Doesn’t it seem like yesterday that we were hanging out in the treehouse, playing
with Costa Rican children, and eating rice and beans for every meal? We can’t
believe it’s been so long since our Costa Rica trip ended but you are still on our
minds and we have such fond memories of our time together this summer.

Our time spend in the schools really did make an impact. You brought joy to so many
children with your smiles, games, and the lasting impact of your hard work in the
gardens. We learned from one another practicing our Spanish and helping them
learn English. At Santa Teresa Norte Tiffany, Carolina, Julia M., Stella, Elizabeth,
Megan, Brooke, and Ammar did a phenomenal job clearing out the garden,
preparing it for it’s new crops. We also spent time in the classrooms teaching the
students English through activities and games.

Santa Teresa Sur is slowly but surely getting their greenhouse and our director is so
so happy to have a beautiful bright view from her window. The kids loved having
Eunice, Rachel, Jimena, Caroline, Daley, Parker, Lucia, Eva, Viviana, Anna, and
Brandon at their school! Remember our last day of musical chairs and taking like a
bazillion pictures with all the children? Who cried?! It was such a lovely experience
to spend time with them and see how happy they are with the littlest hug or
affection.

Thanks to Sophie, Michaela, Christina, Madison, Maggie, Morgan, Alex, Meghan, Julia
B., Grace, and Francesca, Bellavista the 6 th grade kids can spell every word in the
Cambridge dictionary and the little ones are still dancing along the creepy guy tunes.
All the children are wearing your friendship bracelets and Froilan is keeping his
promise of love to Julia. The bean plants were replanted and are feeding the kids at
the cantine.

Thank you all for sharing your time and positive energy with the Costa Rican
children and us! We hope that this experience also impacted you and that you reflect
on how you can bring the lessons you learned about yourself and the world around
you into your community and carry them with you for the rest of your life!

You were a great group and we are so happy that each one of you decided to join us
for a wonderful two weeks. You are all incredible individuals and you each brought
a unique energy and perspective to our program. You quickly became friends and
we had so much fun together! We kicked off our time together picking our favorite
pineapples and viewing Costa Rican wildlife on our river rafting tour. We relaxed at
hotsprings and learned how to dance bachata and the swing criollo. We had an
action-packed day horseback riding and zipling and some of us even saw sloths! We
all had a great time together and made some memories that will last a lifetime.
Thank you for sharing such a wonderful summer with us!

Some special moments from our trip:
 Running in the mornings with Carlos and Rosie
 Celebrating TWO birthdays!
 Taking so many pictures “in the jungle” at the hotsprings
 Jumping into the lake off the top of the tower
 Searching for caimans in the lake at night
 Trying not to burn ourselves when roasting marshmallows
 Watching Freaky Friday on Friday night
 Looking for your own pineapples at the pineapple farm
 Rowing away from Crocodiles at the boat safari
 Decorating the back window of the small van
 Jamming out in the buses
 Horseback riding in a mostly sunny day
 Going to the supermarket THREE times 😀
 Making endless friendship bracelets
 Seeing sloths on our boat safari and grumpy monkeys
 Learning to Costa Rican swing dance

 

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Doesn’t it seem like yesterday that we were hosting a camp for Costa Rican children,
swimming in the lake, and braving the rain to hike, ride horses, and zip line through
the rainforest? We can’t believe it’s been so long since our program in Costa Rica
ended but you are still on our minds. We had some unforgettable times together this
summer!

Your community service really did make an impact. The garden at Santa Teresa
Norte looked like a different place after your days picking weeds and loosening the
dirt. Thanks to you, the ground is ready for mulch that will allow them to plant
vegetables for food and a source of revenue for their school in their huge garden!
Santa Teresa Sur has newly painted walls and a mural that you and the groups
before and after you will continue to add to and leave a life long legacy.

Your camps were a huge success! The children and their parents were so grateful to be able to
spend that time with us. You all did a great job planning your camp day and leading
your peers and the local children in games and activities. We’ll never forget face
painting, soccer and musical chairs in the rain, and teaching the kids some fun new
phrases such as “I’m dope”. We all enjoyed playing, laughing, and building our
language skills together. Thank you for your hard work in making it happen!

Apart from our hard work in community service, we had an action-packed two
weeks full of adventures. We braved the Costa Rica rainy season to go horseback
riding at the base of a volcano, zip line through the treetops, hike in a national park,
spot sloths and birds while boating down the San Carlos river, and relax in the
natural hot springs at the base of the Arenal volcano.

