Thank you for visiting one of our GLA Program Blogs! Here are a few things you can expect:
1. We typically receive 1-2 Blog Posts Per Week from international staff. It is very unlikely programs will send blog updates daily.
2. Blog Updates sent on weekends may be delayed until Monday morning.
3. Due to many factors including internet accessibility, photos may not always be available to post onto the blog. Sometimes staff are only able to send text.
Thank you for your patience and understanding!
GLA Staff
March 3, 2018
Greetings from the land of PURA VIDA!
Our entire staff is ecstatic to begin our GLA spring season. Our first session has begun and all students arrived safely.
Our students are eager to begin working with sea turtles and learn about the Costa Rican culture. Arrival day is always relaxed, and after lunch we did a tour of Alajuela, visiting the Central Park and a traditional market.
We ended our day with our first traditional Costa Rican casado meal. We head out bright and early tomorrow morning to our home base in Parismina on the Caribbean coast, stopping to zipline on the way!
We are all excited for our busy, fun week ahead!
March 5, 2018
Yesterday was our first full day in Costa Rica.
It was mostly a travel day from the hotel in Alajuela to home base in Parismina, but we got to stop a few times on the way. First, we stopped to go ziplining through the jungle (!!!), and we got to see some really incredible views. Then we stopped at a buffet style restaurant for lunch of typical Costa Rican food.
Once we we got to Home Base we settled in, and then we visited the beach.
Today, we took a tour around the property and got to see a bunch of very cool animals, like monkeys, birds and lizards. We also saw a ton of cool plants, and got to taste coconut.
Afterwards we met someone working with ASTOP (the sea turtle conservation organization) and learned about how we will help the turtles. Then, we got some time to relax and play Uno, and went down to the beach again before dinner. The meals so far have been different and delicious, and it’s been so cool seeing all the different animals, plants and aspects of Costa Rican culture.
These two days have been an amazing start to our trip!
-Auden
March 6, 2018
Today we went on an awesome boat tour through the rivers, and it was super fun to stop and go with the locals to a spot where poison dart frogs were found every two feet.
After the frog adventure, we went and saw some crocodiles chilling on the shore.
Following the boat tour, we came back to Home Base and ate lunch. And then, after a little bit of competitive UNO, we went and did beach clean-up. We collected three bags of full of plastic and Styrofoam, and after we were done we went and played in the ocean.
Once we were back from the ocean, we had dance classes which was super fun and very inclusive. Then we did some group activities ate and dinner to close out the day.
-Jason
March 8, 2018
Today started with a good breakfast and then a walk to a part of the beach where there was a big lagoon. There, we got on a truck and went to Parismina.
When got to Parismina we went across a runway and came to the ASTOP building, where we got off the truck and were greeted by a ASTOP member. The ASTOP member took us on a tour of the town, which was fun and good learning experience.
After the tour we came back to the ASTOP building, where we were greeted by Mako, who was the ASTOP member we met the other day. Mako gave us a lesson about sea turtles. After learning all about sea turtles, we left to go back to HQ.
Once we got back, we painted signs for Jason, which was fun and exciting, then after that we cleaned up the beach, which had a lot of plastic and trash washed ashore.
After all of that we swam before coming back. Then we had dinner and got ready for the second night watch, which I am super excited for and I hope we see a sea turtle (and if not, the night watches are fun no matter what).
-Payton