The End

Author: Robin
Location: Piedades
After only a couple of hours of sleep due to an all-night writing of index cards filled with positive thoughts for each person in the group, we awoke and traveled to Picagres for the last day of constructing the lunchroom. After correcting a crooked pole, we got up five new columns into the holes we previously dug. We all wish we had more time to actually complete the walls of the lunchroom. Nostalgically, we ate our last meal of the best rice in the world. After lunch, we walked back to the high school where we hung out with the kids from the tenth grade who were making a garden. When they had finished constructing their garden, we all walked back to the field where we talked and enjoyed each others company for the last time. After empanadas, we said our last good-byes. Tomorrow we will be waking up at four to get to the airport. We've all had an amazing experience in Costa Rica and are sad to leave our new friends.


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Pumas!!!

Author: Katy
Location: Corobici
Today we woke up in our hotel to a nice walk towards breakfast, which was served in three courses. After browsing the gift shop we all loaded onto the bus with Edwin and headed to the animal rescue center. We got to see many tropical birds, cats, turtles, bunnies, and monkeys. The cages were so open that it seemed we could pet the jaguar that was napping with his paws seeping through the cracks. We then drove the short distance to the rafting place. After being fitted with life jackets, we separated into three groups and headed out onto the slow moving river. As we began to sweat, many of us put our feet in the water to cool off. After about ten minutes we saw our first crocodile, this caused many gasps and a quick shift of our feet. We all rested for two hours, many of us staying dry before we got a ride back to the hotel for lunch. Lunch was great and although we were told not to fill up too much, we all ate the majority of the delicious food put on our plates. After completing our meal, we got back on the bus and headed for the amazing Monteverde dairy restaurant. There we all enjoyed amazing milkshakes and taking pictures in the pouring rain with the dinosaur statue towering over us. We then drove the two hours through standstill traffic to a local store for souvenirs. After shopping we drove to our new hotel where we enjoyed dinner and began the long task of writing cards to each and every member of our trip. Many of us stayed up into the dark hours of the night spilling out positive ideas and memories for everyone. We are all excited for a hard day of work tomorrow in Picagres.
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HOT Springs!!

Author: Nick
Location: Rio Celeste National Park
The day started off with a delicious breakfast that consisted of a stack of pancakes with maple syrup. This was quite different than the usual breakfast of eggs with rice and beans. Right after breakfast we jumped into Edwin's bus and started the interesting journey to the hot springs. Around two hours into the bus ride, we realized that we had know idea how close we where to arriving at the hot springs. Edwin, the bus driver, started asking people that we passed who seemed to have some idea of where the hot springs where. However, after getting totally opposite directions for a while, we figured out where we needed to go. Another hour later, we saw a sign point to a dirt road that said seven kilometers to the hot springs. We took this dirt road for about twenty minutes until we had lost all hope. As Edwin was trying to turn the bus around, a car came up from the other direction of the road and convinced us that these amazing hot springs where just ahead. We drove for another ten minutes until we saw another sign that said seven kilometers to the hot springs. We decided to continue our journey on this narrow and at times almost too steep dirt road. At one point, we all had to get out of the bus so that it could get another inch of needed clearance. After about an hour of driving on the road, we finally made it to the hot springs, or at least the head of the trail to the hot springs. The hike to the hot springs was very demanding. It was two miles of muddy and mountainous mountain hiking. When we got to the amazing hot springs we realized that it was just a small hole with scalding hot water, and a rapids right next to it. On the hike back we decided to take a little detour to the waterfall, in anticipation of jumping off of it. Only did we realize when we got there that it was about fifty feet tall and really intense thus exceding any and all reasonable safety rules. We got back in the bus, and drove another two hours to our hotel, where we ate the usual dinner, played a game of mafia, and passed out on our comfortable beds.
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A Galloping Adventure

