Day Cuatro by Ashley and Tess

           Day cuatro.  Leggo.  *Beat drops* The day started with another amazing view.  It’s different to be in a place where the view never gets old.  Every morning we still take a second before going to breakfast (which was killer today- I swear ill never get sick of the rice (Tess)) to look at the rainforest and see the natural beauty that this country works so hard to preserve.  The past four days have flown by and still it is hard to believe that this is all real! Every experience is a new adventure, and each adventure is something that we will never forget. We have all been taking pictures and writing in our journals as much as we can but there is just no way to capture just what it is actually like here. It is so hard to process how incredible everything is, and even harder to process that only one full day at the Soltis Center remains.

            We visited dos escuelas hoy.  One in San Isidro and the other in La Altura.  We were definitely a little overwhelmed at first because there were 96 kids at the San Isidro school!  However, it actually ended up being a great opportunity! The number of kids forced us to branch out and challenge ourselves to connect with these children without as much help from Spanish-speakers of the group.  Coming from someone who does know some Spanish (Tess speaking here), it was great to see everyone interacting with students and carrying on conversations, even if there was minimal speaking taking place.  Coming from a person who doesn’t speak Spanish (Ashley speaking here) as intimidating as it was, it was so rewarding and empowering to connect with these children on my own… (and it also made me appreciate people like Tess!) Ashley is da best (Tess here).  ANYWAY.           All in all the first school was awesome, especially with so many kids to play with ( “pato, pato, zancudo” or duck duck mosquito was a huge hit!).  The second school had a lot fewer children, and we had just as much fun.  We got to do the four usual activities (a matching game, a scavenger hunt, making mosquitos, and coloring) but we also had more time to interact with the adults.   We had the opportunity to meet and converse with a couple who moved to Costa Rica after visiting from Arizona and decided to stay for much longer.  They work at the school in La Altura and help with renovations along with teaching English to the students.  We were able to make  a connection with people from the states doing service abroad. 

            After school we returned to the always lovely Soltis Center for a superb lunch that included mashed potatoes and por supuesto (of course) rice and beans.  We also get awesome treats (the ice cream here is SO good, no offense to Blue Bell) but, today we had these chocolate candies.  I (Tess) had mint and I saved the wrapper so I could buy it in bulk at the soonest possibility.  But enough about food, onto the even better stuff…

            ZIPLINING!!! If only words could describe this experience… Well we will try anyway! Imagine soaring across the rainforest with a volcano on one side, a gorgeous lake on the other, and the canopy of the forest below you, all without a care in the world and some of the coolest people you have ever met. (My (Tess) heart is currently melted).   Yeah I had never been ziplining before this so needless to say I was totally nervous before.   The employees briefly showed you what to do with your body, gave you a push and off you went!  We went SO fast.  Probably illegal actually.  I wanted the line to be 10 miles longer; honestly I’d give anything to be in the middle of the rainforest (I guess a few hundred feet above) all alone on that line looking around at natural beauty again.  But if it were ten miles long I’d definitely come down with a nasty case of laryngitis because I screamed the entire time (some of it stemming from fear, the other from pure fun).  Pure joy seems to be a common occurrence here and we always have smiles on our faces. At one point after we got off one of the sections of zip line (oh yeah, there were multiple!) a kind Costa Rican man who worked there handed us each a glass of the best juice I have ever had in my life (Ashley)! At this point I really wasn’t sure if I was awake anymore because the amount of perfection was actually overwhelming. If each of us could even carry a tiny piece of the joy we felt in this moment with us in our daily lives, I know that it would change the way that we live. The positive energy of the people here is contagious and I hope that we can bring some of that back to the states. The phrase “Pura Vida” which is the motto here in Costa Rica and means “live pure” makes so much sense now and its easy to see how valuable this mind set would be to apply to our busy lifestyles that can sometimes take over everything. 

             As it is the fourth day of limited sleep (we want to be awake every minute the sun is up here, and then some) we are ready to head to beddy bye night night and get some rest.  We hope you enjoyed our post (we’ve been laughing quite a bit (were SUPER funny we know)), even with all the parenthesis (I know they get excessive at times (Tess here again by the way)).  Buenas noches y Pura Vida! 

