Thursday July 12, 2018
¡Bienvenidos a Costa Rica!
Our local and international staff was excitedly been preparing for our newest GLA arrivals! And FINALLY the big day came on Tuesday and we picked up all 24 students at the airport!!
Each student began their adventure by securely exchanging their dollars into colones with the help of a mentor, and arrived safely at Hotel Pacande to freshen up and settle into their next 10 days of Pura Vida!
After enjoying lunch at the hotel, students had the option to rest, or participate in activities to break the ice and get to know their new GLA family.
Yesterday, we departed for our beachside rainforest home base, but not before stopping in the cloud forest for a zipline excursion! We are so excited to share updates and photos of our trek to the Caribbean coast where students will call home.
Here is our staff from left to right: Local Director Jason, Mentor Brittany, International Director Adriana, Mentors Emily and Erin at the Green Gold Lodge in Parismina, Limon, Costa Rica.
And here is a group photo of all the students! Stay tuned for more updates!
Thursday July 12, 2018
On Thursday Day 3, we woke up to a delicious breakfast me by four cooks that come from town each day. The breakfast consisted of eggs, watermelon, bananas, and toast. Our tour guide Jason then took us on a tour through his farm. We were able to see things like bananas, coconuts, breadfruit, iguanas, and even were able to eat live termites. We later came back for a little rest time before the rest of the day.
Our lunch consisted of breadfruit, chicken, and rice. Emily, Brie, and Erin then took us to the nearby ocean for a quick and easy swim test to test our abilities in the rough waters. The water was warm and the other kids found the rough waves fun to swim in. We came back with three hours to spare before night patrol.
Our dinner was rice and a delicious salad. Night patrol was a tough four hours, but we were able to really engage into the wildlife around us. It was nice to be able to look up at the thousands of stars while doing it too. Overall, it was really fun first day at home base.
Friday July 13, 2018
Today we woke up to a rainy day. We had a breakfast of toast, eggs, bananas, watermelon, and pineapple juice. We then waited for the rain to clear and began our beach cleanup where we filled up trash bags with trash such as bottle caps, toys, lighters, utensils, combs, buckets, bottles, and other small plastics. It was hard but rewarding to see the impact we were making on the Earth.
Following that, we returned to Home Base, ate lunch, and we all took a very deserved and much needed nap in the hammocks. Unfortunately, due to poor weather, we were not able to go out for a second round of beach cleanup or go swimming, so we participated in activities to further get to know each other, other cultures, and the world we live in. After that we split into three groups and had a contest to see who could build the tallest tower with their shoes. We then split into our Mentor Groups and discussed how our activities, beach cleanup, and daily life impacted the sea turtles and other marine life. Finally, we had dinner, relaxed, and went to bed early to prepare for our surfing adventure early tomorrow.
-Giles, Julia, Gwen, and Flora
Saturday July 14, 2018
Today we woke up to a kind of rainy day, had breakfast, got changed, and went downstairs for a town briefing. After that, we walked through the jungle to the town. After we arrived to the town we were greeted by ASTOP workers and had an hour slideshow with an ASTOP guide, Maco. After learning more about turtles we met up with a villager named Maya who toured us around the village for about an hour. After finishing the tour, we took large trucks home on the jungle path. After our unique experience in the jungle we came back and ate a delicious dinner of beans and rice, before we enjoyed a team building activity called Human Knot and then made prayer flags and had a rest time before we ate dinner. Then after eating dinner we went out to night patrol to find turtles for about three hours, returned back to home base, and then went to sleep.
Luke, Lola, Spencer, and Odin
