Good Morning on Day Five! Two for One!

Good morning, families!  Thank you for your patience.  Your children are currently awake, busily packing up their rooms before heading down to breakfast.  We leave at 8 a.m. for our trip to Monteverde.  Last night, the students arrived early enough to meet up with their Toucan classmates, which made for a fun evening of swapping stories and reconnecting.  Below, please find yesterday's update.  Once settled in Monteverde this evening, we will send out Day Five.  Stay Tuned!

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Day Four was the longest of our days in Costa Rica, by far.  This is not just for the length of day – we left the hotel at 8:00 and returned at 8:00, but also for the duration and challenge of our various events.  It was a rich day, but one that saw students drawing on their physical and emotional reserves.

We began our day with a delicious traditional Costa Rican breakfast – ask the students about gallo pinto and the local curry-type sauce, Lizano!  We then traveled by bus into the flats below the Arenal volcano, through an expanse of local and large-scale plantations, arriving at the Asis wildlife refuge.  As the students soon learned, Asis takes in exotic animals that were once part of the black-market wildlife trade, and rehabilitates them.  Students toured the refuge with the help of two guides, learned about the various characteristics of Costa Rica’s best known exotic animals – macaws, toucans, spider and Capuchin monkeys, peccaris – and lesser known species like the small, leopard-like margay.  The Asis refuge also serves as a preserve for local animals seeking shelter, and students saw leafcutter ants, caiman, snapping turtles, and a real live sloth!

 

 

 

After a short break for lemonade, pineapple, and playing cards – Saahil, Aditya, John, and Russell played a serious game of blackjack, while Jake and Aadi took turns demonstrating their (surprisingly excellent) card tricks -- students prepared a meal for each of the various species, and then, amazingly, every student took turns hand feeding the animals.  Eliza and Angelina were especially brave when hand feeding the spider monkeys, impressively leaning into the growth challenge, as did Sam G. in feeding corn and bananas to a giant peccary named El Macho!  We finished the first part of our day with a delicious Costa Rican meal of empanadas, fruit, rice, and salad, cooked by a pair of local women, followed by a short talk by an Asis guide describing Costa Rica’s commitment to ending the exotic animal trade. 

Aditya Deshpande wrote of the experiences at Asis:

“Going to Asis was a great experience.  At first, I thought it would not be fun, but turns out that I was very wrong.  It was super inspiring to see how the animals came back from their troubled past, especially the raccoon.  I also enjoyed feeding the monkeys and raccoon.”

As we were in the flats, this was a day that saw environmental challenges – it was a long, hot, and humid morning – but students perked up with an air-conditioned drive through the rolling foothills of the Arenal volcano, with a short stop for cold drinks in the tourist town of La Fortuna.

Afterwards, we traveled as a group to the beautiful teaching and learning “farm” of XX.  There, students toured the hillside growing areas, and tasted local food crops -- green peppercorns, raw cacao, raw turmeric, starfruit, sugar cane juice, and green and fresh roasted coffee (Viraj was an especially brave taster of turmeric, which turned his teeth temporarily orange).  The site guides, who lead Costa Rican children through a 12-month curriculum in practical farm knowledge, impressed upon the students the diversity of Costa Rica’s export food crops – pineapple and banana, while vital, are hard on the environment and Costa Rica seeks to transition to a more diverse export economy.  Ashley and Angelina bravely whacked at a raw sugar cane to prepare it for juicing, while Aadi, James, Jake, Sam J., prepared one batch of sugar cane juice, and Sabina, Sophia, Kimya, and Rachel prepared another.  After, the group learned about the coffee roasting process, and Aryav led a team challenge for preparing an original coffee-based beverage.  Finally, the students prepared their own, hand-fired corn tortillas and sat down to a meal of chicken and vegetarian tacos.  At our final “reflection and housekeeping” session of the night, students acknowledged a “thumbs-sideways” for their physical and emotional state – they have been challenged by the new experiences, and are learning about themselves and leaning on one another – but a unanimous “thumbs-up” for “having fun.”

 

Tomorrow is an early morning wakeup and breakfast, followed by a three-hour bus ride to Monteverde, where students will take part in a cooler temperature hike through the cloud forest.  As we discussed tonight, as of tomorrow morning we will have crossed the Continental Divide of our own trip – just three full days to go.

Day Four Photos!!

In addition to Aditya, Angelina Choy and Jake Griffith wrote reflections this evening:

Angelina:

"Dear iPhone,

I hope everything is going well.  I hope that you are finding the charging station a nice lounging spot.  I've definitely found my new comfy spot, Costa Rica.

Let's start from the beginning.  Although 3 a.m. is not an ideal time to fly, the sleep deprivation was definitely worth it.  Surprisingly, I'm not very jet lagged, but the activities definitely wear me out at the end of the day.  The day after we arrived, we visited a schoolin the area.  Just seeing the smiles on the kids' faces brightened my day, even more than a morning cup of coffee.  The next day, we went rafting.  My arms are still sore!  Later that day, we spent time at the hot springs.  It was so fun!

Today, we went to an animal rescue center and organic farm.  At the rescue center, we got to feed the animals, which was such a fun, new experience since the only pet I've ever owned was Gilbert the goldfish.  The organic farm was really cool.  We got to sample new fruits and make tortillas.  How fun!

The food in Costa Rica is very good which says a lot coming from a very picky eater.  The atmosphere is very nice, and the people are so kind.  I've been having so much fun being immersed in the new culture and I can't wait for more!

¡PURA VIDA!"

Jake:

"What's up guys?  How's home?  In Costa Rica, we're all having a ton of fun.  Today, we went to a wildlife refuge.  It was amazing.  It was quite interesting to see how much animals affect the environment.  In the guides' opinion bringing non-native exotic animals to other countries can create serious issues that can not be debated -- they are just fact.  Right now, we are preparing to go to the farm.

On another note, yesterday was crazy for me.  When the group arrived to Los Lagos Resort I was roomed with Russell and John.  From there, the problems started.  We almost immediately lost our room key.  Fun, right?  But then, after we got back from the pool with our new room key from the concierge, we realized our bathroom was locked from the inside.  So much fun :  ) Russell, John, and I were very annoyed by this but were still laughing our heads off.  But wait, the story isn't over.  I, after winning rock, paper, scissors for the shower, knocked on the doors of Crystal students asking if they would let me take a shower.  Eventually, after being denied for over an hour, John, Russell, and I found showers in other peoples' rooms.  

But, when you think it is over, we found ourselves locked out of our room again!  John, Russell, and I are all good friends, but at that time we were all super frustrated again.  Also at that point, practically every other student knew about our "predicament" and were laughing.  And so finally, after hours of being locked out, twice, and not having a bathroom, we finally sat down on my bed, having our work completed.

Fun story, right? Tip:  be prepared and organized.

Dear family, hope home is good.  Love you guys.  Get a good laugh in while reading our story.  Miss you.

Jake

p.s. A Jeffrey's grilled cheese with sourdough and Lay's chips sounds pretty good right now."