, Maurice, and Matt.

I learned that Ivy brought a SAT version of Wuthering Heights, and that Matt was the King of the Blues.  And Cate was standing in line holding a place because Noel was not here.  Which brings me to my point:  why we were waiting in the airport for six hours sans luggage and sans sanity.

We were waiting.  Hip, hip, hooray.

And I made a new friend.  His name is Maurice, and he’s red.  But I don’t think he’s going to last this trip, because his fur is already coming out in little patches of fluff.  And all he’s doing is sitting there.

Anyway, to cut to the chase, Noel and his mumsy Felicia arrived and we decided as a group that we were hungry.  And then began the search for food.

It was midnight, and not a single restaurant in this airport was open.

And SO!  Jennifer, Ivy, and I embarked on a most perilous journey downstairs, across the street and down a very, very, very long and dark path towards one lone Mc Donald’s–a McDonald’s located oh-so-conveniently in the second story of the International Airport.

On the way, we managed to ransack a vending machine and bought nine bags of chips.  And apparently, while we were trekking through the streets, Felicia’s fiancée drove back and bought everyone In-and-Out.  Joyous.

HOWEVER, our journey was NOT in vain, for I had obtained a hideously ugly little Shrek toy.

But, alas, as we left, I could not find it/her/him.  And dearest Jennifer informed me that she had dropped it/her/him into the trashcan.  WHY!?  Horrified, I rushed to the trashcan and immediately dug through it, searching for it.  Unfortunately, I had to give up, and join the rest of our happy, happy crew in the airplane.

All along… it was in my backpack.  YAYYY.

After several long and tiring airplane rides that were not very interesting, we arrived in
Costa Rica! 

So, as we arrived, I felt the urgent need to shower and clean up, but instead we went to the mall and had lunch and bonded with these deliciously charming Young Rotaracts.  Basically, we spent thirty minutes attempting to order our meals while Noel, with meal and all, smugly sat in a table all by himself.

After that, I was very, very tired and everything went by in a fuzzy blur.

We visited two primary schools.

The first school held an assembly.  The children performed a Frog dance, and Smile dance, and a song that Noel translated as “Wearing Things Well.”  It was all very cute despite that I didn’t understand a single word anybody was singing.  We also visited their library, which was about the size of my bathroom.  My bathroom is not particularly large.

The second school had only three children.  A little sixth grader read a speech to us.  He looked terrified. 

And after that, I had nap time in our hotel room.  Or I attempted to have nap time.  The moment Noel, Cate, and Matt entered the room, it turned into a battle zone.  We ordered an extremely gross cheese platter.  We ate about half of it, and Noel threw the remaining pieces around the room and rubbed a piece into my face.  I regret to inform you that I did not wash my face until the next morning.

At eight (not sure if this is the right time), we went off to dinner and dancing with Maurice and the Rotary. 

And then…lights out.

Tonight we promise to post pictures… we’re running to catch a bus now!!!! Thanks, Gig, for setting this website up for us!!!!!!!!

The first day ended with Latin dancing and candy throwing in my bed. In addition to the fun, there are a few memorable events that that will be engraved in my head for a very very long time.

The crew arrived around 12 o’clock. Some of the San Jose Roteracts took the five of us to the mall across the street where we experienced authentic Costa Rican food. By 2:30, we were on the bus off to our first book distribution. The kids from the first school held our hands and took us to their “auditorium,” which is simply cement floor with a tin roof, so crude and tattered. Most of the school was already there, sitting in the chairs they brought from their own classrooms. The kids waved to us and, from their faces, were genuinely happy to see us. After all the Rotarians settled in, the kids performed for us. The second dance, which is a dance of smiley faces was led by this young and extraordinary girl. She stood in the front and led a group of about 20 students. When she danced and sang, she constantly looked at the kids behind her. When some of the kids were a little off the beat, she would subtly slow down a little bit until most catch up with her rhythm. Toward the end of the performance, the CD for the song was a little scratched and the music skipped. To my surprise, the girl didn’t not panic at all! She first calmed the group down with a hand gesture and then kept on dancing. I was simply amazed by her innate leadership skills and maturity. For a second grader, whom we considered to be underprivileged, she had a sense of confidence and joy that was apparent in her lovely smile.  Her happiness was infectious, and seeing her happy made me happy too. I believe one day, with the necessary resources and a good education, she will go very far in life, as a leader who will lead thousands.

