Our trip to Costa Rica was absolutely incredible and I can’t believe how time has just flown by!
In just two short weeks we did a TON of activities, made new friends, learned more about
ourselves and our host country. Now that you are back home and back to your normal routines,
I hope that you still think about your time in San Pedro and are using all that you learned here to
do something you are passionate about!

As GLA and Green Communities have taught us, it is our job to consider how our communities
can become more sustainable, looking at the pros and cons of everything before making a
decision. It is also our job as global citizens to promote awareness on the changes our Earth is
going through simply because of the materialist nature of our economy. What we hope is that
your time here helped develop you to be true global leaders and that you continue to look for
ways to incorporate sustainable development at home.

But besides the academic portions of the trip, we also have learned a lot about ourselves
through our excursions and service! Some of us learned to embrace the unexpected and try to
look at life through a new lens-whether that was learning how to trust and be brave while getting
flung across the forest at the Adventure Park, putting our differences aside while working with
the locals at service, meeting the mothers that work and live in San Pedro, or being valiant
enough to express our own opinions and ideas during our mentor groups! I’m sure that each of
us gained a bit of confidence somehow, someway, during our time here and sometimes that’s
the most valuable thing you can achieve from a trip like this! So, next time you are in a difficult
or similar situation, I hope you think about how you handled differences, insecurities, debate,
and friendship while in Costa Rica.

We hope that you all think of Costa Rica and the people here often. The sidewalk is getting
longer each and every day. In fact, the town of San Pedro has said they want to contribute
some of their own money to the project to help get it completed faster! We have also fertilized
over 20 coffee farms in San Pedro! The organic coffee will grow to be an amazing product that
not only provides income for the families, but also will be bought from next year’s GLA students
and their families! We are still recruiting more families into switching to organic farming and
thanks to your help, more and more people are willing to give it a go!

Although it may have been a while ago that we were all together at the ecolodge in Copey, your
memories and the friendships made here will remain forever! Here at GLA Costa Rica, we hope
that you are all doing well and going the extra mile in whatever you are passionate about. Keep
up the good work!

Some highlights of our trip:
-Surfing the waves in Dominical
-Seeing the natural wildlife and the National Park and swimming in the crystal clear waters!!!
-Working alongside Alvaro and his constant teasing!
-Our time spent at the Adopt-a-gringo activity
-The last night’s bonfire
-The amazzzzing smell of compost
-Tona’s “Dropping the soap” improve song

-Nicole, Tona, Esteban + Green Communities Staff

 

Feeling nostalgic? You can experience that same sense of friendship and adventure abroad again! Check out all our 2019 programs, or enroll now.

Our trip to Costa Rica was surely incredible and I can’t believe how time has just flown by! In just two short weeks we did a TON of activities, made new friends, learned more about ourselves and our host country. Now that you are back home and back to your normal routines, I hope that you still think about your time in San Pedro and are using all that you learned here to do something you are passionate about!

As GLA and Green Communities have taught us, it is our job to consider how our communities can become more sustainable, looking at the pros and cons of everything before making a decision. It is also our job as global citizens to promote awareness on the changes our Earth is going through simply because of the materialist nature of our economy. What we hope is that your time here helped develop you to be true global leaders and that you continue to look for ways to incorporate sustainable development at home.

But besides the academic portions of the trip, we also have learned a lot about ourselves through our excursions and service! Some of us learned to embrace the unexpected and try to look at life through a new lens-whether that was learning how to trust and be brave while getting flung across the forest at the Adventure Park, putting our differences aside while working with the locals at service, meeting the mothers that work and live in San Pedro, or being valiant to express our own opinions and ideas during our mentor groups! I’m sure that each of us gained a bit of confidence somehow, someway, during our time here and sometimes that’s the most valuable thing you can achieve from a trip like this! So, next time you are in a difficult or similar situation, I hope you think about how you handled differences, insecurities, debate, and friendship while in Costa Rica.

We hope that you all think of Costa Rica and the people here often. The sidewalk is getting longer each and every day. In fact, the town of San Pedro has said they want to contribute some of their own money to the project to help get it completed faster! We have also fertilized over 20 coffee farms in San Pedro! The organic coffee will grow to be an amazing product that not only provides income for the families, but also will be bought from next year’s GLA students and their families! We are still recruiting more families into switching to organic farming and thanks to your help, more and more people are willing to give it a go!

