Yay to adventure time!

July 23, 2017

We started the day with an amazing breakfast made by Maria and Maruja; they are the best cooks in the world! The breakfast consisted of eggs and ham, pinto (rice and beans), fruit, coffee, and toast with butter, but In Costa Rica food just tastes better. After breakfast we walked to the beach and surfed for 4 hours, this concluded our third lesson with Bodhi Surf. Although it has been a short time learning, we have achieved and exceeded great things on this difficult sport. Our surfing instructors not only aid the process of learning how to surf but also made this experience immensely fun ! When we finished our lesson we went back to the lodge for lunch, an activity we also enjoy very much. After lunch, we walked to a park where we all got to give back to this incredible community that we are falling in love with every day we are here, by doing small jobs in that park. Some of the projects we worked on, included: making signs for the roads, painting implanted tires on the soccer court, and constructing garbage baskets. Kids that were playing at this park were influenced by the cause and started to help, this is what community is all about.

We ended the night with a delicious dinner and an extremely informative (but entertaining) class about the dangers of plastic. Being aware of such problematic issue is the inspiration one needs to change for the better and help the world the we live in to thrive not to moribund. In conclusion, we experience a really fun day and learn about an eye-opening complication that’s happening in our generation.

Day 6 by Alex and Griffin

Today was an extraordinary day. We started off by waking up at 6:15 to have breakfast at 6:30. We then prepared for the vans to pick us up take us whitewater rafting. We went through thick rain forest and scenic views, and even had to shift people to the back of the van to make it up the steep hill, but eventually we made it to our destination. We entered the chilly, clear water not knowing what to expect, but eventually we were hitting big rapids and fast currents and everyone was smiling and laughing.
The guides made sure that we only hit the best rapids and drops, always allowing one person to sit on the nose of the raft to hold on for a completely invigorating experience. After we stopped for a brief snack, we were shown a stretch of rapids that we could float down on our bodies. We all left the water with a few bruises on our butts but smiles on our faces. Next we pulled over on the river to take a short walk to a beautiful secluded waterfall, and everyone took turns jumping off the waterfall and climbing underneath the booming water. The last part of the river consisted of everyone pushing each other into the river. We finally exited the river to make our way to a well-deserved lunch.
After returning to the town of El Silencio (which is based upon the Savegre river on which we went rafting), we ate a great lunch made by our river guides Luis, Ronny, and Cristobal. Despite
consisting of rice and beans like most of our previous meals, we could choose between salads, mashed potatoes and other sides in addition to the chicken and rice. From there, we rode the buses back to Bodhi Surf. Due to the fact that most of us are phone-free, this made for interesting conversations in the car! Once back to base camp, we were given an hour to put our things away and recuperate from rafting. From there, we all came together for a relaxing Yoga session led by Bodhi Surf co-owner Pilar. With an open mind, yoga quickly became a fun activity able to help relieve stress. With individuel positions as well as intricate partner positions, our group as a whole was educated about the countless positions and benefits that come with yoga. After yoga and a much-needed dinner that consisted of savory noodles, chicken, salad and pinto, we watched an interesting surf movie called Chasing Mavericks. In order to rest for the big day ahead, we made sure to get extra sleep for a full day of service.

Everyone has arrived and we are headed to Bahía Ballena now!

July 8, 2017

Written by Octavia and Tina

Our first full day in Bahía Ballena was anything but boring. We started out the morning with the lovely wake up call at 6! We devoured a breakfast that consisted of fruit, toast, and rice & beans of course!

After covering ourselves in sunscreen, we hit the beach to start our surfing journey. Somewhere great at surfing right away while others mastered the art of wiping out (Megan & Tina!).
We even learned a Costa Rican dance called the stingray shuffle. We soon tracked back to homebase to eat a lunch that consisted of burritos, rice & beans, and amazing sweet tea!

