Costa Rica Service & Sand, Session 2 2024

July 15, 2024

Read this in a British accent.

One splendid thing we did today to help us get to know each other was the food name game. We then went into the town of Alajuela and interacted with a bunch of people in the park, asking them questions with the best spanish we could muster! For example, we all swarmed a bakery and asked the same questions: “Que es eso?” “Cuanto cuesta eso?”. We had a jolly old time! We had a delightful lunch. We headed back and played jesters’ game. There are lots of bugs here! After hours we feasted as a group at our hotel. Overall it was a very very fun day with a lot of excitement for the adventures to come.

-Valerie and Diego

July 16, 2024

W oke up at 5:00am to get ready for rafting
A te a traditional Costa Rican breakfast at the lodge
T ractored down to the river, pasing by locals and their homes
E mbarked on our journey on the water
R afted through many rapids until we landed at the campsite

R an to claim our tents to sleep that night
A te burritos and had iced tea for lunch
F ollowed Karina, Isabelle, and Matt through a rainy hike to a waterfall
T ook showers in the middle of the forest
I ce breaker game, followed by dinner
N ew games were introduced to the group, including Mafia, Black Magic, and Pandas
G ot ready for bed and fell asleep to the natural sounds of the beautiful Costa Rican forest

-Avery & Sophie

July 17, 2024

Recipe for the perfect day in Costa Rica

Ingredients for rafting:
Helmet
Raft
Lifevest
Oar
Sunscreen
Watershoes
Waterproof camera
Fresh pineapple

Ingredients for burrito:
Tortilla
Chicken
Veggies
Rice

Ingredients for bus ride:
Bus
Bracelet string
Water bottle
Book

Ingredients for the evening:
Digital camera
Cute fit
Pasta and garlic bread
Bob Marley music
Bathing suit
Good vibes

This makes for the perfect taste of pura vida:)
-Sarah and Ashton

July 18, 2024

C:risley’s Dairy Farm
O:pportunities to make cheese
S:uper strechty and salty
T:oured the farm
A: ton of animals and plants (baby pigs!)

R:andall taught us to dance
I:ncluded merengue, bachata, and salsa
C:ouldn’t have more fun in the pool
A:te amazing burritos and nachos with queso enrollado

Today was a stretchy day! – Penelope

From Reese and Leonora

July 19, 2024

Haiku #1
Helped make delicious chocolate
Enriched by Costa Rica
Met the families

Haiku #2
Played football with kids
Watched the kids dance their culture
Went to our new homes

-Faith and Mhairi

July 20, 2024

Today was the first day in our host family home. We ate traditional Costa Rican quieane for breakfast. We met up at the community center and started our community service. After a few scorching hours of sanding benches and expanding the community kitchen we ate a wonderful lunch and then got straight back to work. After a few more hours in the heat we went back to our homestay homes to prepare for the talent show that night. After lots of preparing we went to it. Everyone there was so talented and did so many talents including dancing and singing and jokes. Everyone was so great and had so much fun spending time with the community.

-Mark and Mirabelle

July 21, 2024

We had a fun day Zipline and *C*aring for animals. We started the day with breakfast at *O*ur homestays. After that we all met up and drove to *S*ky adventures to zipline. We went one 7 different ziplines all throughout the *T*rees and saw many beautiful views. *A*fter zipling We continued our adventure to la fortuna for lunch to *R*echarge for the rest of the day. After an *I*ncredible lunch, we *C*ontinued down to proyecto Asís to meet all of the *A*nimals and do some volunteer work.

-Sidney and Jaya

July 22, 2024

Costa Rica mountains (tilt head to see mountains)
Today
was Another
hot Exciting Day.
We Dug Holes,Painted
Benches, And took
out Sidewalks.
It was hot
and the
rain
didn’t
come until
The very end
of the day. We
had and amazing
lunch and then
got right back
to work.
After
Work we
All met up
around 5:30
for tortilla making
And a surprise birthday
for Matt. There was a
big cake and Lots
of balloons.
Everyone
Had a
Fun
Day.

By Jess and Fiona

July 23, 2024

Hey blog,

Today was our last full day in our homestays. We finished our service projects and ate lunch. For lunch we had fried rice with beans, avocado, salad, tortilla chips, and other sides. For the projects we helped clean the kitchen, pull weeds and clear up the fence, and lastly continuing to help build bathrooms and expand the kitchen. We rested for a bit and then most of the group went to Zumba class! We then got ready for our goodbye dinner. Everyone sat with their families and we played many rounds of Bingo. In the middle we all stopped to take photos with the sunset. The sunset was the most gorgeous view with the volcano in the back. Then we ate dinner. We had fried chicken with fries. It was delicious. Everyone got Pineapple juice and it was super duper good. Then we all dance some music and stood in a circle talking about how our community works and all of essential parts of a community. For dessert we had jello with fresh fruit in it. The dancing continued and we gave out flowers and thanked all the families. That’s basically it!!!

By Penelope y Emma

July 24, 2024

Today we had breakfast
At our homestays to say our gooddays
It was the dopest
And then we were on our ways
We hopped
On the bus
Then stopped and shopped
The journey was long
And Mark played us a few songs
We made it to the hotel
The dinner was pretty lit
And then that was it.

Elaina y Anaiya

July 25, 2024

Hola dudes! Get ready to hear about our totally tubular day! First, we had a sick breakfast of gallo pinto and fruit. Then, the beach was calling us, and we had to go as soon as possible! Sadly, we weren’t on our boards, but our speed boat heading out to sea caught some waves too. On that sick ride at sea, we saw whales! We said kawabunga and jumped and swam in the ocean. Later, us and our bros, took a dip in the pool before a rad lunch. Next we geared up to finally shred some gnarly waves! We had such a rad time, but sadly our surfer hearts had to break for some laid back yoga. We stretched out in the forest during a killer rain storm. We calmed those sick waves in our minds and ate dinner, before falling asleep to the sound of the waves crashing in our dreams. Until next time shocka dudes!

-Your favorite wave shreders, Ashton and Sarah

July 26, 2024

S tarted our day with planting trees
U p to the waterfall for a swim after a hike
R eturned to the waves to swim some more
F ell off our surf boards and caught some waves
I ate some pineapple and watermelon and played in the sand
N ibbled on a delicious final Mexican meal
G ot karaoke going to end the night for some final fun

By Leonora and Mhairi