I had a sort of difficult day at the orphanage this morning. There were a few of our kids acting very angry and stand offish. Even Celeste who usually runs to jump into my arms whenever she sees me! This was something that really upset me because I had been there everyday for over a week and I thought they trusted me. But they would just pull away if I tried to sit and talk to them. I expressed my feelings to Emilia, the orphanage director, and she said that this was very normal behavior for these kids. Anything could trigger them; another child at the orphanage or a memory and their only coping mechanism is to become angry and/or violent because most of them grew up in homes with verbal or physical abuse. Although I left volunteering a bit discouraged today, our afternoon adventure totally turned my mood around for the better.
We drove about an hour to go hiking through a rainforest on the longest hiking trail in Costa Rica. The car rides are always have the fun because the views are absolutely breathtaking. We drove through these mountains that were covered in vegetation. Besides the blue sky, all you could see was green for miles. Our hike was a lot of fun and it was actually pretty hot out. We were lucky to have the rain hold off until we were leaving. We hiked to two separate waterfalls/rivers that were lined with these massive rocks that we climbed up on to take pictures. Climbing up and down them was a bit of an obstacle because they were so slippery and by the end of our trip we were covered in mud and moss.
I got to Skype with my family tonight which was so awesome, seeing their faces and hearing their voices…I miss them so much! Buenos noches!
TRUST THE JOURNEY 