Today we woke up at the Blue Conga hotel. It was our last full day of activities. We woke up early so we could discuss how to make up for our previous behaviour, but it turns out, our cabin/room were the only ones who were told to wake up early! Last night we had to be careful at night because there were some "interesting characters" in the area. One guy who we thought was extra "interesting" turned out to only be the security guard. We ate breakfast, loaded the bus, and drove to Manzanillo beach. We toured someones backyard where they were growing a bunch of different types of plants. They had starfruit, coconut, lemongrass, citronella, cinnamon, pineapples, and a quinine tree. Our guide kept saying the word "almost" about every two words. We hiked around the forest and saw many different things. We saw some sloths, spiders, bullet ants, and hermit crabs. We took many pictures of the beach. So many, that Dr. Parlo threatened to take away Audrey's camera. We saw some "real" (brown) coconuts, and after a lot of whacks with the machete, we got to eat it. I couldn't really eat it because of my braces. After more hiking, we got to the beach again and got into a boat and boated in the Caribbean. I LOVED IT SO MUCH! Afterwards, we ate lunch on the beach, and had amazing burritos/wraps with french fries and ketchup. There were 2 dogs that were watching us eat. One was named Lupita, and I named the other one Bean. After, we walked in the water as much as we could, but we couldn't very much. After, we got on the bus for a 4.5 hour bus ride to Casa Conde. Then we went out to a fancy dinner. Ms. Long was there. We had two pina coladas that day! Then when we got back to the hotel, I was so tired, I fell asleep watching T.V.
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Today was our last day at our homestay. We also went white water rafting today. I wore my tank top from my homestay family to show my appreciation. We had a little goodbye ceremony to not only say goodbye to our homestay families, but to also say goodbye to Tres Equis. It was really hard to say goodbye, and I got really sad. Audrey wanted to buy a machete today, so Dr. Parlo and Senora Malmgren said she could buy one if her parents said it was okay. So, she called her parents, but they didn't pick up, it was quite early in the morning in Washington. Afterwards, we visited the supermarket, and I bought a package of Yipy Bars. Then, after putting on tons of sunscreen, we loaded the bus that would take us white water rafting. We drove for about 20 minutes. As soon as we got there we immediately put on our life jackets and helmets, got into our groups (mine was me, Maddie, Audrey, Joshua, Dr. Parlo, and Senora Malmgren), and hopped into our rafts. We rafted over 28 km of river and it was so much fun! I didn't fall in! At some points, we got to swim in the river, and it was really beautiful. We saw many cool rocks and bridges. We also saw a lodge called the Paquare Lodge that is run on completely renewable resources. Afterwards, I was so sunburnt because I was wearing a tank top, and apparently I didn't put enough sunscreen on. Colin had the worst sunburn though! It was black, and he said it was literally melting. Then, afterwards, we drove to Manzanillo. We stayed in the Blue Conga hotel. Afterwards, we ate an amazing dinner and went to bed.
Today we woke up at our homestays, ate breakfast, then got on the bus. We went to Escuela El Sol. When we woke up, we woke up 30 minutes earlier than our alarm, but we weren't tired, and we were full of energy. We were the first people on the bus! (The teachers were the last). Anyways, we went to Escuela El Sol to fix it up because only 7 kids go to school there because people don't want to send their kids there. Since people don't want to send their kids there, they barely get any funding from the government. So, the hope is, that more people will want to send their kids there because it looks nicer, and then they will get funding from the government. Then, they can (hopefully) hire more teachers. They only have one teacher that teaches all the subjects and all the grades. That teacher is also the principal. At the school, we repainted the walls, and built bathrooms (I mostly did that). It was really fun and really amazing to see our impact, especially because the kids that went to school there were there and we got to interact with them. I feel like we made such a big difference. After we worked at the school, we went back to our homestays before playing football (soccer) with the locals. our homestay family gave Audrey and I both a tank top and a Pura Vida bracelet.
