Costa Rica: Service & Sand, Session 1A 2023

June 28, 2023

Hola familias y amigos de CRH1A,

Today was our first full day in Costa Rica and it was realmente grandioso. We were exhausted from a very full day of travel, but waking up this morning to the expansive green, beaming sun and foggy mountains made us forget about our travel day in minutes. After sharing a delicious breakfast, we went over some of the community goals and individual hopes for this journey, and our amazing leader Chalo began introducing us to the rich history and ecology of Costa Rica. Then, we packed our backpacks and took a short drive to Chrisley’s cheese farm, where Chrisley so generously shared his family’s history with us. He told us about how he came to produce cheese and then he took us into the kitchen where we got a taste of the cheese-making process, and some extremely delicious cheese. After a delicious home cooked lunch, Chrisley took us on a tour of his farm and shared all sorts of wonders: star fruit, recoiling leaves, and poison dart frogs just to name a few. We also bonded with all sorts of animals but especially loved four new puppies. After thanking Crisley for his treasure trove of information, it was time to go back to Heliconias. We got to swim and hang out before coming back together to welcome three more group members! We did more introductions and broke the ice with a heated game of salad bowl. All 18 of us ate dinner together, with three empty seats for our final three members, who we can’t wait to meet. After a delicious dinner of fried chicken, rice and salad, we gathered again to review and reflect on our expectations for the trip. After another long day, we were ready for bed early and everyone was in there rooms by 9:30 pm, and lights were off thirty minutes later. Day 1 was amazing but we can’t wait for tomorrow!

Hasta Mañana,
18/21 of CRH1A

June 29, 2023

Hola! We adventurers started off our second full day in Costa Rica with a delicious pancake breakfast filled with conversations and getting to know each other. We then hopped in our air conditioned vans (thank god) to travel fifteen blissful minutes to a real life chocolate factory! We got to learn all about the history and process of making chocolate. The owners of the chocolate factory showed us the cacao plant and we got to grind up the cacao until it was a paste while chanting, “Bate, bate, bate, choco-late” all together. Next we mixed the paste with with milk, cayenne, and vanilla making delicious, authentic hot cocoa. Then we all got to make our chocolate in the cutest molds, decorating them with sprinkles, salt, coffee and almonds. Ours were turtles and they were so cute and delicious. After that we got to grind up sugar cane, and tried even more yummy juice. Finally we got to take a tour of the farm and see where all the cacao grows. On our way we saw a sloth which was epic! Then we hopped back into the freezing and had a delicious lunch back at Heliconias. Now we are chilling by the pool, making friendship bracelets, and resting up for a big evening of group activities and excitement!

Xoxo,
Maeve y Beiya

Note from Home Office: The group itinerary has shifted slightly due to the flight delays. The rafting trip that was planned for June 29th has been rescheduled for July 6th.

June 30, 2023

Hola amigos!
As we began day four, we enjoyed eggs, toast, plantains with rice and beans. After a team bonding exercise that helped us get to no each other further, we left for a Costa Rican family’s home to learn how to make tortillas. We were educated and practiced the process of making tortillas. After enjoying our hard work with a home-cooked meal in the tortillas that we made. Following a super delicious lunch we drove to an animal sanctuary that was 25 minutes away. There, we learned the importance of respecting nature, specifically native Costa Rican species. After receiving a tour of the sanctuary, we were give the opportunity to prepare food for all the animals: parrots, macaw, white-faced monkeys, tucans, and more! An interesting dilemma that the sanctuary faced was how to divide food amongst the animals so that they all get equal portions when they are sharing a cage. The dilemma was met with an even more interesting solution. Carlos, our tour guide, decided to start using dog toys (made to slow their eating) as a way to preoccupy the rehabilitating animals so that they don’t fight over each other’s food. A thunderstorm hit just as we arrived home, we sought shelter and played cards while we made our first calls home. We welcomed a new addition, Shelby, to the group; only improving an already amazing group! We finished the day with dinner and more card games, capping off another great day with a lovely night.

