It's hard to believe today was our last full day in Costa Rica. After a delicious breakfast of rice and beans, eggs, bacon, and fruit many of us went out to raft once more, while a few hung back and enjoyed a relaxed morning of card games, hammock time, and possibly the longest game of Uno on record. After the rafters returned we ate our final meal at the Pacuare Outdoor Center and said goodbye to all of our incredible guides.  A quick truck ride out of the lodge later and we were en route back to San Jose. On the way we drove through the original capital city of Costa Rica, Cartago, and made a quick pit stop in an souvenir market. Shortly after we arrived at Soda Tapia (reminiscent of a 1960's diner) of a for our final dinner. When we arrived at our final hotel (which doubles as an art gallery) we had one final reflection where we discussed our overall "pura vida moment" and something that we will take back with us from our experience in this beautiful country these ...

Hello, It’s Gigi and Harper for today’s blog! Yesterday we had an early start to our day and left at 8 to start heading towards our rafting location, Tres Equis. After a 3 hour drive and a bathroom break at a local supermarket we finally had arrived. We said goodbye to Eddy and loaded into a tractor trailer where it took us down to the river.  After a long safety lesson we boarded the boats and started toward our cabin that we will be staying at for the next two nights. During the rafting experience we got soaking wet but reluctantly we were able to stop at a swimming hole with a natural slide and ate a delicious lunch. We only had 10 or more minutes left before we arrived at the lodge but right before arriving one of the boats flipped which contained Meghan, Emilia, Arthur, Asher, and Mr. Thomas. After some rescuing from the other two boats we safely made it for dinner.   Today, with much needed beauty sleep we woke up to the sun and decided to head down to the common area in...

Just a quick update from our (beautiful) remote lodge as we end our first day off the grid. We've all arrived safely at the Pacuare Outdoor Center after a day of rafting and swimming holes, and spent the entire evening sitting around tables playing games of Contact and Codenames without a phone in sight. You'll hear more from us tomorrow morning, but for now buenas noches y pura vida!

Today started at the Jaguar Rescue Center right down the road from our hotel. To our surprise there were no Jaguars, however when the founders first started taking in injured wildlife from the locals they were handed a baby cat that someone thought was a Jaguar, and thus the rescue got it's name. That said, it was full of some other beautiful animals with equally beautiful and heartbreaking backstories. Our guide Mateo was amazing, and told us about the spider monkey's matriarchal society. Any time a new monkey is rescued, they have to get the approval of the eldest female monkey, but once they do she takes care of them forever.  After the tour we got lunch across the street (featuring a cheeseburger Ms. Martins and Mr. Thomas have been dreaming about for the last year, and a sloth sighting) before heading to beach #1. This featured some of the most beautiful water and soft sand that puts Hammonasset to shame. After some time to swim (or run, in Antonio's case) we drove to ...

 Day 5 was certainly one to remember! After one last stunning morning view from Turrialtico (accompanied by some adorable hotel dogs) we set off on today's big adventure–repelling down waterfalls! We drove 15 short minutes to a trailhead where we were greeted by our guides who would lead us to (and down) three waterfalls. with our harnesses and helmets securely fastened we hiked up to the first waterfall. After a very thorough safety demonstration from Luigi and a small practice rock we were off! While we couldn't see over the edge from the waiting area, we were pleased to find out the first waterfall we would repel down was pretty short and sweet. Everything was great until we then immediately were faced with a MUCH taller, more intense waterfall for #2. Slowly and steadily we all made it safely down to the bottom where we rested and cheered on everyone as they made the journey down #2 before ending with a fun and more friendly final waterfall (although by this point we were a...

Mr. Thomas here with today's blog! Today was our service day, which started bright and early with a delicious breakfast at our hotel before bathing in sunscreen and heading off for Sitio de Mata. Not only was this the local community we were working with, but it is also the town Luigi lives in! We spent our morning cleaning and refurbishing local bus stops. With many of the locals relying on the public busses to get in/out of the city, we were happy to help restore some of the stops to their original beauty (or more!).  For lunch we were welcomed by "The Blue Angels," a collection of mothers from the community who put us to work by having us prepare the pico de gallo that we had with our chalupas (which were delicious).  After lunch we found ourselves on a soccer field where we were joined by some local kids for a pickup game of  fútbol ("soccer" for our American readers) . Paul, Javi, Meghan and Antonio were particular stand-outs (our Athletes of the Week, if y...

Hello everyone,  Its Meghan with Lilly, Gigi, Paul, Emilia, Javi, and Harper looking over my shoulder as I type this. Today we started off eating breakfast at the hotel, then packed our bags and loaded the bus to drive our next location, Turrialba. We stopped to see lots of iguanas and got ice cream, todo fue delicioso!  We drove through the mountains and saw some spectacular views while singing karaoke.  We stopped at Nortico, an organic cacao farm, and learned all about the process of making chocolate from farm to the bar. We took a tour of the farm and saw all the steps needed to make a chocolate bar. Then we got to grind the dried and roasted cocoa beans into cocoa mass. We mixed powder milk, brown sugar and many other ingredients to make our own chocolate.  We ate dinner at our new hotel, Turrialtico then got ready for a busy day tomorrow.   As we ate dinner, Carl was found with Gigi, Harper, and Lilly. It brought a heated discussion by Javi and Paul w...