Author: Madeleine
Location:
Last night was out last night with our caring homestay families. We all woke up this morning to hearty breakfasts, packed bags, and out stand-in parents who were all sad to see us depart. We headed over to Ana's house at 8. After saying our goodbyes and exchanging email addresses we were off to our next location, near San Ramon. Sleeping, talking and listening to music were all popular activities on the 2 and a half hour bus ride that followed. Arriving at the scenic, tranquil Lands In Love hotel, the group was ready for a horseback riding adventure. After a delectable lunch consisting of pizza half of us walked down the road to the stables. Seven group members and two tour guides all trotted off for a ride down to the Balsa River, which happened to be an opaque murky brown color from all of the rain rushing silt into it. The horse I happened to be riding, named Cielo, happily walked through the jungle stepping over little streams, fallen trees, and other rainforest vegetation. Naturally, as we are currently in a cloud rainforest it began to rain. This however proved to be no obstacle for the horses who continued on the trail. Mid-way through we arrived at a majestic waterfall. We were even allowed to ride directly up to the base of the beautiful "catarata". We stopped at the waterfall for a brief moment and continued on resuming our relaxing trail ride. Upon our arrival at the stables we pet our horses goodbye and thanked the guides. Then, it was back to the hotel for a rest while the other half of the group went riding. After relaxing it was off to dinner at the hotel. Eating large plates of pasta put us all in a good mood for our fourth Lifeworks forum, Making Choices. We talked for about forty-five minutes contemplating how choices are made and what influences them along with other topics. The forum was especially nice on account of the delicious milkshakes that we ordered. Flavors ranged from nutella to cookie to chocolate cake. Personally, I enjoyed a coffee-nutella blend. After the forum dissolved we continued on to play multiple games of the ever-popular "mafia." Now we're all off to bed after a nice, relaxing day in the clouds.
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Going Vertical

Author: Mary
Location: Picagres, Ana's Rancho Piedades
Today we woke up at our homestay family's and ate breakfast. We all then met up at Ana's house and set off for our second to last day of work. We arrived in Picagres at 9:30 and worked straight through until one! Finally, today we went vertical! After we got all of the water out of the holes that we dug last week, we split up in to two groups. One group started putting up the columns that will sustain the lunch room walls while the other continued to work on the trench that will be the drainage system. After about four columns we switched jobs. At lunch, we ate the cake that we had brought as well as some fruit and ice cream with all of the kids from the school, and then played futbol before heading back to work for another half hour. When we left, we were all happy to have some posts up. It finally starts to look like a building!
We then went back to our families to get ready for the despedida party at Ana's ranch. We ate dinner with our families, and then sang the national anthems of Costa Rica and the USA and ate some more cake. We danced some salsa. It was fun because everyone was dancing with people from different families, and gave us a chance to meet them. After dancing, we all batted a piata blindfolded, which was very amusing for everyone to watch! We then took a picture with our families, performed a couple songs in Spanish, and went home to spend our last night with our families before going away for the weekend.

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Bringing out our inner children

Author: Riley
Location:

We began the day with a late start, meeting at Anna's house at 9:30. We all anxiously awaited any new stories form the previous night with our new families. Fortunately, no more heaters exploded; although, we all loved hearing about the boy's fashion show that they performed for their family. The stories continued on until we reached the children's museum, renovated from an old Costa Rican jail. Once off the bus, we were greeted by our new friends from Picagres who had decided to come spend the day with us. In the museum, we first ate our home packed lunches before venturing into the various parts of the museum. These section included activities such as electricity though each other (which Taylor took full advantage of) and a fluorescent bulb, dancing for the camera and then watching those dances on TV, recording songs, the ins and outs of earthquakes, coffee, bananas, the history of aviation (with a real plane cabin), a puppet theater, all about recycling, relay races with healthy supermarket purchases, a keyboard music room resembling Tom Hanks performance in big, a falling mummy in an ancient Egypt exhibit, a house full of optical illusions, along with a ton of exhibits on local history and agricultural products. When the four-hour tour concluded, we said our goodbyes and piled back onto the bus. The ride home consisted of more stories, this time about what went on in each group during the tours. After 45 minutes of these stories, we were all returned to our homestay families, waiting to see what amazing foods they had prepared for us tonight. I, as well as many others, will be going off to bed right after our long day, desperately awaiting the possibilities that tomorrow will bring.

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A Mud Epic!!

Author: Taylor
Location: Picagres
Upon waking up this morning at our various homestay family's homes, we were all very excited to reunite again in order to work at Picagres and share our individual stories from the first night with our families. Farah's story was my favorite. She told us that she blew up the hot water heater causing smoke in the bathroom, and the electricity turning off.
Later at Picagres, after much work, sweat, rain, and mud, a huge mud fight was inevitable. The war was every man for himself, which was indeed taken seriously. Before getting back on the bus, we got to wash-off. For many, this so-called "wash-off" meant getting the chunks of mud off, but still being entirely covered by a brown layer. In fact, the bus driver made us wear disposable plastic aprons backwards so as to not make the inside of the bus look like us.
After all the fun and games, we got dropped off at our fairly new homes and spent the rest of the night with our respective families. For me, this meant playing many different card games, and my "mother" insisting on painting my roommates' and my nails. I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that when we all went to sleep, we were exhausted, but happily clean and dry.

