Costa Rica Immersion C: Ziplines, Goodbye Party, and Hot Springs

Greetings All!

We’re officially on the last leg of the trip! While saying goodbye to our host families in Las Brisas wasn’t easy, our Costa Rican families and friends prepared a fun ‘despedida’ (‘farewell’) party for the whole community. While the night began on a more formal note, with Asha, Rachel, Jake and Cameron expressing their gratitude on behalf of the entire group, it soon erupted into an evening of games, including potato sack races and tug-a-war. As a response to a dare from some local elementary school girls, a bunch of Walking Tree boys even belly danced in front of everyone! To top it all off was a pinata; while a few of us got a few good swings at it, it was ultimately Nik who brought the house down with a flying knee kick! We also had live music, courtesy of Jake, who played “La Bamba” on his guitar and danced to salsa and merengue throughout the night.

The week before our going away began with a two-day trip to La Fortuna, where the renowned active volcano, Arenal, still oozes lava that can be seen on cloudless days. Although we’re in the rainy ‘invierno’ (‘winter’) season, we were able to get a glimpse of the peak. We spent our first afternoon at a resort filled with natural hot springs, where the group took a special liking to the waterslides that claim to send people as fast as 30mph down the tube. We concluded the day with a big buffet, complete with a chocolate fountain and strawberries.

The next morning, before heading back to the village, we made a stop at a local river where we each took our turn with a rope-swing that some of the local youth put up for us. Ian was even able to make a Lotus position mid-air.

Once we returned to work on the work site, we achieved our group goal of finishing the cement foundation! Although the final building will not be complete for another year or so, we know that we completed the more difficult rudimentary components of construction, and are confident that it was left in good enough shape for our foremen, Edwin and Emilio, to take over, as well as future Walking Tree groups.

After our departure, we made our way westward to Monteverde, one of the more popular attractions on Costa Rica’s ecotourism route. Nik, who just turned 17, was especially excited for the town’s famous zip-lines. Hooked up to cables, we soared above cloud forests and jungle canopies. We trailed each other on 17 lines, some short and others long, with each of us taking the 30-foot plunge off the Tarzan Swing. Later that night, we celebrated Nik’s birthday at a local restaurant with pizza and icecream. The next day, we caught up on some R&R and gave the students some time reflect on their experience while eating smores around a fireplace.

Back in San Jose with just two days left, it’s hard to believe that a month has already gone by. But we’re making sure to take advantage of every last minute, and will be heading out for a rafting adventure on the Pacuare River early tomorrow morning.

Until Next Time,

The Immersion C Group

Costa Rica Immersion C: Dole Plantation and Coffee Farm

Check out these video posts from a day of excursions we took on Saturday to a Dole Banana Plantation and an Organic Coffee Plantation. Quite the contrast!

Costa Rica Immersion C: Homestays

Greetings all!

We’re happy to report good progress on the construction project; having just completed digging, we’ve now moved on to cementing- a messy enterprise that has been fabulously documented by our very own multimedia production team. Eager to make the most out of our time on the site, we even decided to work after hours one day.

Alas, we’ve already had to say our very first good-bye in Costa Rica, this time to Guru, our resident photographer. While we were sad to see him go, we made sure to surprise him with a great send-off, complete with pizza and homemade desserts by Asha and Rachel. We even circled up to share our favorite “Guru moment”, in which his 6-year old host-sister, Francela, revealed that she would miss their drawing workshops.

However, there was not a bittersweet moment to be had of Jake’s birthday; we kicked off our rubber boots and went roller skating in the town next door! It was fun at first, but many of us didn’t realize how difficult it would be to skate on what seemed to be homemade skates. While most of us spent our time holding onto walls or each other’s hands for dear life, some of the town’s 5 year-olds literally did circles around us. Needless to say, we were quickly exhausted but soon transformed our corner of the rink into a disco-style dance party.

This past Sunday was our well-deserved first full-day off. Almost all of the host families took full advantage of the time that they had with their students. Some of the students joined their families at a Catholic wedding in nearby Zarcero. Afterwards, they met up in a park in front of the church, famed for its interestingly shaped hedges that capture various elements of Mesoamerican culture. Others spent the day doing everything from visiting the zoo, to picking strawberries , to seeing a bull fight to making bread to selling produce to playing games in a local video arcade to milking cows to going fishing to visiting countless friends and relatives.

Here is what some of the students had to say about their day off:

“On our day off, my family took me to a trout farm. We caught lots of fish and than ate the same fish in the restaurant. We saw lots of lizards and a ginormous spider. It was an awesome experience with my Costa Rican family.”
Alex Wenzl

“I went to my first bull fight ever. It was a life-changing experience.”
Big Ace, AKA Asa Pitt

“I met like thirty of my relatives in one night. The sad thing is I can’t remember any of their names, but they were pretty cool (and I beat all the kids at guitar hero!).”
Jesse Jacobs

“I never knew fishing without a pole could be so much fun!”
Nik Rudzitis

“My family took me to a lecheria (dairy farm) and they asked me if there are cows in Chicago. I said no, and they didn’t believe me. ”
Asha Ransby-Sporn

We are currently in Arenal where the group enjoyed relaxing in the natural hot springs and going down some of the most exciting water slides. Ever. More to come on this later.

For now, check out the videos and pictures and let us know what you think of the blogs if you get a chance!

