Time Capsule Letter

Hey Session 2 Sea Turtle Initiative Squad! 

Seems like just yesterday we were hanging around in the hammocks at Jason’s place, trudging through the sand at night to protect nesting turtles from poachers, swimming in the waves and waking up to the sounds of birds and rain drops. The Sea Turtle Initiative staff (Allie, Jason, Juliana and Michael) all miss you so much!

We were inspired by each of your positivity, hard work, and dedication to learning and service (even the late-night early-morning yoga turtle egg crew). We hope that your spring break in Costa Rica had a lasting impact on the ways you think about the world and your role in it. We also hope you have shared some of the things you learned with others, specifically about conservation, and the impact humans have on our beautiful planet.

Let’s take this time to remember some moments from our time together.

• Digging for turtle eggs at midnight OR meeting Michelle
• Boys in the lagoon moss
• Werewolf, our favorite game
• Christian saving the spider (with a lil’ help from Juli)
• Ryan and AJ never being allowed to play rap
• Feeding our “pet” bird, Pecko
• Petting Jason’s baby cow
• Making incredibly creative empanadas
• 1 fish 2 fish red fish blue fish
• Seeing 2 sloths and a monkey family on the farm tour
• Amazing food from the sweet kitchen ladies
• Retrieving the Bucket of Dreams & Jenna figuring out the “Leadership” connection
• TRASHKETBALL!!!!
• Dance offs
• Swimming in the waves and that whistle ruining all the fun
• Competing in the Survivor Challenge with a come-from-behind win for Beans!

Thanks for all the incredible memories! Keep exploring and asking questions – we are excited to see all the things you do in the future!

Much love,

Allie, Jason, Juliana, and Michael

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Saturday March 23, 2019

Hello friends and family! We are so excited to have all of our 8 students here in Costa Rica – ready for the Sea Turtle Initiative adventure!

After a long day (or night) of travel, our participants checked in to the hotel and took naps, and then explored the quiet neighborhood of Alajuela. We explored the central plaza, local bookstore and market. After a typical Costa Rican dinner we played some games and went over the schedule for the next day.

This morning our last students arrived and we are headed to spend the morning ziplining before heading to our home base in Parismina! We are so excited for the next week and all the adventures to come.

Pura vida! ✌🏼🌴🐵🐸

– GLA staff Allie, Michael, Juliana and Jason

Sunday March 24, 2018

Today we went on a bus ride to go zip lining through the jungle it was so fun even though we got wet because of the rain also we saw many spiders and a Tapir and it’s baby as well next we took a very long bumpy ride because of the terrible potholes in the road to get to our home base that included a 10 minute boat ride and then we played games had dinner and went over the schedule for the next day

Blog post written by A.J

Monday March 25 and Tuesday March 26, 2019

On Monday had a relaxing morning of yoga, then ate a delicious breakfast. After this we took a nice walk around the farm and sampled the many parts of a coconut fresh from the tree. During the tour we saw two sloths, one of which we were able to see move! After this we took a trip to the lagoon and spent some time in the beach, then having an exciting relay race of which team beans won. A relaxing siesta and lunch with an informative talk about sea turtles and the ASTOP program were then followed up with some group activities and then an amazing night patrol in which another group found a turtle and were able to save the eggs! 

On Tuesday we started with another session of yoga to de stress, and had another filling breakfast before taking a peaceful mindfullness walk and then we were driven to the city of Parismina. Here we walked around the city and took a cooking lesson and learned how to make empinadas, then had a friendly cooking competition in which the beans prevailed one again. After lunch and siesta we partook in a group activity and then went back to the beach and had some more fun in the water, afterwards picking up some trash along the coast. We returned to the home base and ate dinner in preparation for another night patrol! 

Blog by Stevie and Clara 🙂

Wednesday March 27, 2018

On Wednesday after breakfast, we went on a boat tour, where we saw many different types of wildlife, such as spider monkeys, tiger birds, red dart frogs, and many other species. We then went back to the lodge where we had lunch, and a siesta. Afterwards, we had environmental trivia and beach cleanup. Once we got back the lodge, we had a dance lesson where we got to learn how to salsa. We then played a game of werewolf and had dinner. After dinner, we played werewolf several times again and then the first group went out for turtle patrol. While on the patrol, the first group was able to come across a leatherback turtle and later on, the second group also came across a leatherback turtle, which fulfilled the last night of patrol!

