Costa Rica Language & Leadership

Between Madison’s eccentric attitude and Elysa’s laughs (that sometimes come out as snorts), you wouldn’t be able to tell that just yesterday our flight was delayed 2 hours and Alyeska had to run to the gate to make the flight. However, despite arriving at Hotel Heliconias at 2:30 am yesterday morning and getting about 3 hours of sleep total, today was great!

We visited a farm owned by Crisley. We learned about how Costa Rica has changed its farming techniques over the course of its history. This was really interesting because Crisley told us the story of how his farm and family has dealt with these changes and now run a very successful farm, providing food for his extended family and an income source for more than 15 families. We got to learn about the process of making cheese and even rolled the cheese ourselves! Alyeska particularly liked that part because we got to eat the leftovers and she LOVES cheese. We took a tour of the farm and got to taste some new fruits like star fruit, sweet lemon, and even raw sugar cane. Starfruit had a tangy and sweet, citrus-like taste. While the sweet lemon and sugarcane had a more sweet and mild taste (except the skin on the sweet lemon was a little bitter). The lunch was chicken, rice and mixed vegetables made by the family which tasted great and was enjoyed by the whole group.

Today was more relaxed which was definitely needed because we all got to rest and decompress after such a long day of travel. Tomorrow we are starting our 2-day whitewater rafting trip and although we have to get up very early, everybody is super excited to see what our whitewater rafting experience and the beautiful country of Costa Rica have in store for us!!

Pura vida!

Anna G.

For the first time this morning I tried this unique blood orange fruit called papaya. Out here in Costa Rica there are so many new and exciting foods, plants, and music. Even though we didn’t get to go rafting, the waterfall we got to see and swim by was worth walking up and down the 500 stairs to get there. It was super tall (70 meters), with beautiful native forest on all sides, and is clearly a location that people come from all over to see. Later in the day, after lunch, we explored a nearby town, La Fortuna. We got to practice our Spanish by asking questions to the people we met in town, putting ourselves in real life situations.

After the city exploration, we went to a hot springs where we all bonded as a group and had lots of fun. In the hot springs, there were at least 20 different pools that were all different sizes and temperatures. Over some of the pools were these gigantic mushroom-like structures that you could sit under in these bubble massage chairs and just completely relax. The whole day was a great bonding experience where we talked as a group and got to know each other.

Pura vida!

Annie C.

Today we all had breakfast and went rafting with a company with many other people. Many of the kids in our group had never gone white water rafting, which I think was a great experience for everyone to have. We got split up onto 3 boats with raft guides who were very friendly. My group was Grace, James, Annie, Flora, and I, with a great Costa Rican guide named Jimmy. During the trip, we got stuck on a few rocks, and we would all have to vigorously jump up and down to get off that rock. After a lot of water in the face and very fresh pineapple (which we ate during a quick break on a beach) we all got out and dried off. The whole rating company took us all to a lovely outdoor lunch buffet with delicious Costa Rican food, including plantains, yuca, pico de gallo, and of course rice and beans.

Our group has grown very close in these three days, and we all had a very good time with each other and the rafting guides. On the bus drive home we all sang songs and put on a little unplanned concert for our new friend, Roman, who was with the company (he was very elated with our singing). We then hung out and swam in the pool before our Spanish lesson tonight by Nohelia. Evan said it was the best Spanish lesson he had ever had because of the fun games and conversations that we had. Overall, it was a very good day full of bonding and new experiences!

By Alyeska S.

July 3, 2019
Today we got to sleep in till 8:00. Breakfast was gallo pinto, which we have ad just about every day since we arrived in Costa Rica. It typically consists of black beans with rice, eggs, and a fried plantain, often with mango juice. Today, for a bit of a change, we also had bacon on the side. After breakfast, we packed up for our 4 day trip to Poco Sol, our biological statin in the cloud forest, a higher elevation rain forest. We had an hour car ride up the mountains. During the ride, we had a fun time taking selfies on Alyeska’s camera. After we arrived we (James, Evan, and I) got to see our new room, which has 6 beds. Afterwards we went on a short hike around the lake, which is the filled up volcano crater. On the hike we got to see the enchanting scene of the fog over the lake obscuring the other side that cleared in a blink. Afterwards we had the opportunity to see a clay-colored thrush, the national bird of Costa Rica. This surprised us because with all of the colorful birds in Costa Rica, it is surprisingly drab. Just after this hike, while eating lunch, we got to see a Coati walk based on the road. Even though we have seen many animals already on this trip, for many of us, this coati was the first mammal we have seen that is not also found in the US. An exciting wildlife day!In the afternoon, we had a Spanish lesson during which we each described and wrote about how the forest is similar to a city. We were all impressed by Eloise’s paragraph, and hopefully you will be too:
“El bosque es como la ciudad porque hay mucha diversidad y vida. Todos se necesitan para sobrevivir como en la ciudad donde las personas se necesitan para trabajar y ir a los paises. Hay siempre ruidoso en el bosque y en la ciudad. En el bosque, los arboles y la vida son como la gente en la ciudad porque ellos se protegen el otro. En el bosque y la ciudad todos se protegen para sobrevivir. Los unos quien son solo siempre morir porque todos necesitan trabajar con juntos.”Buenas noches,
Matt P.