I won the bandanna today. Today we woke up in Tres Equis in our homestay. We got up, took showers, ate breakfast, then went to Don Rafas house to meet up with everyone else. We all got in the bus and drove to a local farm/coffee plantation. There, we first saw a pond where you can fish. Then we put dirt in bags so that coffee plants could be grown in them. Every 8-10 years, the old coffee plants will be removed and replaced with new coffee plants. We packaged more than 300 bags of dirt (that's more than the other group)! I though that it was really cool that we could do so much and make such an impact in just over an hour. It was really fun for me. After we got back from the farm, we played football (soccer) with the locals. I didn't want to play, so I watched instead. The score was 6-1. Afterwards, we had our night circle. Then we played a game. We then went back home to our homestays. At our homestay, we ate dinner, then played many games. We played spoons, BS, war, count, spoons again, go fish, uno, jenga, and mini jenga. It was really fun and I had a really fun time with my homestay family.
Also, we learned that on average when people are picking coffee beans, their bags can be more than 35 pounds and the can collect 17-18 baskets per day. Today we woke up at La Selva, and had breakfast. After breakfast, we met Don Carlos. Don Carlos taught us about our carbon footprint, and how we can reduce it. He taught us about organic food, and why it is better to buy, even though it is more expensive. He told us to trace everything we eat and wear, etc. back to its origin. After our talk with Don Carlos, we split into two groups and went on a nature hike. On our hike we saw a bunch of Peccary, blue jean poison dart frogs, and a bunch of bugs. We also saw a bat, howler monkeys, and toucans. Then, we went back to our rooms, took showers, packed, and left La Selva. We drove about two hours to Tres Equis to meet with the other group and have lunch. We met our homestay families after lunch, and settled in. With our homestay families, Audrey and I played Wii games and Just Dance (I won at Just Dance every time, but lost all of the Wii games besides air hockey). Then, we played Frisbee outside and American football. We also played with Pepe (the dog) and Mio (the cat). After hanging out for a while, we ate dinner, which was delicious! For dinner we had chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, and rice.
Today we left Don Juan's farm after we ate breakfast. We drove 3 hours (about) to La Selva. After dropping off our luggage and eating lunch at La Selva, we drove to Tirimbina Biological Station. We hiked over a suspension bridge that was 800 metres long. We identified and evaluated the flora diversity in Tirimbina through the use of the species-area curve and the species-area equation. During our collecting, we heard and saw a ton of howler monkeys! On our hike back, Ellie and I saw a sloth holding its baby up at the top of a tree. We also saw another sloth, but it was by itself. Also on the bus ride to La Selva, we stopped somewhere and saw tons of iguanas! Some were big and some were small.
Today we went to finish our tour of Don Juan's farm. We also went zip-lining. Zip-lining was really fun and cool because you got to see Costa Rica from a cool new perspective. I saw many birds, horses, and cows. Afterwards, we had lunch and took pictures of Arenal. Then we went to La Fortuna and shopped at the stores. Everything was overpriced, so I didn't buy anything. After La Fortuna, we went to a giant waterfall, and swam around. Audrey dropped her goggles in the fast water, and lost them. After the laborious hike up the hill, we got into the bus and drove to Eco Termales. We enjoyed the relaxing hot springs and drinks. After the hot springs, we ate dinner at Eco Termales, and the fish was really good.
Today we came from San Jose to Don Juan's farm. The bus ride was about 3.5 hours. On the ride, I saw an iguana. During the tour of Don Juan's farm, we tried many different types of plants. We tried spicy mustard, lemon basil, regular basil, tomatoes, various chiles, star fruit, cocoa beans, and a really nutritional plant. Afterwards, we fed some cows and saw 2 pigs. We also saw some bats, they were living on the underside of a banana tree leaf.
Later, we went to the Arenal Volcano. We went on an educational hike. We learned about different plants and their uses. One plant can dissolve your teeth with no pain or blood. Many are used for medicinal purposes. Back at Don Juan's farm, we (the girls) put makeup on the boys with the colour juices from an achiote plant. |
AuthorClara Aidan is a Seattle-based blogger and music enthusiast. She is an avid YouTube watcher, writer, traveller, record collector, and twitter user. She will happily talk to anyone (and everyone) about music. When she's not listening to music, she's either singing it, making it, or writing it. She considers herself part of two families, the family she lives with, and the 5SOS fam. She also thinks that writing in third person is weird.
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