2023 Ida B Wells Costa Rica Cultural Journey

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Magnificent nature and strengthening bonds

Written by Alistair

The morning started out slow. We weren’t all that tired really, as most people had gotten good sleep, but people were low energy from the whole thunderstorm and power outage the night before. Breakfast (a buffet of nice breakfast food from the hotel cafe similar to the day before) was eaten with eyes half closed.

The bus ride was not too long, and Robinson once again showed off his scarily good driving skills. We stopped midway to fill up the gas tank and use bathrooms. We arrived outside of Manuel Antonio park late morning. On the short walk to the park. Joey led us to the park, where security made sure we weren’t bringing any food into the park (thankfully, they were much less thorough than TSA, and it went quickly) before we could enter.

Manuel Antonio park is something amazing. It offers a glimpse into a rainforest environment you’d otherwise need a machete and a huge amount of patience to see. Trees arc high above you, leaving you craning your neck to see their tops. The forest floor is dense with leaves and underbrush, innumerable ferns blanketing logs and huge fire ant colonies gathering leaves. The mangrove swamps are dense and wet, with branches and trunks filling up almost every inch of space. Crabs scuttle about, their pincers raised in unison, gently waving. In the treetops live spider monkeys and howler monkeys, rushing about looking for food, as well as sloths sleepily clinging to branches. Laura was extremely excited about the sloths. (she’s a big sloth fan)

The path brought us to the beach, a placid cove with gentle waves and a fantastic view. The sand near the top of the beach is densely populated with hermit crabs, ambling about doing what hermit crabs do. (Which seems to involve a lot of hiding in their shells when they see fast movement) Those of us who were interested in swimming changed into swimsuits while the others lay out their towels for some relaxing beach time.

The calm waters were great for idle floating, along with pairs of people climbing onto one another’s shoulders and then attempting to push others off of the person they were on top of. (the author didn’t do this) Durham tried swimming a good ways out into the cove, but unfortunately there was jellyfish, which caused moderate but thankfully not lasting pain.

The beach also had some tall rock structures, which were climbed. There were quite a few crabs in the cracks. The rocky beaches here generally seem to be too steep for tidepools to form the way they do on the Oregon coast, but there was lots of life amongst the rocks, such as snails and limpets. It was a beautiful beach.

Once people had gotten enough beach time, we got our stuff together and headed back. Lunch was at El Wagon. The pizza was good and it had a nice view into some trees where spider monkeys were climbing about. There was even a mother monkey with a baby on her back. We spent quite a while simply sitting and talking after lunch, which in my opinion is the way it should be. This kind of thing is called sobremesa, and it’s common in a number of Latino American countries. Durham had an espresso, which I finished for her since she didn’t want to be kept up by the caffeine.

Many of us agree that this hotel was the best of the trip. It was shaped like a U, around a pool in the center. The rooms were spacious, had excellent bathrooms, and had floors that wouldn’t eternally stay wet. (Unlike the previous place) We spent a while having some nice pool time before it started raining, which wasn’t a problem. We all did various relaxing activities, such as playing Dominos with Joey and Laura. (Robinson initially taught Joey, Ryan, and I how to play one form of Dominos, and then Laura taught us to play a more complex version involving mule-killing. It was great)

We then gathered around the dinner table and were partitioned into smaller groups, where we discussed the highlights and lowlights of the trip before sharing with the whole group what we had discussed. It was a nice way to share how we were feeling.

After dinner, a few of us stuck around and Laura gave us a dancing lesson. Laura is an excellent and very freeform dancer, and it was very enjoyable to simply dance without fear of judgement. Laura’s taste in music is excellent, so we had great music to dance to. A young girl (probably around 9) named Suri who was the kid of one of the hotel staff joined us in the dancing.

The day was a very social one, with more down time than we’ve had most days, as well as a nice hike with some swimming time. It felt very well placed, a relaxing day right in the middle of the trip to help us keep our energy up for all the exciting activities to come.