July 4, 2019
With a pretty early wake up at 6:30 am this morning we started our day with the very common, very delicious, gallo pinto. After fueling up for the hard work ahead of us we started our first day of service in the Eternal Children’s Rainforest. There were two different trail maintenance tasks today, and we each did one before lunch and switched to try the other after lunch. My group started by clearing rocks and debris from the river so that it flowed better around the trail bridge then moving those rocks to fill in muddier portions of the trail. The other group started by raking leaves and other debris from the trails. When our group got to raking in the afternoon, Evan clearly stated that “este es mejor” or “this is better,” as it was a significantly less demanding task.After hours of working hard and a delicious lunch of a traditional soup and rice we got to practice our Spanish and celebrate our holiday from home. We shared our traditions with each other and prepared a presentation for the team that works at Poco Sol about our holiday. The Poco Sol team kindly surprised us with hamburgers and hotdogs for the 4th of July. We also were celebrating another special thing today—Elysa’s birthday! The people at Poco Sol made her an amazing cake to celebrate. Elysa said it was her best ever birthday cake and was ecstatic when we sang her “Feliz cumpleanos”. The night ended perfectly with a magical night hike. Though a couple people were scared of the bugs and other creatures of the rainforest, we had Eloise and Evan ecstatic at the sight of every frog and toad. Everyday in Costa Rica has been an adventure and we are looking forward to tomorrow!
-Kaylee E.

– Evan S.

Today was an awesome day! We spent the morning eating breakfast with our homestay families, and took off to congregate in our usual meeting spot, la cafeteria (the small coffee shop run by the local coffee co-op). Directly after a short group meeting, we got to work. We divided into groups, and each of us did a different type of job. I painted coffee beans with Alyeska. Some people painted walls, and some others carried rockz. Though difficult labor, for us all, especially those who carried rocks, we made some awesome memories working our butts off. After this we went home to eat some delicious lunch with our homestay families, during this time some people also played games with their homestays families, while others took short naps to prepare for the rest of the work we had.

We did a little more work after lunch, and then went to play soccer with kids and teens in the community. Needless to say, I am absolutely horrendous at soccer and embarrassed myself on the field. The blog would not be complete if I did not also pay tribute to Matt, who took a hard hit where the light does not shine. Luckily, everyone was able to laugh off my mistakes (like catching the soccer ball with my hands) and Matt’s pain, and it all helped strengthen the bond between our Global Works group and the community.

We then headed back to the cafeteria to have a tortilla making fiesta put on by all our homestay mothers. We each learned to shape the tortillas, and had many laughs in the process. When the food was ready, it did not stay on the table for long, as the entirety of the group dug in promptly to the plates of tortillas that appeared in front of us, filled with eggs, ham, potatoes, or spaghetti. As the fiesta came to an end, we grabbed our things and headed to our houses for an awesome night of sleep. Let’s all hope the group is ready for whatever tomorrow has to offer!

-Evan S.

PS: Love you Mom and Dad! I’ve got plenty to tell y’all about already and we just hit the halfway mark a day or so ago!

July 10, 2019
The day started with a group meeting which led to me electing Elysa leader of the day, which is awesome. Next, most of the group went on a hike, but I stayed behind and painted a sign with my friend, Alyeska, for the local coffee shop. When the group got back from the hike, we all ate lunch together outside and soaked in our plant-filled surroundings while enjoying each other’s company. Later, we did our community service such as painting, putting gravel on the path, moving big rocks in wheel barrows, and helping to build a cabin. Then, at night there was an optional night hike that most of the group decided to go on. The hike started out by walking through a local house’s backyard to this gorgeous forest path, that unfortunately also included lots of mud and bugs. We saw at least 8 different spiders, 2 toads, 1 frog, and lots of trees. You literally can’t miss the trees though, there are so many different types of trees everywhere you look! There were parts of the path that were so slippery that one of the guides had to help me and my friend Elysa step down from rocks because we were falling so much. At the end of the hike, my shoes were completely covered in mud and so were everyone else’s. Right after we got out of the forest, there was this spider web with a huge white spider with long legs sitting in the middle of it. Grace decided to try and put her hand under the web, but instead stuck her hand inside of it. When she pulled her hand away, it dropped the spider onto her, causing her to run, and entertaining the rest of the group. We still don’t know where the spider is or if it actually fell on her, but that incident made me laugh so hard that my lungs hurt. Costa Rica and this trip have been lots of fun with people I have grown to love!
-Annie C.

