Date: 6.26.17
by James Egan
Date: 6.26.17
by James Egan
Written by the Leader of the Day: Isaac Bendon
June 25 2017
Today was the first day of service. The group went to the “Bio Fabrica” which is the headquarters of the sustainable coffee farm. The Bio Fabrica is where we are working for the first two weeks. Today we split into two groups. One group shoveled compost into bags so that they could be transported to the farms, and the other group moved rocks. We learned about the importance of sustainable and organic agricultural practices. The group also talked about the necessity of taking care of the earth. After the service project, the women of the community prepared pork and rice with black beans. During lunch we saw monkeys hanging out in the trees. In the afternoon we teamed up with another volunteer group and some local community members to play baseball. During the game we got to bond with the kids through our lack of ability to play baseball (side note for my parents I did not hurt anyone)*. As leader of the day I decided on the word of the day which was “Mejorar” meaning to improve. I felt accomplished because nobody died or got sick while I was leader. Additionally nobody was really sad and I kept the group motivated. My favorite part so far has been getting to meet everybody and get to know them. Also I am extremely thankful to have my cousin Lily here to help me with my Spanish and edit this blog.
Monday, June 26
Author: Natalie Reisman
Hola! I’m Natalie from New York and I was the Líder del Día, or Leader of the Day, today! Our fourth day of this adventure was incredible, and unlike most Mondays back home, we all looked forward to what this day would bring.
We woke up bright and early to the sound of the river and chirping birds outside of our cabanas. A beautiful breakfast was prepared by the amazing Juan. American food is a rarity at GLA, but today’s breakfast consisted of french toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon. Everyone loved the taste of home.
After a morning stretch led by Hannah, I told the group our word of the day (Aventura for adventure). After that it was off to the service sites! Half of us went with Jonathan, leader of Green Communities, and the other half went to a local coffee farm. The group that went with Juan spent half of the morning loading bags of compost onto his truck to transport to the coffee farm where the rest of the students were. We loaded over 95 bags!!! The smell of fresh brosa (fermented coffee bean skins) in the morning is surely something we will never forget!
Once the whole group was together on Juan’s farm, we worked in an assembly line with buckets to get the compost on the coffee plants. It was super interesting for everyone to see how coffee beans grow and how they tranform into red cherries when ready to harvest.
After a tiring three hours of work, we went to the river that runs through Providencia for a quick swim. The water was super cold, but the brave didn’t let the temperature stop them from enjoying the nature.
An amazing lunch was prepared for us by the local women of the community and we enjoyed the pasta, veggies, homemade breadsticks, and fresh blackberry juice. These kind women truly care for us without knowing much about us.
We were broken up into our levels for Spanish class after taking quick showers. My group, the advanced class, focused on brainstorming for our final project and planning a lesson for tomorrow.
Free time followed our class and we spent it reading, playing soccer with Gustavo and Diego, shopping in the pulpería, and napping.
Every part of this trip has been amazing, and this day was no different. Being leader of the day was super fun and I loved playing a role in ensuring that everybody’s day was fulfilling and successful.
Much love! – Natalie
June 27, 2017
Author: Graham Soofer
Today for service we shoveled compost. Some people worked in the assembly line and passed the buckets (baldes) to and from the compost to the coffee plants in order to fertilize the coffee plants. We had a break and ate mangos and pears.
We split up into different Spanish groups and some groups went into town and spoke to the locals while other groups learned the basics such as the alphabet, months, numbers and more.
For our three amazing meals our we ate corn flakes for breakfast (desayuno), rice, garbanzos, and salad for lunch, and finally we had rice and a mix of vegetables for dinner.
As leader of the day I encouraged the others to push limits and keep an upbeat personality all day. We also watched a TED talk about the sterotyping of different cultures and how close minded that makes people. So far my favorite part of being here was playing soccer with some of the local boys and my fellow students.
Shoutout to mi hermano Ben, mi mama, mi padre, y mi perro Winnie. Take care, Love Graham
The first is a group picture at our hotel in Turrialba for the excursion
Make a face like you’re about to get snacks!!
