Costa Rica 2019

This morning at around 8 am, we all got up to eat a hearty breakfast that consisted of eggs, fruit, pancakes, meat, beans, and rice. After a few delays, at around 10:30 am we left to go to our hike. While on the trail, we hiked to volcanoes, a waterfall, and and a lagoon. We saw monkeys and other wildlife like butterflies and spiders. Then we arrived back at our hotel and had free time: some people went to swim in the pool, some people hung out at the hammocks near the pool, and some people chilled inside their rooms. Then later, some people went to play cards games. Then we ate dinner at around 6:30 pm: we ate hamburgers, nachos, quesadillas, sandwich’s, etc. Then for the rest of the night, we rested and got ready to leave Costa Rica ¡Pura Vida! - Justine Lee

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

Today we had breakfast around 6:45 am and left to drive to el bosque nuboso (the cloud forest), which had hanging bridges and wildlife. They had a hummingbird sanctuary and we were able to get many hummingbirds to land on our finger. Then we walked over 8 hanging bridges.  Afterwards we drove to Samara, stopping for lunch on the way, and in samara we arrived at the school for orientation and met our host families. We drove to our new homes and our host families cooked us dinner (each family cooked something different for everyone). After dinner and talking to the host families we walked back to school to take an hour dance lesson. afterwards we walked back to our homes and said buenas noches.

Hola padres de chicos en Costa Rica!!! Sooo we started the day by eating breakfast with our host moms, which consisted of bread, cereal, eggs, juice, and other foods. We then went to the school at the bright and early time of 7 am (yay) and got tested in Spanish with the other kids from all over the world at the school. After a 4 hour Spanish class, we went to lunch, where people had burgers and fries, as well as traditional Costa Rican casados (beans, rice, meat, vegetables, salad, fried plantains). After that, we gloriously drank the water of la playa (the beach) while attempting to surf!! While some of us were riding the waves, the rest of us burned our eyes with salt water. After rinsing off and eating dinner with our host families, we came to the school and made traditional Spanish dessert, which many said tasted like ethnic hush puppies. We finished the night off with our host families and are resting up for an exciting day tomorrow!!!  - Shruthi Sriram ...

On the bus with driver, Jerry.  Before the boat ride on Lake Arenal.  Coffee tour.  Making sugarcane juice.  Cheers

¡Pura vida!  Today was another wonderful day here in Costa Rica! After a day of hot springs and gorgeous natural rivers, we traded the warm atmosphere of La Fortuna for the cool mountains of Monteverde. With bellies filled with delicious handmade breakfast, we embarked on a short drive to a beautiful lake, which we sailed over smoothly by boat with a picturesque view of the natural beauty of the country as well as one of a nearby volcano.  Driving followed our time on the water, but we soon found ourselves at Don Juan, a coffee plantation. We learned much about the complex process coffee undergoes from plant to cup, in addition to the other crops grown at the plantation as well, chocolate and sugar cane. Many taste tests were in order and none failed to impress our group of thoughtful and food driven girls.  After arriving at the new hotel, we went on a night hike and saw a lot of wildlife native to Costa Rica, including sloths and green vipers. Dinner soon followed our h...

After a busy day traveling, we finally got to exploring the beautiful city of Fortuna.  The day started with some amazing breakfast of eggs, beans, rice, along with fresh fruit to feed us for our first destination: Arenal National Park. But of course, we did have to make a stop to pet the hotel dog, Bruno  😍 We got to visit, explore, and swim in Costa Rica’s only river that was naturally heated by the volcano (we got to see this volcano later on the day while walking to lunch).  After such a refreshing and warm swim, we had an amazing lunch, where we tried so many different and fun drinks: guava juice, piña coladas, and many more freshly squeezed juices.  Then, we got to do some exploring of the city which included souvenir shopping, taking pictures of the beautiful city, and even napping back at the hotel. After getting some time to chill, we headed over to another water themed activity- Baldi. This amazing resort was filled with jacuzzis, water s...

Our first meal in Costa Rica! We stopped on the way to our hotel to eat dinner and found out about "casado" (married), one of the most common meals you'll find: rice, black beans, plantains, salad, and chicken/beef/pork/fish or cheese. Check out these pictures!

After having to de-board our original flight, getting rerouted on a different airline, then being told that the original flight was back in play, we eventually made it to LAX. There, we had time for lunch and have landed in Liberia. Off to the mountains.

And we are off - 11 students and 2 Chaperones.