Thanks for the checking out the blog for this Global Leadership Adventures program!
Here are a few things to know and expect:
- Blog posts are written by onsite program staff and/or students and sent to our Headquarters team who will post the blog on this page.
- We typically receive 2-3 blog updates per week from each program, so please don’t be alarmed if you don’t see a blog post every day – that’s totally normal.
- Blog updates received late in the evening or overnight will be posted the following day.
- Blog updates received on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
- Due to many factors such as internet accessibility, program staff aren’t always able to send photos, so some blog posts may contain text only.
Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we hope you enjoy following along on these unforgettable adventures.
For frequently asked questions about the blogs, please visit our Program Blog FAQ page.
-The Global Leadership Adventures HQ Team
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BLOG POST FOR JUNE 9
Hola de Paraíso!
We had a great day exploring Paraiso, our home in Costa Rica for the next two weeks! After picking up the students that arrived today, we spent the afternoon getting settled, playing games and preparing for the two weeks ahead! We enjoyed typical Costa Rican meals and are heading to bed to get some sleep after a long travel day. At the time of this writing on Monday evening, Addie and Kaylani are arriving in a few hours – we can’t wait to meet them!
Hasta Manana,
Julianne and Leo
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 10
Written by: Oyinda Emuleomo and Julie Aneja
To kick off our first day in beautiful Costa Rica, we ate fresh fruit and prensadas, a typical breakfast item in Costa Rica which is a tortilla filled with cheese and eggs. Then we started Orientation and got to know each other better with games and icebreakers and established our house rules. After breakfast, we walked to a nearby park where there were many vendors with jewelry, food, crafts, and clothing. After returning to home base, we finished up our orientation and then we ate lunch.
After lunch, Juanca came to train us for our vision screening tests we will be performing the next few days on students at a nearby elementary school. We learned how to set up the room, and key phrases we will need to communicate with the students. Following this, we bonded over a game of ‘Catchphrase’ and waited for our bus to take us to Las Brujas, a soccer field that one of our staff owns. We played a game against the locals and split up into two teams, Puma FC and The Celtics. Puma FC won the game with 7 goals against 2 from The Celtics.
We drove back to home base, and all took well-earned showers and ate dinner which was pasta with cheese or red sauce and garlic bread. We reflected on our time here afterwards and thought about what it would be like to go without our phones for majority of the day. We ended the day excited to make many new friends tomorrow and make an impact on the community. We also can’t wait to put on our dance shoes for our Zumba class tomorrow! What a fantastic first day!
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 11
Today we had an early wake up call, to ensure that we arrived on time to help elementary students with vision screening tests. It was a productive session where we screened 80 students and 20 of them will get glasses with their choice of frames delivered to their school. We practiced our Spanish conversation skills and played with the students during recess.
After three hours of hard work, we rested at home base and reflected on how we could improve our Spanish speaking skills for the following days. A few people went on a run around the park down the street. We headed out for our activity, a dance class featuring multiple types of local dances. After that we got a treat at a local ice cream shop. We returned home to eat dinner and rest from a long, active day.
-London and Ali
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 12
Today was a day full of activities, helping others, and exploring. We started the day with a yummy pancake breakfast and mangos before we headed out to the school. When we arrived we set up the vision screenings and prepared for the students. Because we had younger students today, we had to teach the children different hand signals in substitution of the alphabet. They adapted quickly, and we all improved in our Spanish as we had to explain the directions in Spanish. During the break we enjoyed playing red light green light with the kids as they all got their energy out. After another round of vision tests and play time, we headed back to home base, had lunch, and got ready for our next activity.
Our second activity was visiting a haunted sanatorium created by Doctor Duran. He created this hospital in 1918 for his daughter that suffered from Tuberculosis as he wanted a better way to treat these patients in isolation. As of 1973 it has been abandoned and a tourist attraction since. It was interesting to see all of the different rooms knowing the history behind it all making it perhaps a bit spooky. After exploring for about a hour, we visited a Walmart on the drive back to get snacks and craft activities.
Throughout the day, we exercised our leadership skills through goal setting and journaling and further expanding our knowledge on TB. These activities were helpful because we got to reflect individually and as a group especially when it came to goal setting. We ended the night with dinner which was a soup with a side of jack fruit and mango. We are looking forward to doing the vision tests and playing with the kids tomorrow!
– Olivia and Laila
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 13
Day 5 in Costa Rica! We started off the day bright and early at 6:30 am for breakfast, which included banana bread, fresh fruit, and yogurt. We then headed off to day three of the vision screenings at the school. After testing and doing Matt’s (our photographer’s) interviews, we were rewarded with ice cream and smoothies.
At around 12:30, we headed back to homebase for a lunch consisting of bbq ham, pineapples, and salad. Directly after lunch, we wrote out some questions for our guest speak who is a lawyer, social activist, and is involved in the wellbeing of Costa Rica’s elderly community.
After that, we took a long much-needed break and prepared ourselves for the cooking class . We then tried our hand at making jelly empanadas, and it was pretty epic. Matt left us after class for a new adventure in San Jose [he will be missed 🙁 ].
After, our leaders of the day (us) led the group in a very wonderful activity that had everybody at the edge of their seats. We ended the night with a dinner of traditional tortilla chicken soup and rice pudding.
And that was it! 🙂
Adios muchachos!
-Addie and Camilla
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 14
Written by Mia and Livia
Have you ever flown across the mountains held by nothing but a rope?
Well, that’s what GLA Costa Rica did today! We started the morning with a scrumptious French toast and fruit breakfast before heading to La Carpintera mountains, about 30 minutes from our home base, where we conquered a 20-minute hike up ALL STAIRS, thirteen ziplines, and two thrilling free falls. It was exhilarating!