July 3, 2017
Written by Noah Stegman
¡Hola! I am Noah, and I was the Líder del Día today. Today was a long, but very fun day. We started off the morning with breakfast and morning stretching, which is always a relief. After that we had a long walk to some beautiful fresh water springs in the forest. There we carried out a group discussion about water, the wasting of it, and ways to conserve it. There we shared ideas on how to conserve water, and became more aware of the situation about a lack of water in countries around the world. After the talk we carried out our third day in a row of service in the park in downtown Providencia. The service included cementing and digging trenches for the foundation for an eventual basketball court.
As leader of the day I felt like myself, being leader of the day did not change the way I acted towards my friends in the group. Although, I felt like leading by example was the best way to carry out being a leader, so I worked very hard on encouraging my group, and working hard during service to express the amount of motivation we still had as a group. My favorite part about this trip so far has been interacting with the locals in our Adopt a Gringo groups, the best intercultural experience. In this part of the program a small group of us are invited into a local family’s house. It’s incredible being able to communicate with the locals in their native language, it helps me realize how much I actually know, and how well I can communicate in another language. ¡Buenas Noches!
July 6, 2017
I was leader on the end of the weekend so my adventure for today was driving on the bus back from our surfing adventure, and keeping everyone excited and ready for the day.
I learned that as a leader, even if you are tired, you need to keep a positive and excited attitude to share with all of the people you are leading.
I had intercultural experiences today in spanish class and buying snacks from the local store.
My experience as a leader today was great, I had a super great time talking to everyone, singing everyone a goodnight song, waking everyone up in the morning, and getting everyone through the day.
My favorite part of being a leader today was waking people up enthusiastically and singing my goodnight song to them. Shout out to mi familia and mama Julie!
– Carter Johnson
July 7, 2017
Hi. I’m Daniel Le Lorier. Today is July 7th, and I was leader of the day today. I’m usually quiet so I knew being leader would be interesting. I woke everyone up after a night of singing them Bohemian Rhapsody and headed to breakfast. I didn’t have too much time to eat, but it was enough.
Service today was brutal. We worked on building the park again today. This time, however, some kids had to haul wheelbarrows full of cement up a hill to the trenches. Of course, I had to lead by example by choosing to do the hard task. I’m tired. But I’m still here so it’s all good. Throughout service time I made sure I was more talkative and supportive than usual, even if it may have been a couple more sentences. I mean, I gotta get my snaps am I right?
After service I bought some more junk food and went to the last Spanish class. As a member of the Beginner class, I took part in the skit we were performing for our last day. Apparently my voice is good for narration, so that was my part. The whole play was in Spanish so that sure was an intercultural experience. Even if it WAS about Isaac in a waterfall playing the didgery doo. That was fun.
Later we had a group discussion about differing cultural views, and we did an activity that involved me staring at people’s feet. It was weird, but I see the point that was made about some customs in one culture being different to customs in another.
Then, we had dinner and my boy Kevin took Leader of the Day for tomorrow. This has been my blog. Daniel Le Lorier signing out.
Spanish graduation
July 8, 2017
Written by Gilson (Kevin) Dosouto
Hola mi nombre es Gilson (Kevin) Dosouto and today I was the leader of the day. Today our service project was at Geraldo’s farm. My adventure started a bit late. Usually the leader would go around at 6:30 in the morning and wake everyone up, and so I was waiting on that person to wake me up but at 6:35 I realized I was the leader and I had to wake everyone up! So I woke up everyone and at 7:00 am everyone was at breakfast. Then we did our usual stretches after breakfast and headed to the worksite about 8 am. At first we loaded the truck with compost bags and delivered it Geraldo’s farm. At the farm we unloaded the truck and began to fertilize the coffee plants. We would stand in line and pass the buckets of compost down the line to where it was needed. Communication played a huge part in our work. We communicated to inform to each other to move down or up the line and to make sure everyone is on the same page. We worked at the coffee farm until 12. In between we had a little break. We headed to lunch at Doña Flora’s. For our afternoon activities we played soccer with the Young Dreamers and people of the community. Young Dreamers are students in the local communities who are very passionate about learning . They get up at 5 in the morning and sits on the bus for 2 hours to go to school in the city, they would occasionaly get home at 7 pm. We had lots of fun during the game and talked a lot to the locals. My experience as a leader was a bit different. I checked in a lot with peers and tried to embrace leadership. I tried to lead by example and make sure everyone was doing great. My favorite experience in this trip so far is working at the playground because I like to work for something that will benefit the community and this playground is perfect. At the end of the day I feel so satisfied knowing that the littlest thing would make world better tomorrow.
by James Egan
After a long travel day, we made it safely to Rancho Quemado.