This Millfield us as we headed to town to engage in service activities. As we picked up trash around town and created wooden signs with environmental messages, we all realize the importance of creating awareness about the consequences of littering. After service we headed to town to play soccer with the locals. They were so friendly and welcoming, but they weren’t afraid about showing us up! Soccer was an activity that really united the group.

July 9

We kicked the day off with a fried cheese breakfast. Later, we had the chance to learn how to kite board and surf. The day consisted mostly of pool surfing, yet Colin constantly reassured us that this was a necessary step in the progression towards becoming Kelly Slater (11 time surfing world champion). After a tasty lunch consisting of even more chicken, we moved to the beach, where Ptufo taught us kite boarding basics and safety. After the skills were taught and the lingo was memorized, the group continued their body surfing extravaganza. Returning to shore with trunks full of sand and Josh with a crab clung to his nipple, we retired to the ecolodge exhausted. Day 3: a success.

Over and out,
-Cassandra and Mac

July 10, 2017

By Megan & Marco
Today was a wild ride to say the least. We started out with an average Costa Rican breakfast at 6:30 sharp. At about 7:30 we boarded two vans that took us about an hour and a half away to go whitewater rafting!

Unlike whitewater rafting in in the States, most of us thought it to be much more relaxed in rules, though they were prepared with a safety crew.
Giving each person a chance to ride in the very front, this inevitably lead to numerous wipeouts-all in good fun of course!
After a few rapids we stopped to eat or snack. The guys collected huge leaves on the way to our destination for us to use as plates! Our snack had pineapple (as usual) and fresh guacamole with chips! ¡Muy delicioso! We floated and road a few more rabbits until we came across a waterfall. The waterfall area seems so surreal, which cost us all to immediately rushed underneath it! After we left the waterfall the road a few more rapids in the part of for lunch. Lunch was amazing! On our way back to homebase one of our vans broke down which forced us all to pile into one van for about 3 miles!
We ended our day with a refreshing yoga class led by an amazing instructor. We finally ate dinner and watched – some slept through – a very interesting movie about the pollution of plastic in our oceans. The day was definitely an adventure and we all can’t wait for tomorrow!

By Megan & Marco

Day 6

We started the morning with breakfast at 6:30. Following that and sunscreening, we got ready to go down to the beach. We had our third surf lesson and it was a blast! We worked on paddling out to bigger and better waves.

After surfing, we went back to Bodhi Surf (homebase) for a delicious lunch. Then we got ready to go to our first service with the kids. After a 10 minute cab ride, we arrived where the kids were camping. We played a name game and then help them put up their tents. We played with them until we left at 9:00.

The time with them consisted of fun and tiring soccer, crazy running around, lots and lots of piggyback rides, passing the frisbee, and playing with the jump rope. Later when it started to rain, we played in the mud and had mud fights. We all painted little cardboard surfboards before returning outside for more play time. Before we knew it, it was time for a dinner of chicken and rice, chips, and iced tea. After everyone finished, we played in the rain while the staff was making a dessert of s’mores.
We then said “¡Hasta mañana!” and headed back to Bodhi Surf. Once we were back around 9 we fell asleep right away after an amazing day.

By Kaia & Ezra

The group is here, ready for some adventures!

 

June 27, 2017

We started the day with a surfing lesson. During the lesson, we focused on standing and balancing. Also, we learned how to turn while in the standing position. Then after surfing we had a traditional costa rican meal for lunch. After lunch, we did community service. Some of us cut wood to make signs to place around town. Meanwhile, the remainder of us picked up trash and marked down places to put the signs using a GIS application . After community service, a myriad of us sat under the yoga platform & talked & bonded with one another. Lastly we ate dinner and then we gathered finished sharing our story of selves presentations.

