2019 DCI Costa Rica Service Adventure

July 29 - Last Day at the Cemetery - Team 2

I was woken up by my roommates watching movies and a rooster around 6:50, I quickly got ready for the rest of my day because we had to eat breakfast at 7 and leave the house at 7:30. I was a little more excited today because it was the last day of working at the cemetery so I pulled through and we completed our work, then it was time to get ready for the going away party. As soon as we got there it was very festive and fun before it even started.  We started with heartfelt speeches from us to our host families, then onto games.

Erin Gadson

July 29 - Fiesta de Despedida - Team 2

Arturo Contreras Jr.

On the 30th of July it was the last day that the whole group was going to be in San Herrardo. The last day of work and the last time we would see our host family. Everyone had a good time and they were really making the best of it. Everyone really tried to have a good morning and make one really fun day. It was making people sad that they would have to leave after they have made a good connection with their host family.

For the work everyone was split into groups again. People who wanted to do construction really couldn’t because the adults wanted everyone to get a chance to do everything. People really enjoyed hitting the wall with the hammer and the day before Dante broke the hammer handle so the handle was wood that day, but that didn’t stop people from hitting the little wall for the cement blocks, the mix for concrete for the ramp can be accomplished. Another group was getting dirt in the wheel barrel from the dirt pile that we had and putting it on the stairs that lead up to the cemetery. The reason for that was just for the ramp and now it will be way easier to make the ramp. Another group (the group that I was in) had to remove all the dirt or the grass growing on the tombs. To describe it better we had to make holes surrounding the tomb so that the grass wouldn’t be all up in the tomb. Finally the last group was finishing painting the roof of the little walk way and the columns too. The bathroom walls were being painted too. Everyone worked as hard as they could to get the work done and it turned out well when we left.

At the end of the day it was time for the farewell party. It was almost 6:30 and everyone was arriving dresses up and looking good. When it was time for the party everyone sat with they host parents family and just started talking and connecting even more before we had to leave. Mau and Ame started talking about what we were doing at the cemetery. Right before Mau and Ame went up to talk to Mau told everyone that he was going to call the pairs of people to go up and say a few words of how grateful you are, and not gonna lie me and Maxi were the best speeches. Once all the speeches were done it was time to eat. The food was good! It was rice with some chicken in it and beans with some chips. After that it was time for the cake and the games. Games involved trying to put the dot on the eye, and at the end it was all tied up and Maxi went full on outside and put the dot on the floor of the outside. After that it was time for the piñata and then it was sack races. Me and Maxi were partners and I went super fast like faster then light. Then it was time for everyone to go and everyone took pictures with their families so they can be remembered forever. The end.

July 31 - Learning to Surf - Team 1

Written by Trinity Taylor

So the day was off to a chilly start. We woke up and made sure we had all of our stuff in our suitcases and day packs, had our breakfast, brushed our teeth and loaded our bags into our host family’s cars. After that, we headed down to “la pulpería” where our bus was. When we got there we said our thank yous and good byes along with huge hugs of appreciation. We also took some pictures and bought some coffee from Sige. Once all the luggage was tied on the top of the bus, we said our final goodbyes and loaded the bus and we were off to Playa Uvita. As we took our hour and thirty minute bus ride we finally arrived to the hotel with beautiful rooms. After we settled into our room, we rested for approximately an hour and forty five minutes. Then we walked to lunch about a block and a half from the hotel. I ate some delicious chicken tenders and fries but we had the option of a burger, nachos, quesadillas or chicken tenders. After we finished our humungous lunches we went back to hotel and had precisely 10 minutes to get ready for our surfing lessons. From there we walked about 7 minutes to the beach from the hotel. We learned the basic rules and tips about surfing and headed out to the water. I was able to get up once but Alesandro and Hector were the champions. After the lesson we hung out at the beach jumping and diving through the salt water waves. When we got tired of the beach we all decided to walk back to the hotel and swim in the fresh water pools where the boys, Galfo and Jordan, had jumping contests in the cold pool. After the pool, some of us walked to the store for some snacks before dinner. Around 6:30pm here in Costa Rica we were called down for dinner where we had pizza. During dinner the staff gave acknowledgements for every student here and we had some reflection time to write a letter to our future selves that will be sent back to us in three years. Then some of us went back to our room where we chilled and played music until curfew at 9:00pm. When the clock struck 9pm our doors were shut to get ready for the next day.

