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
Click here to jump down to the most recent post!
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 14
Hello dear Families and Friends!
We are thrilled to announce that our students from ‘The Costa Rica, Marine Conservation and Sea Turtle Expedition, have safely arrived at San José Home Base and have successfully connected with a parent or guardian.
Everybody in the group is very excited about our upcoming journey in the country of Pura Via (the good life). Today we kept things simple in order to give our students the time to rest and recover after a long travel day.
The atmosphere at Home Base has been great. Despite a long travel day, we sew our students making new connections and friendships with their peers and roommates.
At the time of writing this on Sunday evening, we are still eagerly awaiting the arrival of Erin whose original flight got delayed. It is scheduled now, to land at 10:43 tonight. Our international director is tracking the flight status and personally will go to the airport to meet Erin. We will make sure our student calls parents as soon as staff meets Erin.
We will be sharing reflections, photos and updates of our journey in the coming days, stay tuned and Pura Vida from Costa Rica.
Best,
Staff Team
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 15
This is Eloise and Danby as Leaders of the Day for the first day of Costa Rica. To start the morning, we had a team meeting about rules, regulations, and expectations. After that, a group of us hung out and chatted in the pool while the others showered and got ready for the day. The ride to Parismina was eventful to say the least, starting off strong with a trip to Walmart! We found every type of snack you could want but not the one thing we needed most—SD cards for our cameras.
On the drive to our Home Base, we stopped at the banana fields to look at monkeys in the trees above. On the boat ride, to our little island, we came face to face with a mini alligator as our driver smoothly directed us through the twists and turns of the river. After a hot evening of getting to know our new home for 4 days, we settled in for a chill dinner and participated in a ceremony lead by Alan to channel our positive energy towards Mother Nature.
We ended our day by playing some volleyball in the pool and chatting in hammocks while others started getting ready for bed. All in all, the day was an amazing way to start the trip. The food, the landscape, and the people are all very special here and we are super excited about the rest of our trip!
Danby and Eloise
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 16
Today was another educational and fun day! We woke up early in the morning to eat a good breakfast and tour the farm to get a feel for our home for the next 3 days. During the tour we learned how the farm works and we got an opportunity to sample fresh fruits such as cacao, lemon, sugar cane, and different parts of the coconut.
After our lunch supplied by the farm, a guest speaker came to talk to us about the anatomy, behavior, breeding, and struggles of sea turtles. After the guest speaker left, we swiftly got ready to explore the beaches and clean up trash for 3 hours to help the wildlife and local community. We were rewarded by getting the opportunity to swim in the ocean and hangout with all of our old and new friends.
After everyone settled down back at home base, We (Noah and Linc) each lead separate groups to do icebreakers and bonding activities to better get to know each other. Following dinner, we all went out to search for turtles and nests and although we’d never saw any, we had a great time walking along the beach and conversing.
-Noah and Linc
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 17
After a delayed breakfast due to the late night patrol, we started the day with a boat tour through the local canals and rivers spotting wildlife. We saw crocodiles, cayman, monkeys and lots more.
After the tour we had some free time before lunch and the beach cleanup where we played cards and enjoyed some free time. After the beach cleanup we all swam in the Caribbean ocean together, and enjoyed playing in the big waves.
Later on, we had a dance class at the home lodge where we learned salsa and bachata(another traditional dance) and at the end taught the dance teacher cotton eyed Joe. To refresh after dance, some people cooled off in the pool, while others attempted to take showers(but the water ran out).after dinner we did a debate on funding and ended the day in our mentor groups.
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 20
Today was a rollercoaster! To start, we connected with peers while sharing a delicious breakfast before we left to the Irazú National Park hike. Once we got there, we climbed the steep trails and saw the beautiful trees and nature. About halfway through, we got to a trail intersection where we took the wrong turn😢. Though it took longer than expected, we came across a small village in the mountains where we got food, and enjoyed the scenic view. After we got picked up by the busses, we ended up exploring some of the town of Cartago. We took a trip to Walmart to pick up essential needs. To wrap up our night, we picked up the laundry and got to enjoy eating at a nice restaurant.