August 7, 2017
Hola,
We started the day off with a delicious breakfast of Gallo pinto (rice and beans mixture). After breakfast, we had a chance to tour the organic farm that Sandro, our local director, grows. At the farm we had a chance to look at the cocoa plant, which we intern ground up and used in face masks and hot chocolate. Following this, we ate lunch at the local hospadaje and had free time afterwards where we picked lychee fruit from the tree. Afterward, we met as a group to sharpen our leadership skills before our community rally. At the rally, we had a chance to connect with the locals and play games with people of all ages. Following this, we had dinner at our home base. We touched base again as a group to solidify our leadership roles in the program. Despite being our first full day in Rancho Quemado, we all feel at home already and accepted within the community. ¡Puravida!
by James Egan
Hola,
Today we woke up early for a traditional Costa Rican breakfast in San Jose, packed our bags and headed off to Osa. Along the way we made various stops such as a smoothie shop, a market and beachside lunch. To our surprise we caught a glance of a couple White Faced Monkeys.
Yesterday, on the 21st, we visited our mentor Sandro’s organic farm where we enjoyed learning the process of refining cocoa beans into hot chocolate and cocoa face masks. Later in the day, we endured a crazy rain storm, and went to a field day rally with the locals of Rancho Quemado. Today, we split into two separate groups, one whose mission was to build water filters to clean grey water so that runoff in the community is safe for the plants in the environment, and one who will build a community garden with indigenous plants to help bring biodiversity closer to the town. Also, other than just doing service, the two groups had the opportunity to ride bikes deep into the rainforest to look for animals and animal footprints, and were able to explore a local farmers land and take a swim in a natural waterfall pool.
July 26, 2017
In the morning we took a trip to zip lining, where we got to experience an amazing view, and seven zip lines over and through the breathtaking rainforest. In the afternoon, we met at the school in Rancho Quemado where we assisted in setting up the party for one of there national holidays being held the following day. Our morning began at 7:20 with breakfast, followed by an 8 o’clockmeet up at three different locals houses, where we helped prepare traditional dishes to bring to the party at the school. At the school, we watched the students preform dances, the locals speak about the significance of the holiday, and a special musician which played the “marimba” or xylophone. We ended our day with our service groups, either working on the filter or painting a new sign for Rancho Quemado.
by James Egan
Day 1
Hola,
All students have arrived. Everything went well and everyone is safe. Tomorrow we travel to our home for the next two weeks, Rancho Quemado. Next blog update coming soon.
With love,
Ric Barron
Day 2
Group started with a traditional breakfast this morning. We left San Jose at about 9am. On our way to rancho quemado we stopped at the beach.
We are traveling now, and due to low connectivity in rancho quemado, we are sending this update from the road.
Looking forward to sharing more of our experiences soon!
Day 2
After spending the night in San Jose we took an 8 hour bus drive to Rancho Quemado. About an hour into the journey, Sandro, one of our GLA mentors, spotted a sloth, or peresoso in Spanish. We stopped the bus to take a closer look at this slow creature. Our second stop was in this beach where we had lunch. There were tapestries hanging on the side of the beach. There were locals break dancing. There were fellow foreigners enjoying the waves and the beautiful surrounding of Costa Rica. Our last stop before we reached Rancho Quemado was for a bathroom break in this nice restaurant outlooking the forest. It was such a calming view to see and witness. Finally we arrived to our destination where we met the members of the community and received gifts that they had made specially for us. Day 3 Today’s our official activity in Rancho Quemado. We went to the library to discuss the rules and policies of the program through a game of jeopardy. One of the best part of the day was when Sandro showed us his organic farm. He showed us all kinds of plants and trees with really great healthy benefits. After Sandro’s short tour, we crushed some cocoa beans with our hands, we learned how to make a cocoa drink. We also put on a chocolate mask that was by the way really rejuvenating. The next activity we did was the making of bracelets with this fiber called “cabuya” that was pretty interesting. The next thing we did was the rally, which was REALLY FUUUUN. We did a lot of games and really got to bond with the community. And last but not the least activity that we had is the visitation of abuelos. We got into abeuelo house and they told about the story of their town Rancho Quemado and the struggles that experience to get where they are right now. Day 4 On day 4 we went did service by making a path in the rainforest for 3 hours. Then, after all the hard work we had lunch and a break. After this we went to the gold mines to get a tour and look for some gold. We found small pieced of gold and silver. Later we went to the community plaza to play some games. Then we had dinner and met up at the library to do an activity. Everyone had to tell make an album with songs that tell their story. Finally everyone went to sleep after a long day.