We all had a great time together and made some memories that will last a lifetime.
Thank you for sharing an unforgettable two weeks with us!

Some special moments from the trip:
-Eating the best pineapple ever!
-“I’m Steven and I’m dope!”
-Soccer games with the local children after service
-Gabriella saving Piño and all of us spoiling him for a few days at our home
base
-Our own personal photographers
-Playing pool by the lake
-Creating new fashion styles such as Rain suits
-Jamming to Cardi B every bus ride
-Pancakes! Every. Single. Day.
-Enjoying Don Alfredo’s coffee
-Seeing so many Costa Rican critters at the EcoPark
-ICE CREAM
-Braiding Carlos’s hair
-Amazing Nurse Sophia taking care of everyone’s bug bites
-Appreciation Circle

 

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Doesn’t it seem like yesterday that we were kayaking on the lake, playing with the
children, and eating rice and beans for every meal? We can’t believe it’s been so long
since our Costa Rica trip ended but you are still on our minds and we still have such
fond memories of our first Initiative for Children Costa Rica group and the good
times we had this summer.

Our time spent in the schools really did make an impact. You brought joy to so many
children with your smiles, games, and many many friendship bracelets. We learned
from one another practicing our Spanish and helping them practice English and get
ready for their spelling bee. Santa Teresa Norte has a much cleaner and better-
organized school thanks to Sophia’s take-charge group which includes Alexus,
Allyson, Jenna, Jennifer, Anna, Anushka, Caryus, and Dean. Santa Teresa Sur has a
beautiful mural thanks to all the girls who were in Gabriella’s creative group such as
Mo, Amanda, Amber, Bailey, Blair, Caroline, Hailey, Ice, Mary, Raina and Tori!
Bellavista has and up and coming garden and greenhouse thanks to Carlos and his
fantastic group which was Robin, Arianna, Emily, Gracie, Harper, Heath, Jackson,
Jett, Kendall, Olivia, and Siena. Thank you all for sharing your time and positive
energy with the Costa Rican children and us! We hope that this experience also
impacted you and that you reflect on how you can bring the lessons you learned
about yourself and the world around you into your community and hopefully carry
them with you for the rest of your life!

We couldn’t have asked for a better group to kick off our Costa Rican summer! You
all are wonderful individuals and you each brought a unique energy and perspective
to our program. You quickly became a close-knit group and we had so much fun
together! We almost adopted Costa Rican dogs and cats and learned that dogs can
kayak! We had adventures horseback riding and zip lining at the base of the Arenal
volcano. We hiked through the rainforest to see the beautiful green-blue lake at the
top of the Pozo Verde National Park. We relaxed at Alfredo’s fountain of youth (aka
the Hot Springs) after the most adventurous weekend some of us had ever had. On
our last day we rafted down the river and saw some amazing wildlife that is only
unique to Costa Rica.

That last afternoon and evening was super special to all of us, we can remember
celebrating the rise in water level at the lake and FINALLY being able to jump off
from the tower. At night everyone dressed up to make our final meal together
memorable (and to get some nice pictures). Who can forget our awesome dance
party at the end with Carlos and Alfredo singing along to our favorite tunes? There
were so many tears that night and even more hugs, because we knew that these
relationships that were made will not be easily forgotten. And the impact that we
had on each other’s lives will have reshaped us for many years to come!

We all had a great time together and made some memories that will last a lifetime.
Thank you for sharing such a wonderful summer with us!

Some special moments from our trip:
 The spontaneous karaoke session before bedtime at home base
 Watching dance and singing performances from many talented children at
the Art Festival. Some of us even got to participate in one!
 Learning all about coffee with Alfredo
 Bigotes yelling “¡Pura vida!” every morning as we left for community service
 Celebrating two birthdays!
 Seeing a sloth climb up the highest branch of a tree
 Pancakes for breakfast EVERYDAY!
 Juan Carlos letting us stop for churros on the side of the road
 Watching Copa Mundial games inside the house with some very passionate
mentors and local staff members
 Early morning runs with Carlos and Rosie
 The one clear night when we all did star gazing
 Eating the best pineapple everrrr
 Mafia and telephone charades group games

 

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Hey everyone!

I can’t believe how long it’s been since you guys left Costa Rica – I’m sure by now everyone is seriously missing rice and beans for every meal. We miss you all and hope you guys are doing well back home and sharing fun stories from the trip with friends and family.

