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 family and friends!
It was an exciting arrival day today for our 24 Surf, Sports, and Sustainability students. Most students arrived in the late morning/early afternoon, and once everyone got settled into their rooms, we got to know our beautiful home base and began to get to know each other.
We enjoyed a delicious family dinner of pesto pasta and chicken with fresh salad. We ended the nights with creating name signs
for our rooms and cabins before everyone went to rest up for orientation day.
Stay tuned for more daily updates coming soon from our Leaders of the Day!
Pura Vida, GLA Staff Team — Noel, Tiffany, Adrián, and Caitlin
BLOG POST FOR JULY 31
Hola family and friends!
We kicked off our first full day with a delicious typical Costa Rican breakfast, a tour of the our amazing home base, Peace Retreat, and practicing our swim skills before surf lessons start tomorrow.
After a lunch of arroz con pollo, we learned about Costa Rican culture and got taught some traditional dance moves by one of our amazing mentors, Adrián, and then tried local fruits – cas, starfruit, mamons, jocote, dragonfruit, and mamon chinos.
The students also met the owner of Peace Retreat, who introduced us to the space and led us in some simple yoga movements as a teaser for his full class later in the program. Then, we got to know the staff and went over the rules for the next two weeks.
In the evening, we loaded up the bus to visit Playa Negra, where students walked along the beach and played a pick up game of football.
They wrapped up the day with a dinner of fish and chips and our very first mentor groups. Tomorrow begins surf lessons, local service projects, and blog posts written by our student leaders of the day!
Pura Vida!
GLA Staff Team Noel, Tiffany, Adrián, and Caitlin
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 1
Buenos Dias everyone.
Today we were awakened by the howler monkeys and ready to start a new day. We all gathered for breakfast, and then put on our rash guards and headed down to Playa Avellanas. As a group, with the help of the wonderful instructors, we battled the white water and took a chance at surfing for the first time. Everyone learned how to surf while also learning the safe way to wipe out and have fun.
We then came back for a delicious lunch, followed by some rest so that we were well prepared for our first service trip. As our first trip, we went to the school Las Delicias and met with a bunch of lovely students. Serving as group of leaders for the students, we picked up shovels and carefully picked up plants and helped the students plant them in the forest. This helps to prevent forest fires, which happen later in the year. Not only did we get to bond with the students by planting trees and helping the community, but we also ended the day playing sports all together and creating amazing new memories. All of the students were super polite, and we as a group, also began to speak some Spanish. Planting the trees not only helps to save the environment but it also gave us the perfect opportunity to meet new people and make new connections.
We then traveled to a local market before returning for dinner and some reflective conversations. Overall, today was full of new experiences that helped us become part of the Costa Rican community.
🔆 Nina and Yon
Leaders of the day
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 2
Hola family and friends!
Today was a wonderfully diverse and enriching day on our peace retreat. We started our morning early, tired but excited for the day ahead. After a Costa Rican breakfast, we boarded the bus that took us to a sustainable goat farm nestled in the serene countryside. The goats were adorable, and many of us had the chance to milk them, a unique and surprisingly calming experience. However not as fun for others! The highlight, however, was tasting the fresh goat cheese—it was incredibly creamy and flavorful, a true testament to the farm’s sustainable practices.
Then we shifted gears and got our hands dirty with some gardening. It was a bit disgusting dealing with the compost but we all tried our best.
Later, we visited the house of a local woman to learn how to make empanadas, which were eaten very quickly. After our meal, a few of us played football under the hot sun, which was both exhilarating and exhausting.
As the day wound down, we returned to our accommodations and dressed up for a night out. We decided to indulge in crepes at a local market and hang out spot. Although the wait for our food was quite a while, music kept us going. To end the day we sang loudly on the bus. Today was very fun and we are all excited for what is to come!
GLA Student Leaders of the Day Evan and Scarlett
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 3
Pura vida familia 🌻
We started our day early, having breakfast at 7 a.m. After a hearty American breakfast, we took the bus to Rancho Avellanas. There, we spent three and a half hours shoveling compost, planting trees, and weeding a garden. Not only did we learn about the different resources used at a sustainable goat farm, we also learned about the importance of hard work and dedication to each job at hand. We used teamwork to complete each task and get through the heat and hard work of the day. Once we returned to camp, we enjoyed shredded pork tacos for lunch.
