Fiesta at Piedras Blancas

by Debbie Mayer

On Sat., Feb. 20th, & Laura Statesir got to join the families in Piedras Blancas for their annual party. Family & friends all gathered by the school in Piedras Blancas for an all-day affair of soccer, food, music, and great company.

Piedras Blancas is not only where our students conduct homestays, but also the hometown of most of our Costa Rican instructors. See our previous blog entry for a family tree of the 18 children of Doña Flor and Don Hormidas and find out what students learn from their homestays.

Getting to Piedras Blancas is no easy accomplishment (as any of our students can tell you). The fastest way to PB is from Brujo, a tiny village about 2 hours from the city of San Isidro. From Brujo, a 6 km trail leads to Piedras Blancas. The trek took us 4 hours (but Carlos Granados tells us that it takes him under 2.5). Most visitors ride horses for the journey- which will cut off some time.

The Piedras Blancas fiesta isn’t just a party- the goal is to raise money for the school & town. A lot of preparation goes into the party- families must bring in all the supplies and spend days cooking to get ready. Piedras Blancas residents cook all day, and they sell delicious Costa Rican food & drinks at cheap prices. In addition to selling food, there were ongoing raffles for small prizes. Laura won a towel!

The party was another great reminder of how Piedras Blancas really is the heart of Costa Rica Outward Bound. Orlando Zamora tells us that the town raised 500,000 colones, almost $1,000. They will decide as a group how to best use this money.