– Mecca

June 28, 2017

Today was by far our favorite day on this trip. We started off the day by waking up the other campers gently unlike other leaders of the day who had more interesting ways to wake people up. Then after breakfast we had community service. During this time we decided to not only give back to the community but also focused on sustainability by creating posters. We all worked as a team each of us doing different things. Some people cut the wood others drew the letters onto it, and I carved the letters into the boards. After service we had lunch then went surfing. Although the waves were big and challenging we all had a blast nevertheless. During this time we took a break in the water splashing around and jumping into waves it was the best. After this we head back to the base and ate dinner. After dinner we had a cool presentation on a local person who made handmade surfboards. Ending our day of fun we headed to the yoga room and chatted bonding with the other campers.

Martina & Andrea

Thursday June 29

Today was one of our busier days. We started the day off with a 6:30 breakfast and went right into a hike through the rainforest at 7. Despite the heat and all the hills we had amazing views along the way including the sighting of a sloth. After our hike we went straight to the school in the community where we had a quick snack before running gym class for the kids. Running gym class included basketball, soccer, gymnastics, volleyball and frisbee. Everyone had great time connecting with the local students. Once all the kids had returned to the school we were served with their typical lunch meal. The meal consisted of beans, rice, cheese, and plantains on corn tortillas. As everyone finished lunch we returned to the base where we had about a 2 hour break to relax before a soccer game with the locals. The soccer game was played on a turf field where local kids and adults came out to play. Following the soccer game was dinner consisting of rice, beans, beet salad, and chicken. The final events of the night before bed were watching an eye-opening documentary about plastic in our oceans and playing trivia based off of the information in the documentary. The day was full of events allowing everyone to have fun.

-Paige & Spencer

Day 1:

GLA Students arrived in the San Jose Airport and were picked up by our camp leaders. We then took a short bus ride to the hostel, called Pacande Hotel, where we got to know our bunkmates, ate delicious chicken burritos for lunch, and played “two truths and a lie”. We then went out for a nice stroll around Alajuela, where we experienced daily life in the City of Mangos by walking through the town’s narrow streets, among shops, markets, parks, and friendly locals. When we returned to the hostel, we played cards, made conversation with our group members, and took some time to relax after our travels. We finally went out for another walking expedition along with some new additions to the group and dined at the local typical Costa Rican restaurant. Most of us ate a typical Costa Rican dish, white rice, black beans, seasoned potato salad, fresh salad with tomatoes and cucumbers, fried plantations , and a toasty corn tortilla.

Day 2:

The now rested group took off from the hotel in Alajuela to Uvita around 8m. Students rode for 4.5 hours in a bus, stopping along the way by a well known crocodile sighting spot, where we bought Costa Rican souvenirs, ate some fresh snacks, and snapped some pictures of the gargantuan lizards in their natural habitat. We later arrived at Bodhi Surf Lodge, where we ate a delicious pork-chop lunch, received a tour of the grounds, and afternoon community walk along with a native tour guide in the pouring rain, where we saw many interesting medicinal trees, tropical fruits and walked around in the salty ocean. We tried the leaves of the medicinal bitter tree, starfruit, mangos, and coconuts. We also got to see the cashew fruit with its nut on its outside and smashed the leaves of a teak tree to produce a bright red dye. Upon our return to the lodge, we ate dinner and listened to a great introduction to surfing presentation by Gibran.

Day 3:

At 6:30 am, GLA students ate breakfast in preparation for their first surf lesson, at 8 AM. After arriving at the beach, called Playa Colonia, Gibran and his assistant surf instructors taught us the parts of a surfboard and how to properly handle the equipment. Students did drills on land to practice mounting the surfboard, turning, and stopping. We excitingly got in the water and practiced basic surfing for about 3.5 hours. By the end of the session, everyone knew how to ride a wave while standing up on their board. We then returned to Bohdi grounds for a delicious lunch and set off once again to a local surfboard shaper’s shop for service. We helped the owner, Snyder, paint the walls white and design a mural for the front wall. After working hard all afternoon, students returned to Bohdi for dinner and engaged in a final activity called “story of Self.” Names were chosen randomly and each student or staff member whose name was pulled shared their life story with the group, forming a close-knit relationship.

