PROGRAM PHOTO ALBUM
Thanks for the checking out the blog for this Global Leadership Adventures program!
Here are a few things to know and expect:
- Blog posts are written by onsite program staff and/or students and sent to our Headquarters team who will post the blog on this page.
- We typically receive 2-3 blog posts per week from each program, so please don’t be alarmed if you don’t see a blog post every day – that’s totally normal.
- Blog updates received on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
- Due to many factors such as internet accessibility, program staff aren’t always able to send photos, so some blog posts may contain text only.
Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we hope you enjoy following along on these unforgettable adventures.
For frequently asked questions about the blogs, please visit our Program Blog FAQ page.
-The Global Leadership Adventures HQ Team
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BLOG POST FOR JULY 30
Hola!
Animal Rescue & Veterinary Project crew here! We are officially in Session 4 of ARVP in amazing Costa Rica and excited to start a new beginning with new faces! Yesterday was arrival day (7/30/24) and let’s just say it was a long adventure for our students! But, with lots of anticipation to meet and greet, they have officially arrived (some early in the morning, midday, and late night as well), we all got to meet one another and ready to start our 14 day excursion!
From arrivals, we talked to our students about what to look forward to when being here in Costa Rica, and that is helping animals in need. They got to taste some delicious vegan food at the local homebase called Lands in Love that is located in the rainforest (2 hours away from San Jose the main city), and walked around to see the natural beauty Costa Rica has to offer!
From traveling all day, students are very excited for service days and adventure days but also making a difference in animals’ lives.
Let Session 4 activities begin! Pura Vida!!!
From yours truly,
Anna (International Director)
Katie (Mentor)
Hayley (Mentor)
Juanca (Local Director)
BLOG POST FOR JULY 31
Hey Families & Friends,
It started off this morning of having a vegan breakfast that consists pancakes, cereal, gallo pinto and other delicacies of breakfast before orientation. At orientation, the students learned a lot of what GLA is all about and what it will be in the next 14 days. They all seem super excited for their 14 day excursions and help with the animals. Then after orientation, they did their swim test and all passed! Woo! From there, they went on to have a delicious dinner and had a guest speaker come in to talk about what Costa Rica is all about and they got to try red mamones (lychee) a delicacy here in CR. From there, they got their phones back for tech time and head off to bed for their early first morning service with the animals the next day. Until then family, chat tomorrow. Pura Vida!
Your ARVP CREW,
Anna, Katie, Hayley & Juanca
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 1
Hola!
Our day at Lands and Love started bright and early with breakfast at 8:30 am, where we got to eat French toast and Gallo pinto, Costa Rica’s traditional breakfast dish. Following breakfast, we separated into our groups and departed for service, tending to a variety of animals such as horses, cats, dogs, and chickens. Making sure the animals and their enclosures stay clean is crucial for their wellbeing, and gave us all a chance to form connections with them, making it seem less like work and more like fun.
After service, we ate lunch, which consisted of mostly pasta and chicken (all vegan by the way!), as most of us were pretty hungry after service. We were originally scheduled to do a waterfall hike today, but due to the rain we ended up going to a Costa Rican market, where we all got a chance to stock up on essentials that we may have forgotten at home. Shortly after we drove over to Walmart and picked up various items such as candy, swimsuits, drinks, and any other things we may need. We drove back to Lands of Love and spent some time in our rooms before dinner, which included mashed potatoes, pesto pasta, vegetables, and fried vegan chicken.
After dinner we headed over to the dance room, and learned various Costa Rican dances! This included salsa, bachata, and cumbia. We also organized into our own groups and choreographed our very own dance from what we had learned! A very eventful day definitely ended with a bang!
Sincerely,
Nola and Arianna
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 2
Hi families!!
Today was another amazing time with the GLA group! We started the day off with a delicious breakfast made by the amazing chefs at Lands in Love. After finishing up breakfast, we headed to our four different service groups for the morning. Some walked dogs and helped take care of the chickens and their enclosures. Others helped with cleaning the horses or taking care of the cats. After two and a half hours of doing service work we all headed back to the lobby for an amazing lunch. Lunch included tempoura cauliflower, tacos, salad, potatoes, and pasta with mushrooms.