Hasta mañana,
Lara, Tori and Will

July 1-2, 2023

After packing up at Heliconias on Saturday, we began our journey to our next location. Thanks to some impressive stick shift maneuvering in the face of steep mountain train, we arrived at Poco Sol Biological Research station in the Children’s Eternal Forest. We were greeted by our gracious hosts, and enjoyed some activities during a rainy evening. We woke up to a magnificent view as we prepared for a day of work on the trails. We then walked to our working spot for the day: a bridge over a stream that was subject to flooding, due to sedimentary buildup. We spent nearly 6 hours clearing the stream and covering ourselves, and each other, with muddy water. Our work involved shoveling and bagging rocks and sand from the stream, which was used to improve another area of the trail. Clad in water-filled rubber boots, we finished our work and hiked to a breathtaking waterfall. We ended our night with dinner, some delicious rice pudding, and a fiercely competitive game of charades.

Por qué mañana vamos a quedarnos con las familias de la comunidad, pensamos que es una buena idea escribir una parte de este diario en español. Hoy tuvimos la oportunidad de hablar con los guardaparques mientras estábamos trabajando con ellos. También aprendimos unas frases útiles para usar con las familias en el pueblo, que se llama El Futuro. Estamos muy emocionados para mejorar nuestro español. Because tomorrow we are going to stay with the families of the community, we think it is a good idea to write a part of this diary in Spanish. Today we had the opportunity to speak with the park rangers while we were working with them. We also learned some useful phrases to use with families in the town, which is called El Futuro. We are very excited to improve our Spanish.

P.S. Shout out to Isaac because he asked for one and to Todd the Toad because he’s an icon.

-Lauren L. y Gracie

July 3, 2023

Hola amigos,
We woke up bright and early to a beautiful day in Poco Sol. After a delicious breakfast of gallo pinto, we packed up our bags and walked down the hill to meet our vans. Struggling up the very steep hill, the vans finally made it up. After driving a few hours and picking up our bags from Heliconias, we arrived to an amazing zip line course by Arenal. We took the sky tram through the beautiful forest and zip-lined down. There were five amazing zip lines in all and the views were unreal. In the gift shop, we stocked up on snacks and souvenirs before driving to lunch at La Choza de Laurel, where we had delicious almuerzo. Satisfied from lunch, we then explored the town of La Fortuna and had a lot of fun doing it. We all got some delicious ice cream to top off an amazing afternoon. We then took off for our homestays, in El Futuro, all of our families were so excited to meet us! We did quick introductions and headed off to bond with our families and get settled in our new homes. After only one night, everyone had so many good things to say about their homestays, including how delicious dinner was. Some people spent the night playing soccer with local kids and had the best time. We all woke up this morning excited to learn more Spanish and get started on our community service projects!
Pura Vida,
Ella y Kaitlyn

July 4, 2023
We spent our first two days in El Futuro working hard on community projects, painting the community cocina, fixing paths between buildings, and cleaning up and then painting El Futuro’s cataquesis. It was amazing to be able to see the work of past Global Works groups, and to add our contributions on to those projects! We spent the evening of July 4th learning how to make tortillas with our host moms. It was so wonderful getting to meet everyone’s host families and seeing how close we had already gotten with the community of El Futuro. After sharing a delicious spread of tortillas and all sorts of toppings we said “buenas noches” and went out seperate ways for the night.

July 5, 2023
The next morning, we woke up early to finish up our service projects with the help of Alberto, our community partner and builder extraordinaire. After a long morning spent diligently finishing all of our projects, we went home for a much needed lunch break. We ate delicious food, drank gunabana juice, and even played some soccer before meeting back up to take a tour of a local farm. We were able to harvest sugar cane and take part in the entire sugar-making process. We tried fresh sugar-cane juice, played a fierce game of limbo with the local kids, and met many animals. After yet another long and fulfilling day in El Futuro we walked back to our homestays with our families, and settled in early for the night. We were excited for our rafting adventure that awaited us the next morning, but also sad to be preparing for our final night and goodbye party in El Futuro.

