Costa Rica Service & Sand, Session 1 2025
June 11, 2025
HEY! ITS EVA AND EVA #EVAsq.What a Costa Rican welcome! The ice breakers definitely worked and we’re already close as a group. The city of Alajuela was beautiful and the food was delicious. The pineapple and lemonade juices were flavorful and the quesadillas and plantains were so yummy. Seeing a biker club doing tricks in the park was cool and the mango trees were so big. Practicing Spanish with the locals was
scary but a good experience. Seeing lighting was pretty cool from the safety of our hotel. The showers are clean and there hasn’t been any spider scares yet. There was a very exciting game of chess won by Teddy the tiger although mafia was a little too complicated for our special group. Pura vida!!
By Eva and Eva
June 12, 2025
Even though we arose at 5 in the morning, it was so bright out you could hear the cicadas very clearly. We left the hotel at 6 and went to the Rafting base camp, which was a 3 hour bus ride through mountains and towns. We ate fresh fruit, rice and beans, and toast. After, we took a 30 minute bus ride to a tractor, that led us down the mountain to the bottom of the river, and saw a sloth hanging in a tree on the way! After learning about the different commands to a safe raft ride, we embarked through the river, with a stop on the way to see a waterfall and eat fresh pineapple cut by the guides. Once we finished rafting, we settled at the campsite and ate lunch made by the guides, followed by an adventurous hike through the rainforest to see a waterfall, ate dinner, and played games which took us to the end of Day 2!
June 13, 2025
The second day of the river adventure we were able to sleep in to the late hour of 7 am. We had delicious banana pancakes with fresh fruit. The guides were so good at directing us on the river and we had so much fun. About halfway down the river one boat containing Janessa, Cora, Davik, Ret, Alyssa, and Xanders flipped! Everyone was not injured and the guides were so good at instructing us where to go in our time of need. After the rafting experience we ate a delicious burrito lunch and got back on the bus for about 3 hours to head to Crisley’s farm for another adventure.
-Max and Janessa
June 14, 2025
Hola from Sanders and Sreya! Today was a day full of activities. We woke at around 6 AM and headed around 7 AM to milk a cow with Crisley the owner of the farm. Milking the cow was awkward at first but once our brave friend Rhett begun we all got the hang of it. Although we took triple the amount of time Crisley would take when miking the cow, it was still an amazing experience filled with laughs an bonding moments. We saw some enormous colored bulls and watched as they ate their rico comida. After that, we headed back for a delicious breakfast which continued to a short tour of the farm. We explored many different arboles such as star fruit, guavas, mangos, plantains, culantro, bananas, and even coffee beans. We then saw the pigs, chickens, and even a blue jean frog. After the full tour we headed to the kitchen for some tasty nachos. Once lunch was over, we began the making of the cheese with the milk we milked from the cow today. The cheese process was interesting as we made their most famous cheese, the queso arollado. When this was done, we had free time to call home, and take a break. Then we rehearsed the average conversation with our homestay family’s for tomorrow. We learned many phrases to practice and enhance our Spanish speaking. We found out the exhausting wait of who we were paired with for our host family’s and finally ate dinner. We ended the night with a muy delicious pasta and a delightful surprise of a dance from a group in Costa Rica. ¡Adios y Pura Vida!
By Sanders and Sreya
June 15, 2025
Today started off with eggs and gallo pinto followed with the making of fresh sugar cane juice; the sugar cane juice was very sweet so we put lemon in the mix to make it taste better. After this we started packing for our trip to the homestay community. We ate lunch which had really good grilled chicken with a side of veggies and we were off. In the bus we played celebrity’s to pass the time. Once we arrived we waited with high hopes to meet the families. After we met each of our families, we took a picture and went to our home for the better part of a week. It was very cool to see all of the animals and try the pineapple juice our new mom offered us. at dinner we had a great conversation over spaghetti and we learned that our family had been doing this for 15 years. This was a big surprise and gave us excitement for what’s to come.
By Teddy and Wells
June 16, 2025
Hi all. It’s your amigos Cora and Devik. Today we had a productive day. This morning all of us awoke in different households. At 8, we started our community service at the community center. The 17 of us split into 2 different groups to divide and conquer the work for today. Outside, we spread rocks to create a parking lot for the locals. On the other hand inside, we painted and redid the community common area. We used a light sky blue for the walls and dark blue for the corners. After a couple hours of work and many hard earned breaks, we regrouped at our houses to eat lunch. After lunch, we finished our work. Then played a nice game of soccer with the local kids in and around town. This was very fun and competitive for all of us. At the end of the day, we went back to our homestay families to shower and get ready for a night of fun with tortilla making and s’mores around a bonfire. All in all, we had a blast in our first day of work. We are ready to complete our projects in the next few days.
Pura Vida everyone!
