Let the paint wars begin!

GVI Quepos has recently relocated to a new community center.  Upon first glance at the interior of this new location, most people were dismayed.  Everywhere you looked there was junk, hanging electrical wires, broken windows, moldy walls, broken doors and swooping spider webs.  However, the Quepos team is not one to be easily frightened, and quickly rolled up their sleeves to get to work.  The first requested shopping list included mold cleaner, feather dusters, toilet cleaner, roach disinfectant, and floor cleaner.  I dutifully went shopping and brought back everything they asked for - mold cleaner (aka bleach), feather dusters (aka gloves), toilet cleaner (aka bleach), roach disinfectant (aka bleach), and floor cleaner (aka bleach).

After some initial glove confusion (involving putting left hand gloves on to right hands, and when we ran out of even that solution, duct taping a plastic bag around peoples' hands), we bleached the interior of that house to within an inch of its life.

Then came the painting.  Annnnd the painting. And then, more painting.  This is also where we dubbed the community center with its new name - Casa del Sol.  Having chosen a cheery shade of yellow for the interior walls, I was happily humming away in my painting zone until a child came up and asked why I was painting it THAT color, why not blue like the Pacific.  Disgruntled by his skepticism, I quickly replied that we are painting it yellow like the SUN, doesn't he like the sun?  A big smile lit up his face as he nodded, and just like that the house was named Casa del Sol.

Next came an extension of our painting era - the decorative painting.  While all non-artistically inclined teammates stood back in fear, a few determined painters went to work putting the finishing touches of our vision in to place with a uniquely Costa Rican version of the GVI logo as well as a giant measuring stick giraffe and the official house name.

Throughout the transformation, our mantra became "poco a poco," and low and behold, it worked!  After weeks of work, a few painful bleach incidents (it's a good idea to wear goggles while bleaching), and a number of paint slinging wars, Casa del Sol was listo and ready to open!