July 6, 2023
We woke up early and said “adios” for the morning to our families, before meeting at the freshly painted cocina. Ready for action in chacos and tevas we met our rafting guide Andres, who took us in a bus about 25 minutes to the Rio Balsa. The adventure he had in store was incredible: in five rafts each complete with a rafting guide, we took off down the river. Working hard and together, we splashed through 27 class 2 and 3 rapids, and spotted toucans, iguanas and even a few sloths on the way! After an hour or so of paddling we met on a riverbank for a snack of fresh mango and pineapple, before finishing our trek down the Rio Balsa. We finished our adventure surrounded by monkeys and Costa Rica’s uniquely stunning biodiversity. After eating and marveling at the view, we returned back to El Futuro for an evening of dancing, eating and heartfelt goodbyes. Our time in the community was so special, and our bond was clear on the dance floor. We danced the night away, and by the end of the night we were ready for sleep but not for the next morning. We slept well and woke up early for a final meal with our host families. Saying goodbye is always the hardest part but as we took off from El Futuro this morning, everyone had a smile on their face because the time we shared was so special. This morning we left El Futuro but El Futuro will never leave us.

Pura vida!

CRH1A

July 7, 2023 (morning)

This morning we woke up early to take off for the beaches of Uvita, but first we all said a bitter-sweet goodby to our incredible host families in El Futuro. The community has been so welcoming and we have loved getting to know the people, the culture and especially the food!

July 7 (con’t)- July 8, 2023
The morning of the 7th marked the end of our time with the Costa Rican families in El Futuro. The group met for final pictures and a heartwarming send off. We piled into the bus and mentally prepared for a grueling 7 hour drive to the Pacific Coast. In the first couple hours we engaged in music, bracelet making, and really good, or bad singing depending on who you ask, by the girls. We enjoyed a buffet-style lunch at a roadside food plaza before hitting the road again. Now refueled, we set off again for the remaining couple hours through the majestic coast line forest. After settling into our rooms and enjoying dinner, we spent the rest of the evening singing and dancing at a birthday party for a member of another Global Works trip.

The next day was our first full day on the amazing Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. Shortly after breakfast, we piled into a bus for a short ride over to the beach to get onto a boat to do a marine life tour. With our life jackets on and cameras at the ready, we searched for whales and any other sea life we could see. We didn’t end up seen anything except for a few pelicans and a white-footed booby, but we still enjoyed the landscape, which was truly spectacular, and we even got to swim in the crystal blue water. After a short bus ride back to the hotel, we had a pasta lunch and got ready to surf. Filled with excitement l, we walked 10 minutes to the nearby beach and met up with our surf instructors. We listened to an in-depth tutorial on how to surf and then grabbed our surfboards, ready to ride the waves. With much guidance and instruction on the water, we all successfully rode the waves. Along with the first hand experience, we also used GoPro‘s to capture the moments to hold for many years to come. After indulging in watermelon and granola bars we got ready to leave. On the way to the hotel, Matt and Chalo treated us to ice cream. After rinsing off in the shower, we enjoyed a Costa Rican barbacoa for dinner and a group game of Mafia. The day was filled with laughs and smiles as the trip starts to come to a close.

Un abrazo,
Sam G., Ethan T., y Lara A.

July 9-10, 2023

An early morning wake up leads to an absolutely delectable breakfast of beans and rice (again?!) and a variety of fruits. We hopped on the bus and took a ride to a trailhead where we got off and embarked on a hike towards a waterfall. Along the we way we helped plant baby trees to help restore the rainforest. The hike was rocky and slippery (Isaac literally fell on his booty) but the waterfall was worth it. On our hike back, our favorite cheese man (Crisley) shone how spotted puma prints in the mud! The afternoon consisted of another surf session at the beach, but some of us chose just to play on the beach since we were exhausted. We hung out at the beach until the sun sank into the Pacific Ocean. Since it was one of our last group dinners, we decided to get dressed up all nice and fancy.

The next day we woke up and had rice and beans (AGAIN!??!) before piling our things back into the bus to head towards San José. Along the way we stopped at a huuuuge souvenir store to buy gifts for our friends and family who we miss so much. After a long day of driving, we made it to our mountain-side hotel which had a beautiful swimming pool on the porch and stunning views of the Central Valley down below. We spent the rest of the evening enjoying our last night together and reflecting on the past two weeks!

Hasta pronto,
Ellie P. y Isaac N.