June 15, 2017

Today, the 15th of June, we went to the local elementary school to play sports with the kids. We played frisbee, basketball, volleyball, and soccer together. It was National Tree Day in Costa Rica, so after sports the kids put on a presentation. Then we got on stage and danced for them!

When Olivia and I (Cameron) were the leaders of the day, we went helped at Esneyder’s surf shop again. We finished painting the walls, kept working on the mural, and completed the surf board racks.

Also we helped our fellow peers surf that afternoon. After dinner, we watched the movie Chasing Mavericks.

In total we enjoyed being the leaders of the day and would be looking forward to doing it again.

June 17, 2017

Today we woke up and got in the car & rode for an hour and a half to pick up the rafts for whitewater rafting! We rafted for about an hour and then stopped on a river bank where our guides made us fresh salsa, guacamole, and various fruits. As we continued down one of Central America’s cleanest rivers, we stopped and hiked a waterfall, and jumped down!

We also found clay rock which we used to paint our faces. When we finished we ate lunch at a restaurant that over viewed a palm plantation and then drove home.

To end a long and busy week of service and fun we had a yoga session during a rain shower.

June 18, 2017 

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! Today we went to the beach to surf, but the tides were too high so we completed a beach cleanup first. After the cleanup we went surfing to shred the gnar! Post surfing, we went on an 8k hike through the rainforest and saw amazing  views. Finally we played soccer against some locals and got crushed, but it was still fun and sweaty!

8/17/2017

Hello and Welcome Beachside Adventurers!
¡Hola y bienvenidos!

We are so excited to have the students here in Parrita, Costa Rica to finish up this summer of service learning, leadership activities, and adventures!

All students arrived safely and are settling in to their new digs that will be home base for the next nine days. We have a full schedule each day, and all have arrived excited to see what Beachside Service Adventure is all about.

Students are in Orientation today, learning about home base, diving into Mentor Group discussions, and getting to know each other.

We look forward to a wonderful week ahead full of service learning, personal transformation and leadership development, and soaking up the Costa Rica sun!

Saludos,
Erica

August 18, 2017
By: Faye Blackburn

This was the first day of service work and the second day in Parrita, and so far I give it a 10/10!! I have never done something like this before, going outside the country alone, and eating exotic foods. We started working on a fence at a small school up in a mountain. The view was gorgeous but the murals on the wall of the school were even better.

After the service work everyone met up to drive to the farmers market. I personally loved all the different foods. After that we went to play an intense soccer game with two of the locals who were way better at soccer than us. Overall this was a great first experience in immersing myself into the culture of Costa Rica!!

Blog 8/19/17:
By Emma Jeske

Today we had an awesome adventure in the morning and continued to work on our service projects in the afternoon. For our adventure we went whitewater tubing where we saw many birds, waterfalls, and plants. Before we got in the river we stopped to swim in a beautiful waterfall and watch a safety presentation.

Once we got on the river it was full of laughter and had awesome rapids. We stopped halfway for a snack of local foods such as crackers and fresh piñas (pineapples) provided by our amazing guides. After our snack we continued down the river in circle formations taking on the whitewater water.

After all the fun on the river we headed back to home base for a delicious lunch and then went to our service projects. My group is working on a tire playground and finishing up a fence for a local school in the mountains. We finished building the fence and painted most of it while painting many of the tires.

Overall this was a successful day of adventure and service!

August 20, 2017
By: Chelsea Cheung

Today was super fun and activity packed! The first thing on the agenda was horse back riding, and for many, it was their first time riding a horse. We were urbane equestrians for an entire morning, riding on sinuous gravel paths while looking out into the lush, mountain landscape.

We then had Lulu, a Costa Rican native, visit the home base to teach us how to cook picadillo. I can vouch and say that they tasted absolutely delicious.

Later, one of the mentors, Mark, taught us how to be overall better story tellers, which is a skill most for us will find handy throughout our lives, whether for writing our college essays or just fostering a deeper connection with another human being.