Although it may have been a while ago that we were all together at the ecolodge in Copey, your memories and the friendships made here will remain forever! Here at GLA Costa Rica, we hope that you are all doing well and going the extra mile in whatever you are passionate about. Keep up the good work!

Some highlights of our trip:
-Surfing the waves in Dominical
-Seeing the natural wildlife and the National Park and swimming in the crystal-clear waters!!!
-Working alongside Alvaro and his constant teasing!
-Nicole and the “Code of Conduct”!!!!
-Esteban’s “dad jokes”
-The amazzzzing smell of compost
-laughing with one another all the time and creating special bonds with new friends!
-The Talent Show!!!!! (Shout out to Bella and Vince for winning!)

-Nicole, Tona, Esteban + Green Communities Staff

 

Feeling nostalgic? You can experience that same sense of friendship and adventure abroad again! Check out all our 2019 programs, or enroll now.

Our trip to Costa Rica was absolutely incredible and I can’t believe how time has just flown by! In just two short weeks we did a TON of activities, made new friends, learned more about ourselves and our host country. Now that you are back home and back to your normal routines, I hope that you still think about your time in San Pedro and are using all that you learned here to do something you are passionate about!

As GLA and Green Communities have taught us, it is our job to consider how our communities can become more sustainable, looking at the pros and cons of everything before making a decision. It is also our job as global citizens to promote awareness on the changes our Earth is going through simply because of the materialist nature of our economy. What we hope is that your time here helped develop you to be true global leaders and that you continue to look for ways to incorporate sustainable development at home.

But besides the academic portions of the trip, we also have learned a lot about ourselves through our excursions and service! Some of us learned to embrace the unexpected and try to look at life through a new lens-whether that was learning how to trust and be brave while getting flung across the forest at the Adventure Park, putting our differences aside while working with the locals at service, meeting the mothers that work and live in San Pedro, or being valiant to express our own opinions and ideas during our mentor groups! I’m sure that each of us gained a bit of confidence somehow, someway, during our time here and sometimes that’s the most valuable thing you can achieve from a trip like this! So, next time you are in a difficult or similar situation, I hope you think about how you handled differences, insecurities, debate, and friendship while in Costa Rica.

We hope that you all think of Costa Rica and the people here often. The sidewalk is getting longer each and every day. In fact, the town of San Pedro has said they want to contribute some of their own money to the project to help get it completed faster! We have also fertilized over 20 coffee farms in San Pedro! The organic coffee will grow to be an amazing product that not only provides income for the families, but also will be bought from next year’s GLA students and their families! We are still recruiting more families into switching to organic farming and thanks to your help, more and more people are willing to give it a go!

Although it may have been a while ago that we were all together at the ecolodge in Copey, your memories and the friendships made here will remain forever! Here at GLA Costa Rica, we hope that you are all doing well and going the extra mile in whatever you are passionate about. Keep up the good work!

Some highlights of our trip:
-Surfing the waves in Dominical
-Seeing the natural wildlife and the National Park and swimming in the crystal clear waters!!!
-Working alongside Alvaro and his constant teasing!
-ordering pizza to thank Memo and the kitchen staff for the wonderful food
-Esteban’s “dad jokes”
-The amazzzzing smell of compost
-laughing with one another all the time and creating special bonds with new friends!

-Nicole, Tona, Esteban + Green Communities Staff

 

Feeling nostalgic? You can experience that same sense of friendship and adventure abroad again! Check out all our 2019 programs, or enroll now.

Hola everyone!

Wow, how time flies by. It seems like just yesterday that we were waking up to Veronica’s delicious food and sweet smile every morning. Gallo pinto and platanos have not compared ever since.

As you are most likely back in school, we want you to know that you are still on our minds. The impact that you all made this summer, on the Costa Rica communities and us, are unforgettable. I am so proud that you all came in with an open mind set and flexibility when it came to community service. You were able to jump into a project that was started by the last GLA group and follow it through completion. What an incredible opportunity it was to be with the Brasilito community representatives as they sincerely thanked you for all of your hard work to refurbish their outdoor sports facility. I know how rewarding it felt to remove the tape from the lines and to score a bucket on the new rims. And your reaction when we drove by the basketball court at night was true, sincere excitement. My heart fluttered when you all shouted, “They’re playing on our court. People are playing on the court!” And yes, people will continue to play on that court for years to come.

