2019 North Tahoe Costa Rica Program

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Another two amazing days in Costa Rica

Written by Guillermo Montoya – Program Leader

Without a doubt, this trip has been full of surprises and amazing moments surrounded by awesome traveling people. We arrived to Manuel Antonio and had the opportunity to visit its National Park, a place full of nature. We spotted a few sloths and a lot of colorful crabs, there is a lot of life around us, the agouti and raccoons were so cool and the iguanas were laying down in the sun. By the time we made it to the stunning and amazing beach, we were surprised to see a boa constrictor eating a raccoon, everyone was taking photos of this unexpected moment.

The day was so warm that taking a moment for a good swim and time to relax at the beach was such a delightful treat after all the great work everyone did in the host community.

The following day, everyone was so excited to surf! They had two hours of surfing lessons. The day started with a lot of positive energy and after hitting some waves, they took some time for a pineapple break and refreshments. In the evening we headed to La Fortuna, it took around 4 hours to get to this lovely place, and on the road the group had the chance to see Costa Rica’s landscape, from the dry lowlands going up to the lush green forest. We saw a ton of cattle farming, pineapple, papaya and yuca crops on the way, until we made it to a small town in which they were hosting an equine fair. This is definitely the cowboy area of Costa Rica.

After this long journey, we went to the hot springs, where we had dinner and a lot of time to enjoy of the thermal waters on the slope of Arenal volcano, the water slides were so fun and at the same time relaxing for all of us.

Today in the morning, our group headed to the zipline, this is one of the most adventurous activities in our itinerary, followed by a funny scavenger hunt at La Fortuna central plaza. The students had to say Pura Vida to people that were having coffee, imitate the sound of a macaw, and talk to locals. Later this evening, the group went on a nocturnal tour to spot reptiles in this region, where they saw a lot of colorful frogs, caymans and amazing butterflies, it was such an amazing experience to see the animal world taking life at night.

There’s more to explore in Costa Rica, and everyone is loving it!

 

Our Time in La Florida

Written by Brian Fink

Being a part of this community was a wonderful experience. Watching our students break through the language barrier to talk and play with the local children and community members, work with the contractors, and learn from the parents was great to see. From our first day to our last watching them grow and become more comfortable with having conversations and showing respect to the community was awesome. Listening to what the community had to say about our students and their level of respect and curiosity was refreshing and humbling. I am so proud of how much effort they put in to the community and it was so well received and appreciated from the community of la Florida. We are sad to see it go, but excited for what’s next!

 

On the last two days.... 

Our day began by driving to our jungalows (which were small little circular cabins with tropical ambiance), and eating at a small little Costa Rican restaurant with hummingbirds, where the food was great! After that we bonded over games and watched the rain fall, while we learned that there are bugs which are a really scary. In the girls room there was a synchronized scream over a spider and leaf bug, it was not a fun time. In the guys room, they just fell asleep.
The next day we watched the sun rise from a look out spot and it was beautiful. Then we ate our breakfast and started our hike to the Diamante Waterfall where we found the cueva (cave), which was where we slept. The journey to the cueva and the waterfall was really difficult and steep, there seemed like an infinite number of stairs we had to go up to get to the top . We were out of breath from the beginning, but it was amazing because we got to see a sloth and an ant eater in the wild. Some of us even tried termites (they tasted like carrots) and these really cool leaves that tasted like sour patch kids. After a while of hiking up we stopped at a garden that is harvested and grown by the locals, we tried their berries and their bananas that tasted like mangoes. Joseph decided that it would be a good idea to try the spiciest chile verde and he almost cried, which was pretty hilarious. Then we continued our hike to the waterfall where we went into the cueva which was really cool, it had a place to sleep, a kitchen and running bathrooms. The waterfall was amazing. We swam in the smaller pool below and Jamie caught a tiny frog, which was really cool. After that we ran back to the cueva because it started to rain.
Our guides, Diego and Abraham made us a delicious pasta dinner , which we thoroughly enjoyed. We bonded and talked about things that we liked, and then a praying mantis landed on Claires hair! Then I decided to hold it, FYI I’m terrified of bugs, so it was a big step. Until it flew on my face, and then I almost clapped him, but don’t worry I did not and he survived. We decided to name him Manny and he became our friend. Later that night we got to see army ants at work and a scorpion spider, which made the girls scream so loud! We then bonded over scary stories at the bond fire and went to sleep with a minimum of screams. The next day we had breakfast, and went to the top of the waterfall and swam in the pools, and walked back down.
On the way back to our jungalows we ate lunch at Los Chorros which was a restaurant with a really amazing view of Costa Rica’s cloud forest, then we went back to our jungalows. On the way there we noticed that there was a little girl riding a motorcycle on the street, it was strange for us because of the laws back in the states . We also noticed that people have a lot of fruit stands ,which sold, strawberries, mangoes, and coconuts. The stay was really great, we saw a difference with the people down at the city and here they were kinder and there was no more bars in the windows . Our stay so far in Costa Rica has been life altering and amazing. Getting to know everyone, their culture and the work they do has changed our perspective on everything.

Our Long Journey to Costa Rica

Written by Josii Johnson
Greetings Parents!
Today we left for Costa Rica, all very excited for the journey. We started off great with Claire spilling her entire wallet onto the airport floor, right in front of a giant fan, so we all had to step on the money as fast as we could before it flew away. The first flight was long and hard to sleep, so when getting to Texas, we were all very exhausted. Naturally, we all decided to use our 6 hour lay over to take a group nap on the airport floor. After our nap, we all needed to eat, so we spread out and went for breakfast, (except sam, since he slept the entire time). We were all eating when Josii dropped her burrito onto her full Starbucks drink, knocking it over and then having a burrito laying in a giant Starbucks puddle on the airport floor. We then all got on the next plane, still very tired and hungry from an almost failed breakfast attempt. Four hours later, we landed in Costa Rica!! We got to our hotel and the girls could not get the hotel room doors open to at first. We then had a pool party, and ate a really delicious dinner. We are all tired so we are about to head to bed, but we are so eager to get started on our adventures for the rest of the trip and have so many more stories to tell!
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