Vistamar Costa Rica 2023

April 9, 2023

We arrived at the airport late on Saturday night. Eventful flight, got no sleep but saw lightning in the clouds in our way! Then we landed in Costa Rica at 5 am with the rising sun. We met our counselors, Chalo and Lauren, and hopped on an hour long bus ride for breakfast.  Seeing all the flowers and butterflies in the gardens outside the restaurant was great! After breakfast, we hopped back into the bus at 8 am. We then traveled another hour and a half to a dairy farm. At the farm we learned about self-sustaining agricultural practices and we made cheese and ate lunch. We left the farm around 1:30 PM to head to our hotel in the rainforest to relax for the rest of the afternoon. We got into our lodges, hopped into the pool, did some fun activities, ate dinner, and then went to bed early for a good nights sleep for the days ahead.
Pura vida!
PS. We were very tired when we wrote this so we apologize for any grammar mistakes or whatever else. But we are going to have a great trip😁

-By Lucas & Cameron

April 10, 2023

Today we woke up at the nature lodge at 6:00 am to pack and get ready to go to our host families. We saw a sloth and ate a breakfast full of eggs, beans, fruit, toast, and plantains. Then we arrived in our host family community where we had an orientation and a meet-and-greet with our home stay families. We ate lunch made by our host families, got a tour of the town, and got some delicious lime plantain chips from the market. Next we drove to the animal sanctuary, where our new friend Carlos showed us the animals and taught how to feed them. There we also had some delicious cookies and lemonade. Then we took a group picture and drove back to the community. We got salsa lessons and Lucas and Cameron killed it on the dance floor. Afterwards we were exhausted and headed to our new homes. Devyn and Alicia tried to watch a movie with their host mom, but due to being lost in translation it was difficult to pick a movie. After a long day it was time for bed because tomorrow we have another big day, this time doing service projects.

-By Devyn M., Sammie F., Alicia H., Lucas A., Cameron H.

April 11, 2023

Today we woke up bright and early to get ready to start our service projects! We split into three groups to do painting, build a restroom in the local school, and build a safe walking path to the church. It was hard work but a lot of fun! After lunch we went to the school and played some fun games with the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders only some of us got soaked with water. After that, we continued our work, getting ready to make tortillas. Together we gathered with our host families and made some delicious tortillas filled with avocado, ham, cheese, and natilla. After eating them, we went to our host families’ homes and had dinner. It was a successful first service day! P.S. painting the fence did not teach Carson karate.

-By Kara, Carson, Owen

April 12, 2023
Today we ate a typical Costa Rican breakfast with our host families. Then we met up at the salón comunal to finish our service work! We broke off again into three groups, for the different service projects across El Futuro. We had lunch with our host families and we played fun games.

In the afternoon, we wrapped up our projects and went back home with our host families. We rested and got ready for our going away fiesta. We had a water balloon fight and ate delicious arroz con pollo cooked by the Araya family. We played bingo, won some prizes, and exchanged gifts with our host families. We went back home and rested later on in the night and packed our bags!

– By Elian, Angela, Allison, Chloe

April 13, 2023

Today was a great day in Costa Rica even though it started out with our bitter sweet good bye to our host families! We are so grateful for the amazing experience we had with them, which we will always remember and cherish.

After that we ventured to our excursion, zip lining. We had to take a gondola all the way up to the top of the mountain. We then went down a series of 7 zip lines to get back down to the bus. The longest line was 1/2 a mile long!

After that we had a delish lunch that consisted of smoothies, burgers, pizza, and sushi. Which was then followed with exploring the near by town, La fortuna. We were able to buy souvenirs.

This took us to our three hour bus ride to our new hotel, Casa Cielo Grande where we had a delicious dinner of various meats, Tortillas and rice.

Today was an amazing way to end our last full day. We are so sad we have to leave tomorrow, but had an amazing experience.

By: Holland, Omera, Arielle