You all worked so hard together and played even harder. We will forever share a special bond over the memories that we have created. Some special moments from our trip include:

– Bus ride sing-a-longs
– Hosting a soccer clinic for the adorable kids and future futbol stars from the Santa Rosa community
– White water rafting in the Tenorio River, dropping down a 12-foot waterfall and flipping over in the water (home to too many massive spiders!)
– Soccer practices with Coach Danielle and Coach Moreira
– Fut-sal soccer 5 tournaments
– Playa futbol
– Baldi Hot Springs and its crazy fast water slide
– Zip lining in the pouring rain and disappearing into thick fog
– Surfing lessons and catching waves on our own
– Bachata, salsa and merengue dance lessons with Geddy – “Pura vida!”
– Beaches, beaches and more beaches
– Playing musical chairs and other games with local school kids
– And, of course, Veronica! (I hope you remember how to make empanadas, patacones and guacamole!)

You should all know that you left Costa Rica a better place. In fact, you have all left a legacy. What is a legacy? It is planting seeds in a garden you don’t get to see. The Brasilito court will continue to be a meeting place for sports, fun and engagement for the children, community and future generations. Young futbol stars will continue to build on the skills and techniques you practiced with them and they will always remember your cheering, high fives and team tunnel.

And, just as important, the knowledge and experience you gained on this trip will serve you and the communities you will continue to impact the rest of your lives. Like I mentioned before, I am honored to have watched you grow and learn over the two weeks you spent becoming better leaders and ambassadors. I am excited for you to continue planting your seeds of legacy around the world, to help make it a better place and to impact numerous lives, just as you have impacted mine. Thank you for making our summer in Costa Rica so incredibly fun and rewarding. We wish you all the best in your future endeavors. Until we meet again, pura vida!

All the best,
Christina

 

Feeling nostalgic? You can experience that same sense of friendship and adventure abroad again! Check out all our 2019 programs, or enroll now.

Dear friends,

I hope that you always remember the Soccer Beyond Borders program in Costa Rica as an amazing experience in which you developed your leadership and soccer skills while doing community service and enjoying the natural gifts of this Central American country.

It was great that we had a multicultural team with students from the US and Mexico, staff from the US, Colombia and of course, our local staff from Costa Rica. All of us got united at our home base in Flamingo beach, Liberia, CR with the commitment of helping the local community as a way to be thankful and give back to others a little bit of what we receive on a daily basis. We learnt little by little about leadership in our reflection sessions and from every single person in our crew and the ones who joined us during our journey to help. I bet you will never forget that we collaborated upgrading some sport scenarios, we did soccer clinics with children, helped in the beautification of an animal rehabilitation centre and contributed to entertain children of a local vacation camp. We also shared the soccer field with local teams at different levels such us spontaneous futbol 5 sessions to the the more formal ones at the Liberia professional stadium versus a U17 soccer team, being all guided by our athlete trainers and FIFA certified coaches, that was such an experience together.

Alternating our work with the locals and our soccer sessions, we also were fortunate to enjoy the wonderful beauty of the Costa Rican nature, its people, its food and of course its exciting extreme sports. We made it to visit several beaches like Brasilito, Flamingo, and Potrero to be delighted with the sunset and to play beach soccer; we had a blast with the tall waves during our surfing lesson in Playa Grande; visiting the unique hot springs at La Fortuna was absolutely bonding and relaxing; watching the huge waterfalls from the zip lining cable was a breath taking moment; cooking and dancing classes were more than funny, engaging and experimental to all of us; and last but not least we had a great “car massage” thanks to the Indiana Jones type of rode on the way to the most exciting rafting ride ever that made us have an incredible time altogether.

I know by the end of everything, we had to face the least expected time, the time to say goodbye. I was so sad that you all had to leave but at the same time I was grateful because we rocked our experience in Costa Rica. With all of our feelings mixed and a couple of tears on our cheeks we said a “see you later” to our new friends of adventures.

I want you to always remember that little changes together make a huge change, so keep in mind that every little good vibe you give to others will be part of a huge impact to the world.

Best Regards,
Ferney Parra

“Whatever you are, be a good one”
Abraham Lincoln

 

Feeling nostalgic? You can experience that same sense of friendship and adventure abroad again! Check out all our 2019 programs, or enroll now.