July 11, 2019
Today, we had a normal day, which consisted of painting and more painting. Later on in the day, we went to a Zumba class which was a lot of fun. These wonderful days, are beginning to feel normal. The homestays are fantastic! Everyone within the group likes their homestays because the people here are so welcoming. Alyeska and I are staying in a home with a mother, father, three sons, and one daughter. We like to listen to their conversations in Spanish. They are really kind people and like to help us with our Spanish speaking. The food is always amazing, but the portions are so big we can’t eat everything. The best part about the homestays are the funny conversations we have because we don’t understand a lot of what they are saying. Our family likes to learn about american culture and we enjoy teaching them american sayings for example “lol” or “omg” are some of our favorites to teach them. Staying in the homestays is such an amazing experience to really immerse ourselves in the culture!
-Elysa M.

July 12, 2019
Hola familias y amigos!
As usual, we started the day with some work painting, building, and creating hiking trails. After a few hours of work, we returned to la cafeteria empty bellied, and ready for some delicious lunch prepared for us by our homestay families. My roommate, Grace, and I ate chicken, potatoes, and typical Costa Rican rice and beans. Being in a coffee town, we also drank some locally grown coffee and we then headed out to teach English to the children in town.

When we arrived at the classroom, we began to set up our lessons. We divided into groups with Anna, Kaylee, and Grace teaching about food; Elysa, Madison, and Eloise teaching parts of the body; Annie, Matthew, and Alyeska teaching animals; while Maxie, Evan, and I taught the colors. As the children began to gather, it was amazing to see their eyes light up, excited to spend time with us and play some educational games. For example, at the animal station students had to act out an animal on the vocabulary list and the first person to say the animal name in English would then take their place at the front. At my own station, we played a matching game with colors and their English word. To finish off we played a game where we would call out a word in Spanish and the first person to tap the matching English word written on the board was rewarded with candy. The kids were laughing and jumping the whole time and we had just as much fun. Afterwards, we got the chance to play futbol with them and burn off some of the sugar. Although we were sad to stop playing, we were finally able to return home and spend some time with our homestay families.
– Isabella C.

July 13, 2019
Hola! Today was an exciting and educational day in our beautiful homestay community. Bright and early at 8 am, we all had a group meeting. Last night, we’d had the homework assignment of asking our families about the government structure here. When we got together this morning, we each shared what we had learned, compared the Costa Rican system to that in the US, and then Chalo (our leader from Costa Rica) added some more information and context about the different political parties and how the politics are different in different provinces. Then, we began our last day of service work. We split into groups and continued working on the cabana (cabin), raking the trail, and painting. I started off painting flags of the US and Costa Rica with Eloise to decorate the entrance to the coffee cooperative, but then I abandoned her due to the fact that I was getting eaten alive by bugs. Honestly, her painting skills are superior to mine, so I was doing everyone a favor by leaving her to paint by herself (it turned out amazing, btw). We had a quick snack break of coffee and cookies and then continued our tasks until lunch (I was still painting, just in a place with fewer bugs). After lunch, we began new tasks, and this time, I decided to put my young body to good use, raking the trail in the forest. Evan, Maxie, Matt and I helped Chalo and Froilan clean the trails, though all of us also slipped in the mud numerous times. After a couple hours, we hiked down the trail and met up with the rest of the group for the long awaited coffee tour. Javier explained the process and logistics of harvesting the beans, showing us the bushes where the beans were not ripe yet. We learned about the different types of beans they sell, saw the machinery they use to dry the beans and got to smell and taste the differences in many of the types of beans they harvest.

Finally, we met back at the microbeneficio and bought souvenirs (including coffee), drank coffee, chatted with friends, reflected on the day, and talked about how excited we are for the rest of the trip, before heading back to our homestays for the night. There are the sweetest, kindest people here, and I am so sad that tomorrow will be our last day in this beautiful place. I am so excited to see what great memories are to come from the rest of this trip.
– Madison R.
PS: Sorry, Mom, for not calling you!

