An Adventure in Costa Rica

 

Our adventure in Costa Rica began in San Jose. First, we met our tour guide and companion, who eventually became our friend, Pedro and then we travelled to the hotel. The first day in Costa Rica was really cool. We had our first traditional breakfast, our first but certainly not our last plate of rice and beans. We went to Poás Volcano and it was amazing. We started recording our music video that we were creating as a group showing all our great memories and the fun. Everything we learned about the volcano and the culture of this beautiful country was very interesting. 

 

We started our work the next day, we went arrived in La Carpio. We met nice people who let us into their homes and taught us how to mix cement and build roads. With their help, we built sidewalks. After building the sidewalks, we left tired, hot and sweaty, full of dirt and cement. It was all worth it though because everyone felt good about helping the community and those that needed us. La Carpio was the first place where we started bonding and getting to know each other.    

 

Our next stop was a little village in the middle of the jungle, Yorkin - a small quiet village that was filled with hard workers. We spent four days in Yorkin where we helped the community build more roofs out of palm leaves for their homes. We also spend a muddy morning out fetching the leaves and sticks needed to build the roves. On one rainy evening a bridge fell and so we went over to help fix  what we could. 

 

Aside from the work we also had much time to play and relax and formed new friendships. Some of the things we did we're play soccer with the local kids, swim (and cross over into Panama!) we also joined some local children while swimming.  Most of our free time however we spent together playing card games or other games such as Mafia, human knot, 3 round noun, and some of B’ riddles. 

 

Our days were filled with happy thoughts work and laughter, but as soon as darkness fell the battle began. A scream from here, a shout from there, the boys running out of the room screaming “ It's a scorpion!”. Most the time it was just a cockroach or a giant spider though. At one point Colin just started teasing us by holding his hand out closed so that it looked like there was something in it, but there wasn't. Overall, I think that we can agree that Yorkin  was the best place of the trip. 

 

 After 4 days in Yorkin, we went to Nuevo Pacuane. This is the place where we were going to save the sea turtles. We woke up early every morning and went to the school by boat. We carried the sand and made more cement. Everyone was tired and we all worked our hardest to help with the school. During our breaks, the local people offered us delicious fresh coconut milk, coconut, watermelon and pineapple. They also had a dog that loved to play soccer. After lunch we went to the rescue center. We dug a giant 100m hole on the beach as a new hatchery. Along with the work, we obviously played. We through the sand at each other, laughed with each other, and filmed more of the music video. After we finished the work, we went back to our rooms and relaxed on the hammocks. Some read books others slept. At night we played card games, mafia, and went stargazing because there was so little light pollution at Tortuga Feliz. 

 

After 3 nights at Nuevo Pacuan, we went to Puerto Viejo and relaxed on the beach and enjoyed the moment. We swam in the sea, lay in the sun, and made sand castles. After the beach day we left for ziplining. We ziplined through the rainforest, over rivers, and through the rain. Everyone had a blast and we enjoyed the casual screams of the howler monkeys. After changing out of our wet clothes we drove back to San Jose. the next morning we woke up at 4:30am and drove to the airport. Outside the airport we said our goodbyes to our new friend Pedro, and waved goodbye to the beautiful country of Costa Rica.