Thanks for the checking out the blog for this Global Leadership Adventures program!
Here are a few things to know and expect:
- Blog posts are written by onsite program staff and/or students and sent to our Headquarters team who will post the blog on this page.
- We typically receive 2-3 blog updates per week from each program, so please don’t be alarmed if you don’t see a blog post every day – that’s totally normal.
- Blog updates received late in the evening or overnight will be posted the following day.
- Blog updates received on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
- Due to many factors such as internet accessibility, program staff aren’t always able to send photos, so some blog posts may contain text only.
Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we hope you enjoy following along on these unforgettable adventures.
For frequently asked questions about the blogs, please visit our Program Blog FAQ page.
-The Global Leadership Adventures HQ Team
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BLOG POST FOR JULY 6
Hola familias saludos desde Costa Rica!
Hoy la aventura empezó!
Today was arrival day; during the day out of our group of 13 students, we only received 6 who were able to get to know each other, spend time in the pool, and play human bingo starting to practice our Spanish!
During dinner, by the way we had one of the signature dishes of Costa Rica, ARROZ CON POLLO while we watched the soccer game USA against Belgium.
Later on the GLA stAff went to pick up the last six students of the day and we still waiting on Alexander to arrive to finally complete our group! We will have
orientation tomorrow and drive to the Caribbean coast to our official first home base at Parismina!
Son bienvenidos a seguir la experiencia GLA a través de este blog!
GLA staff.
BLOG POST FOR JULY 8
Hola a todos desde Parismina, acabamos de comenzar la aventura que nos va a durar 3 semanas. Todo empezó con lo básico durante nuestro día de orientación, pero en mi opinión lo mas importante. Comenzamos oyendo todos las instrucciones de seguridad y reglas, pudimos aprender más de todos. Después de eso nos toco un viaje largo que duro 5 horas hasta Parismina. Con nuestro acuerdo comunal aprendimos más de todos y de los líderes. Pero con eso ya terminado, nos queda lo bacano. Ya en Parismina en la mañana empezamos con un gran tour del lugar. En eso aprendimos más de lo que esta al rededor de nosotros incluyendo todas las plantas y frutas que crecen. Y de buenas podíamos ver murciélagos y monos.
Hoy vamos a terminar el día buscando tortugas marinas para colaborar con ASTOP. Con todo esto dicho yo creo que este paseo va hacer uno de los mejores de mi vida.
Ahhh y por cierto! Nuestro grupo está completo, ya somos 13!
Camilo L.
BLOG POST FOR JULY 9 & 10
Hola familias!!
For July 9th the agenda was a tour around the river on a boat, volleyball, and community service on the beach. On the boat ride, we learned a lot of things about iguanas, birds, etc. We saw a crocodile, monkeys, and many other insects and animals that are living on this island with us. After the boat ride, we all agreed that we would have a group game of volleyball. It was such a bonding moment and I’m very glad I got to know about the rest of the teens that were on the trip with me. After volleyball, we went to the beach and began to pick up garbage. We found crazy things on the beach, such as bottles, sandals, water, coolers, and even foam.
Picking up all the trash on the beach, made me realize how even though we were a decent amount of people and we picked out a great amount of garbage there was still many garbage left on the beach. It made me wonder how much people are actually needed to completely clean the beach. cleaning the beach, not only felt fun, but also rewarding.
For July 10th, after a rainy morning we took a ride on the back of trucks for a day in town. In our mentor groups we did cooking classes learning how to make arepas. During the cooking class the instructors only spoke Spanish allowing us to practice and see into a Costa Rican kitchen. Afterwards we went shopping in the town looking at the only stores that are available to the people living in Parismina. The group got to have a fun experience making our way through town while seeing the differences and other situations in the world. Our tour guide showed us the two schools that most of the community use and what stood out the most was their was only 7 teachers for the whole town.
Then a highlight of the day was playing soccer with the locals. We met locals on the street and got to practice our Spanish playing with them in a game or playing with the little kids in the soccer field. The experience of going through daily life with the locals and practicing Spanish was special. To end of the activities of the day we were met by howler monkeys at the entrance of our hotel. As a group we experienced daily life in Parismina and were able to practice Spanish by interacting with the locals.
P.S. We will be doing our epic rafting adventure the next couple days and may not have a blog up as we have limited connectivity. Almost all the students have decided not to take their phones on overnight rafting so they can fully immerse in the experience!