July 14, 2019
Hola!
Today was our last full day with our homestay families in the small, charming community of Cedral. To commemorate the relationships built and memories made over the past week, we had pretty much the whole day free to spend with our families. Leaving was on our minds and scary; no one wanted to lose the people that had just started to mean so much to them. The morning started off with a discussion about the education system in Costa Rica, and particularly the specifics of how it works in Cedral. The night prior we had all inquired about this to our families. After another leader of the day transition, we were faced with two options: to go on a final hike, or to stick back with our families. Most opted to hike. I stayed home with my family, and together we relaxed and talked. I soaked up my last few hours with my family before turning my attention and energy to preparing for the fiesta! When we arrived everyone was dressed up-looking so different from how I normally see them. The party was in the cabana we had helped build, and was a great location to celebrate our hard work from the past week. Together with the community we ate, laughed, danced, smiled, and sang; taking in our last few hours with our families. The party had been planned for us already, so as a contribution our entire group decided beforehand to prepare a song to sing at the party that is popular in the United States. By the end of the night, we had everyone singing and dancing to “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus! I played the guitar, while Grace led the choreography. Later that night, I lay in bed with a bundle of emotions, ranging from underlying sadness about leaving the next day, to warm joy and an overall feeling of content. I know I will miss Cedral with all my heart, but I’m excited for the surfing and zip lining to come! See you soon!
-Maxie M.
PS: To Big: I love you more than anything in the world. I miss you so much! (Someone better read this to him.)

July 15, 2019
Today we said goodbye to our families as we departed the beautiful and mountainous town of Cedral. It was a bittersweet goodbye with many mixed feelings. Many of us (especially Alyeska and Maxie) had fallen in love with Cedral’s gorgeous landscape, caring people, and of course, their coffee. The coffee will be sorely missed! The impact of our service work and presence in Cedral had on the community was visible. It is amazing to feel such a connection to a place and its people in such a short timeframe. Although everyone was excited to go surfing and zip lining on Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast, we would all miss our families and most of all the kids and dogs. I for one, know I will miss my two sisters: Jackie and Yasmine’s smiling faces, positive energy, and mischievous attitudes. The bus ride didn’t take long, and for the first time I witnessed a group of people sing the entire song of “100 bottles of beer on the wall” without stopping. We were able to spend a couple of hours at Playa Uvita and Elysa got to see her first sunset on the beach, which was on her bucket list! The whole group was so positive and although we all clearly missed Cedral, the beach was so perfectly picturesque that it was impossible not to be ecstatic for our final days on the Pacific Coast!
-Anna G.

July 16, 2019
Once upon a time, the Global Works students did not have gallo pinto for breakfast, instead we had eggs and pancakes! This fueled us up for a morning of surfing, which for many of us was a first. Even with a lot of waves to the face, we all had an amazing experience surfing on one of the most “perfectest” beaches we’ve ever been to. The rad surfer dudes encouraged us to escape our comfort zones. Through riding waves and wipe-outs, we all enjoyed our time. After refueling with a delicious lunch, we were off to our next adventure – zip lining! Zip lining was also a first for many people and was enjoyed by all. We had two amazing instructors who were hilarious and Grace was continually the butt of their jokes. The one downside to the zip lining in experiences was the draining of all the moisture in our body in the form of sweat due to the extreme moisture in the air. With all of the heat we experienced zip lining, we were able to dip back into the ocean to cool off. We then had a wonderful surprise pizza dinner and passion fruit cheesecake to celebrate Evan’s birthday! For many, the passion fruit cheese cake was too passionate, but Flora loved it, and ate as much of our scraped off passion fruit as she could. We came back to the hotel for one of our last group meetings, where at least half of us were exhausted, but we still had a great conversation about the pros and cons of not having our phones for the past three weeks and our goals for technology use when we return home. We wished Evan a final happy birthdays and headed off to bed tired and happy!
-Kaylee C. And Alyeska S., your editors-in-chief

July 17, 2019
And so it ends, our last full day of activities in Costa Rica. While writing this, I may sound really discombobulated from two full days of wiping out in the ocean. Let’s just say it took me a while to get the whole “surfing” thing! Anyway, today we spent another few hours in Playa Uvita practicing our newfound surf skills. We then took a break for a delicious lunch of burgers, quesadillas, ceviche, salads, and more! After lunch, we had a two hour break from the sun in which around 6 girls crowded on the beds in my room to watch “keeping up with the kardashians” and various other reality tv in Spanish. Sorry, mom. We then went back to the beach to swim more and enjoy one of our last visits to, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful beaches and places in general that I’ve ever seen. The clouds are so close and beautiful and majestic that when my feet first met the warm water and my eyes soaked in the atmosphere while the ocean embraced me I felt I was in heaven on Earth. After the beach and some much-needed showers, we stumbled through an unexpected little power outage and ate an amazing dinner at the same restaurant as lunch. After dinner was a turning point for this group. With half of us a little under the weather and the other half overly-tired and crazy, we got hit with the full realization of just how much we are going to miss each other after we all go our separate ways. We acted out some of our favorite and most iconic memories, before breaking down in laughter about absolutely everything. This trip has been an amazing experience, and I can’t wait to keep in touch with everyone!
– Maxie M.
PS: Big, I love you and I’ll see you so soon!