Time Capsule Letter – October 2016

Hello everyone!

Greetings form sunny Costa Rica!

By the time you read this,  you will all be wondering off to new adventures! Either at home, school, vacation or with other communities. It feels like yesterday that we were on our way to homebase from airport and stopping on the road to look for monkeys. I invite you all to think back on our great experience together, and remind ourselves how much we learned together during those awesome ten days!

To begin with, you all managed to finish four projects! You were the lucky ones to see the final result of everyone’s hard work. Parquesito? Needless to say that besides the visual result of your work (painting, sanding, cleaning, varnishing)… the smile and joy of the children from El Jobo is priceless! Manzanillo? Can you imagine that a few months ago there was just a pile of leaves and dirt? And now, a beautiful place with tables, benches, grills, playground for children and a bonfire. What about the church that also serves as a school in weekends? How cool is the fact that now they have better benches and those wonderful signs at the entry?

Centro de Acopio is almost done. This project is a good example for sustainability, since you all impacted the life of eight Costa Rican families by expanding their main source of income! Working at the recycling center not only provides a better life for them but also impacts the environment. Welding, painting, cementing, digging, shoveling, cleaning, sanding, nailing  …. Key words for every day!

You all did great, and now it’s also up to the community to take care of our work and teach others to be involved.

I appreciate how involved you were at project sites and how hard working. And the community shares the same thoughts! You knew very well that we have an aim to everything we do… and that we also have fun!

Remember beach time and adventure days? Frisbee game “500” on the beach? What about Haley getting over her fear of boats? And Juan Carlos getting over his far of the ocean?

Can we ever thank enough Mario for getting everyone coconuts? Such a wonderful and helpful person! Hey, what about Esteban’s talent ? Who knew that drinking water can be so much fun! And pterodactyl at night? Mixed with monkey calls? Minnie and Steve, the raccoons? Talent show mash up from room 323? And making friendship bracelets in room 333? What about the way of the derdians? Adventure days and horse ride to the waterfall? Remember also the massive group hug after the “Tap someone” activity?  And what happened after that, you guys won the soccer game against the staff with one final goal… someone (we know who… and that would be me) was busy dancing salsa while being a goal keeper ☺

Every day with you felt like a blessing and I am thankful that I watched you all step out of your comfort zones and grow as leaders. You were all very open minded and adapted so much to the local culture. Key words: Rice and beans!

My wish is that you will continue to grow every day, and that the new perspectives you gained in Costa Rica will help you take initiative to positive impact your communities at home, and that is wherever in the world your home may be. You all have such great energy, I hope you spread it everywhere you go!

Thank you so much for being part of this Costa Rican adventure, I also learned so many cool things from you all!

The adventure never ends!

Pura Vida!

With love,

Smara, and of course- your lovely mentors, Camila, Emily and Nico!

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Summer Blog Posts

August 5, 2016

Hola from Costa Rica!!

All 24 students arrived safe and sound, and everyone is excited for the next days of service, adventure and discovering the roots of PURA VIDA!

Playing games

Another fun game that led us to the beach!

The GLA Team (Smara, Camila, Emily and Nico) + students sitting on the beach to reflect and write about their expectations.

Dayani decorated her GLA journal and we all loved it!

The best way to end the day – Sunset at Playa Rajada

– The GLA Costa Rica Team

August 6 and 7, 2016

Hi parents!

These last couple days have been quite eventful! Saturday was our first day of service. We were split into three different groups; one went to a recycling center in El Jobo to help expand the facility, one went to El Parque de los Sueños to paint a playground and build a kiosk, and the other group went to Playa Manzanillo to build grills for the fisherman and their families. After a long morning of giving back to the Pura Vida community, we headed back to our home base to get some lunch (Rice & beans, of course)! We then filed into the buses to head to the beach! From there we got on a boat and headed out on the water to snorkel. After a long day, we came back and met with our mentor groups, with a surprise visit from a stray cow wondering through home base!

On Sunday we woke up earlier than usual to get an early start to another long day! It was Adventure Day and we were in a treat! We took an hour and a half hike through the beautiful Costa Rican forests. with sights including volcanic activity, monkeys, and waterfalls! Afterwards, we took another mini hike to some amazing hot springs! When we got there, we slathered mud all over ourselves and then washed off in the beautiful natural water! Then we went to a souvenir shop (where there was Wi-Fi!), and also stopped at a grocery store where we nearly bought them out of ice cream, chocolate, and cookies!

Anyways, all 24 of us are here, and best of friends already! We miss and love you guys so much!