July 28 - Sunday and Soccer - Team 2

Written by EJ and Maya

We got the chance to rest Sunday morning and sleep in. Around eight in the morning we sat down for breakfast as our host parents went to church. Since we wouldn’t be working, we had cereal, fruit, and coffee or tea instead of our usual “pinto”. As the day progressed we helped our family with cleaning around the house, making us really feel part of the family. We soon smelled our host mom cooking up some fish and rice and beans. It was no surprise that it tasted as good as it smelled! The arrival of the afternoon was met with a peaceful rain storm. I, Maya, took advantage of the mood and dove into a book I brought. Despite the weather, we still met for our group soccer game at la plaza, although we had to move inside. Unfortunately, Team 1 wasn’t able to join us due to the rain. We all had fun either playing soccer or talking and cheering on each others. The cheers where led by yours truly, EJ Sloop, and as expected, the team was pumped yet a little confused. The game ended close, 12-11. Even though the game was over, some chose to stay at la plaza for a little longer and get snacks, talk, and play more soccer. We headed back home in time to help with dinner and were met with the smiling faces of our host parents. After a delicious dinner we played a game of Uno with our host nephew Pablo. It lasted so long we had to reshuffle four times! We turned in for bed around eight so we’d be ready for the hard day of work that would follow.

July 27 - All in a Days Work - Team 2

Written by Nina Gwynn and Frida Merino

It was the second morning in our homestays . We were greeted by our host families followed by getting ready and eating breakfast. After eating, some of us walked to meet the rest of the group at the bridge to continue the walk to our work. From there we all walked to the cemetery where we began the second day of work. Our day of work started at 8 am. Me, Frida Merino, and Avalos were in charge of construction. Nina, Gwynn, and many others painted and cleaned tombs. At 8:30 we started to work with cement, mixing and learning the measurements of it all. Two hours later we had a break where we ate some snacks and drank water, then we all went back to work cleaning tombs, painting, and others things in construction as our work of the day. While working, Mau and Ame passed out pineapple, watermelon and chocolate to the workers. At 12 it was time for a lunch break. The car came with all our food and we ate lunch. We had time left so during our lunch break most of us went for a walk. We went down the hill to a chocolate farm and convenient store in hopes of finding a good snack. At 1 we all came back and we started working again. After 2 long hours it was 3PM and we walked back to our homestays, while some of us went to the plaza. The people that went to the plaza played soccer, bought snacks, and hung out with friends, while the others in the group returned to their homestays. By 6 everyone was home ready to eat dinner with their host families. Some of us went to sleep early, others stayed up late with their host families or on there own. By the end of the day it was time for bed, so we where ready to do it all over again the next day.

July 27 and 28 - Herradura - Team 1

Written by Jordan Sparrow – Program Leader

Over the past few days, we have really gotten to know the community of Herradura well. Although some of us were nervous about what to expect at first, we now feel like this is our second home. The majority of our time has been spent working on our service project – we are working to pave two sections of road near the elementary school and the park. The community has wanted to pave this section of the road for a while now, but has not had the budget to do so. The work has been tough, but we have relied on teamwork to get the job done. We are mixing cement, hauling wheelbarrows of material and paving the road until it’s nice and smooth – and trying to keep the stray dogs away from leaving their paw prints in the fresh cement. Each day we divide into smaller teams to work together with new people.

July 26 - Starting Service - Team 2

Written by Kennedy and CiAhna

This was the first morning we were awoken in our homestay by the smell of breakfast and the noise of the rooster. The night before a couple of us planned a walk up a trail. We met up and walked up to the trail which happened to be in our friends backyard. We all returned to our homestay to eat our breakfast, it was a good and refreshing start to our day. We all met up at a bridge that was close by to all of our homestays around 8:20. It was around a 10-15 minute walk down twisting and turning streets to reach the graveyard. There we were split into small groups and were given our assignments. Some of us picked weeds and others of us cleaned the graves. Both strength testing and tiring. Three hours into our work it started raining and we all rushed into shelter. In this time we sat and ate little snacks while the rain cleared up then continued our work. Some of us switched jobs, and a couple minutes after the leaders brought around pineapple and watermelon for us to eat. It was a good start to our service.