Paul, Flora and Justin

Costa Rica Immersion C: Service Project Update

Before our arrival to Las Brisas, the group spent a few days relaxing on the white sand beaches of Manuel Antonio, where we took surf lessons, played Frisbee, played games of chicken in the hotel pool, and checked out the sloths, monkeys, iguanas, hermit crabs, and parrots that have made Manuel Antonio famous. It was a great few days on the beach, although everyone seemed excited to get started on our service project and get to meet their Costa Rican families.

It is now our third day in Las Brisas, our home for the next few weeks, and the group has already impressed our local hosts (and group leaders) alike with their abundance of energy and enthusiasm for our project. As many of you saw in the last post, our project is to get as much of the foundation laid for a two-story building that will contain a kindergarten classroom, two offices, a library, and a computer room. Needless to say, this is a very large project and we are happy to have two great Nicaraguan maestros de obra (foreman), Emilio and Edwin, on the site to keep us on track, safe, and busy. The group has been incredibly self-motivating, starting work before our scheduled time the past two days!

Even through the various stomach aches, sun burns, bumps and bruises that are a normal occurrence during a program of this sort, the group has been in high spirits. Whether it is an impromptu dance-off in the rain on makeshift cinderblock stages, a wrestling match between friends, or conversations about life back home, the group has become close and seems to bond more each day.

Tonight we are going to celebrate Jake’s birthday at a roller-disco ring (yup, they actually have one close to our community!) with a homemade birthday cake, a gift, and a card from everyone, so stay tuned for more postings soon!

Until next time,

Paul and Flora

A note from each participant:

“At first, I loved softening up the grass with the pick axe and the hoe. Then I loved digging trenches with the shovel. Now, I love doing them both in the rain!”
Big Ace aka Asa Pitt

“I am having the time of my life here in Costa Rica. My host family is about as close to real family as they can get, especially since they threw me a surprise birthday party! To my family, I love you and miss you!”
Jake Grossman

“My host mom is so nice and my little brother and sister love to draw pictures for me. The food is great! My mom even gave me a cheeseburger for breakfast to make me feel more at home. I leanred to hackeysack and play chicken but I’m not very skilled at either. I miss you Mom, Dad, and Paige!”
Haley Anderson

“ED lives on.”
Alex Wenzl

“My little brother is better than me at football (soccer), and he as the most awesome computer games as well.”
Diego Lander

“The first night with my host family was kind of ackward and it made me nervous. Thankfully, on the second night we bonded talking about Chicago. Now, I really like my host family and I’m glad I was paired with them.”
Asha Ransby-Sporn

“Manuel Antonio was insane. The first day we got situated in the hotel (one of the nicest I’ve ever stayed in) it had an awesome pool with a view of the coast, and a bar where we all got pina coladas (non-alcoholic of course) and had a great time. I clmbed a few palm trees and got swarmed by monster ants. I got like ten coconuts though. The second day we surfed and that was awesome. Guru gave some great tips. But the national park was where it was at. We saw monkeys, tree frogs, and a lot of sloths, and the beach was beautiful. I’ve never seen water so clear. The group laid back and relaxed in the shade, but Flora, Diego and I went exploring along the beach. We found the rocks full of crabs running around, we saw a ton of hermit crabs brawling for this one shell, and best of all we saw a sea turtle. Flora pointed it out and Diego and I jumped in the water and swam with it. Got a few pictures too, it was awesome. Definitely an experience to go home with!”
Cameron Soltani

“Hello! I’m getting a great amount of food and I haven’t lost my common sense, DAD. Give the dogs kisses for me and I’m having an unforgettable time!”
Jackie Nelson

“I have a rather large fan club in the community. Unfortunately, they are mostly 12 year old girls.”
Jesse Jacobs

My family is pretty awesome! Bonding with my sister is cool, The service project is tough but it’s been going pretty well too. Alex and I were killing it in the trenches today, and Alex says hi to his mom.”
I love you Mom, Dad, and Alex.
Lisa Caldwell

“Hey mom. Guess what? My host family has a computer with games. Ha ha. Also, I’m not sick anymore. Costa Rican medication ain’t bad. Mmkay, bye now.”
Your (now shared) son, Ian McKenna

“Nothing beats playing futbol with a bunch of 8 year old mini David Beckhams.”
Big Ace aka Asa Pitt

“I just hit myself in the face with a shovel, but other than that I’m having the time of my life!”
Sarah Drake

“Surfing was really fun. I got lots of scraps and bruises, but it was definitely worth it. The beach was so pretty. Mom, Dad, Sophie, Shelby: Love you and miss you.”
Katie Miller

“Hey Mom and Dad- things are great. Gonna come back buff and tan!”
(PS, the horses here are better then Iago).”
Nik Rudzitis

“My favorite part so far was surfing, even though it was really challenging. I love my host family! I’ve bonded with my sister over the Jonas Brothers and David Beckham.”
Grace Clark-Mchale

“My family in Las Brisas is really awesome… They make me THREE meals a day and we never have leftovers. I have shoveled more in the past three days than I have in my entire life. I expect to be a mini-Arnold by the time I come home.”
Jennifer Konick

Costa Rica Immersion C: Surfing and Service Project

Greetings All!

I am writing this from Zarcero, a town about 30 minutes away from our host village, Las Brisas. We arrived here last night, and everything is off to a great start! I will post morte on the beach, surf lessons, the national park, as well as our first night in the village, but I wanted to get these pictures and video posted from Justin and Guru up on the site tonight so that you could all see what we accomplished in just one morning. Check it out!