– Devyn Bauer and Elizabeth Trudel

August 8 and 9, 2016

Hola Parents!

On Tuesday, August 9th we traveled to the town of La Cruz and visited a local Spanish-English public school called Liceo Experimental Bilingüe (LEB) where we played games with middle school and high school students. We were able to intermingle and immerse in a new culture and language through games. The Costa Rican students taught us some of their games and we taught them some of ours. We learned many interesting facts about the school. The students start school at seven in the morning and end at four in the afternoon, they are given a snack break for ten minutes every eighty minutes, at lunch time the students walk into town to purchase lunch, and LEB students start learning English in second grade.

 

After an exciting day of visiting the school we enjoyed a fun evening of jewelry making and blindfolded food tasting. GLA students hunted for seashells on the beach for seashells with holes to make bracelets with beads and colored yarn. The foods we tasted included mangos, chocolate covered bananas, empanadas, guava, papaya, plantains, cheese, and mamoncillo.

Editor’s Note: The last (optional) activity of the day was a quick hike up the hill near our hotel – where we got a nice view Isla Bolanos and Nicaragua!

On Wednesday, June 10th we had a thrilling day in Liberia at Rincon De La Vieja National Park tubing, zip lining, and horseback riding to a beautiful waterfall where we swam then rode our horses back.

We ended the night with a bonfire on the beach making Costa Rican s’mores with galletas (cookies), marshmallows, and chocolate sauce.

We are having a great time in Costa Rica, pura vida! We have made so many new friendships, memories, and impacts our local community that we can’t wait to share with our families and friends at home. See you soon!

– Elizabeth Trudel and Devyn Bauer

Time Capsule Letter – October 2016

GLA staff for Costa Rica’s Beachside Service Adventure unanimously agreed that session five was the perfect way to end the summer. There were many students who came on the adventure together, yet all of the students got to know each other, made connections, and got along superbly. They quickly got the hang of the packed daily routine, which included an early breakfast (6:30am– yikes!), four hours of service, lunch, afternoon excursions, chow circles, dinner, mentor groups, and an evening activity. GLAers were eager to get started with service and worked in the heavy, humid heat with no complaints. Every day they came home from their service sites covered in paint, cement and sweat, and cheerfully exchanged stories about their mornings.

Our students easily made friends with the local students whom they served. For example, Natalie was gifted a beautiful drawing by one of the high schoolers at Colegio Coco; Rachel got a braided hairstyle by kindergarteners at La Libertad; and Andrew, Alex, Dom, and Matt had daily soccer matches with the kids at Obandito. The bug bites were a nuisance, but students did not let that stop them from exploring and enjoying Costa Rica. They teased with monkeys at an animal sanctuary, mastered salsa and bachata lessons, made their skin glow with mud masks, and conquered their fears while tubing, zip lining, and horseback riding on adventure day. Some of the most precious moments, however, were the sunsets on Coco beach, roommate heart-to-hearts after lights out, bus jam sessions, and mealtime convos comparing their different American accents and regional sayings (wicked cool!). Students were sad to say goodbye at the end of the ten days, but they already began making plans to keep in touch and travel together in the future, and to take the Costa Rican pura vida attitude with them wherever they go.

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Summer Blog Posts

All 35 students are finally here in Playas del Coco. Despite the rainy afternoon, we still managed to witness a typically gorgeous Costa Rican sunset. Then came the sun come morning to kick us off with orientation activities. Stay tuned for updates on our service projects and cultural activities that get underway on Saturday.

August 6

Today was the first day of service! We split into groups to work on 3 different schools. After about 4 hours of working and becoming familiar with our work sites, we left to come back to home base and have a delicious lunch. The afternoon consisted of fun and educational cultural activities. First, we went to a local artisan who taught us how to make things out of clay. Then he made us all delicious coffee. When we came back to home base we all participated in a lively dance class where we learned how to salsa and bachata. We also sang Costa Rican songs with a local guest! It’s only Day 3 and we’ve already become so comfortable with each other. We can’t wait to see what the rest of the week will bring!

Written by Leaders of the Day Emily Powell and Devon Gallagher

August 9, 2016

A blog entry about being Leader of the Day:

As leaders for the day we felt pretty confident because we weren’t afraid to get out of our comfort zones. In the morning things were a little slow and we felt we didn’t hold people’s attention as much as we should have. As the day went on, by lunch and dinner we believe we were much more articulate and got attention more effectively. It showed that not everything will always go as planned, but a good leader can adapt to the situation. We wanted to play a game called Ships and Sailors, but based on how tired everyone was after a long day, we chose a different game on the spot that would best suite the group at the time. Overall, our experience as Leaders of the Day was worthwhile and it was an opportunity we will never forget.

