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Excursion to La Costa

By Luke

Thursday, October 20th, 2022:

My alarm went off at 4:15am, allowing just enough time to make it to Sauausí Centro before the bus took off for the coast. After 9 hours of driving, sleeping, snacking, resting, and a lot of Bad Bunny, we arrived at the beach of Puerto Lopez at 2:15 pm for a well-needed lunch. We all made our way to our extremely vibrant Hotel Alcazaba to check into our rooms, clean up, and rest; even though all we had done so far that day was sitting on a bus, we were still tired. For that reason, many of us decided to explore the nearest beach, which was a 10-minute walk away. We had some good frisbee-throwing, beach walks, and pickleball games, before going out to find a beachside dinner. Day 1 was calm but good. We got a lot of sleep for an early start the next day.

Friday, October 21st, 2022:

Beach day! After breakfast, we got on the bus and drove to a national park approximately 30 minutes from the hotel. The national park included a very nice beach in a sheltered cove. For several hours, we enjoyed the water and explored the beach—a strong highlight being when we walked along the edge of a rock face to discover a beautiful hidden crab-filled cave with crystal-blue water crashing into it from all sides. The beach was a very enjoyable experience. Later in the evening and night, we rested, showered, and went out for a full AMIGOS dinner by the ocean.

Saturday, October 22nd, 2022:

For our third and final (and my favorite) day, we took a boat trip to an island for a tour of the wildlife and scenery. Due to a lack of space in the first group, I went with a second group along with Kip and three of the other boys. We saw sea turtles, pelicans, blue-footed boobies, frigate birds, and many long-tailed mockingbirds. Afterward, we all went snorkeling in a cove around the islands, and soon later, to our amazement, watched a mother whale and her calf breach the surface several times. In good spirits, we raced (literally) back to the hotel in taxi “tuk tuks” to rejoin the rest of the group and to brag about seeing whales breaching. After a full-group workshop, everyone went toward the shore again for another independent dinner and later spent some together at the hotel.

Sunday, October 23rd, 2022:

Immediately upon waking up on Sunday, everyone ate breakfast, packed up their rooms, and went to the balcony for another quick workshop. Then, we got on the bus for the long ride back. After the sun went down, and we had eaten many road-trip snacks as well as listened to nearly every genre of music, we arrived back at Sayausí (my stop). I was very happy with how the trip turned out and now have some incredible stories. Looking forward to the final excursion!

lyoung
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