     Hey everyone, it’s Matt De La Peza!  It’s only the end of day two and yet so much has already happened.  There have been good times and not so good times, but I always just try to look forward to what will happen tomorrow.  I’ll get the “lows” of today out of the way first.  The plane trips were boring, uncomfortable, and smelled a little weird.  During lunch, Noel, Shaina, Ivy, Cate and I all spent an hour with some late-20s/ early 30s Rotoracts. Too big an age gap.  After the flights, everyone was smelly, dirty, and tired; so after the flights we were all a little depressed by the fact that we had no time to clean up until about 5:30 P.M.  Although visiting the public schools was incredible, we were all barely able to stay awake.  And just when I thought that the night would end with some peaceful blogging, I was bombarded by a barrage of gumdrops from Noel and Cate.  But the day still had lots of good points.

    NOW FOR THE GOOD STUFF!!!! We actually arrived in Costa Rica today so that was an incredible
high point.  I also got to take a wonderful bath after sitting in an airport/airplane for more than 24 hours.  At the mall, I had a delicious cooked fish at “Rustico’s” Costa Rican restaurant.  Our party also delivered our books to two public schools; the smiles on the children’s faces were priceless!  They were so respectful and even prepared songs and speeches for us.  It was a true honor.  It definitely did upset me though to see the conditions of their schools.  I ended the day with a wonderful time of Latin dancing after a welcome dinner and a calm, relaxing time of blogging, besides the gum drops.

Hi Papa, Megan, Gabby, Eileen, Ivy, and Nana and Grandpa! This is Cate!!! Yay!! Time flies when your having fun! Its already the end of the second day, yet everyone has had so much happen to them! Apart from the hour and a half wait at the check-in desk *cough* (noel) *cough* BUT then when we finally got out of there, every restaurant (including Starbucks) was closed. Bummer. So Mrs. Mollinedo’s friend got us In-n-Out at one in the morning! Matthew and Shaina kept singing random songs from Rent, while Matthew danced to his blues music on his CD player. When we finally got on the plane, Noel fell straight asleep listening to his iPod against the window (wow…) and I fell asleep on the airplane tray. Not the best pillow. Of course, Noel was also the last to wake up, which made him lucky, because he got to skip breakfast. The two choices were a cheese omelet and a soggy cookie, AKA a waffle. Everyone but Mom got the cookie. After hearing all the complaints, I skipped breakfast. We stopped in
San Salvador to switch planes, a very uneventful hour. Luckily, it was only an hour flight to
San Jose. There, once we landed and reclaimed our baggage, we (or rather Ms. Sarja) were given complementary coffee with chocolate-covered coffee beans. The most delicious things ever!! I think that’s why Noel had so much energy (he had ten of them!)

Once we got there, it was raining and we all squished into a tiny bus with 25 other people on the bus including us nine. We all stopped in front of a gorgeous hotel with yellow arches and beautiful flowers everywhere you turned. Once we had all our stuff in our room, we walked across the street to the mall (how convenient!) and had great Costa Rican foods from a small restaurant called “Rustico’s” where Shaina, Ivy and I split a plate of zucchini, rice and chicken, and grilled bananas. The bananas tasted like bananas and churros. While eating, we attempted to bond with 20-30 year old “Rotoracts”. One word, a FAILURE!!! Apart from our meal, they had many more interesting things. Matthew had a plain plate of a HUGE fish and runny mashed potatoes. Though it looked like applesauce, (yellow and runny), they were REALLY good. Ivy, Shaina and I each got delicious drinks called “Frutas”, a pink drink with NO artificial sugar added! Hurrah! Once we got back to the hotel, we loaded onto the same bus, this time with books. At the first school, we each had our own 4^th grade “tour guides” who led us to a huge outdoor auditorium, where they performed all sorts of songs from “Little Frogs” to “Smile”. They all looked so nervous, like they knew they had to impress us. Later I wondered if since we came from
America, because of the poor conditions of the families and schools, they felt like if they could entertain us, that we might help them. This really made me feel both honored and guilty, that we had such high standards and living conditions that those less-privileged had to entertain us for our help. The second school was even more depressing and yet amazing. We entered a small classroom where the 34 of us crowded together to see a 6^th grader giving a speech in Spanish. What was so cool is that, I could really relate to that boy, being the same age. I don’t have trouble giving speeches, but giving speeches to people that don’t even speak the same language as me would definitely make me nervous.

Once we got back, we had 4 hours to clean up before our first formal “Welcoming Dinner”. I took a quick shower and came over to Ivy’s room, where the three of us (including Shaina) were randomly talking about the students with Ms. Sarja. We were later joined by Matthew and Noel, who happened to be crazy enough to go swimming in the rain. There we ordered a cheese platter, with three different disgusting cheeses that Noel ended up hiding in Ivy’s bed. Lucky for her we found it. We finally went to dinner, and all of us were so totally conked out we couldn’t hold our heads up (mainly Shaina and I). But finally after many speeches in both Spanish and English, we got up for a delicious American beef and vegetable dinner. After our dessert, a Spanish band played a couple of songs. We all danced the Macarena and then completely messed up the tango. Most of the time I danced with Shaina, Ivy, and Maurice, our red furry bear-mascot with a YouthInkwell tee-shirt. Noel and I took turns with him.

