Costa Rica Service & Sand, Session 1
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