Written by Kim Croce and Dennis Nguyen

 

Day 7:

Today we went to our final service day, so we finished the projects and said goodbye to all the kids and those who helped us along the way. We made good work on finishing up what we started, which was very rewarding. It is so sad to say goodbye to the schools when there is still so much work to be done. After a nice lunch we went to a new and beautiful beach where we spent a relaxing afternoon in the sun. Then we came back to home base to swim, try new fruits, and make granizados, or Costa Rican snow cones.

Written by Natalie Munn and Roxy Cummings

Time Capsule Letter – October 2016

Hey Everyone! I hope you all transitioned smoothly back into your normal lives and enjoyed the last few weeks of summer before school started again. It was awesome to see how everyone bonded so well by the end of the session and a lot of you really went outside of your comfort zones and overcame many challenges just as we encouraged you to do during orientation! Despite being one of the quietest groups at the beginning, we ended up having some great discussions, fun adventure days and seeing solid friendships bloom! Our talk after watching Story of Stuff was really genuine and productive and I witnessed an impressive transition in many of you from fear to enjoyment – or at least acceptance – in both tubing and horseback riding. While at first there was quite a divide between boys and girls, friends from back home and others, at the end you all looked like one big family and I saw you hanging out with different people every day.

Service was awesome as well! We made good progress and had a great mix of hard physical work vs. interacting with the community. For those who were at the centro de acopio with me, I was super happy that we were able to start welding and everything is on track to finish this last session! We are painting a final coat on everything – both original structure and new – and have the roof materials ready to be put on in the final days. The park and beach will also be finished, possibly ahead of schedule! Our visit to the school in La Cruz was also a success, so we have decided to do it again this session and will be using some of your suggestions to try and improve the visit, such as starting out with more games and giving more structure to the conversation aspect to try and reduce that awkwardness.

I hope that you all have taken something away from this experience that you can apply in your life back home and that you keep growing and maintaining an open mind in everything you do, whether abroad or not. All the best from Cami, Emily, Smara, Maria Jose and myself!

Nico

Recollections:

• Pasta night in the boys room with all the staff, thanks to Jacob!
• The hermit crab pit built and monitored by about half of us at Isla Bolaños
• Dayvi and Jordan did some wild riding on those horses at Guachipelin
• Luke was hilarious slipping everywhere during the soccer game! And way to go Aya with some solid defense… those ten year olds were still just too good for us though
• Po´s party van… loud music, all the girls singing… enough said
• Nice job Jordan and Mia for saving that baby bird that fell out of the nest
• The story of Cole. Hope you all learned how to brush your teeth, um, thoroughly

 

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Summer Blog Posts

Holaaa!!!

We are all getting to know each other, enjoying our homebase, the beach and the surroundings!
We also started working on our project sites with the help of people from the community.
Isla Bolanos is waiting for us to explore today, and we have adventure days and more projects to work on ahead!
Untill next time, pura vida!!!

July 31, 2016

Hi readers! My GLA experience has been one to remember! The volunteer work that I have participated in has taught me the values of teamwork and leadership in a working environment. The adventure days were so exciting and exhilarating I enjoyed meeting new friends in this program. Also, this program taught me about cultural immersion and how different cultured in different countries work together to create an efficient and proper community.
Ally 🙂

Time Capsule Letter – October 2016

Time seemed to zip by in the fourth session at Coco Beachside Service Adventure. Within the first couple days, students were already becoming close friends and the nights were always filled with chatter and laughter throughout home base. There was a common sense of newness, but this unease was quickly overshadowed by the anticipation and excitement of being in a new place.

The students showed excitement at service as they dove right into working at their sites. One group went to continue building a bridge which was a project that had been ongoing for the last three GLA groups. Students were meticulous as they helped paint the final metal beams to be soldered on the bridge and dug deep holes for the frame of the bridge. At this site, there was constant laughter as we, especially Logan, talked and made jokes with the locals.

There were also two school service groups. At one school, Escuela La Libertad, students helped make desks new. Ethan even helped electrically cut out wooden planks to form the tops of desks. At Escuela Obandito, students also helped work to finish what past groups had done. Another concrete bench was made and they painted the roof with some of the paint landing on Natalie’s face!