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Intense Adrenaline High!!!

Author: Mia
Location: Santana, Picagres
On July 1began in an incredibly nice hotel (sin tanto insects), and an intensely familiar breakfast consisting of rice, beans, eggs, toast, fruit and cinnamon rolls. We then left ASAP for Aguas Bravas, the company with whom we would be rafting. Since we arrived early, we all took the time to put on sunscreen, fill up our water bottles, and see some little red and green poisonous froggies. Soon, we left for our "put in" at the river, where we collected necessary items such as helmets life jackets, and paddles. After a safety speech from Victor (the "Jefe"), we began our journey down the Sarapiqui. The guide in my raft was very musical, serenading me every once in a while with songs about "Mia" or maybe they were about Ma no s. Entonces a little while later, our guide decided to flip our raft, which I did not find fun at all because I tried to stay with the ship and found myself the only one left in the boat upside down. At multiple points during our rafting adventure., everyone was allowed to jump (or be shoved) out of the rafts and float a ways down the river. Halfway through we stopped for some refreshing fruit and cookies, then hopped back on the rafts and continued down the ro. Our expedition ended next to a bridge, where the guides let us jump from the bridge into the river below. The bridge was very intimidating. Or I found it intimidating. It was like a million feet above the river, like seriously. I made everyone jump off before me. And then everyone was trying to get me to jump off. I would call it an intense adrenaline high. Once we were back at the rafting company "HQ" we had a typical meal. We then re-entered our bus. And made our way back to Piededes where our home-stay families anxiously awaited our hungry bellies and dirty clothes, as we anxiously awaited telephones, and to speak to our new mommies and daddies. It was a most invigorating (and exhausting) day, the food and warm home of our home stay families are much appreciated.
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Do you have a poncho?

Author: Farah
Location: Tortuguero, La Selva Research Station
Waking up to the agonizing symphony of nature's most valued insects did not prove to be the most convenient or efficient way of getting all of us out of bed. After what seemed like hours of Robin (the jefa of the day) exerting her utmost effort to drag us out of bed and across the wet ground of the rainforest we arrived at the breakfast table. However, the pain and torture of the morning's ordeal seemed to be succumbed by the variety of food prepared for us by Willis' trusty teammates. Once we started feeling the elastic on our shorts tighten to the extreme we thought it would be best for both our health and our schedule to start packing and board the boat. Finally, when we were all ready and once our bodies starting going numb from rocking back and forth on the lodge's hammock, we got on the boat.
Due to the smoothness of the boat ride on the way there, the group was deceived in thinking that the way back was going to live up to the excitement of the first one. However, this immediately changed as soon as the rain started pouring down. Honestly, my sympathy goes to those that were sitting on the front of the boat and therefore brutally attacked by the rain. Thankfully, I was blessed with a seat towards the end of the boat, which at the time seemed to be bad enough. Through it all, we still managed smiles; after all, we were wet, but on a canal boat ride in Costa Rica. After what seemed like hours of continuous torture and numerous attempts of trying to sleep, we arrived at 'The Turtle Relax'. The place successfully lived up to its name, and offered us sufficient amenities to 'relax'. While waiting for Enrique (our new bus driver) the group dined on what has to be the most delicious Caribbean chicken ever, which was clearly evident through the amount we all devoured in record time. After playing with all the dogs at the restaurant and having what can only be described as an interesting conversation, with an extremely patriotic man from Jamaica who was insisting on taking us to the beach, we got on the bus and headed to 'La Selva Biological Research Station'. After a much needed and anticipated two hour rest on the bus while we subtly stole Ethan's and Austin's Chikys (Costa Rica's equivalent of Oreos), we arrived. While some were hesitant about the upcoming nature walk amongst the snakes and poisonous spiders, the group was relieved by the Station's provision of rubber boots. Lets just say for those who aren't as athletic as one hopes, the walk didn't seem to be that challenging, or at least we were too busy focusing on lizards and guard ants victoriously attacking both Nick and our guide. After witnessing a once in a lifetime's chance of an iguana 'pooping' (according to Kenneth, our guide) on a kingfisher bird, we started heading back to the bus. After a full packed day our counselors delivered the much awaited news, that we were going to the hotel. Once we arrived, got our rooms, and were mesmerized by the high-class facilities of the hotel the group was thankful for the rest hour granted to us. After an attempt to shower and scrub off the rain stains embedded on us from the boat ride, we met at the restaurant. I can confidently state that tonight's dinner overpowered any five-course meal prepared by world class chefs, which again was apparent through the rapid rate the group seemed to clear off their plates and every single plate on the buffet table. By this time, it was hard for us to keep our eyes opened, however, this immediately changed as soon as the group laid eyes on computers, yes COMPUTERS and FREE internet. After, what seemed like hours of us fighting over the computers and mounting ourselves on the chairs for dear life, we decided it was time for bed.

