Written by Central America Students, Addie and Dylan
Our first week in Costa Rica!!
After leaving our beloved Guatemala behind and heading to the airport, unexpected delays forced us to change flights and pass through El Salvador on our way to Costa Rica! A fun little surprise in more ways than one. We ended up arriving in Costa Rica before our original flight was supposed to take off.
The next day we headed to Mastatal for a week packed full of activities! We arrived at Villas Mastatal and were greeted by Javier’s amazing family hosting us for the week, along with pristine jungle views and lots and lots of buggies. We had a blast during the week even while working. We helped Javier, the owner of Villas, on his farm, Vida Silvestre Juco, chopping wood to make a natural fertilizer, planting banana trees, and digging some garden beds.
In addition to that, we also spent a day at the beautiful national park of La Cangreja helping to clear and tidy the trail. While the work was challenging at times and the sun was blazing, we ended our days feeling truly fulfilled. In addition to some farm work, we often had activities in the afternoon like a medicinal plant tour where we made our own natural bug repellant and a chocolate tour with Iguana Chocolate. We helped make, and eat, lots of chocolate! Throughout the entire week, we had frequent visits to various waterfalls and truly felt as if we were in paradise! To commemorate our stay we all helped paint a beautiful mural of a hummingbird with Costa Rican flowers surrounding it.
Our Top Three Highlights of the Week:
🦎 All the cool creatures we saw on our late night hike to the river
🩱 Swimming in all of the amazing waterfalls
🍫 The Iguana Chocolate tour where we ate SO MUCH chocolate
But transformation always comes with opportunities for growth: What were our main challenges this week?
This week we were challenged by the heat while working on the farm, as well as the many bugs that love our blood. Thankfully, we were provided with bug nets while we slept and the Citronella bug repellent from KIS organics really came in handy!
🌎 What are you excited about in the coming week?
We’re looking forward to scuba diving in the beautiful Drake Bay! After spending hours on our online courses the anticipation is killing us! As we head into the last week of the trip we hope that this experience will be incredibly rewarding and a fun way to close off this journey.
Hasta luego! ❤️ Spring 2023 Central America Semester
