August 2
After Taylor and I landed at Liberia airport, we were able meet a lot of the other people from GLA including some of the mentors. I was happily surprised to find out that a girl in my Sports Service group was from the same town as me, even though I had never met her! Once everyone had arrived at the airport we all took a bus ride to Ecoplaya, our homebase for the trip. The view was always amazing, no matter where we were. After stopping at a supermarket and driving for about one and a half hours we arrived at Ecoplaya, which is spectacular! I didn’t know exactly what to expect since I had only seen pictures, but the pool, thatch roofed dining area, and beautiful palm trees definitely exceeded anything I had imagined. Taylor and I met our other two roommates, Brooke and Abby, who seem super nice! I am so excited for the rest of this trip!
August 3
Today we had orientation and met our family groups/leaders. Since the sports service section is pretty small, we are all in the same family group, and Mateo is our leader. We did a scavenger hunt, but instead of finding items on a list we had to do things like dancing on the beach and jumping into the pool. I can’t wait to see what all the other groups did! Later that night we went to a nearby beach to watch one of the most amazing sunsets I have ever seen!
August 4
Today was filled with adventure! We got an early start to make sure we had time for all of the amazing activities that were in store, including zip lining, horseback riding, and whitewater rafting. Since it was my first time zip lining, I was really nervous at first, but the nerves quickly went away and I had so much fun! Horseback riding was also really fun, especially when we stopped at a cliff and all took turns jumping into the water below. We continued the adventure with rafting. The water was surprisingly cold, but it was great nevertheless.
August 5
Today was our first service day. We began painting the community center and played with the kids who were super friendly! We also got to walk around the community a little bit. We saw some families and a building that a previous GLA group had painted. That night we learned more about Costa Rica and later listened to some scary stories.
