2010 Costa Rica Discovery B
2010 Costa Rica Discovery B
Discovery B´s march through Costa Rica nears its close as we just checked-in to our final hotel in San Jose. At 7am local time tomorrow, we catch our group flight back to Miami and eventually to our respective homes. The group is tired, but also reflective on the many adventures and friendships made on this trip. Last night at the cabins of Pura Suerte, Christine and I lead a group discussion of ¨high´s and low´s¨ from the trip. It was a spirited discussion with many points of view and even more laughs. The pervasive low amongst the group was the natural abundance of bugs throughout the trip. Fortunately, the bites are on their way to healing and the bulk of last night´s discussion focused on the chemistry and friendships built over the last 2 weeks. The group also touched heavily upon their individual experiences of discovering gallo pinto as a breakfast dish; scoring one of our 3 goals in the lop-sided Walking Tree v Herradura soccer match; learning to lay tile in the community kitchen; comparing the talents of our respective bus drivers Eduardo and Richard; and less I forget, waking up with the roosters every morning in Herredura. We covered a lot of ground, but everyone is going to miss each other for certain!
The Discovery B Team
2010 Costa Rica Discovery B
16 Walking Tree Travelers owned the shores of Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica today and the anticipation is palpable for the balance of Discovery B. Our journey began this past Friday in Miami where the group converged, coming from far and wide, to fly down together to San Jose. In spite of distance, age, and a small flight delay, the instant chemistry among the group was undeniable. We include travelers coming from California, Colorado, Florida, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington in Discovery B and all are quickly becoming team players as noticed in Day 2. Day 2 found us on the Pacuare River balancing attention between the ubiquitous waterfalls which pepper the river landscape and the Class 3-4 rapids which challenged us the whole day. I applaud Leah not for falling out of her raft, but for returning back to her paddle afterwards and helping her team take on the mighty Pacuare for an additional 2 hours. I applaud Lauren and Natalie for helping me (Adam D, your author) do the work of 5 paddlers with only 3 people. Lauren also did her 1st cliff dive along the river as did others. Adam H, Craig, Jonathan, and Alec also challenged and defeated our local raft guides during our lunchtime futbol match of Costa Rica v. US. In summary, the day was rich on all levels and moreover, the enthusiasm was contagious and growing. We closed the day returning back to Hotel Villa Pacande for rest, group orientation, and general q & a. On to Day 3….
Happy July 4th! Although the day was mostly a travel one, the group nevertheless came through with surprises. Such as Brooke, Maria, and Ceara all having the courage to try Christine’s local favorite fruit, mamones, courtesy of Gustavo @ Frutera Gemelo. We arrive at Manuel Antonio in the midst of the late afternoon rainstorm, but our eagerness to explore was too much to contain. After a quick dip in the Pacific, we returned back to the Hotel California for a classic holiday feast of bratwursts and ice cream. We closed the evening with a spirited game of charades where Team Gringo triumphed over Team Awesome by a single point. Mark’s rendition of “The Roman Empire” will perhaps go down in the history books and is certainly to be remembered by all.
Currently, the rain is pounding down hard as we take a siesta from today’s day of surfing, shopping, football (the local kind), charlando, and cross-country practice in the case of Becca. Additional individual highlights include Laura’s discovery of the perfect waves at the West end of the beach and Margot’s mindblowing back-flips which left our surf guides almost speechless. Emma has the full photographic documentation.
Tomorrow is our last day in Manuel Antonio and as much as we are looking forward to it,our host family stays and service project occupy equal attention on the horizon. We am looking forward to more of the journey as are our travelers.
Pura Vida from Costa Rica!
Discovery B Leader Team