July 26 - Working Hard - Team 1

Written by Lily Grace Morton

We arrived at our host families the night before. It was a little awkward at first but we grew into a great friendship the next morning when we started our work learning how to make concrete and eventually creating a road. We pushed and pulled through the day making something little by little. At lunch we all got delicious meals from all our families. The little dogs that roam around begging for food are adorable. We worked some more getting about 10 feet of road done. Surprisingly it was very fun! We used different materials such as rock and sand to create the mixture. After a long day we went and visited our families. We watched movies that were originally in English but were translated to Spanish, and it was pretty interesting seeing how they change the wording around. We ate dinner at about 7:30 and it was delicious. We were able to take hot showers( it felt sooo good) after a long day of work. Afterwards, we settled down to bed it got a little chilly but most of us slept like “babies ”.

July 25 - Scavenger Hunt - Team 1

July 23 and 24 - Pura Suerte - Team 1

July 25 - Meeting our Host Families - Team 2

Written by Gabriela Sanchez and Elena Leifert

Another day of waking up early, this time we had to pack all of our stuff up to move to another place. Before leaving to breakfast we wanted to take another look at the view. Now heading to the lobby and meeting at 8:30 we were going to breakfast. For breakfast we went to Nido del Alcon we had gallo pinto, eggs, plátanos and fruit. Spending the last day by the beach and enjoying the last day before we separate when we go to the host family. After breakfast we got on the bus for about an hour before we took a stop. Wanting to get our family souvenirs, we decided to stop at some pop up souvenir shops. Everyone came back with souvenirs and gifts. Now leaving Dominical we started driving to our next destination, lunch. In the bus we did many things sleeping, singing throwbacks, talking, reading and enjoying the view. For lunch we went to Ricar2’s which we had either rice, chicken, salad, fries & rice and beans. The other options were Casados or pasta. For a fun surprise Team 1 stopped off to say a friendly hello. We got to say our hellos and talk a little before they had to leave again. After lunch we hopped back on the bus, everyone being full from the delicious food we ate. Now heading to a new destination which were markets in a new town, San Isidro. There were a lot more people then the other towns we’ve been to. There were many shops and markets to shop at. We started to look around and walked through the shops while Amelia lead us. Eagerly wanting snacks, we all went around a super market to grab snacks.

It was about 3:00 in the afternoon and we were in San Isidro del General. We had just finished eating Pops which is a typical ice cream shop in Costa Rica.  While we were enjoying our ice cream we were waiting for the Country Director of Walking Tree so she could explain how we were going to meet our families.  Once she got to Pops we were boarding the bus and going to San Gerardo to meet our families. We arrived in San Gerardo in the sports complex.  We were all very anxious yet excited to meet our families. We all sat down in a circle and the families were standing behind us as Mauricio and Amelia where standing and calling us so we could meet our families.  As we met our families we were told to either give them a hug, kiss on their cheek or put your hand out so they knew that we weren’t comfortable giving hugs.  After we met our families we gathered our things and either got into cars or walked to our new homes.  Once we arrived to the homes, we were showed where we were going to be staying.  We put all our things in the rooms and as we were getting comfortable they offered us food but we told them that we were okay and that we could wait for dinner.  As we waited for dinner we were trying to get to know our families.  We asked questions and they asked questions.  They showed us around their house and what they did for fun.  It was about 4:00 in the afternoon and then we rest for 25min because we had already done so much in the morning.  They called us for dinner and then we had rice and beans, chicken, fries, pico de gallo and some fresh pineapple juice. After dinner we spent time with our family.  Then we helped them with bettering their english.  It was already late, about 7:45 in the night and then we were all getting ready to go to bed.  Once we were all ready to go to bed we said goodnight to everyone and the lights went out and we feel asleep.

