The windy road in Atenas that took us up

The windy road in Atenas that took us up to Los Altos de Naranjo, as the locals call it, had a breathtaking view of coffee, bananas, sugar cane, and other crops planted on its steep hillsides for miles. We stopped along the way to ask directions from a few folks, and we kept gawking at our surroundings like two betwitched kids.
Eventally we spotted a little building on the left-side of the road that looked a school. No visible signs announcing its presence, but it was the right place.
The director of la Escuela Nueva de los Altos, a bright, competent young woman, beautiful inside and out, had kindly agreed to meet me in the morning. It's the school our company Primal Echo wants to adopt as part of an emerging social development initiative in Costa Rica we call Lily Moon Sustainability Project that we aim to create where our producers, artisans, and the children of a rural community will receive 1% of our net sales toward pragmatic, educational, and inspirational assistance that empowers them become more self-sustaining. Another 1% will be donated to a project in our company's hometown of Fort Collins, CO, in the US called the Conscious Consumer Trust, a community-based social equity think tank that I'll share about in future entry.
Meanwhile, back in Atenas, Luz Angelica, a fitting name indeed for the escuela's director, introduced me to the 20 or so students in her classroom. As soon as I walked in, the young and uniformed kiddo's got up, and, with no prompting from their director who also doubles as a teacher, chimed in unison, "Buenos dias, senora, como estas?" (Good morning m'am, how are you?). I'm sure I was glowing, I felt the warmth on my cheeks, registering high on the thirlled meter. I thanked them and asked how they were doing. They didn't miss a beat and responde right back. Ah the simple pleasures of manners and greetings shared with the innocent!
The next 1.5 hours I spent with Luz Angelica were devoted to the nuts and bolts of learning about each other. I filmed as much as I could, got a tour of their small, tidy school, with hanging colorful art on the backs of old cardbord boxes used as canvasses. I heard a bit on their resource conservation, recycling, and promotion of wild species conservation through parades and was introduced to some of the teachers and the lunch lady's daughter. Speaking of comestibles, this little guy came into the classroom where we were talking during the kids' recess.
I learned the scoop on the school, students, classes, joys, and challenges. We discussed how we might be able to partner with them, what needs and priorities we ought to consider teaming up on. Laptops, instruments, and clothing and school supply assistance for seven of the poorest children swirled amidst our enthused conversation. She spoke highly of the quality of their students, the teachers, and the parents. Of their hope to build new bathrooms that are up to code, converting an area into the enclosed English classroom, and building a more adequate play area/activities hall that could also be used for the bigger school and community functions to help raise needed funds for the school.
I explained to Luz Angelica that we'll need to start with small project assistnace, as our own young company is gearing up to start selling our first batch of our Sole (pronounced So-leh) organic coffee line, coffee culture artisan postcard sets, and chocolate truffles made with organic cocoa from Ticolandia. The director was as kind and understanding. I was elated to hear of her interest in developing this new partnership with Primal Echo.
Before I left, a kiddo walked in with a homemade sweet tortilla that sounded it was from the cook's daughter for Luz Angelica. He came back with another one for me.
By the time I left the school, I felt like I had gained a younger sister, as empassioned about her work with those kids and improving the opportunities for them, as I feel about working with them.