BEACHSIDE SERVICE ADVENTURE

Fly into Liberia Guanacaste Airport (LIR) on the first day, where GLA staff will greet you and take you to our Home Base, a beautiful family-owned hotel on the Pacific coast. We’ll kick things off with a brief orientation to meet fellow travelers and GLA staff. After getting settled, enjoy your first delicious Costa Rican dinner and chat with your roommates about what you’re most excited for before a restful night’s sleep.

We’ll start our time together with team-building activities, using the gardens, pool, sports fields, and sandy beaches around us. You’ll also get acquainted with your community service site, learning about the site leaders and local neighbors to understand the region’s socio-economic, geographic, and environmental conditions. Tonight, we’ll have our first Mentor sessions and a leadership activity.

*Note: While there are multiple service projects, each student will stay with the same site and focus on one project throughout the program. The itinerary below outlines the various service sites and possible projects.

We’ll jump straight into our service projects, working on renovations at a local school or community center—painting, sanding, mixing cement, and repairing walkways and bridges. Each group will stick with one project, creating safe, vibrant spaces for the community.

After lunch at Home Base, enjoy a cultural workshop on Costa Rican dances like salsa, bachata, and merengue. In the evenings, relax with soccer or yoga on the beach, followed by reflection and leadership sessions around the bonfire with your GLA Mentors.

Today, you’ll make an immediate impact on Costa Rica’s environment by removing trash from the beaches before it reaches the land, coastal waters, and mangroves. With 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic in the ocean, this debris harms seabirds, fish, and marine animals, while polluting a vital resource. Spend a few hours helping protect our oceans, then enjoy the clean beach afterward!

It’s adventure day! After breakfast, we’ll board a catamaran to a stunning snorkeling spot with clear, warm waters year-round. Explore an underwater world of colorful fish and coral, then relax on a pristine white-sand beach. Enjoy fresh fruit and a delicious lunch aboard the boat as we sail back to the harbor. If we’re lucky, we might even spot dolphins or sea turtles along the way!

After a restful break, we’ll jump back into service with the Nandamojo Association at the Guanacaste Water Center, working on a reforestation project to combat drought. Traditional farming methods like herbicides and burning land for grazing have caused ecological harm, but education on sustainable farming is underway.

You’ll help by replenishing forested areas, tending saplings, planting trees, and maintaining existing reforestation projects on both public and private lands. Planting trees is crucial for creating wildlife corridors, retaining rainwater, and protecting the land from erosion and drought.

Playa Junquillal’s black sand beach attracts four species of sea turtles, and today you’ll learn how to identify their tracks with the help of a resident marine biologist. Your projects may include replenishing the hatchery sand, relocating eggs for monitoring, collecting biometric data, releasing baby turtles into the ocean (if nature permits), cleaning the beach to create a welcoming environment for nesting turtles, and planting native species. These efforts help protect and boost the local turtle population.

On our final day of community service, we’ll put the finishing touches on our projects. Each group will share their accomplishments, reflecting on the challenges and triumphs. In the afternoon, we’ll have some fun with traditional Costa Rican games and a soccer scrimmage. Then, enjoy a cooking class led by a local community member, where you’ll learn to make traditional Guanacaste dishes in a clay oven. ¡Buen provecho!

On the last full day in Costa Rica, we’ll embrace the country’s stunning outdoor adventure! Test your limits as you soar above the treetops on eleven exhilarating zipline cables, experiencing the forest from the canopy.

After a delicious lunch, we’ll head out for even more fun—bouncing and splashing down three miles of rapids in the Rio Negro (weather permitting). Along the way, you’ll also pass quiet pools where you can take in the tropical scenery. Special river tube rafts with handles and protective bottoms, along with a guide to ensure safety, will make for an unforgettable experience!

It’s hard to believe our Costa Rica adventure is coming to an end. Take time to reflect on your personal growth and the life-changing memories during the GLA closing ceremonies. Afterward, we’ll say our goodbyes and see-you-laters before traveling together to the Liberia airport. GLA staff will assist with check-in and bid you farewell as you head home.