Hello dear friends,
All of us are thinking about your group! All the people from Green Communities, Cedrela and San Pedro & San Bernardo are very grateful with the work you guys did.
We remember the work in the communities (everyday I shoveling), the families and the amazing ladies that cooked for the special group still remember and they appreciated the hard work for the children in the School.
Our amazing chef Memo, say hello to everybody!
Still we have a good memories from the program and we continue farming and helping the farmers from the beautiful Los Santos Area.
You guys have to know, that we have our coffee ready! You have to taste it!!!
In name of GC, Jonathan, Carlos and David we just have to say thank you very much! You really make a difference and save the world…
Come back!
-Carlos & Green Communities
Don’t just relive your summer abroad. Experience GLA in a whole new way next summer, in a country you’ve never been to before. Then check out Green Communities’ favorite memories below, and Andrea’s letter to her students from this summer.
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Green Communities’ Favorite Memories:
- Farming with locals
- Playing soccer after work
- Spanish lesson in the community
- Dance lesson in Cedrela
- The monkey bridge!!! amazing for all of you
- The best 4×4 transfer to Manuel Antonio National Park
- White water rafting!!! once again!!
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Hola my amazing students from Spanish Service Adventure Mountains!
I can’t believe it’s already been 2 months since we were together at the beautiful Eco-lodge! As usually happens after incredible experiences abroad, it’s been an adjustment coming home, as I’m sure it has been for all of you! I hope you’re being gentle with yourselves and leaning on each other when you can. I don’t know about you, but reliving the memories from the pictures sure makes me smile (and I also highly recommend checking out the program blogs to refresh your memory on all the adventures we had! You can find the links on GLA’s website).
I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work alongside all of you in San Pedro and San Bernardo with Tato, Jonathan and David with Green Communities. They are such an inspiration and a perfect example of people making their dreams into reality in their own communities. I know our direct efforts this summer helped them further the vision they have for the Los Santos region. The children we played with will be safer because we continued their sidewalk. The coffee farms where we shed our sweat can continue with their organic practices because we were there. The community of San Bernardo can continue beautifying and protecting their one soccer field because of our eco-bricks and tire fence. We hold a special place in the hearts of the locals and I know they’ll always have a special place in mine (as do all of you!!).
Throughout our time together we talked about leadership and the different forms that can take for everyone. Remember the activity we did one evening – were you a beaver, buffalo, mouse or eagle? Don’t forget about all the unique gifts you each bring to the table! I was lucky enough to witness all kinds of amazing leadership in our time together! Y’all are SO impressive! I was proud of you then and I can’t wait to hear about all the amazing things you’re continuing to do!
Did any of you do the 30-day challenges we made for ourselves? If you have…think of a new one! Let’s continue to become better versions of ourselves! If you haven’t, why not start this month?! (I’m giving you the mom eyes right now but I still love you! J ) What about the brainstorming for projects in your own communities? Have you made any progress? Changes? Discoveries? If you haven’t done anything with them, better late than never!
Like I said in Costa Rica, you all are an amazing, unique and UNCOMMON group of students! Keep pushing the envelope, or if you haven’t before…now is a great time to start!
I’ll leave you with a quote from one of my very favorite books The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran (if you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it! Some fantastic pearls of wisdom!). It comes from the section on children, not because I think of you as children, but because I think of you as the future…
“You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.”
Don’t be a stranger! I love hearing what y’all are up to, and if I’m lucky, maybe our paths will cross again on future GLA trips.
Pura Vida!
Andrea
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Andrea’s Favorite Recollections:
- Dance class! We could barely keep up!
- Riding in the back of the pick-up trucks
- Carlos’ guitar playing and Mar’s singing
- Bus rides/dance parties on Mario’s buseta
- David’s laugh (1st program) or Jonathan’s crazy energy and antics (2nd program)
- Cozy movie nights with Memo’s homemade popcorn and hot chocolate
- Seeing the community use the sidewalk for the first time
- Futbol games, cooking classes, cementing, coffee farms and lunch with the locals!
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Check out Carlos’ blog and see more about your Spanish Service Adventure – Mountains experience.