Ashley and Tess

“Pato, pato, zancudo” with Todd the mosquito 

Howdy from Costa Rica courtesy of Leah and Carrigan! (Day 3)

The day started like any normal day… wake up at 5:30 to watch the sunrise over the mountains of Costa Rica while enjoying a nice cup of tea in the rocking chairs of the Soltis Center, then for breakfast devouring 4 slices of watermelon (which I learned is “Sandia” en español), cantaloupe, pineapple and avocado.  Just kidding, that’s not a normal day for most people, but for the next week, it is!

The start of the morning was definitely a little nerve racking.   Today we had our first experience working and interacting with the kids at la escuela in Costa Rica.  The language barrier was definitely a challenge, but we soon learned that the most powerful form of communication was simply a smile and a laugh. We started off working with a younger group of kids, ranging in age from 4 to 12.  Ryan and Todd started the program off with a BUZZ by entertaining the kids with a skit about the effects of getting Dengue Fever from mosquitos.  Then Tess, our lovely translator, separated them into groups and from there the adventure began.  We had four stations that the kids rotated through, each either explaining the risk of Dengue Fever or how to avoid getting it in different and fun ways.  One group played hide and seek: Todd put on mosquito get-up and the kids looked for him in places that are prone to mosquito infestation.  The kids obviously had fun with that, but we have a feeling that Todd may have had the most fun with it.  Afterwards, that group taught them how to play Duck, Duck, Mosquito and the kiddos had a blast chasing us around and trying on pieces of Todd’s costume. Another group taught the kids how to make mosquitos out of pipe cleaners… that was interesting.  The kids came out with pink, purple and blue mosquitos. After the mosquitos were made the kids had a marvelous time pretending to bite each other with them and then creating other things like “coronas” (crowns) and swords out of the pipe cleaners.  The next group worked on the kids coloring skills while discussing where the mosquitos could be found and how to prevent them there.  The fourth group played a matching game with the kids.  They emphasized prevention methods and just had a good time.  Once we had rotated all four times, we moved out to the field to play a nice little game of Red Light Green Light… although it took a good twenty minutes to get organized and have it actually resemble the game as we know it.  The kids had a blast running around and playing with us, and we had a blast being able to be kids again.  They had their pipe cleaner mosquitos (zancudos) and were running around stinging each other and playing tag.  It was really awesome to see that they understood and retained what we were telling them about the dangers of Dengue Fever.  The field was filled with laughter and smiles the whole time, and although we couldn’t always talk about much, other than our names and favorite colors, it was obvious that everyone was having a great time.  You could see the little boys running after the guys in our group playing tag, Ryan off to the side doing cartwheels with some of the girls, and another group of kids with our cameras taking pictures of everyone around them.  I (Leah) had a great time getting to know one little girl named Nicole. She didn’t seem to want to play the game, so I headed over her way and plopped down next to her.  From there she decided to start rattling off Spanish to me… not the most ideal situation for me to be in seeing as how I have a difficult time understanding anything other than English.  We got through the basics, but from there it became obvious to her that I had no clue what I was saying.  But rather than leaving, she decided to help me learn Spanish.  She told me the few English words she knew, mostly colors, and taught me how to say them in Spanish.  It showed me just how truly pure and sweet the children here are. 

            Eventually we had to part ways with the little ones and head over to the secondary education school at which we encountered kids ranging from 14 to even older than most of us. This part of our adventure was significantly more challenging since the older kids were less receptive to our patchy Spanish babblings and basic questions than the younger group. Nevertheless we had a good time and we feel like we were successful in our mission to raise awareness about Dengue Fever.

            Our next excursion brought us to the Arenal Volcano where our amazing guide, Alberth, taught us numerous life lessons while showing us a lot of amazing animals and teaching us a lot about the area we were exploring. Because of his skilled eye we saw a sloth, a snake, some intriguing birds and a cool creature that resembles a large raccoon. Our destination had a breathtaking view the Volcano on one side and a pristine lake on the other. It was a life changing moment for all of us as we realized the beauty that Costa Rica, and the world as a whole, has to offer. Then on the way back I (Carrigan) had an in depth conversation with Alberth about life and happiness in both ourselves and others and it really opened my eyes to the meaning of “Pura Vida.” I realized how, this man who doesn’t have much of anything is so happy in his job and in life and it really made me realize how much we take for granted. Alex put it into words well with his comment “I hope that one day I can love something as much as Albert loves his rainforest.” It is so true.

As two first time world travelers I think we can agree that this trip has really opened up our eyes to this world and its people. So far Costa Rica has showed us so much happiness and peace, and we can’t wait to see what the rest of this week has in store for us.