After a rest, we went surfing at Playa Avellanas for two hours. Then we relaxed and ate at Lola’s before heading back to camp. At surfing, most of us had gotten farther out and hit bigger waves. Everyone is getting so much better than the first day of surfing and standing up more on the waves. We had crispy honey chicken with rice for dinner and later discussed vacations and the effects of gentrification in our mentor groups.
¡Buenas noches!
Della and Dylan ☀️
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 4
¡Hola de Costa Rica!
Today was an amazing day! We started with a delicious breakfast of French toast. After that, we had a two-hour yoga session with the owner of our home base, Kevin. During yoga, we had some really eye-opening conversations.
For lunch, we enjoyed a tasty Costa Rican dish with chicken and rice. Then, we headed to the Guanacaste Water Center where we learned about sustainable water practices. We had three activities: weeding, replanting, and composting. Alberto and Marcia, the owners, taught us a lot.
In the evening, we had some free time. Some of us relaxed by the pool and played Marco Polo. We ended the day with a dinner of fish and chips and as usual a calm mentor meeting discussing the events of the day.
Pura vida,
GLA Student Leaders of the Day Lexi and Peter
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 5
Hola 🙂
We woke up at the crack of dawn to get to the catamaran boat. After an hour in the bus, we arrived at a small beach where we were taken by a smaller boat out to the catamaran. We saw 2 humpback whales and a couple dolphins near the shoreline. After a scenic ride, we arrived at our snorkelling spot where we stayed for 2 hours, we had a great time!!
After a short break, we gathered in the studio and we were given a talk on surfing from a professional Costa Rican surfer named Lia. She discussed the hardships she has faced as a professional athlete and how she had persevered through hard times. This conversation was very important for us as a athletes too. Then we watched Brisa Hennessey, the Costa Rican surfer competing in the olympics semi finals.
Some of us then got on the bus and went down to the beach to play some American football and watch the surfers surf. We then came back to a delicious dinner of yuca empanada.
We had an amazing day!!
Chace and Maggie ❤️💙🤍
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 6
¡Buenos días families!
We started off our 8th day with some homemade fluffy pancakes. We headed out the door to our last day working at the goat farm, Ranchos Avellanas. We worked on cleaning the goat stables, the compost piles, and weeding the vegetable garden to help the community. While at the goat farm a baby goat was born. The baby goat was not in the best conditions and wasn’t able to latch to its mother. We had to help it get milk from its mother which was a very unique experience.
We came back to home base for Chifrijo and bonding time. After that we had an eye opening discussion with Kevin, the owner of our home base, about understanding who we are and growing as people. We then had an extensive yoga session where we focused on opening our hearts.
For dinner we had Chicken Burgers, and we ended the night with Mentor Groups as a camp and had a talk about sportsmanship. Director Noel shared his journey as an international athlete, where we had open discussions about our opinions.
¡Buenas Noches!
GLA Student Leaders of the Day Natalie and Paxton
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 7
Buenas tardes!
Today we woke up bright and early in order to catch the high tide at Playa Avellanas. We had a light breakfast of fruit and juice before heading out to catch some of our best waves yet. Most of us got to paddle out and take it a step farther by finding and surfing our own waves. A sea turtle named Riley joined us in the waves.
Once we returned we had our real breakfast and then some down time where some of us went in the pool and others napped after our early morning working hard in the ocean. Our director also led a group workout for those who chose to participate. We had a delicious lunch and then free time where we played cards, swam, napped, and showered.
Around 2:00 PM we headed out to the school and worked with Guanacaste Water Center to install a pollinator garden, develop their compost, and plant trees to benefit their education and improve the sustainability of their school. We made iced tea and handed out cookies to the students as they exited school and headed home. They were very excited and it was very nice to connect personally with them.
At home, we showered, had a singalong, and had Arroz con Pollo for dinner. In our mentor groups we learned about pineapple and the terrible pesticides and practices that go into the production here in Costa Rica.