It’s funny to look back now on our first day in Alajuela as student slowly from the airport. I remember the name game and the initial orientation as well as our first pizza dinner together. That next day we had out walk through the community walk together and think of how much we learned throughout the week. We got to know the Bodhi team really well and also meet people from Bahía Ballena through surfing and service projects.

We hope that you guys gained a lot through the different service experiences. There may be some lollipop moments that you didn’t realize and we hope that you all treasure the bonds you made with the students at Forjando Alas. Watching you guys work through a language barrier to play with and form friendships with the kids was really special. The Surf and Service project was awesome because we were able to give back to the ocean by cleaning the beach and then put our new surf skills to use by giving lessons to the people that showed up.

In addition to the service projects, we had so much fun during activities with you guys. We got to relax and laugh our way through partner yoga with Pilar and watch (fall asleep to) the movies The Fisherman’s Son, Fish People, and Resurface together to wind down after the long day. We wont forget our crazy day of navigating the rapids and getting to jump through waterfalls on the rafting trip. We were also very proud that everyone rallied for the hike toward the end of an exhausting week. We look back especially fondly on that final day of surfing when we made it out to the green waves.

We hope that you are still reflecting on your experience and learning from those moments. We truly believe that learning happens upon reflection and not in the moment. We did a lot of powerful work! Including stories of self, world cup discussion, values reflection, lollipop moments, the appreciation circle, and more. All of those service hours and videos that Travis showed us are good fodder for more meaningful thoughts and discussions.

We’re missing you all and think of our trip often. We hope you’re doing well and that you’ll send us updates about where you end up in the future! We hope you are all feeling happy and healthy! Best of luck with everything 🙂

Some special memories from the trip:
– Pizza night!
– Two truths and a lie: iron deficiency
– Crocodile bridge
– Opening coconuts on the community walk
– Seeing a sloth on the community walk
– Stories of self
– Word assassin!
– Manual labor at Fojando Alas
– First time seeing the ocean
– Painting and helping out at the community soccer field
– Community soccer game with an ex-professional player (remember the bicycle kick??)
– World cup debate and then video on it
– Talking about gap year programs
– Painting the wall of Forjando Alas
– Rafting! and people falling in
– Beach day! With surfing, surf and service, and beach soccer
– Handstands and headstands on the beach
– Facepaint (sunscreen)… making a political statement!
– Surfing the green waves!
– Saying goodbye to surf instructors and giving them necklaces
– Dinner at Carlitos
– Lollipop moments
– Values exploration
– Compliment cards
– Appreciation circle
– Final goodbyes!!! 🙁

¡Pura vida!

Patrick and Jen

 

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Hey guys!

Just checking in to say hi and that we miss you lots and think of our trip this summer often. We assume that you guys are probably missing the Costa Rican weather and beaches as much as we are at this point. We had so much fun surfing with you guys and hope you all are able to continue in the future. It was so awesome to see you guys get better each day and get really into it. We won’t forget being out there and looking out to the ocean and back at the surrounding islands and trees. We’ll be daydreaming about that for a long time.

We also want you to know that the impact that you had during service will not be forgotten. From having lots of fun with the students at Forjando Alas to brightening up the Parquecito for the whole community to use, it was definitely a rewarding and important experience. I think we all learned a lot about service from Travis and about different cultures and ways of living from the people we met in Bahía Ballena. You guys all have the potential to be great leaders in your own communities and we hope you are putting some skills you learned here to good use back home.

Rafting and yoga were two highlights from the trip as well. We hope you all enjoyed paddling through the rapids together – or at least doing your best to. It was really cool to see how Pilar’s yoga sessions and talks really impacted some of you. We also had fun during the activities together, like creating skits, sharing our ‘lollipop moments’ with each other, and making it up the mountain to see the whale tail. We’re proud of all you guys accomplished on this trip and hope you think of it often!

Here are some fun memories we have from the trip:
-Cooling off in the pool after long and hot days of surfing and service
-Hitting cement blocks with a sledgehammer during service
-When some of us flew out of the raft
-When some of you guys did a room redecoration of the bunk beds
-Singing after lights out
-All the silliness during our World Cup conversation
-Meeting students at Forjando Alas
-Playing soccer with an ex-professional player
-Getting creative painting the tires at the soccer field
-Playing at the beach while taking a break from surfing

Wishing you all the best!!

Supreme Patrick and Yoo Jen

 

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