Pura Vida,

Leah Bauer & Carrigan Miller

Ryan doing cartwheels with the school kids.

Group at the Soltis Center.

Our ninja tour guide, Alberth.

Group at Arenal Volcano.

Costa Rica Day Two with Chase and Mehvish

·     Usually Sunday mornings for us college students consist of procrastinated deadlines, Netflix marathons, loads of dirty laundry, and piles of homework. But nope, not this Sunday! After a solid night of sleep, we woke up to the sounds and sunshine outside our window. It was a pleasure not seeing dorms and concrete, but instead the lush flora and fauna of Costa Rica. We began our morning hike with delicious pineapples, mangoes, and watermelons swirling about in our happy tummies. Let’s just say that Albert, our tour guide, is the craziest ninja turtle alive. We’re pretty sure he was born and raised in the rainforest by serpientes (that means snake). His ability to spot even the smallest of life is absolutely impeccable. As soon as anything was spotted, Albert’s natural animalistic instincts would make him shout the phrase “1…2…GRAB!” and before you knew it, the spotted species was in his hands. Ninja, straight ninja I tell you. He picked up everything from lizards to frogs to insects of all types. He even let a spider crawl up his arm. Ew. As we continued our journey towards the waterfall, we encountered rigorous terrain. Since we didn’t work on our Spring Break bod prior to this trip, the hike was quite the workout. It seemed as though the uphill portion of the hike lasted FOREVERRRR! But alas, the waterfall was in sight! You could hear the roaring of the water all throughout the rainforest, but in that moment, it became prominent. Once we all turned the corner, our jaws dropped, our minds switched to little kid mode, and our smile stretched from ear to ear. It didn’t take long for all of us to submerge ourselves into the gloriously cold water. It was a wee bit nippy mate, but we didn’t care because for the first time in a long time, the weight of the world seemed to be lifted off our shoulders. In that moment we weren’t worried about school, grades, relationships, or social media, but the serenity of the environment around us. In the states, we wouldn’t get the chance to view a waterfall in such a way. There are restrictions that keep us from experiencing nature to the fullest. But here, you truly were one with nature. It was as if time had stopped and pure happiness took over. We could’ve stayed there all day, but lunch was calling our name. As we stuffed our bellies with rice and beans, chicken, and the addicting caramel ice cream (yummy), we got the chance to talk to the staff of the Soltis Center, a first time experience for not only us but for the program itself. It started off a wee bit awkward as we tried to communicate and break the language barrier. The conversation started with common questions such as “what’s your favorite color?” and “do you have any siblings?” and quickly evolved into “will you go to the beach with me?” and salsa dancing lessons. Luckily, there were a few of us who knew Spanish well enough to keep the conversations flowing. What seemed to be such a simple task turned into a rewarding and memorable experience that we were all grateful for. We accepted the challenge and rose to the occasion. Even though sounding stupid was inevitable, they encouraged us and we encouraged the staff to engage in the other’s culture. As we stuffed ourselves once again with more rice and beans, Albert decided to take half of the group on a daring and treacherous night hike that fortunately your bloggers got to be apart of! Albert informed us that he hadn’t taken any other group on this route before because not only was it a likely spot to find a Ferdinand snake, but a mission where legs could’ve easily been broken and butts bruised due to the slippery rocks and unconventional path. But we seized the opportunity and thank goodness we did because it was an unforgettable night. Sloths were seen, snakes were held, and giant frogs peed in Albert’s hand. On our journey to find Costa Rica’s most exotic animals, we slowly and steadily followed Albert (aka Tarzan) and his trusty flashlight through the dahhhrk rainforest. Just as we were about to make our way back to the Soltis Center, Albert asked us to take a moment and turn not only our flashlights off but every worry and concern that was occupying our mind. There was complete silence from us as we listened to the heart of the rainforest. It was absolutely astonishing in how that very moment we felt so small compared to the world around us. We soaked in everything that rainforest had to offer and came out smiling a little bit bigger than we had ever before. It was a moment that was truly breathtaking. We learned today to take a step back and grab the opportunities that the world has to offer. We learned to set aside fear and seize the moment. We were greatly inspired by the love that Albert displays on a daily basis towards the rainforest and its life. It’s crazy how one individual can show so much passion for something that an average college student would take for granted. We could only hope that in our lives we will have the opportunity to find something we could love just as much as Albert loves his rainforest.

Yours truly (XOXO),

      Chase Kavcak and Mehvish Asif