July 24 - At the Beach - Team 2

Written by Dante

Costa Rica has been a great experience so far. Day 2 was really fun. First we went to the beach. While we were at the beach we learned how to surf. Some people already knew how and some people didn’t. It was my first time. It was really fun. After the beach we went to the to lunch. We had pizza. After that we ate we went back to the beach to do “trash pickup.” After that we went back to hotel to just chill and relax until 7:00 for dinner. For dinner we had mini sandwiches. After that we went back to the hotel to sleep and get ready for the next morning.

July 24 - Beach and a Blackout - Team 2

Written by Nina Mitchell and Maximiliano Silva 

We all woke up at different times between 6 and 7:30am. We had spent our first night in the new hotel. We pack a backpack and got dressed for the day, making sure to bring a lot of water because we would be outside all day.

We met at the front of the hotel for breakfast around 8:00 and walked to the hotel. We had rice, beans, fried plantains, eggs and fruit. After breakfast we walked from the restaurant to the beach/ national park.

At the beach, we had a surfing lesson. They first went over the regulations and tips on the sand and split us into groups that each had an instructor. After they helped us a few times, we were able to catch a few on our own. The lesson lasted about an hour or so. After the lesson, we had time to ourselves on the beach where we played in the sand, in the waves or just talking.

Around 12:00pm, we got on the bus to get lunch. We rode about ten minutes to the restaurant and had pizza. A beautiful tabby cat was there. We enjoyed our lunch and played with the cat.

When we got back to the beach, we were given instructions to pick up trash. We had an hour to pick up as much as we could. We made it into a competition so the winning team would get a whole package of Chiky’s.

When we finished picking up trash, we walked further down the beach towards the end. Most of the group decided to stop halfway through. Instead of continuing to walk, we decided to stop with them. We were given a prompt to think about. We had ten minutes to think about why we are proud of ourselves on the trip. After sharing, we walked back to the hotel.

After arriving to the hotel we were informed that we had free time until 7:00. During our 2-3 hours of free time some showered, relaxed, or enjoyed the refreshing pool. Some students amongst myself (Maxi), were allowed to visit the local corner store for a snack or a drink. The students that went got to see Costa Rican snacks and drink like the Fresca.

As time went on we prepared ourselves for dinner. As we all met in front of the hotel to walk to the restaurant we wondered what was for dinner. Thankfully, that night we had some delicious sandwiches. The sandwiches included steak, chicken, BLT, and a mozzarella sandwich. To our liking we also had fries to serve ourselves with our sandwiches. After we all chowed down our meals we headed back to the hotel for a nice night of sleep.

When we got back to our hotels we we had a meeting about meeting our host families. The meeting included standards, behavior, rules and etc…, but the part of the meeting everyone was excited about was hearing the name of our host family and the fun fact. After hearing what host family we were paired with we headed to sleep.

At the time when most people were brushing there teeth, getting ready for sleep, or even watching a movie on the hotel tv’s something scary happened. It was a stormy night with lots of thunder and out of nowhere everything went black for everyone. As the students wonders what had happened most of our chaperones had gone out of there hotels to check themselves. It was a blackout, we had lost power and most importantly the AC. As it got hotter and hotter most people dozed off to sleep and woke up in the morning to the power back on.

July 23 - Waking Up in Costa Rica - Team 2

Written by Weslee James

As everyone woke up to the humid weather of the new environment that Costa Arica had to offer, we all made our way to eat a traditional Costa Rican breakfast. We all noticed and questioned the choice of rice and beans included in the breakfast. However, overall we enjoyed the breakfast. 

After packing all of our unorganized luggage we rushed to the bus and both groups split up. We got on our cozy blue tour bus and prepared ourselves for the four hour ride ahead of us. 

During our drive, we came across breathtaking tropical sights. We saw trees that we had never seen before and we watched the ocean water push the sand on the beach as we drove by sight after sight. After about an hour everyone on the bus fell asleep except for the driver, our tour guides, and a few students

About two hours into the ride the tour guides woke us up in order to stop us at a decent sized stone bridge that went over a river. We made our way across the bridge as we noticed some crocodiles relaxing on the side of the lake. Some of the crocodiles stayed still and some swam and disappeared into the dirty brown colored water. We made our way back to the bus as cars and trucks flew over the bridge.