The fourth group had a lot of great times and unforgettable moments. From Amanda recording her braveness at Congo Trail to Libby conquering her fear of zip-lining, there was never a dull moment.  The talent show was a final hurrah as Logan free-styled rapped, Jenna and her crew lip-synced and danced to Spice Girls, and Taylor danced swing with Cody. These past 10 days will have a special place when we think back to the GLA trip here at Playa del Coco.

 

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Summer Blog Posts

7.23-24.2016

A heavy thunderstorm welcomed this session to Costa Rica, but it was a welcome respite from the heat. Day 2 started with some glorious sun as we continued the orientation program and prepared the students for the next 9 days. As the students get to know each other in formal activities and during free time, the Costa Rican spirit of “Pura Vida” is already catching on.

Today was a great day in Costa Rica. We got a lot of service work done at the sites. We even got to teach Costa Rican kids some english. Everyone was excited to go souvenir shopping and walk around town. We also got a little extra free time today and got to make snow cones. Altogether today was great day here in Costa Rica.

July 28, 2016
Julia P, Tara V.

Day 6 of the GLA experience has been exciting and gratifying! Daily morning service (which includes helping schools and constructing a bridge) has given us the opportunity of interacting with the children and locals, as well as collaborating as a team. After the hard work, we exchanged our sneakers with flip-flops and toured an amazing animal sanctuary and visited a gorgeous beach. We then ate a traditional Costa Rican meal together, reflected on our day, and ended the night with a spirited game of Pictionary! We are looking forward to what more Costa Rica has in store for us 🙂

July 29, 2016
By Heather & Abbey

Today one of the service groups got split into two groups. Half of the group went to the school La Libertad to teach the kids and the other half went to help paint rails needed for a bridge and dug holes. The other service group went to the school Obandito and finished painting the basketball court, the ceilings, and the benches. They also taught lessons and enjoyed getting to hang out with the kids. It was really sad having to say bye to the kids because of the connections that were made. After lunch we learned the salsa dance and the bachata. We also sang two traditional songs. Ending the day with a TED talk and a group bonding game! Pura vida.

July 30, 2016
By DJ and Ally

Today GLA embarked on a journey to Pailas National Park and hiked through a forest. Some students did a challenging hike on an unpaved trail to a waterfall and some enjoyed a cool dip in the stream. Mid-day we took a hike in the cool rain to a natural hot spring where we did mud masks. The baths were ranging in temperature from 70 to 140 F! Students enjoyed the hot springs, sharing photos and smiles. In the evening some students went to a local concert on the beach, creating a fun ending to a good day.

Pura vida!

Time Capsule Letter – October 2016

Greetings form Costa Rica!

By the time you receive this letter, I expect you will all have settled back into familiar routines or be off to new adventures. Can you believe that only a few months ago, you were swimming in waterfalls and learning how to dance bachata? Amidst the whirlwind of your daily lives, I invite you to take a few moments to reflect on all that you accomplished during GLA’s Beachside Service Adventure program.

You were the only EcoPlaya team to contribute to five service projects. Because of you, families of El Jobo and Tempetal now have more welcoming and sustainable places to relax on the beach, play in the park, learn and worship in church, and receive medical care. You also helped expand a recycling center and construct a park kiosk where local women can earn income for their families. Way to go!

In addition to working hard at service, we had plenty of time for fun! Did anyone every beat Jack at ping-pong? Will any of us ever forget Marshall’s stand-up routine at the talent show or how Etienne showed up dreamy Justin by doing a backflip? Remember our soccer game in a downpour? We must have bought out the whole bakery in La Cruz and tried everything on the menu at the smoothie shop. And s’mores with Nutella? Life-changing. (See, we didn’t always eat rice and beans.)

Throughout our ten days together, it was such a privilege to watch you step out of your comfort zones and grow as leaders. Every day, I saw you practicing your Spanish, trying new things, and making connections with each other and members of the local community. I hope that you continue to live by the new perspectives you gained in Costa Rica and that you strive to make a positive impact on your communities at home—wherever in the world your home may be. Thank you so much for being part of this Costa Rican adventure. Stay awesome!

Your mentor,

Emily

 

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Summer Blog Posts

7/12/2016

Hello summer, here we are, all of us!

Our adventure has started, we are getting to know each other better and better and learning more about Costa Rica, ticos, Pura Vida, service sites and leadership.
We have five service sites, team activities and adventure waiting for us!

7/19

Leaders of the day got together, discussed and worked together to facilitate activities for four different groups.

It turned out to be a big success for the leaders and the group, and our soccer game with the community was memorable!

Rain and rain and rain, but fun fun fun!