AAVE Trip BLOG » Costa Rica Clasica #2 checks in!

August 10, 2009
Costa Rica Clasica #2 checks in!

Posted by Chris in : Costa Rica Clasica , trackback

Here’s another blog for ya… we’re with our final homestays and all is good in the hood. Read on for some details. :) Pura Vidaaaaaaa!

Buenos dias de sus hijos! We’re cruisin along in this whirlwind of a trip, having a fantastic time, as usual. We just met our final homestay families last night and started helping build a classroom for a community in need. What a pleasure it is to be able to give back in this way while getting one last opportunity to practice Spanish and experience the Tico culture at our homestays!

Here are a few thoughts from the group about what we’ve experienced in the past 2+ weeks of our awesome Costa Rican adventure:

About the culture…

Matt: The people of Costa Rica are open and extremely nice to strangers. Even the people we don’t associate with give a wave or smile. They share what they have with others. And they love rice and beans.

Katie: Mamonchinos are a delicious sweet fruit eaten by all Costa Ricans. Along with mamonchinos, Costa Ricans also consume turtle eggs. And of course their two main dishes are rice & beans AND beans & rice… for breakfast!

Phoebe: The culture of Costa Rica is incredibly diverse. The food includes rice and beans at almost every meal of the day. Tropical fruits are now also a part of our lives along with tropical juices.

Eddie: They don’t flush toilet paper down the toilet. They eat a lot of rice and beans/beans and rice con pollo (with chicken). There is cattle everywhere. There are also big plantations of coffee and banana.

About the service…

Jayme: One of the service projects we have done while on this trip was assisting in helping the turtles. Our group of 15 teens all spent 2 hours scouring the beach for garbage to make room for a popular phenomenon where thousands of turtles lay eggs on the beach. It was an amazing experience to know you are helping the turtles and Costa Rican culture. I had a lot of fun during the project, especially when we took breaks to jump in the ocean. Overall it was a good and fun experience.

Aaron: The turtle service project was helpful to the turtles. The turtles laying the eggs are amazing to see. It was also cool to see them flattening out the nest afterwards.

Laura: In another service project on this trip, we dug holes to fertilize a local coffee farm. It was hard work and hot out but it was fun. Together the 15 of us dug 80 holes in 2 hours! I think that helping the local farm was rewarding and the ice cream we had after was amazing!

Dan: Servicing gives relief for the soul and makes one feel the thanks for everyday tasks that are done for humanity. Digging, picking, ripping, and heaving in the coffee farm with all of our compadres digging 80 holes!! It was a whole 2 hours of work in the Costa Rica sun and the reward for helping the coffee farm was the rich ice cream from the cheese factory.

About improving our language skill…

Mike: The CPI classroom was one like no other. I arrived expecting school… boring old school. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I found that over 75% of the classroom activities were game-oriented and that I was learning a language faster than I ever had before! The teacher was fun-loving and the fact that she spoke no English encouraged full Spanish immersion.

Nora: The homestays were one of the most amazing experiences. It was super awkward the first night because it was something we’d never done before. But after a couple days we totally bonded, and it was a great opportunity to practice our Spanish.

Madison: Using Spanish here is so important when we have town time. Whenever I ask for the fruit mamonchinos from the street vendors, they give them to me for free for attempting to use Spanish. Mamonchinos are delicious so it works out well.

About the activities…

Steve: Throughout the course of these past 3 weeks in Costa Rica we have done tons of awesome activities. Ziplining, caving, sailing, and horseback riding are just some of the amazing things we have experienced. Not one of the activities has been a let down and every day seems to get better and better.

Cara: The activities that we do on this trip are so awesome. I honestly have done nothing like them before. We jump into waterfalls, we hike to caves and explore them, we go into mud baths, zipline across the sickest views, and so much more. I have never experienced anything like the activities that we did here.

DJ: The activities have been great! Ziplining was amazing, also the mud baths were really cool. Overall everything was superbly amazing and totally rad!

Janice: Mountain biking was a fun and challenging experience. Horseback riding was interesting and full of trotting up and down. During biking, jumping into waterfalls was awesome! Tubing on rocky rapids was a very bumpy and exciting ride. To end the day with the hot springs was super relaxing and the whole day was full of new experiences and fun.

We can’t believe this trip is coming to an end so quickly!! We’re cramming in as much Spanish, activities, and of course rice & beans as we can before we get home! :) Ciao, Dan, Katie, Aaron, Cara, Laura, Matt, Jayme, Mike, Nora, DJ, Maddy, Phoebe, Janice, Steve, Eddie, Stacey, and Johnny Loving the AAVE Life!

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