2023 Strath Haven Costa Rica Cultural Journey
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Blog 7
Written by Christina & Nicholas
We started our day with a breakfast consisting of rice, beans, eggs, and waffles at “El Tecal”. We then had some time to either go to the beautiful beaches of Uvita or enjoy the hotel. After getting luggage packed into the bus, we ate at the “El Avion” restaurant as we enjoyed a scenic view of the ocean. After an amazing lunch, we had a long car ride ahead of us! We were stuck in the long traffic from the holiday ending, and we sat in the bus for much longer than expected! We took a quick bathroom break around an hour in, and then some major napping took place! Eventually, after a couple of hours, we arrived at the souvenir shop, called “El Jardín”! We spent an hour grabbing snacks and buying LOTS of souvenirs! Another long car ride took place, and two hours later, we arrived at our hotel, Casa Cielo Grande! After grabbing an amazing dinner, and getting to see everybody’s formal wear (the boys had quite the entrance), we had a group bonding session, where we made sure to appreciate everyone and thank everyone for being amazing friends this entire trip! We threw strings to someone we wanted to thank and tied a bracelet from the string around their wrist! Next we wrote letters to ourselves, five years in the future. And our day concluded, listening to piano music and the cicadas, and looking down on the beautiful cities of Costa Rica!
Blog 6
Written by Vincent, Oliver, and Claire
Today, April 7th we started by having our final breakfast with our host families. Then we packed up and said our goodbyes to our host families and loaded up the bus to head to Uvita surf town. We all lathered on our sunscreen and made our way to the beach where we were instructed on the sand the basics of surfing. And expectations of the surf. Then we were put into groups of four and grabbed a board and sprinted into the water for our surf lesson! We all caught some awesome waves(whether or not we got on top of the board or not)! We took a small snack break before heading back out for some more surfing, or just enjoying the beach. After the lesson we rinsed off then went to grab pizza at a local restaurant. There was an option then to go back to the hotel to hang out, grab a shower or take a dip in the pool, or go back to the beach. And then at 7 we had a fabulous dinner at a restaurant walking distance from the hotel. After dinner we walked back to the hotel and had a surprise fiesta for Claire S. 17th birthday!
Blog 5
Today we ate breakfast with our host families and met with each other afterwards to get on the bus. Unfortunately, Diego felt under the weather this morning so he did not join us on our short trip to the base of Mount Uran. We hiked up to the Cloudbridge Nature Reserve where we followed a path for several kilometers through the jungle. We saw several species of bird including a green toucan as well as a small snake and some lizards. We took several snack breaks and stopped for a ten minute self-reflection activity that was relaxing in the natural ambiance. Afterwards, we visited a beautiful waterfall with perfectly clear water. We hiked down part of the mountain and stopped for lunch at Hotel Uran before continuing the rest of our hike down. We rode the bus into town and some people returned to their houses, while others helped to cook and set up for the fiesta. During the party we all sat with our host families and ate dinner and dessert. Once we were all finished they began to play music and we all started dancing with each other. We danced with friends, host families, or even others host families. They taught us latin dance moves and we taught them the Cupid Shuffle and the Cotton Eye Joe, also the Macarena. Even some people from the street came to say hi. We all had so much fun. Once we were all done we each went home with our host families for the last time.
Blog 4
Written by Abby, Ella and Colin
Today, April 5th, we woke up and started with a delicious breakfast with our host families. After a quick walk back to the bus, we started the short journey to San Isidro. Shortly after getting off the bus we walked around the town of San Isidro and made our way to the market. We worked on our spanish as we bought souvenirs and tried new foods. We then went back on the bus and headed to lunch at “Snack”. After the delicious meal, we headed back to our host families to quickly grab bathing suits before heading for the local hot springs. We arrived and spent a few hours relaxing in the water, enjoying the valley view, and watching the hummingbirdws. Lastly, we took the bus back to our host families to enjoy dinner and lay down for the night.
Blog 3
Written by Jackson, Nora, and Jack
Yesterday we woke up, had breakfast, and said goodbye to the farm. We went down to a vista where we tried guanoabana ice cream. From there we took a tractor and went down to the waterfalls and they looked incredible. We were also able to take lots of cool pictures. We swam there for about two hours and ate a little picnic lunch before heading back to the bus. Some of us hiked up to see the upper waterfall and swam up there for a little bit. We then traveled to a town in the mountains to meet our host families, who were very kind to us. They took us up to their houses where we ate dinner and went to bed after an unforgettable day.
Blog 2
Blog 1
Today we arrived at San José Costa Rica and met the tour guides Diego and Melissa, who were excited to meet us, the first stop of our trip was at a restaurant called Las Delicias del Maiz where we got our first taste of local foods. Next we went to a supermarket and picked out some snacks and drinks to try and afterwards we went to the hotel called hotel aeropuerto where we spend our first night. We got settled into our rooms and ate dinner at the hotel’s restaurant and learned how beer and kombucha is brewed, even allowing us to sample different flavors of kombucha. Overall our first day in Costa Rica was an exciting and delicious introduction to the country.