After lunch we headed to a local town, Quesada, to get ice cream and do a little shopping at the mall. At around 5 we left the mall and headed back to Lands in Love. Before dinner, we met at the dance studio at 6:15 for the chow circle. We discussed our activites for tomorrow and then gave each other shout outs and talked about our favorite part of the program so far. We then headed to dinner before the first day of mentor groups.
After we had an amazing dinner of tostados, spaghetti, rice with soy, onion rings and French fries! After, we wrote letters to ourself about goals and expectations for the program. Then during mentor groups we played a game called “hot seat”. The purpose of the game was to get to know each other better and the group winner won candy! That’s it for another day of GLA and we’re so excited for tomorrow!
Ellah and Aislean
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 3
Hola!
We had a very busy and fun day today! It was our 5th day in Costa Rica and we finally had some sunny weather for the hot springs. We started the day a bit earlier today with some delicious French toast, Galo pinto (rice and beans), fresh fruit and plantains. We then hopped on the bus and headed to the chocolate tour! Everyone enjoyed learning about the chocolate making process and our guide was very informative. We got to taste the chocolate at each of its stages, it was quite bitter and still really good and authentic! To finish off the tour, we visited the souvenir shop and we all got to pick from a wide selection of delicious local chocolate. We hopped back on the bus and headed to the hot springs. Before swimming, we enjoyed a nice buffet at the restaurant, everyone especially enjoyed getting a meat and cheese fix.
After eating, everyone was off to the water. The hot springs were amazing, there was both cold and warm water depending on what you wanted to swim in. For those of us who were brave, there were several fun water slides to choose from. After a couple of hours, it was time to visit the many souvenir shops around. There was even some beautiful views of the volcano and the blossoming flowers while we were exploring around the town. We finished the day with a rainy bus ride back to home base and a nice dinner. Everyone was tired after the fun day we had and went straight to bed, excited to resume service tomorrow. Buenos noches!
Sincerely your leaders of the day, Lauder and Eloise
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 4
Buenos Días!
Today we started our day off with a delicious breakfast of gallo pinto, pancakes, and fruit, among other things. Then we headed off to service where we helped to groom horses, clean cat cages, and walk dogs. Then it was time to get on the busses to a cooking class, where we jammed out to some music. The cooking class was really fun as we got to make our own tortillas and empanadas, as well as drink some delicious dulce agua (sugar water).
After the cooking class, we played soccer with some of the local kids. Even though we lost the game, we still had tons of fun! Soon we were back on this bus to Lands in Love. One of our awesome counselors treated us all to ice cream, and we even managed to spot a sloth! We had dinner back at the hotel, which consisted of pasta, falafel, and rice. We ended our day with a visit from a guest speaker who talked to us about Costa Rica and its tourism, and he also gave us some Costa Rican cookies. We are super excited for our last day at Lands in Love tomorrow!
Til next time,
Sophie and Sophia
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 5
Hello friends, family, or whoever may be reading this!
Our last day at Lands in Love started off with breakfast, which consisted of gallo pinto, chocolate chip pancakes, and more! From there, we went to work with the animals. I, Kobe, was with the indoor cats up by the office. We cleaned out some of their cages, making sure they were comfortable, and at the end, even got to hang out with them for a bit! I, Aly and my group woke up very early (6:45) to walk the dogs. We also cleaned up the chicken coops and got to hang out with the bunnies and guinea pigs, they are very cute. After our service, we had some lunch and checked in with the councillors, who sent us off to pack up for our long trip to Liberia tomorrow! During this time, some people also tanned by the pool, and some of us went on a hike near the waterfall in Lands in Love. This brought us to our special dinner where we were served dishes of our choice from the in-house vegan restaurant. The food was delicious, and so was the cheesecake we were given for dessert!
Until tomorrow,
Aly and Kobe
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 6
Hey!