Soon after, we were taught how to dance by a group of local women, and we had the best time moving to the music.

Finally, after dinner, we settled down to watch a hard hitting documentary about the poverty industry, and it completely opened up our eyes about the way we help others.

By the end of the day, we were slumped, but we wouldn’t have traded the amazing, eye opening experience for anything else.

Date: August 21, 2017
By: Ruby Shumaker

Today was an exhausting day in the lives of the GLA students here in Parrita. It was our first, and last, full service day. My group started our day in a different location than normal. In the past, we planted trees on the shore of the river to help keep the island together and to reforest the land. We also have potted and transferred plants in the backyard/nursery of Lulu, a local hero and founder of Ave-Fénix, an organization that provides farming jobs to unemployed Costa Rican women.

However, today, my group joined Mark’s group at the Escuela Lourdes where we helped them paint tires, and dig holes for the tires for a sun themed play set for the school children. We also completed painting the fence that Mark’s group had started. Because the school is in the mountains, it was much hotter than the previous locations my group had worked at.

Around lunch time, our group left to go to Lulu’s house where we continued the potting, and repotting of the plants for Ave-Fénix. Lulu’s friend and colleague, Ale made us food (salad, chicken, and rice). We met a lot of locals, who were very kind and welcoming despite our often subpar Spanish. We worked, potting plants that needed larger bags to root, and mixing soil until 4pm when we left and went back to home base for an hour of free time before an excellent sunset and an equally excellent dinner. Overall, today was so full of service and Costa Rican culture, both of which were extremely enriching and fascinating.

By: Ruth Fernandez
Date: 8/22/17

Today we all met up at 5:20 am for the sunrise. We walked along side the beach and took pictures of the sunrise. Later we sat down our typical rice, beans, and eggs for breakfast. We got into our service groups. Today we had to wrap up our projects since today was the last day of service. Pepe’s group finish planting all the plants that Marks group had picked the day before. After a long time of hard work we were rewarded with a coconut walk. We drank and ate coconuts and took many pictures.
Mark and Jesses group planted seeds then went to Lulus house to plant trees.
After service time was over we had lunch then we had free time and jumped in the pool. Later we played a game called star power, a strategy game where we had to trade different value of chips and the person that would win would get the giant bag of candy.
Then we went on a trash clean up beach walk. Everyone walked along side the beach picking up trash that the ocean had brought up. After we had a very good typical Costa Rican dinner. When we finished it was time for mentor groups. In mentor groups we talked about leadership and the single story of Africa.

Date: August 23, 2017
By: Tommy Anderson

Yesterday was the last day that we got to hangout with an amazing person. Her name was Lulu. She is a hard worker who loves her town. Lulu inspires people to want to do great things. Some of the projects Lulu had us do was plant plants for her nursery.

Today we are going on a boat to go to a reserve. We will be able to see different kinds of animals that Costa Rica has to offer.

We just finished the boat ride. We saw dolphins, lots of fish, and birds. Once the group got done with snorkeling we got to jump off the top of the boat. It was absolutely amazing to the start of the day.

Date: August 25, 2017
By: Elizabeth Grenzow

Today is officially the last day before we all head home! We ended our fun trip with one last adventure day. Our morning started off with zip lining through the mountains and getting to see some amazing views.

After lunch everyone packed their bags early and enjoyed the couple hours of free time. Most of us choose to have one last dip in the pool and hang out with all the friends we’ve made. After that we had a story slam where people got to get up and share their adventurous or fun stories with the whole group.

For dinner everyone dressed up as we shared one last meal and then had our closing ceremony. At closing we did a couple group activities that showed our appreciation for each and every person and told each other all the good qualities they have and how great it has to become friends in such a short time. We also had one last mentor group and then had a salsa dance party. Now we are all headed to bed and getting ready to go to the airport at 2am for everyones flight and to say adios to Costa Rica.