After the dance, we all gathered in Ivy/Shaina/Jen’s room for some quiet blogging, immediately interrupted by gumdrop wars. Noel, Matthew and I were hurling gumdrops at each other for an hour, at which point Noel threw me on the bed a Matthew created a “shield” using Ivy’s sheets. More (or rather less) tomorrow.

Noel:

            Today was perhaps the longest day of my life. On Wednesday morning I woke up at 6 am and went to school; little did I know that this was the beginning of a trek that would finish me at another end of the world.

            After school my mom and I went home and she immediately began to pile clothes into her suitcase while I daydreamed of skylining the canopies. I was swinging through the jungle like Tarzan when suddenly it was time to go. The trip was upon us.

            Finally we were allowed to board the plane and all of us sighed sighs of relief but soon our reactions changed when we found ourselves cramped and in uncomfortable positions, trying to find sleep. Oh well, as long as we get there I am satisfied.

            You could immediately feel the difference in the humidity as you stepped outside the airport. It was actually rather nice and I liked it. Our plan for today was to go to two schools where we would donate children’s books. Both schools welcomed us with warm welcomes and it made you feel wonderful inside that you could help these kids with your contributions. The first school was amazing because they performed three small shows for us all done by the children and the second school provided us with international snacks after our small ceremony.

            The time is night, the time for partying… with the Rotary! What started out as a monotonous speech ceremony ended as a ball of dancing with everyone tangled in it.   

Holy Cat’s Pajamas!  I cannot believe we are here!!!!!!!!!!!

 This is Jennifer writing right now.  I wanted to let everyone know that we have arrived safe and sound. It is funny how we thought we were arriving early to LAX when we got there at 9:25 p.m. for a 2:20 a.m. flight.  But, I was glad to have the extra time. (If we do ever make that trip to Ethiopia like we’ve been talking about, I’m making everyone come 12 hours early!) Anyway, we had time to raid a few vending machines and eventually do a 1 a.m. stop at McDonald’s for burgers.

(And for those of you who are gasping at the hypocracy of YouthInkwell’s very own “Fast-Food Nation devotee” actually eating fast food, I would like to mention that there are times when compromises must be made. And nights when we haven’t eaten lunch or dinner and arrive at the airport to find every other food option closed… well, let’s just say, we must be flexible with our beliefs.  

Despite the volcano of energy that our group had at the beginning of our evening of bonding at the airport, by 2 a.m. we were all pretty wiped. It was amusing when we finally boarded. Matthew’s dad, Efrain, and I had the window and aisle in the emergency row. When the flight attendant came around and asked if Shaina was old enough to be in the emergency row, I had a devil of a time convincing her that the teddybear-hugging bundle sandwiched next to me was actually 17. She clearly didn’t appreciate the YouthInkwell bear and his spiffy new YouthInkwell t-shirt (printing done only yesterday by Embroidme in Temple City).

For those of you who are wondering, the bear’s name is Maurice, and you can expect him to be starring in more than a few photos along this trip.

I am pleased to say that our five YouthInkwell kids have already been invited out to lunch with some local kids — and the adults were not invited.  Not to worry. They kids are in the hands of some fantastic, local Roteract kids (young Rotarians for those of you who are wondering). Kim, Efrain, Felicia and I are taking a few moments to catch our breath.  We are already overwhelmed by the kindness people have shown. The Rotary folks are so welcoming to our group, and there was a wonderful woman from a coffee company handing out chocolate-covered coffee beans the moment stepped off the plane.  Pure heaven! 

We have been taking pictures feverishly and will post them this evening when we are done for the day.  For now, I am going to enjoy the torrential rumble of rain on the roof of the hotel… oh boy… the kids are really going to get wet.  (something tells me they’ll be smiling nevertheless.) YouthInkwell kids are pretty cool that way.

 Please, all of you, know how grateful we are for all the support you’ve given us in making this trip possible.  We all feel very, very fortunate to have this opportunity to be sharing our work and our hopes for young writers everywhere.  This afternoon we’ll be making our first book drop.  I simply can’t wait.  Until later… 

If you are interested in contacting the YouthInkwell team during their stay in Costa Rica, the group will be staying at:

Hotel Ramada Plaza Herradura

Autopista General Cañas.

San Antonio de Belén crossing.

In front of Mall Cariari.

Heredia, Costa Rica.

Tel: (506) 209-9800

Fax: (506) 239-0210

email: info@youthinkwell.org

Check back for more uploads!  See our YouthInkwell Mascot tour the country!

YouthInkwell Publishing is an organization that inspires leadership and promotes education about our global water crisis as it helps kids write and illustrate their own books to raise money for the building of water wells. Pretty cool, eh?