BLOG POST FOR JULY 11
Hello from one of the top 5 most beautiful rivers in the world Pacuare!!
For July 11th, we woke up early by howler monkeys. After we ate breakfast, we went on a boat to go to the bus that would take us to the river for rafting. Once there we practice safety commands. Then we paddled for an hour and a half on the rapids to the lodge. Once we were there, we settled into our rooms and then ate lunch. After we were done eating, we went on a hike around the lodge. On the hike, we saw bullet ants and couple of waterfalls. At the waterfall, we used the clay to face paint. Once you’re done from the hike, we all watch the Norway versus England, soccer game. Then we played a problem discovery game, and the poison dart frog game. After the games, we ate dinner we did our daily ANCHOR.
Matías L.
BLOG POST FOR JULY 12
Today, July 12th, we had a delicious traditional breakfast of Gallo Pinto with tropical fruits. We packed up, put on our river gear, and jumped back into the rapids! Today at Pacuare River we paddled about 18 km/11 miles through Class 3-4 rapids, honing our skills and teamwork. Our rafting guides prepared the ingredients for a delicious sandwich, which we ate on the river before continuing to paddle. After changing and starting our journey to our new home base near Heredia in the Central Valley, we stopped at a supermarket to buy some Costa Rican snacks. Upon arriving at our home base, we toured the facilities while watching the sunset!
BLOG POST FOR JULY 13
Familias, hoy lunes empezamos otra aventura con nuestras clases de español y además días de servicio comunitario!
July 13th was a great balance of adventure, learning, and cultural immersion. We started the morning with a hike through Heredia’s beautiful landscape. After returning from the hike, we headed to our Spanish classes where we are welcomed by Chris. We took a placement exam to determine the class we would be in and we put our Spanish skills to the test during a visit to a local market. We worked in 3 small groups to complete a series of challenges, which included finding specific food items, asking vendors questions, and negotiate with local merchants to find the best possible price. Each team was given a budget, and the group with the highest remaining amount of money wins. After at night we did an evaluation of the program called PULSE CHECK what allow us to rate the program so far and give opinions on what we want to see for the incoming days.
Howard. L
BLOG POST FOR JULY 14
And July 14th, we woke up early today for a day of service. After breakfast we toke a bus ride into Heredia into where a school was where we were painting. We painted the walls and cleaned the floor which made us realize how hard janitors and other manual laborers have to work. The locals came and we took a break to play soccer with them and communicate with them practicing our Spanish skills. We went back and had lunch which was delicious fried fish. We then went to spanish class where we each went to our groups and learned new things and my group particularly did a murder mystery and police questioning robbers game. We then went back and ate dinner which was good rice and beans and then we did our daily ANCHOR and then did a GLA activity about good skills communication.
Amar C.
BLOG POST FOR JULY 15
Saludos familias, todavía estamos en el Valle Central!
Today, July 15th was packed with fun, learning and service. We painted our second coat of paint in the classroom while the kids are on spring break. However we also separated recyclable items given by families as a way the school collects money. During our break, the locals came back out to play soccer with us. Playing soccer with them has helped us develop our Spanish skills face to face. After, we got ready for Spanish class. This Spanish class was extra special. We spent the first half of the class by improving our abilities. Then we had a cooking class. We made tortillas and homemade guacamole. After a fulfilling day, we returned back to a beautiful sunset and delicious dinner. Overall, the day was a great learning experience to enhance our Spanish but also create many new memories.
Dakota
BLOG POST FOR JULY 16
Today, July 16th, we started off the day with delicious pancakes. Afterwards, we headed to the school for our last day of painting and cleaning. Once we finished our community service, we went back to the hotel to relax and have lunch.
Later, we went to our second-to-last Spanish class, where we played games like Two Truths and a Lie and Categories—all in Spanish, of course! We stopped by a bakery before heading back to the hotel for dinner and our daily ANCHOR meeting. To end the day, we got a fun surprise: a trip to the movies! We watched Minions & Monsters in spanish, enjoyed some snacks, and had a great time together. It was a fun activity to end a memorable day.
Lincoln R.
BLOG POST FOR JULY 17, 18, & 19
Hola familias este blog será largo! Serán actualizados de nuestro fin de semana de aventuras y cultura, disfruten las fotos!