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Is it true that Turtle Eggs…?

Author: Ethan
Location: Tortuguero
After a wake up call of 8am in the morning, followed by a short quick breakfast at 8:30, we were on our way to Tortuguero. Following a short bus ride to the riverboats, we all boarded a small blue boat and were on our way. The boat ride was supposed to take four hours, but by the amusement of all the sights and sounds of nature, along with the dazzling creatures that are native to the waterways, the trip did not actually take that long. The name Tortuguero literally translates into LAND OF THE TURTLE. This translation comes from the season of the year that several species of turtle come to lay their eggs on the shore in the dark of night, cover the eggs up with sand, and promptly return to their homes on the bottom of the ocean floor. Now, for those who wish to know, if the sand is colder than a certain temperature, all the eggs will have male embryos, and if the sand is warmer than a certain temperature, all eggs will carry female embryos. With that said, we arrived in Tortuguero in the middle of the day, and after getting settled into our respectable insect-infested rooms (Rainforest, HELLO). After some shopping after a light dinner, we went back to our rooms to change for the turtle sightseeing. Actually, I would call it walking in the dark and hope you don't step on something smaller than you are, that is squirming towards the ocean. Ignore the sarcasm, it's just how I work. We all enjoyed it. Walking around the beach on what appeared to be some bleak coast that wouldn't end, we saw three sea turtles. For what seemed like hours, we, along with several other groups of tourists, saw these turtles bury, then hide, then bury another hole to divert attention from the actually resting place from predators of the eggs. Then slowly, arduously, arm stroke after arm stroke, these beautiful, magnificent creatures that have been on this planet for more than 225 million years make their way back to the gentle flowing sea to go on with their periodic lives. Until next time, AWKWARD TURTLE.
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Are you making faces at the chicken?

Author: Hanna
Location: Los Primos Restaurant, Cabecar Indigenous Reserve, Limon
This morning we woke up at 6:30 and after a quick breakfast of toast and fruit, we got on our new bus and took a drive to Hilary's favorite breakfast stop. (Our new bus has the most comfortable seats that recline, thus making everyone's favorite bus activity sleeping.) When we got to Los Primos Restaurant, everyone got a taste of empanadas, corn bread, and agua dulce before boarding the bus again and driving to the Cabecar Indigenous Reserve. Once we got there, the Cabecar women presented their trades, including natural dyes, peeling banana-like fruits, and ornaments made from dried tree bark. After shopping around for a while, we went on a small hike to the local elementary school. However, we had to pass over a suspending bridge to go on our way, and a total of four lifeworkers were "deadbugged" in the process: Hilary, Ethan, Austin, and Nick. (Deadbug: verb; to get down on one's back and squirm around and make dead bug sounds. One is allowed to make someone "deadbug" once a day, and one is allowed to be "deadbugged" only once a day. (To be used at only the most opportune moments.)) After getting properly muddied and sharing life stories on the walk, we reached the school and experienced another level of poverty. We learned that most students have to walk two hours or so to school, and came to the realization that life moves much more slowly for the Cabecar Indigenous people. We came back to the reserve for a quick lunch, and engaged in a spirited discussion about the possibility of buying a baby chick as our mascot for the rest of the trip. This lead to Nick capturing a baby chick while a mother hen taught him why it is never a good idea to mess with a mother's young ones. After releasing our would be mascot we got back on the bus to drive to the Caribbean side of the island, to Limon. We checked into Hotel Maribu Caribe, and after dropping our bags and changing into our bathing suits, we all jumped into the pool and played various games such as Chicken, Categories, and Sharks and Minnows. Dinner at the hotel was very nice and filling, and afterwards we all crashed in Hilary and Richard's room for a Lifeworks Forum about Creative Realization. Everyone branched off from there to their respective rooms in preparation for the boat tour tomorrow. Hasta la vista!
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Double Duty

