2023 Summit County Costa Rica Service Adventure
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Blog 5
Yesterday we began with our final day of work! A major part of finishing the project was mixing and laying concrete over the gravel we leveled over previous work days. In addition to this strenuous effort we also helped clean the community center that had been our home base for the week, and helped finish painting the church. After finishing our final half-day of work we made a quick stop at the local bakery for some sweet celebratory treats and returned to our host families for lunch. Following lunch we had several free hours filled with various activities, unfortunately one resulted in a student getting injured but he is doing well and on the road to recovery. After the tumultuous afternoon concluded, we had a parting dinner with our host families as a group which included a dance party and a piñata. This was a great opportunity to appreciate the families for everything they had done for the students and to appreciate the students for the work they had done. This morning, after bidding farewell to our generous host families we drove for about an hour to the Savegre River. In the river we went on a rafting adventure which included a stop at an amazing waterfall and then we were served a traditional Costa Rican lunch. This was a phenomenal experience conquering the river while surrounded by gorgeous rainforests. To concluded our day, we drove to our final hotel and are ready to begin traveling home tomorrow!
Blog 4
Written by Erin, Charlie and Addy
Friday started with a full day of work, our host family’s delivered our delicious coasta rican lunches. Shortly after lunch we cleaned our selves up at our host family’s home, and then returned to the work site for dance lessons, we attempted to perfect, Bachata, cumbia and salsa! Yesterday we finished painting inside, the community center, and cleaned the indoor soccer field for the game later that night, and finished leveling gravel too pour concrete. We had a couple hours to ourselves, and then walked to the local cheese factory, the walk was treacherous in the rain. Some of us forgot our raincoats so, we were soaked. In the cheese factory, we all got the chance to milk a cow, and pet calves. They made us samples of their home-made cheese, and their ricotta was a crowd favorite. We met back at the community center to play bingo, and eat dinner before the soccer game. Our team lost the game, but the experience was worth it. Afterwards, we all returned home for a full night of rest.
Blog 3
On Thursday we woke up bright and early at around 6:30. A couple of us went for a morning swim in the hotel pool as a relaxing way to wake up. Super excited to go surfing, we enjoyed a breakfast of waffles, eggs, beans and rice, orange juice, and fresh fruit. Then, we headed down to the beach where so many of us learned how to surf for the first time! The instructors were so nice and helpful! When they were on the beach, telling us the basics, we were all looking forward to getting into the water to escape the hot sun. Everyone stood up on their boards and we all got to hang ten! On our break while surfing, we indulged in some cool water, shade, and the smallest bananas we have ever seen! Shortly after surfing, we went souvenir shopping and ate some lunch. In Dominical, weand had a varied lunch from mahi mahi tacos to fried plantains and beans. While heading to our host families, on the bus, a few of us played car games and took naps as we listened to raegae. We were so amazed by the views as we were driving through clouds and looking out at the beautiful Costa Rican landscape. When we arrived, we unloaded our luggage and said hello to our new host families then we all dispersed and settled in to our houses. At that time, we all tried our best to get to know our host families. Everyone is kind here in Caanann. After dinner made by our host families, we settled in after a long day.
Blog 2
Our adventure to Costa Rica started dark and early in the morning. We arrived at the airport around 6:30am and successfully made it through the Denver airport with plenty of time to relax at our gate. After landing in Houston, Texas, we waited to hboard our second flight to San Jose, Costa Rica. To our unluckiness, there was an accident where two planes clipped each other and caused the runway to be closed for multiple hours and this led to our flight getting canceled. After spending the night at the airport, we awoke early for a second morning to catch our 6 am flight to Costa Rica.
We successfully arrived in Costa Rica, got out of the airport finally and went and got a traditional Costa Rican breakfast that was very delicious. We had eggs, rice, beans and bacon. We then continued on towards the ocean and stopped at a roadside market where we got to walk across a bridge and see some crocodiles lounging on the river bank below. After arriving at our hotel we walked down to the beach and got to swim in the warm Costa Rica waves. We dived over and jumped over waves and certainly had a great time together. After walking back to the hotel to enjoy a nice group dinner we sat at a long table and enjoyed a great fresh dinner. We were all surprised by the cake for Dilan’s Birthday.
Blog 1: We're excited to be underway!
The group has arrived in their host community and is doing great. Check out some pics above, a more elaborated written summary will be posted shortly.