Soon after we arrived at the Manuel Antonio National Park of Costa Rica. We journeyed through the mangrove forest as we noticed animals such as crabs, deer, and bats. We then arrived at a the beach where a few white faced monkeys were entertaining the other tourists. Some of them had babies on their backs and some were swinging around on the wires and trees.

We walked over to the beach and admired the clear water and the dirty yellow color of the beach. We then sprinted into and relaxed inside the perfectly chilled water. We also were able to see many many iguanas roaming in their natural habitat. We then made are way back to the bus. We all got seated as we journeyed on to the new hotel.

We soon arrived at our new hotel. We separated our groups and unpacked our luggage when we got to our rooms. Some of us got into the pool to cool off because of the humid weather and others relaxed inside of their rooms. 

We then walked to the restaurant that was about a 2 minute walk from the hotel. We were served with a buffet of the traditional Costa Rican food called “Casado”. After about 20 minutes all the food vanished. 

We walked back to the hotel, jumped in our beds, talked for a little bit, and prepared for the next few days of adventure ahead of us.

July 22 - Dancing in the Heat - Team 2

Written by Jeremiah Ince & Zion F

It is 4:00 am and a group of tired 8th graders are gathered at the Ronald Reagan National Airport. We are all excited and anxious for this flight to Costa Rica. A few of us have never been on a plane before. Others have but haven’t travelled out of the country. Nonetheless, we all are going out of the country to be able to have fun and be immersed in the amazing culture of Costa Rica. 

We checked in to our flight that was at 6:45. We got on our first flight to Fort Lauderdale, FL. Once we arrived we had an hour and 10 minute layover. We then boarded the plane to San José, Costa Rica. We finally land in Costa Rica and the first thing we feel is the heat. One of the kids on the trip named Dante states that, “The heat was so hot that it blew me away.” Which is not a lie. It felt as hot as a bowl of soup fresh out of the microwave. All of us that had jackets on had to take them off and some were sweating. However, we made it safely to Costa Rica.

When we get out of the airport we see the Walking Tree members that are guiding us. Their names are Mauricio and Amelia. They take us to this wonderful restaurant in San José that has an exquisite casado which consisted of rice, beans, plantains, tortilla, and chicken. Afterwards, we all walked to the ice cream store but those of us who weren’t hungry did not get any. 

Now on to the best part of our first day.  We all were able to go and get dancing lessons. They taught us the salsa, meringue, and bachata. All of them were simple dances but take a little bit of skill to be able to be perfect. Since it was hot in the dance studio, it got a little tiring but it was still a really fun time. 

Finally, after the dances we all get to the hotel we were staying in that night. As aforementioned it was hot so we all went to the pool and had a really fun time before dinner. Those who were in the pool were playing a game while those were were not in the pool are getting splashed with water. Once we got out we felt the post-pool effects of tiredness and dry skin. But we still all took a shower and got ready to go to dinner. For dinner we ate another form of casado with a drink of “soursop” We then walked back to our hotel and went to sleep. It was still delicious and was a great ending to our night. 

First Day in Costa Rica!

Hello family and friends! The DC international group has arrived to Costa Rica! After a fairly easy journey to San Jose, the group made our way to dance lessons to break the ice and have some fun right away. We learned how to dance merengue, bachata and salsa, and although some of us were a bit nervous at first we all ended up having a great time. We also enjoyed our first Costa Rican meal called “casado” which consists of rice, beans, plantains, picadillo, tortilla, and chicken. This will be our first of many meals with rice and beans. After our first meal and dance lesson, we headed to the hotel where we got to swim at the pool and release some of our energy. Overall, our first day in Costa Rica was a big success. Everyone is happy, healthy, and enjoying themselves to the fullest. Currently we are en route to the beach and Finca Pura suerte. Since the group is broken into two smaller groups, half of us are headed to the beach and the other half are headed to the rainforest.