Adventures in Costa Rica!
July 13, 2024
Beinvendios a Costa Rica!
We have been absolutely loving our adventures in Costa Rica over the past couple days. The students arrived on Monday to bright and sunny Costa Rica and were all eager to start our trip! We settled in and immediately jumped in the pool to play some pool games. After the pool, we played a group wide game of “family” which Hadley absolutely stumped everyone and won the first game of the trip! After our first Moonup, we all slept so easily, excited for our first full day!
The next day we got up early to drive over to zip-lining! Our zip-lining location was absolutely beautiful, nestled in the Costa Rican jungle we flew over trees while looking over to the coast. We completed 10 different cables, one of them we even got to hang like monkeys down the line! Lila was the first student to bravely flip over and laugh the whole way down! All the students finished zipping through the trees, full of laughter while cheering each other on. After a big lunch of pasta and fruit, we packed back on to the bus to head to the coast! After a car ride of breathtaking beach views, we got to our surfing location! The students ran over to the beach and straight into the water! This black sand beach is perfect for surfing with no rocks or coral and super easy waves to catch! The students all got to experience that, with every single one able to catch multiple waves! James was an expert, able to catch wave after wave and impressing everyone! After everyone was done surfing we all ran right back into the ocean for one final dip in the beautiful water for the day. Kate came up with the idea to body surf back to the shore and we all tried to see who could get the farthest (with her winning of course)! Smiling but exhausted from the water, we sat on the beach watching the sunset and eating fresh cut pineapple our surf guides provided. Once we got back to the hotel and ate a filling dinner of quesadillas and cheeseburgers, we played a trip wide game of mafia. Rhys completely shocked everyone, going completely undetected and winning the game! It was the perfect ending to the first full day.
The next day, we got up early to sunrise surf before breakfast! Nothing gets students up like surfing in a place like this! They jumped out of bed, threw on their swimsuits, and we headed over to the beach. Everyone was surfing together and True and Lillia even caught a party wave together! After our morning surf, we went back to scarf down a breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and fruit. We then hopped in the bus to start heading to the service portion of our trip! After jamming in the car passing over beautiful mountains, we reached the remote and serene lodge where we would stay for the next few days. We set our bags down and jumped into our first part of service. Our graceful host, Harlow, showed us the cacao plants he grows and his goals of helping the people in the nearby village grow more cacao for reforestation! We all got to try the sweet cacao seeds before planting them, and Teddy was even brave enough to bite right into a raw one! As some students sifted and mixed soil, other students started to put the soil in small bags for the cacao trees to begin growing. After service, we washed up to start our cooking class! We all learned how to make pupusas, a traditional dish of El Salvador similar to empanadas! Vivian was an absolute natural, earning a perfect 10 from Harlow from how good her pupusa was! We ate our filling meal of pupusas, rice, and beans, and had Moonup watching the rain fall around us. After Moonup, we played a quick game of “spoons” where Fletcher completely dominated and showed off his card skills. Our stomachs hurt from laughing and sleep came quickly after such a fun and exhausting day.
The next day we started our full service day down in the village! We hiked an hour down to the nearby village to begin our service activities. Our projects here were to continue build a new fence and help repaint the community center! Cooper absolutely killed it doing one of the hardest service jobs, mixing and pouring concrete into the fence posts! After we completed service, we played a quick but intense game of soccer with some of the village kids! Absolutely drenched from sweat both from the game and the hard work we did, we jumped in the creek to cool off in the crisp water. We hiked back to the lodge after lunch and had some free time until our later activities. During free time, Baer was a bracelet wizard, and made the students and leaders bracelets with string! After the free time, we got to hear all about how to make chocolate! Harlow explained how to get cacao from seed to bar of chocolate and we even got to be part of the process! We roasted and peeled the cacao seeds, then grinded them to make cacao nibs that would later become full chocolate bars! We all got to try both the cacao nibs and the chocolate bars that Harlow has made with previous Moondance trips! After chocolate making, we had a full dinner of pasta, bread, and salad. Harlow surprised us all with ice cream and fresh chocolate he had made with our cacao nibs! We had Moonup under the stars and settled in for our last night in this remote and beautiful location.
We have absolutely loved getting to know your amazing students! They are so funny, adventurous, positive, and so much fun to be around! We are so happy we can keep adventuring with them for the rest of the trip!
David, Alex, and Catherine
Safe arrival in Costa Rica!
July 8, 2024
Hello Belize + Costa Rica Families!
All students have landed safely in Costa Rica and the group is headed to their first activity! The trip is off to a great start and we can’t wait to share more updates from their adventure.
-Moondance HQ