Day 5
We woke up and immediately got to work. The task was to plant a row of yuca plants. We began by digging holes each a foot apart and sticking two short yuca branches in each hole. Next we had to dig two shallow trenches on each side of the row of holes. This served to destroy any roots that may impede the growth of the yuca plant. In the afternoon we went zip lining and got great views of the rainforest. We finished the night with a bonding activity and went to bed
Day 6
We started off at 7:20 for breakfast. After breakfast the garden kids, did horse back riding. For Filter kids they did their service turning tires inside out. Next was lunch and break. Then we’re back to filter group horses back riding and garden group to garden digging a ditch for water flow. Then dinner and lights out.
Day 7
Everyone went to their service sites to do service from 8 to 12. Some people installed filters and others worked on a garden. After that we ate lunch. Then, we all went on a hike that was straight uphill. Up there we enjoyed the beautiful view and had a picnic. Then, we went back down in the night and saw many insects and snakes. We arrived to Rancho Quemado and ate dinner. After this we had some group time and went to bed.
Day 8
Filter group continued to install the filters at Yolanda’s house for the Grey Water Project. The garden group raked a path and dug a ditch for putting in pipes. We went to the butterfly garden to learn and appreciate the beautiful species of butterflies and how it contributes to the ecosystem. Then we headed to sugar cane mill to learn how brown sugar’s made. It was very interesting how sugar’s made before it’s processed refined. Later we had some group bonding time and went to sleep.
Day 9 Beach day!!!
We head out to Drake Bay and got into a boat to go snorkeling! The boat took us to this breath-taking island with turquoise water and fine sand which turned out to be a marine conservation island called Caño. A bunch of us have never been snorkeling before but all together, fear and nervousness aside, we spotted beautiful sea creatures such as sea turtles and colorful fish. We chilled in the beach, soaked in the sun, and enjoyed the saltiness of the ocean. On the boat ride back to Drake Bay, everyone was filled with awe when we spotted these huge massive whales swimming with dolphins. We couldn’t help but love and appreciate on these spectacular sea creatures. It was downpour when we ought our way to the house we were gonna stay in for the night so our bus could not cross the river because the water was too high. Fear not! GLA staff to the rescue and the adventure goes on. We got off the bus and crossed a hanging bridge where a pick up truck was waiting for us in the other side We had late lunch in a restaurant and then finally arrive at Casa Drake. Casa Drake was this beautiful home with wooden floors, stairs, and walls. We spent most of our time hanging out and bonding all through the night.
Day 10
On day 10 we woke up in Casa Drake and went hiking in the Parque Nacional Corcovado in Los Planes. There, we learned about different types of animals and plants. After, we went to the beach to go in the water and have fun. Then we got on the bus and headed back to Rancho Quemado. When we got there we ate dinner and had did a group activity. We then went to the soccer field and had a game with another volunteer group called Tamandua and the community. It was really fun, and then we all went to bed tired from a long day.
Day 11
Welcome to the news for day 11, we woke up in the morning at 6:30 to milk cows and we all got to try and see how they would usually milk the cows which was super interesting! After that they gave us cheese and milk bread and gave us input on how to make cheese and how they make their own milk. Then we had our service at 8:00 where we went into our different groups which were the garden group and the filter group. The garden group helped dig up different types of plants in the forest and took them to different parts of the trench that they built and made the area pretty, the filter group dug up dirt and planted corn. After that we took a lunch break and hung out for a bit, then we split up into different groups and went to separate houses to learn how to cook some of the food that they make here. It was so much fun to learn the culture and to experience how to make it. And to close off the night we had GLA time.
Final Post
Hola! It’s day 12! We woke up at 7:20 to have some breakfast, then we went on a forest hike in the morning which was super fun and we experienced seeing monkeys and different types of wildlife. Then we started service at Yolanda’s where we then planted stuff around her house, then we ate dinner and went to a farewell community event which we saw dancers and played some soccer with the community and we said our last goodbyes. We had a great last day! Thanks GLA 🙂