Click here to jump down to the new posts!
Monday July 30, 2018
Hey families!
Today was a tiring day for the group with all of the traveling, but we’re glad that everyone made it here safely. When the first few students in the group got in, we went to get some lemonade and chips and guacamole here in Alajuela. We wandered around town for a bit until the next group arrived from the airport. We quickly introduced ourselves to each other and headed out to lunch at Taco a Taco where we got some casados, a typical Costa Rican meal. We explored Alajuela a bit more and saw the park in the center of town. We came back for orientation and played a name game to get to know each other a little better. We had some down time and then left for dinner at a pizza place down the street. After dinner, we played two truths and a lie and decided on who would be in the different leadership groups that we’ll be rotating around throughout the program. We’re really excited about the upcoming week and leaving for Bahía Ballena tomorrow. From here on the journalist squad will be taking over blogs.
¡Pura vida!
Patrick and Jen
Tuesday July 31, 2018
We started our day off with a bus ride to Uvita where we learned a lot about nature. During the ride we stopped on a bridge to see crocodiles. We got some coconuts there to share amongst the group. Then we had some Costa Rican food for lunch at Bodhi. Today we learned how to break open coconuts. We learned how to take the meat of the coconut and extract the milk from it. First you bite off a piece of the meat and chew it but don’t swallow it and spit it out in your hand and then you squeeze it into your other hand. Then we went on a walk around the community. We saw sloths, toucans and Jesus Christ lizards, a species of lizard that runs on water. We also learned a lot about the culture of the town. We were surprised by how well everyone knew each other in the town. We ended off the day with an informative surf intro. We learned all about the history of surfing and what it’s all about so we are ready to jump in the water bright and early tomorrow.
Goodnight,
From Lex, Owen, and Manny
Wednesday August 1, 2018
The day started bright and early at 6 am in order to get to the beach by 8. We spent the whole morning surfing. We learned how to turn while on our stomachs and eventually stand up. We got to relax after in the pool and get ready for lunch.
After lunch we got into our first service activity. We went to Forjando Alas which is an after school program for kids. We helped clean out the back area to make room for the kids to play. Everyone got their hands dirty when cleaning out the tires and wood. We got into a close encounter with a few rain frogs after lifting up one of the tires, but luckily we had a frog expert there to reassure us that it was safe.
After dinner we had a very interesting group activity where we all shared our life stories. It was really eye opening for everyone to learn where we all came from and how interesting everyone’s lives are.
Sleeping with the frogs!
Owen, Manny, and Lex
Thursday August 2, 2018
Dear darlings,
We started our day working in the near by soccer field picking up trash, painting trashcans, and fences. After we were done with our hard work we began a fun game of soccer with kids in town. Quickly all of us were on the side lines as the young kids took over the game. We headed back to home base where we enjoyed our down many napped or enjoyed the pool. We then enjoyed yet another amazing meal that included some surprise smoothies. By then it started to cool down from the extreme Heat it even started to rain.
We excitedly headed out for our second serf lesson! By the end of the session we were all standing and even turning! Hopefully we will be on green waves soon!
Our evening was spent debating the fifa World Cup in Brazil we all had lots of fun and learned lots of different perspectives.
Excited for another great day of surf and service
Mom I promise I’m brushing my teeth and at least thinking about flossing actually that a lie.
-Love Ashley Emma and Luke and everyone else here in Costa Rica
Friday August 3, 2018
Dear Poo bears,
We don’t miss you at all!!! Just kidding we miss you so much but mostly our beds and sleeping in!! We woke up at the righteous hour of 6am yet again. We were assigned our word assassin names and words (a game to try to get our person to say a special word.) We started surfing at 8. We learned to turtle roll and plank to avoid waves. We were all exhausted by lunch. We then headed off for service. We organized books, we painted a wall, and took down old garden houses all while some of us were inside and painted rocks with kids. One student made a cute chicken named chicken joe. After that we experienced a wonderful yoga practice. We then ate dinner and finished our day with skits.
We are tired, we miss you, good night,
Luke, Emma, and Ashley
Saturday August 4, 2018
Dear somebody I used to know,
Yesterday we were all so tired from rafting we didn’t have the energy to write about our exciting day! We went white water rafting. It was a very exciting trip. We started with a 2 hour car ride up to the beginning of our river adventure once we arrived we were all eager to get in the water but first we went over the rules and guidelines for a safe rafting trip. We all had a wonderful time rafting and all of us were drenched in water some of us even got thrown in. Half way through we were surprised by a delicious snack of fruit, chips and dip. We then continued our adventure down the river and cinched with a wonderful lunch at a local restaurant. We then drove back to bodhi where we had a lot of free time before we ate dinner and watched different short filmes about water and surfing. Yesterday we learned a lot about team work and taking commands well. Over all yesterday was a very exciting day.
With love,
Emma, Oliver, and Bayley
Sunday August 5, 2018
Today was a beach filled day. We started our morning like always with a delicious breakfast before heading out to surf. Today we spent a lot of time in the water paddling out and trying to catch green waves. By the end everyone was exhausted so we ended 30 minutes early and spent that time playing on the beach. We then went back for yet another great lunch. Before going back to the beach where we met local kids to participate in a beach clean up we learned the the guidelines to cleaning up micro plastics and how to find them even if you can’t see them at first they are still everywhere and can even end up in us when we eat sea food. After cleaning we split up and helped local kids learn to surf along with playing beach soccer. We were all impressed with just how good the kids were at soccer. We rapped up our great day with some very peaceful and relaxing yoga. It felt so nice on our tired souls.
Love you lots
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox oxo your sweet darlings.
Dear blueberry muffins,
We started yesterday with a wonderful 6 mike hike. We spotted monkeys, spiders, sloths oh my! At the top of the hill we looked out at the whales tale and even saw whales. We headed back down drenched in sweat and exhausted luckily we were surprised with ice cream! We then headed back to bodhi and ate lunch before going back to service. We had to plan everything we did with the kids so we decided to do a fun ice breaker then baked cookies and played soccer and tag with the kiddos. I think this service was the most rewarding for all of us. We ended with a gratitude circle that touched all of our hearts. We ended the day by going out to dinner we went around and shared moments where other people in the group impacted our life it was really emotional but also very fun. We then did a activity to find our values and then wrote down complements for everyone. Over all it was a great day. Today we had our last surf lesson it was lots of fun everyone caught some great waves and had a blast. We said goodbye to the beach and our amazing surf instructors. We are sitting at lunch getting ready to leave. We are all so sad to see each other go but excited to go home to see all of you.
Love you bunches,
Emma and Oliver