Later today, we headed to a serene park called Laguna de Doña Ana, where we had a traditional Costa Rican picnic lunch. We beat the downpour and could play field games like volleyball, soccer, and even jump rope! Finally, we headed to our home base for dinner and a leadership activity.
We can’t wait for tomorrow!
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 15
Today was quite an adventure! We woke up and had a delicious breakfast- empanadas. We set out on our journey and started off hiking by Turrialba, an active volcano that erupted in 2012. This was a very steep and intense hike; however, we got to hike in the clouds and saw breath-taking views. After the hike we got back and had a filling lunch which was chicken and rice. This gave us more energy to move on to our 2nd task of the day, which was to prepare for a dental campaign where we were divided into groups to do a skit or a song on the importance of dental hygiene. We came up with creative and fun skits about dental care. Which will later be performed to elementary kids, where the goal is to instill enthusiasm in the kids.
After we headed to a scenic lookout/park called Orosi. The view of the lookout was spectacular, and you could see the whole city and a valley where there was a river that provides water and electricity for the major cities of Costa Rica. We had a pit-stop to Walmart to pick up a few necessities for the Dental Campaigns. After the pit-stop we finished the Dental Campaigns. After a long hard-working day, we had dinner and ended this eventful and busy day with a relaxing game of Pictionary. This was a fun game and a great way to end the day!
-Kaylani and Iman
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 16
Written by Oyinda and Julie
This morning, we had bread rolls and fruit for breakfast at 9:00 AM. 30 minutes later, we departed to Loyola, the school that we volunteer at, to finish up the remaining vision screenings and performed our skits/song to the students about the importance of brushing your teeth. We ended up staying there until around 2:30 PM, and afterwards, we headed back to home base for lunch because we were all starving.
We had some free time before our guest speaker, Dr. Melissa, came to talk to us about the difference between public and private healthcare. We learned a lot from her and now have a much better understanding of healthcare in Costa Rica compared to the healthcare system in the United States. We also learned about some of the physical therapy exercises we will be helping with at the elderly care center tomorrow and Wednesday.
After that, we ate dinner, which was traditional Costa Rican food, like tacos. We were supposed to debate public and private healthcare but were so exhausted after our long day that we made a group decision to move it to tomorrow. We practiced different kinds of dual exercises and went over the phrases we will need to communicate with the elderly that we’re working with. Lastly, we had mentor groups where we talked more about how healthcare is different based on different aspects of your identity in the United States versus in Costa Rica. We are so excited to visit the elderly care center and apply all the new things we have learned.
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 17
Today marked a milestone in this GLA program, having our first senior living visit. Waking up early, we set out to give physical tests to the elderly to determine their risk of falling over. Proceeding with tests such as standing in certain ways and walking four meters as fast as possible. Another brain stimulating activity we did was having the elders do certain movements that challenged them.
After the senior visit we got back to homebase, ate lunch, and set out to leave for the national museum of San Jose. Some things inside the museum included a butterfly garden, and remains of the army’s equipment. After the museum we walked around downtown San Jose, went to local bakeries, and went to the market to shop for souvenirs. We came back home and played an exhilarating game of charades and then a few of us learned how to do sutures.
– Mia and Ali
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 18
By Addie and Iman
Hola amigas! Welcome to day 10 of our Costa Rican adventure! Today we started off the morning at 8 am with delicious oatmeal with fruit, and bread. Then we headed over to the elderly center for our last day of service for this trip! It was a wonderful end to service, filled with laughter, games, and bonding with the senior citizens. We then headed back home around 12 pm for lunch which included meatballs, mashed potatoes, and veggies. Yum!
At around 1:30 pm we headed into the heat of Cartago for a guided walking tour by our very own Jaun Carlos! We visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Angels, which is the largest church in Costa Rica, and went on other fascinating adventure afterwards. This included a museum tour of Cartago Municipal and a quick tour of the famous Cartago Ruins. In the middle of these tours, we initiated a quick scavenger hunt inside Cartago Municipal Market. We ended off tis tour with some delicious ice cream that store was founded in 1948!
After this adventure, we came back home for a (classy) debate! We had 2 teams of 2, debate the pros and cons of the Private and Public Healthcare systems n Costa Rica. So informative and a lot of fun! We ended the night with dinner at 6:30 pm and packed for our beach excursion that takes place tomorrow and Friday. Well, that’s it! Can’t wait to see you tomorrow with a blog after a super fun day at the beach!
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 19
Yesterday was a day filled with lots of travel and good eats! We started off the day with th yummy pancake breakfast at the home base and then made the four hour journey to Uvitas-making time for extra stops for snacks and candy. When we arrived we had lunch near the hotel from a cute resturant.
Once we checked into the hotel, we unpacked and did a swim test before heading to the waterfall. The waterfall was beautiful and we all swam in the cold water for about an hour and a half before hiking back up the hill to get ready for dinner. We enjoyed a pasta dinner and then hit the supermarket for some late night snacks before going back to the hotel and doing a fun game. Lastly, we all went to our rooms to go to sleep, excited for the next beach day.
– Liv and Laila
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 20
Today we visited the beach, participated in a surfing lesson, saw an amazing view of from Uvita Perdida, and had delicious pizza for dinner. Although the tide was high in the morning, resulting in almost no beach, we still had fun playing in the water and going to the pool after. Some even collected sand dollars. We returned to the beach after lunch and learned to surf. After surfing class we played some games on the beach before going back to the hotel, taking showers in record time and going to a viewpoint before dinner.
London and Kaylani
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 21
We had a great last day in Costa Rica. After breakfast we headed back to Cartago to do one final leadership activity and celebrate an amazing two weeks. We ended the night with a dance party and roasting marshmallows. This was an amazing group of students and they will truly be missed.
Julianne and Leo