Surfing the Whale-Tail

Written by Ryan

Today we visited Marino Ballena, a coastal national park named after a sandspit that resembles a whale’s tail. At Marino Ballena we learned how to surf, aided by wonderful instructors.

We also had the opportunity to observe plenty of wildlife including hermit crabs, howler monkeys, black iguanas, and macaws.

After surfing, we had lunch at a restaurant with an awesome view of the park. We then had a chance to practice our Spanish ordering ice cream. This was followed by a return to Marino Ballena for some more ocean swimming. We also had the opportunity to meet some fellow students on a trip from Boston who were also staying at our hotel.

The day ended with a bang when a thunderstorm came through and knocked out the power. Dinner was candlelit, and we had the opportunity to enjoy the sights and sounds of the intense storm. After dinner, some of us took a quick trip in the rain to MaxiPalí, a supermarket chain, to pick up a few groceries before we left for Manuel Antonio in the morning.

Water-Fallin’ for Costa Rica!

Written by Callan ‘23

Happy late Father’s Day to all. Although we were unable to spend it with our families, I can assure you, you were all near our hearts.

Our day started bright and early at 7:00 with a beautiful breakfast from our lovely hosts featuring eggs, cereal, juice, and the freshest fruit imaginable. Afterwards, we jumped on the bus and made our way over to beautiful Nauyaca Waterfalls — a 3-tiered waterfall surrounded by lush jungle. We were lucky enough to catch a ride on a tractor pumpkin-patch style. After our waterfall excursion, we took the tractor back up and thanked any/all Devine beings for the advent of internal combustion engines. Finally, rounding out our time by the falls, we took the quick walk over to a mini-mart to beat the heat with a little ice cream.

After all of that, we visited Finca Sueños de Vida [Life Dreams Farm] to see what a small coffee/cocoa farm looks like. We were treated to a tour of their farm by the couple and then later their 11 year old son, Alejandro joined us and quickly took over. I found it super cool to see how not only they farm coffee and cocoa to make a living, but also common foods like lettuce, onions, chives, etc. for them to eat to be self-sufficient. In addition to their beautiful plants, we then met their animals including 4 pigs, an absurd amount of chickens, and 2 cows and a calf (who was just 5 days old). After our time with the animals, we went back and learned how to make empanadas from scratch and got to enjoy coffee fresh from the farm.

Finally after a fun-filled day, we went back to our cabins and chilled for an hour or so, ate up, and went to bed to rest up for tomorrow.

¡Saludos de Costa Rica!!

Written by Profe Durham

After a long travel day with a brief delay in Los Angeles, we made it to San Jose Costa Rica around midnight. We were greeted with big, welcoming smiles by our wonderful trip leaders, Joey, and Laura and our dynamic driver Robinson.

We navigated customs and immigration with no problems and headed off to Casa Cielo Grande in the hills of San Jose, had some pizza for a late night dinner around 1 AM and went to bed ready for our early morning departure to Bella Vida, our home base for the next two days.

After an early breakfast, we boarded the bus and headed out of San Jose. On the way to Bella Vida, we stopped to walk across a bridge that overlooked a murky, wide river filled with massive crocodiles! Fortunately, this was not the river we will later rafting!

We got back on the bus and kept moving through the Puntarenas province along the pacific coast. Along the way, we passed by huge palm orchards and learned about the process and impact of palm oil production in this region.

After about a three hour bus ride along the coast, we headed up into the mountains. We stopped at an open air restaurant for lunch that had delicious, tropical juice, fresh Costa Rican food and an incredible view of the tropical countryside. After lunch, we navigated some very curvy and steep roads towards Bella Vida. Just as everyone was ready to jump into the pool a torrential rain storm, began, and continued for several hours. Fortunately, the rain did not stop the fun to be had in the pool!

So far, spirits are high, and everyone has had a very positive, easy-going attitude. New friendships are forming and old ones are becoming stronger.

Everyone is heading to bed early to try to catch up on some much-needed sleep.

Looking forward to more fun in this beautiful place tomorrow!