Thursday March 28, 2019

We woke up after a fun night of seeing turtles and handling turtle eggs and ate breakfast.  After breakfast we started to plan and get ready to go to the local school in Parismina.  When we went to the school it was really fun because the kids were so excited to play games about recycling with us.  After the school visit we went to ASTOP for lunch and to buy crafts made by people in the town.  It was really hot so we got really good smoothies and walked back to a volleyball court where we played volleyball with the local kids.  Then we went to the beach for the last time and on the drive back to Home Base we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.  There was no night patrol so we sat and enjoyed our last night in Parismina together. 🙂

Friday March 29, 2019

The final day of our trip has finally arrived. The morning was an interesting one, we were woken up by the screeching of a tree full of howler monkeys. Then, we ate a hearty breakfast and packed the remaining bits and pieces of our luggage. Next came the long ride back to our hotel in Alajuela where we’ll spend our last night together and take a look back on all the fun we all had!

Saturday March 30, 2019

After our final night celebrating our past week over pizza and smoothies, the Sea Turtle Initiative crew reflected on our time together with an appreciation circle and last games of werewolf at the hotel in Alajuela. All students are on their way back to the USA!

Staff send our love and appreciation to our students and their families for their support. What an incredible week we had together! PURA VIDA and until next time!

Much love from your program staff,

Allie, Juli, Michael, and Jason

(Included are some photos we didn’t include from earlier the week!)

Time Capsule Letter

Hey Session 1 Sea Turtle Initiative Squad!

Seems like just yesterday we were hanging around in the hammocks at Jason’s place, trudging through the sand at night to protect nesting turtles from poachers, swimming in the waves and waking up to the sounds of birds and rain drops. The Sea Turtle Initiative staff (Allie, Jason, Juliana and Michael) all miss you so much!

As our first group this Spring, we were inspired by each of your positivity, hard work, and dedication to learning and service. We hope that your spring break in Costa Rica had a lasting impact on the ways you think about the world, and your role in it. We also hope you have shared some of the things you learned with others, specifically about conservation, and the impact humans have on our beautiful planet.

Let’s take this time to remember some moments from our time together.

• Zipping through the trees on our first full day together (sorry Sammy ad MK!)
• Singing “Calma” on the bus and never knowing the second line … (“Vamos a la playa…!”)
• Sammy allowing Juliana to dab
• Deep life talks on night patrol
• Playing volleyball and soccer with the local students
• Avi’s nightly schedule overviews in Spanglish
• Checking in on the baby birds each morning
• Pterydactyl!!!!
• Getting up for sunrise in the fog
• Finally getting the plate back from Allie in “one fish two fish red fish blue fish”
• Making bracelets that all fell off…. Oops
• Morning yoga crew!
• Meaningful breakfast chats
• Lining up in the waves and seeing who could stay put the longest
• Swinging too hard in the hammocks
• Making a pyramid on the beach
• Dance party at the eco lodge
• Road trip sing-alongs
• Our emotional final appreciation circle and celebrating Colin’s Birthday!

Thanks for all the incredible memories! Keep exploring and asking questions – we are excited to see all the things you do in the future!

Much love,
Allie, Jason, Juliana, and Michael

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Saturday March 9, 2018

Hola from Costa Rica!

We had a full day of student arrivals to start off The Sea Turtle Initiative program.

11 of our 13 program participants have arrived, and spent the day getting settled and exploring the town of Alajuela, a quiet town outside of San Jose. As it was Saturday, the town plaza was buzzing with excitement; dancers and families enjoying the weekend, and we had a chance to explore the local market as well!

We are looking forward to getting to know all of the program participants, and for an incredible week exploring Costa Rica! Tomorrow we will head to our home base on the Caribbean coast, and stop along the way to zip through the trees at our zip line tour!

Below are some pictures of the group!

Not pictured is Estelle (who arrived late tonight), Samantha and Mary Catherine who will be arriving tomorrow. We look forward to having the entire group together soon. 

Pura Vida!

International Director – Allie Morris

Sunday March 10, 2019

Hola de Costa Rica!

This morning we had breakfast at the hotel, Pacande. Which included cereal, bread and fruit. Next, we headed towards the zipline. Starting with instructions and bus rides prior to heading on the ziplines. Seven of the lines were smaller, meaning they weren’t as long, while four were larger, the largest being 720 m (1 minute long).

It was wicked! After the ziplines we went to our buffet style lunch, which was ¡muy delicioso!. Then we drove another hour and a half to stop at a local grocery store to get some snacks for the rest of the road trip to Parismina. We then drove past lots of banana plantations to reach our final bus stop in Parismina; followed by a boat trip to reach our home base for the next few days.

