Day 2 in Costa Rica

In our first full day in Costa Rica we awakened to a dense rainfall. After preparing for the day, we headed to the eating area for breakfast. For breakfast, they served pancakes, scrambled eggs, cinnamon toast, gallo pinto and Canadian bacon. After our morning meal and a few minutes of free time, we started to prepare for the big day. We had to pack some required items such as working gloves and rain coat for this certain day. Before we left to go work at the Chilamate School, we had lunch. Today for lunch we had empanadas for the main, and also some smaller items such as pineapple, etc. Then we took the very short stroll to the kid's school. When we arrived at the kid's school, we started by having recess with the kids. We all had an intense soccer match with most of the boys in the school. Their ages ranged from 6-7. This was a great opportunity to use our Spanish ability and talk with the kids. This morning, we learned that a common Costa Rica phrase is "Pura Vida" which can be used for many things. For example, if you said " Como estas? Pura Vida. It literally means pure life but it can be used as a response to how you are doing, as a question to how someone is doing, and to express thanks or wishing someone well. After the afternoon recess, we got straight to work. We worked at the school gymnasium and made and mixed cement. We also transported soil and rocks and into where the seats will be for the auditorium. We worked for about two hours. It was quite hard work. After we finished, we said our goodbyes to the kids and walked back to the eco lodge. We then proceeded to suit up and jump into the river. We only metaphorically jumped but we did encounter actual people jumping off a 25 ft tall bridge bridge into the river and yelling pura vida. Swimming around in the pool of the river for a while was really refreshing because it was such a warm day. Before the rain got summoned and resumed once again, some of us were able to kayak around. Thomas McClellan was flipped by the counselor and demonstrated his agility by escaping the kayak and coming back to the surface. Now we are preparing, for what most certainly will be a scrumptious dinner.  Pura vida!

working hard....mixing cement

toucan at Chilamate School

-- By Cole & Chuck

Day 1: Costa Rica

Chillaxing at SFO

Hola! 

We arrived at the San Jose Airport at 7:00 am in the morning. We all were extremely exhausted because we had been traveling for 24 hours straight. Some people didn't even sleep the whole time. Once we arrived at the airport, we met up with Randall (our World Leadership School instructor) and Rodrigro (our driver), and he brought us to a small bus. We tossed our luggage through the window and into the bus. 

Then everyone hopped on the bus, and we were off. While driving, we all looked out the windows and saw the real Costa Rica. Many shops and buildings were run down and most of the houses were small shacks. We learned, that day, of the poverty in Costa Rica, although nothing was said about it yet. Also, as we continued driving, Randall told us that we would go to a restaurant to get breakfast. The food there was slim. (A word used by 7th graders at Town to mean cool.) We had traditional dishes such as Gallo Pinto, Cheese tortillas, and Mexican pancakes. Some of us also had coffee, a lot of coffee, with sugar, a lot of sugar, and fruity smoothies or fruit juice. Later, we drove to the Chilamate Eco Lodge. We passed by volcanoes, rainforests, and rivers as we drove to the hotel. In total, we drove for about 3 hours to reach our home for the next week. Once we arrived at the Eco Lodge, we were introduced to the hosts. Davis and Megan introduced themselves to us, and we learned that Megan was from Canada originally. They also have children, and we met them as well. After, Megan showed us to our bunk rooms, and we split into our 3 bunk groups to unpack. We got settled into our places, and we had some free time to do whatever after. We played some intense foosball. Next, we had lunch of Gallo Pinto, or rice and beans. Afterward, we went on a hike to see all the plants and animals in the surrounding jungle. William was our naturalist guide. 


We saw cool animals like poison dart frogs, the basilisk lizard and some cool plants. Later, we saw even more plants when we took a hike to Jaime's house. Jaime (an ethnobotanist) knew many things about plants. We rubbed a lipstick plant on our skin, ate plants that tingled and hurt in our mouths, and smelled the worst smelling fruit in the world. We also drank coconut juice and ate his homemade ice cream after. We ate Cocoa, which is used to make chocolate. Some plants were horrible, and some were good. All of them had unique tastes, smells, or sensations. Then, we came back from Jamie's house. Everyone took showers, had some free time to do what they wanted, and played foosball. After, we had dinner. This time, it was Gallo Pinto, but it was a different variation of the meal. There were black beans, white, brown and vegetable rice, carne asada with spices, steamed veggies, spinach soup, tortillas, and a very good warm pico de gallo type dish with corn, squash, zucchini, fried plantains, and many other ingredients. After dinner, we all played man hunt (A type of tag game played in the dark with our flashlights), and we had more free time. Around 8 p.m, we did an activity and talked with Randall. It was really slim that day because we had a lot of free time, fun, and slim. (It's an adjective, noun, and verb by the way). 

Bloggers:  Asher & Zack


Hola Families:

I also wanted to add that boys have been great so far.  They have been drinking lots of purified water and staying safe while having fun and learning a lot.  We also all got a great night sleep last night which was very needed after the red-eye flight.  We all feel very lucky to be here and are making the most of the experience!

Best,
Hilary & Chris

El autobus

Randall and los chicos

War Paint

Green Basilisk

Jaime prepares coconuts with his machete!

Students are in Costa Rica

Hello family and friends of the Town School for Boys program in Costa Rica!

The boys have safely arrived in Costa Rica and are heading to the Chilamate Eco-Retreat. They will start updating the blog tomorrow. Please call with any questions - 303-679-3412.

Erin Hawk
Director of Operations