Author: Austin
Location: Picagres/San Jose Market
Today we woke up and enjoyed a wholesome breakfast of rice and beans alongside eggs and ham. Afterwards we got on the bus and headed to Picagres, where we finished digging the last of our holes, which are soon to become the sites of newly erected posts. Although we were forced to take a break at midday due to a downpour, we considered the time well spent since we were able to join Taylor, Hanna and Mary's dance class in the high school. After our dancing exertions we had a wonderful lunch and returned to the worksite where we finally finished the last two holes. After the social budding of our dance class we were joined at the worksite by many of our new friends. The conversation quickly turned to giggles as we all learned more about each other. Richard swelled with pride as he overheard the lifworking boys appropriately insert "Mi Amor" into their conversations; peals of delighted laughter followed. The group then headed back to San Jose, where the lifeworkers were able to spend some time at a local market. The lifeworkers looked at everything from pink Pumas to puppies (Nick) and soon found themselves saying goodbye to our bus driver Jorge and packing for the upcoming weekend trip.
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Zipping Through the Forest

Author: Robin
Location: Canopy Tour
After waking at 8am and eating cereal for breakfast, we all boarded the bus to go on a zipline tour. The zipline facility was beautiful. If felt like a camp. Since we arrived early we had time to play games on the lawn out front. Then we put on helmets, gloves and harnesses and got instructed on how to zipline. After this introduction we were allowed to start the canopy tour. It was tremendously fun and the views were gorgeous. We returned to the hotel after eating lunch at the zipline place and making a pit stop at Mas o Menos, a local supermarket. After a two-hour rest at the hotel we headed to Ana's Rancho for dinner, which was seafood rice, beans and pineapple. We then watched Voces Inocentes, a video about young boys and the civil war of San Salvador. It was a powerful, emotional movie that left everyone speechless. Tomorrow we will return to Picagres to continue work on the lunchroom. Today was a VERY fun day.
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Caffeinated Dancing in the Streets

Author: Katy
Location: Picagres, Espiritu Santo Coffee Plantation, Pizzeria Gino, Casa Santana
Today was the hottest day of the trip so far. As we woke up and headed to breakfast many of us felt the aches and pains from the last couple of days work along with some itching from tumor-sized bug bites. Breakfast consisted of the usual gallo pinto (rice and beans), eggs, fresco (juice) and toast. During the trying task of hole digging, two groups of three were able to teach in the schools. I went to the elementary school to teach basic words and numbers through coloring, while the other group went to the high school to share Journey's "Don't stop believing" with our Costa Rican teen friends. After completing 30 of the 32 holes for our cafeteria construction, we headed out to lunch. On the bus ride to our next stop, some of us grabbed a much-needed nap while others learned the lyrics to Enrique Iglesias's cong "Escapar." We arrived at El Espiritu Santo Coffee Tour with little energy, but quickly they gave us cups full of coffee. We had a tour and at the end bought coffee and chocolate covered espresso beans for ourselves and our families. Full of caffeine, we jumped on the bus, ready to get back to our Casa Santana to shower. Hilary and Richard surprised us by taking us out to pizza for dinner. Everyone was still in high spirits from the caffeine, and eating pizza put us in even better moods! We ordered seven large pizzas for 14 people and successfully finished every last crumb! On our way back we stopped and watched a local soccer game. We are now continuing our salsa lessons at the hotel and are headed to bed. Everyone is very excited for the zipline and our day off from digging tomorrow!
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Sweet Sugar Cane

Author: Nick
Location: Picagres, Sugar Cane Plantation
We woke up at 7am this morning. Most of us were sore from the previous days work. When we arrived in Picagres we kept on digging the rest of the holes. By 11:30 we had finished half the holes and were almost done with the other half, so we decided to finish early to go play Ftbol with the local kids. The "friendly" game quickly became very serious with us holding our own against a group of students that amazed us with their soccer skills. After a delicious lunch of rice, broccoli, potatoes, and pineapple, we headed on over to a sugar cane processing site. At this hut in the jungle we saw and helped with all the various systems of creating sugar from sugar cane plant. We also got to sample all the different types of candy made during the process. This sounded like a good idea at first, but we soon couldn't stop eating the sugary goodness and some of us got slightly sick. When we came back to the hotel to rinse off the layers of sweat and mud, before heading off to dinner and salsa lessons. After our hour or so of the intense and very cool hips swaying that is known as salsa we ended our night with a quick Spanish lesson and then rode back to the hotel and our comfy beds.
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1st Day of Construction

