Greene Hill School Costa Rica 2018

We hope you’ re having a lovely time back in New York and that the weather’s nice of course, it cant be as nice as Costa Rican weather, sorry! Our plane flight to Atlanta was comfortable if slightly delayed- most of us were able to catch up on much needed sleep. We made our connection easily, grabbed food in the Atlanta airport food court and boarded our longer flight to San José. After we landing were bombarded by the overwhelming humidity. However, the beautiful views made up for it two-fold. We quickly met Chalo, Global Works tour guide. We boarded our bus and drove to the Costa Verde Inn. The hotel was beautiful with a fantastic pool that we immediately jumped into. Unfortunately it began raining quickly afterwords and we were able to relax the rest of the night.

As it got later, people grew hungrier and hungrier. What was marketed as a short walk to a local restaurant became a stroll through the town. At the restaurant, everyone was eager to drink water and frozen pineapple juice as we waited for our food: rice, beans, plantains, and your choice of protein. After a dinner that very much lived up to our expectations as our first meal in Costa Rica.We hopped into cabs and drove back to the inn. Everyone fell asleep quickly after that.

On our first morning in Costa Rica, due to the time difference, many of us were up before 6: 00 am. We arrived at the Farm Finca Doña Rosa at 9: 30 and got a tour of the medicinal plants, animals, fruits, trapiche sugar cane juicing facility and coffee processing. Between the trapiche and coffee we had an amazing lunch courtesy of the family that owned the farm

At around 3:00 we packed back into the bus and explored our first Costa Rican supermarket and loaded up on treats. We drove to our home for the rest of the trip, an hour and a half drive from the farm. This hotel was significantly less glamorous than the first one, but we are immersed much deeper in nature. We even saw a toucan! We ate a simple dinner, hung out finished the evening off with an animated game hour. See you Saturday!

Pura vida,

Oona & Stella

Today was fun. We all woke up at 5:30 after a night of relaxation. Some of us went running at 6:00 for about 30 minutes. They went up to a river and then back down to a bridge from there they walked up the river back to our lodge. Breakfast was good too.  There was eggs, rice and beans, tortillas, sour cream, coffee and hot chocolate.
After that we split into three groups to plant trees, plant raspberries, and paint rocks.  It was hard work, even more so with the heat and humidity. The next thing on the schedule was lunch which was delicious. We had this all veggie plate, with rice, beans, salad, and this green bean egg thingy. we were going to be in our rooms to rest, but, things changed and some of the boys built a bridge across the creek . We got pasta, tomato sauce (from the garden) , ground beef , and toast. It was very good!

More photos coming soon!

In the morning a group of students went on a run to a river at 6:00 am . Then after breakfast we took a bus to a town called Fresh Winds. We helped build a greenhouse and helped fertilize coffee plants. We met local students at a community center in a farm. In the community center we played games and ate a traditional lunch. The ” almuerzo en hoja” was great and delicious! Then we went on a walk do a viewpoint in the area. After we completed the hike we took a bus to a soccer field. A group of students went fishing while others played soccer. For dinner we ate the caught fish. We went back to our cabins at 9 pm.

Pura vida,

Celia & Rafael

We woke up with the rooster, had breakfast, and got on the bus at 6:45 (too early!). We took a four hour bus ride to Volcan Irazu. it was very pretty and we got some volcanic rocks which were very light. Then we went to lunch at a beautiful restaurant near the water . After we ate we went to the river bank and climbed trees. We got back on the bus and napped on the long ride back. We made home-made pizza with our Costa Rican friends, listened to music, and played soccer. After a long day everyone went right to sleep.

Pura vida,
Caleb and Tyler