Today we woke up around 7:30 to load up our stuff on to the busses we both Giovanni’s help. after we loaded it, we headed to breakfast and after breakfast we departed on our 5 hour journey to Hotel Wilson. during the drive we all sang, read a book, talk with each other or just sleep. after 2 hours we made a pit stop at a supermarket to pick up snacks, drinks or just go to the bathroom. When we arrived at Hotel Wilson we all went to our rooms and met up for orientation. The rooms were a little different from Lands in Love, some of the walls were green and orange and whatnot. Some of the TVs were also playing English movies. At orientation we met the staff who were super nice and explained the next week to us, they talked about scrubs and the home visits too. We also played card games like BS and Mao and Slapjack. After that we had dinner which was chicken and pasta and rice, it was pretty good and a change from the last place.
Until the next time,
Oszkar & Gabby
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 7
Hello!
Today we started off by eating a breakfast that consisted of eggs, rice, beans, avocado, fruit, sausage, and cereal. Directly after breakfast we met with the vida team and got split into 4 service groups. Each group got assigned to a doctor and walked around the community, educate people how to properly take care of their pets, giving them deworming pills and Flea/tick medicine. After working with vida, we had lunch and then got the opportunity to go on a waterfall hike and take a dip in the cool water, explore the nature, and some students were able to see a basilisk lizard.
After the hike, we were taken to get food at local restaurants and cafes for snacks and drinks. Succeeding the amazing day with the vida team and the waterfall hike, we came back to the hotel for more activities. Before dinner, we had chow circle which allow the leaders of the day to ask thinking questions to everybody and pass the torch to two new leaders for tomorrow. For dinner, we had various options such as rice, beans, pasta, beef, garlic bread, and salad. Later in our mentor group, we were split into 2 groups and each deeply discussed some ethical questions about the community we visited compared to our own community.
From,
Elyssa & Zifeng
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 8
Hi!
Welcome to another blog post families! Today we woke up bright and early for our first day of surgeries for pets working with Vida. Today we got to experience procedures with dogs and cats getting spayed and neutered. The amazing doctors working with Vida carefully explained everything and helped us understand the process. There were three different stations that groups were able to rotate around. The three stations were intake, surgery, and recovery. In each of these steps we were able to learn and care for the animals.
After working with the animals for 5 hours we were able to enjoy our afternoon by zip lining! The zip lining was about an hour long and so much fun! We got zip line through canyons and colorful scenery as well as experience a once in a lifetime opportunity in Costa Rica! As our long but exciting day came to an end, we finished with karaoke!!
Love, the best leaders of the day
AKA – Emily and Sadie
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 9
Greetings loved ones!
As you know, yesterday we had an intense day. In compensation for this, we were able to relax on a catamaran excursion today! While on the hour long boat ride to our location, students tanned on the Lazy Lizard’s net located on the bow of the boat. Later on we were led by a guide for snorkeling where we got to experience the salty stinging waters, witnessing puffer fish, eel, jellyfish, and many other aquatic species.
Afterwards, a delicious lunch was served to GLA and the Vida team. We had salad, pasta, wraps, fresh fruit and chocolate chip cookies! We also got served Shirley temples while we enjoyed our lunch and tanned. Many students returned to diving off of the boat soon after lunch. Though time seemed to slip by quickly, we now were headed off back to land! Despite original plans of heading immediately to a souvenir shop, Katie and Hayley had suggested a quick beach stop. After a couple minutes of debate, we were driving to the next beach, Playa Hermosa. A drizzle quickly spawned and many students left the sands to the restaurant nearby. Many students compared tans and slight burns while enjoying a second lunch. Forty minutes or so into the visit the rain had finally stopped, a hot sun poking through the clouds.
After enjoying the ocean and sun for a short while we were set off for the souvenir shop! Students and staff bought gifts for loved ones (you guys)! Along with this, some of us went to the near ice cream shop, then quickly hustled back to our buses. Driving back, students were exhausted. Napping even through the loud music and bumpy roads. After arriving home we had a quick group discussion and then an amazing dinner prepared by hotel owners, Sharron and Jose. Excited for tomorrow to work Vida and help more animals and communities with surgeries at our clinic! Thank you loved ones for keeping up with our blog!
With care,
Alice and Mia
