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Post Trip Reflections: Renée Larios

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Our Costa Rican travel experience brought us closer together than we thought possible. The 17 of us stood together in awe of nature and of life itself to witness the cycle of death and rebirth before our very eyes. We learned that nothing in nature goes to waste and that everything has a purpose. Everything can nurture something else, and we nurtured one another. We shared stories, laughter, and pain, shed tears and cackled gleefully. We learned to sit silently and listen - to nature, one another, and ourselves. We began to live pura vida and became huggers. We know we’ll never experience those exact moments again, but we also learned to accept that life comes and goes, and we need to appreciate life on life’s terms if we want a chance at happiness and peace.  At the end of the trip, in our final circle, we all answered this question: “If this trip, this Costa Rican experience were a person, what would you hear it say to you?” Here are the students’ answers: ~The trip would say to me,
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Day 9 and 10

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  We woke for our final morning in Monteverde with much excitement. A short bus ride to Puntarenas landed us at a pool club to enjoy the sun and cool off in the waters of the pool. We were welcomed by a lively DJ and the mascot Sky (from Paw Patrol) who quickly led some of the more rambunctious of our group in some dancing and revelry. Our DJ later refereed a hotly contested volleyball game in the water that left Liam, Will, and Kyan as champions. We had a few hours to relax and read under the canopy or soak up some sun and work our tans (though at this point in the trip they were mostly burns despite our best efforts). We ended our pool excursion with a Pablo recommended special of Puro Puerto. This concoction of ice cream, shaved ice, strawberry syrup, and diced fruit was a great way to end our time in the sun before heading to San Jose. We ate dinner at the mall nearby with the table covering everything from pizza, Taco Bell, sushi, ramen, and popusas to be our final dinner on the t
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Day 8: Kelly, Allison, and Natasha

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 Today was our second full day in Monteverde! We started the morning with a mindful yoga class, where we delocalized and simply focused on the self. We learned to accept the present as what it is and not to anticipate the future. Although we were in a room with all of our peers, we ourselves, for that hour and a half or so, truly felt individualized, maintaining a deep focus on our own breath and thoughts. Following this activity, we headed back into town to do a bit more shopping! In the same area, we also had had our lunch, which included fresh juices, hamburgers, burritos, and bowls. Fueled up and ready, we then headed over to the zip line location! After putting on all of our gear and taking professional portraits, we had a quick briefing on zip lining techniques. The views were simply amazing as we soared over the mountains. One highlight was going in the "Superman" position over a kilometer long line! As for the final section, there was a bungee jump, soaring from the s
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Day 7: Joelle and Kyan

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 Joelle: Today was our first day in MonteVerde after arriving late the night before. The first thing we did this morning was visit the cloud forest to look at some really cool birds. We even saw the effusive quetzal the bird that the reserve is attempting to protect. After that we packed a lunch and headed to the largest private nature reserve. After a long hike we proceeded to take part in a mindfulness activity. After hiking back we made our way to downtown MonteVerde to explore the stores. It was really interesting to see how important ecotourism is in Monte Verde. We had an amazing dinner and dessert and went back to our hotel to watch our videos from Tortuguero. It was amazing to see the past week as it felt like a long time ago. Kyan: We started off the day at the ardillas hotel. The breakfast this morning consisted of eggs, toast, and an assortment of sandwich ingredients such as avocados and ham. After breakfast the whole group got onto the buss to ride to Monte verde cloud for
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Day 6: Allison and Carthan

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  This morning, we all got up bright and early, packed our bags, grabbed a quick breakfast, and headed off to the sloth sanctuary. At the sloth sanctuary, we had a tour guide who brought us around and taught us about the basics of sloths overall. We had the immense luck of spotting a mother sloth and her baby in a tree. All of the sloths kept in the sanctuary were rescues that could no longer survive in the wild either due to being blind, paralyzed, or other reasons. We got to see these sloths up close, and analyzed the differences between two-toed and three-toed sloths. To wrap up the sloth sanctuary, we visited the gift shop where nearly everything was sloth themed. Next, we headed off on our long journey to MonteVerde. Around noon, we stopped for lunch at the same place as the very first day. Then, we drove a scenic route for around 6 hours to get to our destination, and we had Costariccan food for dinner. Everyone settled into our new hotel rooms, and we are looking forward to tomo
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Day 5: Klaryssa, Olivia, and Natasha

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Swimsuit, sunscreen, and a towel. That was all we needed before walking across the street from our hotel to the restaurant for breakfast. After getting in our day’s energy, we began walking to the beach in Cahuita. Only about two and a half blocks away, we quickly sized our flippers and onboarded the boat. With gentle but strong waves, we landed at our first snorkeling point. The water felt absolutely amazing paired with the soft sun. My first dive was full of coral and small fishes. Although I did, along with others, swallow a couple gulps of water, the school of fishes, sting ray, and puffer fish made each gulp absolutely worth it. Eventually, we onboarded the boat again to reach our end point where we enjoyed delicious slices of pineapple and baby bananas. The snorkeling, fruit, and new memories were the perfect start to the morning. After we got off our bus ride through banana and pineapple farms, we were met by Manu and Lee, people from Finca Las Hormigas who walked with us to the
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Day 4: Carolyn and Kelly

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 Carolyn and Kelly: Today was our last day in Tortuguero! With an early morning, we all started the day by packing the suitcases onto the boat. After a quick bakery run for the road, we headed over to Miss Miriam to have breakfast, which consisted of the same options as the day prior. Taking the original path back to the main island, we enjoyed the last few scenic views of the canal. As we drove to Cahuita, we enjoyed the scenic views of the ocean, and Pablo taught us about the origins of the name Costa Rica, meaning rich coast in Spanish. We arrived in the town at around 1:30 pm, stopping at a restaurant directly across from our hotel for wraps, sandwiches, and more. We also tried this local drink called Tamarindo, a sweet and sour drink made out of seeds. Right after checking into the hotel, we changed and headed over to the Cahuita National Park, where we waded in the ocean and walked on the beach. With the closing of the park at 5pm, we headed back to the hotel to change and enioy
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