Bode & Sasha
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 22
Today we started the day off with service. We drove to the beach which was right next to our homebase where we met our service director. He explained the importance of a clean beach and taught us about the species of turtles in Costa Rica. He passed around a sample of a turtle egg as well as a model of a baby leatherback turtle. Shortly after we began to pick up trash from the beach. There were several microplastics that were quite difficult to pick up, and the service took us around two hours in total, ending at eleven. In total, we collected five full bags of trash and were very proud of our work.
After service, we played on the playground for around fifteen minutes and then headed back to home base where we had a great lunch which consisted of spaghetti. At around two, he headed to the local village where we shopped for souvenirs. We then headed down to the beach where we had a great time cooling off and collecting beautiful rocks. After our eventful beach time, we headed to the village once again to get refreshing gelato. Soon after, we headed back to homebase. After showering and resting, we had a delicious dinner of cooked tuna.
Afterwards, we headed up to the common area of our homebase and played an intriguing round of herd mentality, a board game that forced us to think as a group. This game time was followed by fifteen minutes of reflective silence, where we came to the conclusion that everyone has different opinions, values, and beliefs.
– Ema and Dylan
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 23
The GLA team began with a great start today with a late wake up call. Initially, the team decided to wake us up at 6:30 to prepare for the breakfast at 7. The day officially began with us devouring a pancake meal along with some fruits for nutrition and fiber. After the healthy breakfast, we went to the beach! Why? Because we need to remove the sticks and rocks from the sea shore to give the turtles some extra space to nest. The guides discovered yesterday that when the turtles came, some actually ran away since there was no place for them to nest. To solve this problem, we went ahead and removed most of the larger pieces of wood that prevented the turtles from nesting, then we boarded the bus back to home base. As soon as lunch came. Surprisingly, the heat and the exercise we get all day is what makes this better; everybody builds up an appetite! Slowly but surely, our plates from lunch are cleared. After lunch, we all went over to the tourist town, Santa Teresa! The group had fun getting food and drink, and maybe even some souvenirs to take home. We ate a delicious dinner and ended our day with a beach patrol.
– Kevin and Eric
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 24
Today we started the morning off with a nice breakfast and then we made our way to zip-lining where we did 8 zip-lines, a swing, and a surf board which we all really enjoyed. We made our way back for lunch which was burgers and then we had some free time and after that we drove to a reserve where we saw cows, horses, pigs, and deer! Then, we took a boat to Isla Tortuga, where we watched the sunset and swam and then ate some fresh pineapple and watermelon waiting for us when we got out of the water. We took a boat to a shed in the ocean at around 7 to see bioluminescence in the water and then we got back on the boat and went to a restaurant for dinner and it was so delicious!! Everyone fell asleep on the car ride back from our adventure. Then, we went back to the hotel to have 20 min of free time and overall we had an amazing day!
Morgan & Ava
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 25
Happy Thursday!
Today started early with a breakfast of french toast, followed by a few hours of beach cleanup. Today we moved logs to allow room for the turtles to come lay their eggs at night, as there originally wasn’t enough space for them to do so. Our mentors surprised us with popsicles while we were doing our service which was really refreshing and much appreciated. After that we had lunch back at our hotel and hung out for a bit before beach time. We explored the beach down the coast from us and then returned to our local beach for ice cream and some more swimming. We were on turtle patrol tonight and experienced something really special on our last night of patrol. We saw a turtle laying her eggs and got to watch as she made her way back to the sea after successfully burying her eggs (she didn’t know we moved them and stored them at the hatchery directly after). Once we returned home we all started to get ready for bed and wind down in the hammocks on the top floor of the hotel. Tomorrow we return to San Jose before our flights home, and have a last dinner together! It was a fun day to have as one of our last, and I know I’ll miss everything I’ve started to become accustomed to!
Danby and Joey
