Costa Rica 2019

My name is Alisa and today I’m writing on our blog. Today in Costa Rica, we woke up bright and early and left our homestay families in Samara with a promise to come back. After sitting in the bus for a long 2 and a half hours, we arrived at a quaint little pace that housed a canyon full of adventures. We started off our busy day with a ziplining tour of the beautiful canyon, and then moving on to tubing in the river right below us. Tubing was exhilarating and exciting, one of my favorite parts of the day. When tubing regretfully came to an end, we relaxed in the hot springs in that same area, and even got slathered with warm mud to help our skin. After our intense day that ended with a relaxing experience, we arrived at our hotel that came with beautiful scenery of plants. We ate a hearty dinner, with some people eating sandwiches or burgers, others eating quesadillas, and a couple people enjoying pasta. When we finished our dinner, we headed back to our rooms to rest up for the next b...

After enjoying dinner with our tica families we returned back to school to watch a movie. We ate popcorn and drank blueberry juice (a new drink for many of us). Technical difficulties are an universal problem and it took a while to get the movie going. The movie was called El Baño de Papa. It took place in Uruguay and was about a village preparing for the pope’s visit and ways they could make money from all the visitors. We didn’t finish the movie because we all were tired and ready to go to sleep. Buenas noches! -Fiona Reyes

Today’s activity was a canopy tour a.k.a zip lining! We took a short drive up to the forest area and began our adventure. We had to go in two groups so that everyone could fit on the platforms. The tours consisted of walking on some hanging bridges, zip lining from platform to platform, stopping at a big platform (with an amazing view of the ocean) to have some fresh fruit and cookies, and sliding down ropes upside down! Group 1 had two amazing guides: one was named Freddie and it was his 50th birthday. During our snack break we made a new friend-he was a part of the Costa Rican raccoon family called a “coati”. He was very friendly and loved to eat cookies and pineapples. Apparently there are multiple coatis that come for snacks and they are picky - some like watermelon, some only lime pineapple, some don’t, etc. After two nights of rain the clouds have cleared up meaning blue skies and beautiful views. However without the clouds it is much hotter outside. Luckily the class...

¡Hola Parents! My name is Maddi Wong and it’s my turn to blog!!! After a long night of rain, lightning, and thunder, we woke up to nice cloudy, yet humid weather. After a nice hearty breakfast with our host families, we headed back to Intercultura Spanish School for another 4 hour lesson. The classes may seem long but they are tons of fun! After a morning of classes, we headed off to enjoy a delicious lunch by the beach at a restaurant called Ancia. We were served refreshing watermelon and pinapple batidos (slushy like drinks). Soon after lunch, we packed our stuff and prepared for the afternoon activity: kayaking! We were paired up, packed our things, and headed off to the beach. When we got to the beach, we kayaked to Isla Chora, a small island off the coast of the Samara Beach. At Isla Chora, we learned about the nature on the island and the environmental impacts on coral. After an educational lesson, we hung out on the beach, building sand castles, eating refreshing pineapple and w...

After a long morning on the ocean, we returned to the intercultura school for our afternoon classes. After our lessons, we walked around and saw some local jewelry stands before going back to our tica families for dinner. It started raining a little, and as we headed to our evening yoga class, it became more and more of a shower. However, as we did our yoga, we were able to relax and stretch to the sound of the crashing waves and the pattering of the rain, getting us relaxed and calm for a good night’s sleep! - Hana Agueros

This morning, we all gathered at the intercultura school before heading to the beach to do some dolphin watching. After a short car ride, we went on a little boat and rode into the ocean. The first thing we saw were whales! There was a mama whale and her little baby calf swimming along. We were also able to see a pod of dolphins frolicking around; some of them jumped up so high that they were completely out of the water! As we were heading back, we saw three sea turtles as well. The animals were really cool and being on the open ocean was an amazing experience!  - Hana Agueros