Author: Madeleine
Location: Picagres
Waking up at 7am this morning we all felt rejuvenated and excited to start our first day of work on the site. We had a bountiful breakfast of fruit and cereal and headed off at 8am to the school at the top of a mountain, what a wonderful sight! We began to dig holes in order for poles and cement to be inserted to build the new cafeteria. The holes needed to be 25cm wide and 90cm deep. This was not an easy task and all of us were sweating a great deal after a short time. After a while we came up with a good system of digging the holes, even a few of the natives joined in on the fun. After working hard and completing about 8-10 holes we ate lunch and continued immediately to play games with the local children. We played red rover and an intense game of soccer or "futbol", ending with a score of 2 to 2. After it started to rain we all shouted "hasta maana" to the locals. We traveled to the healer Juan Sanchez. He told us about cleansing and healing the spirit rather than the body and showed us multiple medicinal plants. We enjoyed smelling, tasting, and rubbing the plants on us. The sacrificial locations, spiritual temples, and animal bones were interesting, and even a bit startling. Juan Sanchez also had 2 adorable dogs! We then returned to the hotel, swam, had a great dinner, and contemplated what animal we hoped to be. Now we're all off to bed, tired from yet another long day.
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Fun in the Sun

Author: Mary
Location: Playa de Manuel Antonio, Santa Anna
Today we got to sleep until 8:00am. We ate breakfast at the hotel. We then set off for a hike in the rainforest. We saw white-faced monkeys and sloths and iguanas! The monkeys were very interesting to watch since they were jumping all around us, only 2 feet away. Then we went to the hotel to shower. We then went to lunch at an excellent restaurant. We all had our pick of meat, chicken or fish served alongside delicious rice and beans. We then set out on o the long bus ride back to Santa Ana. After about 4 hours of bus fun and games we arrived backing Santa Ana. I think we are all happy to back and excited to start work tomorrow.
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Beach Fun

Author: Riley
Location: Bus, Manuel Antonio
This morning we got an early start by waking up at 6:45. We ate a fine breakfast of pancakes and started our day by loading ourselves onto a bus for 3 hours. Half way through this ride we stopped for a bathroom break and walked over a bridge to see some giant crocodiles chilling below us. We spent the rest of the bus ride eating lunch and learning impossible fast lyrics to an awesome Shakira song. Once at the beach, the majority of us practiced our body surfing and real surfing skills. We also played a friendly game of Frisbee that ended with a few tackles. When we left the beach we continued onto dinner at a nearby restaurant where we were served watermelon juice. We ended the day hanging out together and telling stories of embarrassing memories and our worst/best injury stories.
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Orientation and More!!!

Author: Taylor Palank
Location: Gail's Rancho and Picagres
We woke up this morning to a delicious breakfast at the hotel to fuel us for a busy day. After loading up the bus we arrived at Gail's Rancho for our orientation. It was straightforward and not as boring as anticipated, since we able to sit with our feet in the pool! By the end of orientation we were all ready for a wonderful meal (including the most delicious rice ever) at Picagres. We got to see the school with the children where we will work. Kids of all ages came together on the field to play various games such as tag and red rover, therefore getting to know one another better. We finished our time at Picagres by seeing the site where we will be building a dinning hall for high schoolers. Upon returning to the hotel, many of us put on our bathing suits to enjoy a relaxing time at the pool nearby. We ended the day with a terrific dinner cooked by Anna and a very heartfelt conversation with all.
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Arrival!!!

Author: Mia
Location: Casa Santana, Ana's Rancho, Santa Ana
Arrivals to San Jose this afternoon went smoothly... or rather mine went smoothly! The group flight from Miami suffered a small delay, and our last companion from Cairo, Egypt has yet to arrive. Her flight was delayed even further and we were all disappointed to find out that some of us will not meet her until tomorrow. Once all of our bags were in the bus, we drove a short way to our hotel Casa Santana, and began to settle in and get to know each other. We had some snacks (plaintain chips with lime and salt and famous chocolate bathed costa rican chikys!), introduces ourselves and took turns calling home. At 6, we loaded into our bus and went to Ana's ranch to eat dinner and play some get to you know you games. these included organizing ourselves by our birthdays and middle names without speaking, which proved to be only a little difficult as there was much giggling involved! We then took time to write down some of our goals for the next three weeks, and read them aloud to make them attainable for everyone. Overall, a very exciting and exhausting day for everyone. Pura vida!
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