~Las tortugas (The Turtles)
Soe, James, Grace, and Austin

Monday March 11, 2018

Today we began our day with the first breakfast at our home base muy delicioso. Jason then gave us a tour of the farm and property. Students also got chances to cut open and try the very good and healthy vegetation that is grown on the property.

It was very educational and yummy. Upon finishing our tour we then took an important lesson on voluntarism and the both good an bad sides to it. As well as the social media aspect-in particular appropriate postings and captions, as well as asking for consent. We then enjoyed a very delicious lunch and spent good social time together.

Later we took a scenic walk to the beach where we swam in the lagoon taking our swimming tests and played fun games in the water. Next Micheal put together a very fun survivor themed game for us where we split into two teams beans and rice, rice won. After returning to home base we enjoyed a delicious dinner and then played some fun group games. We concluded our day with our first night patrol on the beach.

-written by James Kurth

Tuesday March 12, 2019

¡Hola de Costa Rica!

Our day revolved around home base today. Breakfast was served with sweet fried dough, watermelon, and cantaloupe. After breakfast Jason took us on a boat tour of the mangroves. In the mangroves we saw spider monkeys, howler monkeys, white faced monkeys, lots of iguanas, and various birds.

We truly saw it all! We even docked ashore to see a red blue jean poisonous dart frog! After the tour we returned home to the beach; full of sunbathing, and of course, SERVICE! Yay! The beach desperately needed our help, as we helped clean up trash in the surrounding area. The day finished off was some salsa and other native Costa Rican dances. Everyone was swaying their hips and grooving to the music!

Yours Truly,
Los Tortuguas (grace)

Wednesday March 13, 2018

Today in Costa Rica the group of students and staff all had breakfast at GLA headquarters. For breakfast we had eggs, rice and beans, and a variety of fruits that include fresh watermelon and cantaloupe. Then we ventured off into the jungle towards our ride to go into wonderful town of Parismina. Once we got into Parismina we waited for our sea turtle mentor to teach us all about the different species of sea turtles they get here in Parismina. We have the green sea turtles, leatherback sea turtles, and hawkbill turtles.

We learned so much about these three sea turtles, and it was very fascinating. After the lesson we took a tour of Parismina. We saw different schools, ate fresh frozen chocolate bananas, and had fresh fruit smoothies which were THE BOMB!! After the tour of the village we took a nice ride all the way back to headquarters. When we got back to headquarters we had rice and beans, beef and vegetables, vegetable dish just like the beef and vegetables but just veggies, and mango and cantaloupe.

After lunch we had a siesta for an hour then we did a trash activity with the trash we found from yesterday’s beach cleanup. The trash activity was where you had to build something that can be reusable and you have to do a 2-5 min jingle for your product. The judges would rate you on humor, creativity, trashed reused. After the activity we went to the beach and swam around for an hour and a half and then cleaned up the beach again. After the cleanup we came back and waited for dinner to be made by our wonderful chefs.

At the chow circle we talked about what we would be doing for the next day. After dinner we waited to go on our night patrol. While we waited we talked about activities we were going to do for tomorrow. At 8 o’clock pm we went on our night walk until 10:30pm. We got back to the lodge and got ready for bed so we could have a great next day.

Adios from Costa Rica!!!!

-written by Austin

Saturday March 16, 2019

What a crazy past couple days to finish up our Sea Turtle Initiative adventure!

The last day of the program, we woke up early to do some yoga, and then walked into town to learn how to make tortillas and arepas (yum!). After our cooking class and snack we headed to the local elementary school where we taught the students there some games based on turtle conservation, danced, and many kids lined up to have their faces painted with hearts (a trend started by Austin).

After time at the school we attended a local craft market that locals put on especially for GLA students, and picked up some local souvenirs that support the organization of ASTOP and community members. Finally we ended the day with smoothies, soccer and volleyball with locals, and our last hour at the beach as the sun set.

In the evening, we were all exhausted for our last night patrol, and though we didn’t see a turtle we had great conversations along the way. 🙂

The next morning, some of us woke up early for a foggy, drizzly sunrise. After napping in the hammocks, we packed our bags and jumped back on the boat and then bus to make our way to San Jose, where the journey began. After taking lots of photos and eating our last Costa Rican meal, we shared highlights and lessons learned from the trip, which almost brought some to tears. We surprised Collin with an ice cream party for his birthday, and spent time together signing journals before heading to bed.

Today all the students flew back to their homes. What an incredible group of young people! GLA staff Allie, Juliana, Michael, and Jason were all sad to say goodbye. We will miss you all. Thank you for a fun, meaningful and life changing session!

PURA VIDA 💓