Pura Vida!
👀🌿 Tahlia + David
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 8
Greetings from Costa Rica!
We started our day a little later than usual with a crowd favorite French toast! By 8:40 we were in the bus heading to Playa Negra to find micro plastics and anything harmful to the environment with kids from a local school. We were greeted by other fresh fruit and very yummy cookies. After cleanup we played soccer, American football and some beach volleyball. To wrap up our morning at the beach we had a raffle where GLA campers and kids form the school were able to win awesome prizes.
Back at the Peace Retreat for lunch we had crumbed chicken with mash potatoes along with some fresh veggies. At 1:30 we were back on the road off to do service work with the Guanacaste Water Center. We walked through muddy patches seeking places to plant our trees that would help in the reforestation of one of my many forests in Costa Rica. With vibrant vibes and of course the help of some music we were able to plant 33 trees in only 1 1/2 hours. After service we gathered in a circle and shared 5 things we learned.
The bus rides are always the best, and coming back to Peace Retreat earlier than usual meant we had some free time till our 6pm dinner. Some showered or hopped in the pool while others opted for a nap. At 5:45 it was time for the traditional GLA chow circle. Leaders of the day announced dinner which was spaghetti with cheese and yummy bread. Everyone seemed to love this dinner and even the extra portions were gone by the end of it.
To wrap up such an amazing day in mentor groups GLA campers were split into 4 groups and set with the task of creating a presentation on ways to better pineapple production in Costa Rica.
¡Nos vemos mañana!
GLA Student Leaders of the Day Jenna, Jackson, and Xandra
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 9
Buenas noches familia,
Today was a very exciting day, as it was our last day at Peace Retreat, the place that has hosted us for almost two weeks now.
We started our morning super early leaving for Playa Avellanas with the intention of catching the best waves. We had a delicious breakfast, got ready and headed out. When we got there and started we realized that the ocean was very intense, but it was still a very learning session, because just when we face these types of circumstances in our training is when we learn the most. So we took it positively and it was amazing.
We finished this session on the beach, the sun came out for us, we drank fruit smoothies, looked for beautiful sea shells and rested in front of the Costa Rican Pacific Ocean.
During the afternoon we prepared our luggage, because we are going to leave this Home Base tomorrow morning, and then we went to our last community service session. When we arrived it started to rain very heavily and we had to wait indoors. As soon as the sun rose we got back to work. We were collecting branches for Hugelkultur (bed of branches, leaves and soil to produce compost), we prepared fertilized soil and helped to improve the Guanacaste Water Center facilities.
During the night, thanks to our great effort and resilience, we went to La Esquina again. We had a great time there. Some ate, others bought gifts to take home and we were together.
Finally, back at Home Base, we sang many songs together and went to sleep.
Tomorrow we move to another hotel for our day of adventure. We are very excited.
We will return home soon.
For now,
Pura Vida.
🙂
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 10
Hola family and friends!
We started our day with our last pancake breakfast at Peace Retreat. Then we enjoyed some free time at our favorite hang out spots and had our last mentor group where we talked about our goals for the future. After mentor group, it was time to say our goodbyes to our home base and head to our new hotel for our adventure day.
We boarded the bus and drove to a local souvenir store where we picked up gifts for friends and family and got snacks for the airplane. Then, at our new hotel, we spent the afternoon playing in the pool or resting in our rooms. Dinner and a night hanging out with friends at the Cañon de la Vieja Lodge.
We are very excited for zip lining and tubing tomorrow!
Pura Vida,
GLA Mentor Caitlin
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 11
Buenas noches familia 🔆
Today we woke up and ate breakfast overlooking the colorado river. After a refreshing meal, we put on closed toed shoes and hit the zip lines. We zipped across trees and gazed below us for the view of Costa Rica’s green and lush forests.
After zipping in the hot sun, we changed into our bathing suits, hopped on a bus, and drove upstream. After strapping our helmets on and getting onto our tubes, we made our way to the river. We flew through the river, slashing and making memories along the way.
We closed our night and program with a circle up allowing us to express our gratitude for the program and grow as individuals.