By Cora and Devik
June 17, 2025
Hello everybody, from Harlan and Henry today. This Tuesday was packed full of fun and excitement. Most of us had been looking forward to ziplining as a highlight of the trip, and needless to say, it did not disappoint. We all woke up bright and early, excited to hop on the bus to “La Fortuna”. Once we made it to the zip lines, we harnessed up and prepared for the thrill. We started off with a terrific crossing over a gorge hundreds of feet deep. After everybody overcame the initial fear, we all had a blast making our way down the mountain line by line. After the climax of our day, we went into the town to go shopping. In La Fortuna we took a 45 minute break to shop to our hearts’ content. Most of us bought souvenirs, while others just took the opportunity to stock up on snacks. Of the things we bought, a couple highlights stand out, such as a cute wooden frog instrument. After that, we made our way to lunch, where a lot of us got the first “American” food we have had in a week. When we finally got back to our homestay families, it was time for the local talent show, which we were all performing in, of course. We watched the local school kids perform various dances, then went up to perform ourselves the most common talent among the group was magic tricks. Overall, Today was definitely one of the highlights of the trip, and we all had a great time.
– Pura Vida!
By Harlan and Henry
June 18, 2025
¡Pura Vida from Raya and Rhett! Today was full of blood sweat and tears. We all woke up at 6 and enjoyed lovely breakfasts with our host families. We arrived at el salón at 8 am and shortly resumed our work, constructing a parking lot and renovating the inside of the building. After four hours of grueling work in the burning sun, we took a break and all walked home to enjoy lunch with our host families at 12. At 1:15 we all came back for one more hour of service where we finished the parking lot and finally finished painting the inside and most of the outside of the building. After a lot of hinting and complaining, we were surprised with freshly made ice cream from our local tienda. We enjoyed flavors ranging from fruta to chocolate peanut butter and found a new way to eat ice cream out of a bag. After a quick game of pool for the boys and tea time for the girls, we all came together again for an hour long dance class where we learned the salsa, merengue, and bachata. Now we are all enjoying a cool evening and a game of fútbol to go with it. Soon we will walk back to our houses and enjoy a lovely dinner with our host families. Buenas noches and we look forward to our last day of service!
-¡Ciao!
June 19, 2025
Hola from Pueblo Nuevo! Today was another busy work day but also relaxing. We woke up at around 7 AM for another day of work. Then we continued to work by shoveling gravel to make the new parking lot or the communal kitchen and painting a new building. After we had lunch with the families again. Today we had more beans and rice for lunch. After that we spent our final hours with our host family, as well as getting ready for la Fiesta. We bonded with our host family’s as we played with the kids, and played cards with the families. Then we met up with everyone to get ready for the party. We’re looking forward to our last night with the community and to show off our new dance moves.
By Sanders
June 20 & 21, 2025
Hola from your favs, Sreya, Raya and Eva V! Yesterday we sadly had to say goodbye to our lovely host families and Pueblo Nuevo. We started our long 6 hour bus ride where stopped after 2 hours to eat lunch and do a little souvenir shopping. After that we rode for 4 more hours until we arrived at the Hotel El Tecal. At the hotel we enjoyed dinner, a fun game and headed to bed. The next morning we woke up bright and early for our surf lessons. After some much needed waffles and a break from gallo pinto we headed to the beach. We caught some waves and some waves caught us but overall we enjoyed the experience. We came back for lunch around 12 and had some chill time in the pool. After 3 hours of down time, we took a hike to the whales tale where we got to see many cool seashells, birds and even a stingray. When we finally got back, we showered, had more free time, and will soon go enjoy a yummy dinner. Pura Vida!!!
By Sreya, Raya and Eva V.
June 22, 2025
Hola from Rhett and Harlan. Today was a relaxing day of being out in nature. After breakfast we took a 30 minute bus ride to a beautiful private conservation reserve where we went on a walk to a wonderful waterfall cut out in the middle of a jungle. On the way to the waterfall, we also planted 10 new trees to make a positive impact on the property. After a challenging hike back through water and mud, we finally made it back to the bus and drove back to the hotel for lunch. After lunch, we soon traveled by bus to take a 45 minute long yoga class where we learned plenty of useful techniques to improve and nurture our bodies and minds. Overall, the theme was focused around staying in touch with yourself. Today was, in the end, a very peaceful and calm day, and we all enjoyed ourselves.
Adios!
By Rhett and Harlan
June 23, 2025
Hola! It’s Cora. Today we woke up bright and early to eat breakfast at 8:15. Then, we gathered our suitcases and set off for our last adventure before the plane ride back home. We had about a 5 hour bus ride to a hotel close to the airport with some stops for snacks, lunch, and ice cream on the way. We also stopped by a bridge where we got to see two crocodiles enjoying their time in the sun. Once we got to our hotel, we had a little bit of downtime after another long day. For dinner we finished our meals with much deserved pizza, and started our goodbyes as a group.
The group leaders and us students have created such an amazing community here, so we spent time acknowledging and showing appreciation to one another after being together for so long as such an incredible group of people. We ended the day with a letter that will be sent home to our future selfs, and a yearbook type of note where everyone got to write notes to their friends. Before bed, we got our phones back to charge for the morning ahead and watched a movie together, saying our sad goodbyes but excited for what’s ahead.
By Cora
