La Bahía: Saludos desde Costa Rica!
Hola! It’s Gordon and Luca and we are on blog duty this week and we are going to tell you about how much fun we are having this week!
When (most of us) first arrived in Costa Rica it was 2 at night, and the next day, we had the four-hour bus ride to our first lodging site. When we got there, we did fun icebreakers until dinner and then went to bed. The next day we went to Cusingos, the bird sanctuary, and worked on a service project. After having lunch, we did more icebreakers and had a bunch of briefing activities and went to bed. That night Gordon organized a card game tournament with each room being a team, including the staff team! The next day we went to AMACOBAS, a woman-led organization created to help fight climate change, where we helped planting trees. That night after Spanish class, kids from a circus organization came and showed off some tricks, and after that there was a HUGE lightning storm!
I (Luca) have enjoyed my experience so far with AMIGOS in Costa Rica. The lodging site that we are currently spending our time at is so awesome. I’m loving my room, supervisors are awesome, and I couldn’t have asked for better people to spend my time with. We’ve helped cook recently and even painted a brand-new mural. I’ve made so many friends and we’ve spent our time wisely helping the local community and helping around our own site. Costa Rica is so cool and the things that were most memorable to me on the 4th and 5th days were the amazing new things I was able to see. On the 4th day we took an excursion to a local water conservation facility called FUDEBIOL. They showed us around some of the attractions they have and explained their complex process of how they produce such clean, pure water.
When at FUDEBIOL, I especially enjoyed the hike that we went on as a group. The trail was nice but difficult at some times, having people slip at some twists and turns. I enjoyed the hiking, telling riddles and laughing with everyone. However, it was the destination that blew my mind. When we arrived there was a great view at the top of this huge waterfall. The group sat at the top of the waterfall admiring the view and dipping their feet in the water, enjoying each other’s presence while moping about not wanting to turn back. Seeing new things in the wild and sitting at the top of a waterfall was a life changing experience, I really enjoyed it.
On the 5th day we were able to go and visit the largest butterfly conservation center in all Central America. We were given a tour around this big dome full of flying butterflies and bees. We got to see so many species and were educated on the scientific qualities of these amazing creatures. Overall, everything and everyone is cool and I’ve enjoyed how things have been going so far!