July 17th, we started the day off right with rice and beans, sweet plantains, and scrambled eggs. After breakfast, we had a unique experience at Hacienda Doka which was a coffee farm. At the farm, we learned how coffee beans were harvested and how they are planted. We also enjoyed a delicious lunch there. After lunch, we headed toward our last day of clases de español where we played fun games in class and afterwards danced salsa. The afternoon was very calm and regular resulting in dinner at 6:45 and ANCHOR. En total nosotros teniamos un buen dia!!!!!
July 18th. We went to a waterfall and an animal sanctuary. Seeing all of the animals and the nature really made me think about the diversity in Costa Rica. There were jaguars, snakes, butterflies, birds and more.The waterfall was beautiful, even if it was dumping rain. After, we had lunch at the center which was very good. When we finally returned to the hotel, all of the teens decided to play soccer. After dinner we celebrated Alex’s dinner with s’mores and hot chocolate. We ended the night with karaoke which might have been one of my favorite bonding moments.
July 19th, was a day full of fun adventures. We started the day with an early wake up at 6:30 am. We then took an hour and a half bus ride to a park. There we went on a series of zip lines. Although it started raining at some points and the zip lines got mud on many people, everyone had a great time. We then had a buffet lunch at the park, followed by a gondola ride through the rainforest. We were able to see many different plants and a few different animals as well. We finished this adventure with a walk in the rainforest and got to see butterflies, snakes, and frogs. Once we got back we had some free time followed by dinner and packing for our trip tomorrow to San Carlos.
Alex, Charlotte & Brooke
BLOG POST FOR JULY 20
Hola de nuevo familias! Ya en nuestro nuevo home base, que por cierto nuestras conectividad es limitada, estaremos comunicándonos cuando podamos!
Por ahora un actualización de los últimos días!
July 21 was a great first day in San Carlos. We started the day off by painting the walls of a classroom for a few hours. Then we split into four groups to teach a class. Different groups taught English while playing, basketball, soccer, charades, or play dough. When we finished teaching we continued painting the classroom walls before going back to our home base. We came back to our home base and had a lot of fun swimming in the lake. After the lake our host, Alfredo, talked to us about pineapple farms. We then had a very interesting debate where we had to act as environmentalists, the owners of pineapple companies, and the workers in the farms. We finished the day with a nice pasta dinner.
Naomi
BLOG POST FOR JULY 21
Today started with a great breakfast of eggs and toast before we headed to the school for another day of community service. We spent part of the morning painting the classroom, and it felt good knowing we were helping out at the school. After that, we taught our classes, and my favorite part of the day was leading our basketball class. It was awesome seeing how excited the kids were to play, learn new skills, and work together, and their energy made teaching them a lot of fun. Once we finished at the school, we took a drive to a pineapple farm, where we got to enjoy the beautiful scenery and learn more about one of Costa Rica’s most well-known crops. This also directly connected with what we did yesterday which was learning about the impacts the pineapple industry has on nature for instance we learn that the chemicals used for pineapples can make the monkeys fur turn orange, and today we saw several monkeys with orange fur on the tour. We also went swimming in the lake. Overall, today was a fun and meaningful day, and I’m looking forward to what tomorrow brings.
Jonah
BLOG POST FOR JULY 23
Hola familias! Nos estamos acercando a los últimos días de esta aventura en Costa Rica
July 23rd, we started off the day with rice, beans, and eggs for breakfast. Then we went to the school for our final day of service. Each group taught two classes while others finished painting a classroom. We felt fulfilled and proud of what we accomplished at the school. After service we came back to home base to relax before our afternoon activity. In the afternoon we got to do a tropical fruit tasting where we eat some rambutan, guava, dragon & passion fruit, some Costa Rican candy like caramelized peanuts and cajeta. Then all had a lot of fun playing jeopardy and other games that used our Spanish and knowledge of Costa Rica. We ended the day with dinner ANCHOR and more free time.
Naomi & Alex
BLOG POST FOR JULY 24
July 24th, we started the day by visiting a local farm, where we experienced the culture through music, dancing, and a delicious traditional lunch. It was a fun opportunity to spend time together while learning more about the local community. After our time at the farm, we traveled to La Fortuna, where we had free time to shop for souvenirs and explore the town. We also rode around on unique bicycles, which was a fun way to experience the area together.
Afterwards, we headed to the hot springs for an afternoon of relaxation and adventure. We went down lots of water slides, enjoyed the warm pools, and had a great time making memories together. We stayed there for dinner before heading back for the evening. It was an exciting and unforgettable day filled with laughter, fun, and new experiences.
Lincon & Charllotte
