Time Capsule Letter – October 2016
Summer Blog Posts
June 30, 2016
A full day of orientation activities have prepared our 34 students for their experience in Costa Rica. Students spent the day in Playas del Coco designing their Full Value Contracts – setting their expectations for how they will handle the next 8 days – and enjoying a sunset swim at the beach. Tomorrow we start our service projects in surrounding communities!
Sunset swim
Group under their Full Value Contracts
July 1, 2016
Today was an exhilarating first day of service! We jumped straight into action in the early hours of the morning. Our projects this session include building a bridge to make commutes more safe, touching up the basketball court at Escuela Libertad and building benches for Escuela Obandito. We got to play with school children during breaks, which was lots of fun. They were celebrating their last day before a 2-week break so they taught us how to dance to the music they listen to. After service and lunch, we learned about Pre-colombian Costa Rican clay art and got to make some. at the end of the day, we relaxed at the beach and played some drama games. Overall, it was a day well spent.
Written by Nina G, Leader of the Day
Day 2
Our second day of service proved to be a lot easier than our first. Students working at Libertad began working with cement. Students working at the bridge worked on the columns more and the students at Obandito started digging an irrigation ditch as well as building benches. The service groups later met to make Granizados, a type of shaved ice, followed by journaling and learning about some local legends. Next, a woman came to teach us some Latin american dances. We had fun learning salsa, merengue, and bachata. We ended our day with an ice-breaking game of “Where the Wind Blows”
Over and Out – Written by Diana and Caia
July 3, 2016
Today we got up at 6:30 to eat a delicious meal made by the local cooks. After breakfast we started in on our third day of service in the community. There’s three worksites: the bridge, Escuela Obandito and Escuela Libertad. Each group continued their projects from the day before, making great progress and putting their goals in reach. After service and lunch we relaxed at the beach with some locals who have been helping at the bridge site. We played various sports with them such as basketball, soccer and volleyball, or just cooling down in the ocean. Once we said goodbye to our new friends we walked into town for some souvenier shopping, buying things such as bags, bracelets, and clothes. To finish the day we walked back to Villa del Sol on the beach and watched the beautiful sunset.
Written by Nicole and Grace.
July 4, 2016
Today we woke up and ate a delicious breakfast of pinto, sausage, pancakes and fruit. Next we got prepared to leave for our 4th day of service. Each service group accomplished a lot today and we all know that we will be sad to be done tomorrow. After a busy morning of service, we traveled back to the homebase for a good lunch filled with rice with meats, pasta salad, beans and salad. After lunch we were all excited to see a new beach and to snorkel. On the beach, the boats picked us up and took us to to the spot where we would snorkel. We all had a great time snorkeling and got to see a lot of the Costa Rican sea life. We then finished the night off with a classic fourth of July meal of hotdogs, hamburgers and soda. We all felt exhausted and ready to sleep after this day filled with hard work and fun activities.
Written by Grace and Sophie
July 7, 2016 – Adventure day – Guachipelin
In the morning we took an hour-long drive to Guachipelin for our day of adventure tours! We started off the day with tubing, which was really fun. Then we transitioned into ziplining, which was one of the craziest experiences of my life. We had a really nice buffet and break in the middle of the day, which was really needed. After the buffet, we went on a really nice horseback ride, that led us to a waterfall that people jumped into and greatly enjoyed. After all that happened, we rode back and got on the bus so everyone could leave. We then made our way back to the homebase, where we said or goodbyes to Jose Carlos, the local program director, and Veronica, our wonderful caterer, which was really sad for everyone. We ended off the night with a meditation where we reflected on trip memories, and open mic of singing, dancing and poetry,and some general announcements. We got the treat of going to sleep at 10 instead of 9:30.
By John Donnell and Camille Schmitt
