Conservation and Environmental Justice (No. 2)

Pura Vida everyone, from Emilie and Wilber!

This morning we had a later start at 7:15 am with a super relaxing optional yoga session with Ms. Sale at 7:30 am. At 8:00 am, we had a delicious breakfast of tortillas, torta de huevos, and fruit along with coffee, hot chocolate, and orange juice. We had our energizer outside on the lawn in the sun where we played “Simon Says” and “Red Light Green Light.” We then learned about environmental injustice in Costa Rica through a really educational documentary to prepare for the guest speaker we had in the afternoon. The video discussed the issues with tourism in Costa Rica and how it affects the clean water supply, local communities, and the ecosystem.

After that, we had a break where we got to bond, play games, and have fun. We then wrote letters of appreciation to our wonderful Global Glimpse supporters to thank them for helping us have this amazing opportunity. We sat together and brainstormed all the words of gratitude we could express through the letters and what experiences on the trip impacted us the most. It was a lot of fun writing the letters, and we hope our supporters like them. ?

Our catering staff provided us with a really yummy lunch of salad with carrots and lettuce, along with ground beef-stuffed pasta and rice with fresh watermelon juice before having another relaxing break. We then welcomed our wonderful guest speaker named Fofo, who taught us about environmental justice and conservation. We were split up into three groups and had a debate regarding the effect of hotels and tourism on the environment and local communities. Group one was assigned to make an argument as to why building a 5-star hotel on than beach would be beneficial in the Osa Peninsula. Group two was assigned to represent the local communities being negatively affected by tourism who disagreed with building the hotel. Group three represented the government, and acted as the judges who listened to both arguments and had to come to a decision about who they agreed with. The local community group won! They all agreed that it’s better to protect the environment and the wetlands. Everyone got super invested in the debate and was still talking about it for the rest of the day.

Afterward, we had a reflection where we talked about our new understanding of environmental justice and how we can help make an impact in helping the environment not only in Cartago but at home in our communities as well.

We later had dinner at 5:30 pm where the catering staff served us estofado carne de res con arroz (soup with meat, vegetables, and rice) and delicious, sweet starfruit juice. We then moved on to our nightly meeting where we passed the torch/sloth the to new leaders of tomorrow, Nelci and Daniella, who earned it with their amazing talents.

Also, last night most of the girls decided to get all dressed up for dinner and took prom-style pictures

Ft. Sebastian and Michael

Fofo teaching us about environmental injustices

Playing soccer during one of our breaks

Featured Photo: The group posing with the notes we used to write appreciation letters to supporters of GG (including you guys who constantly check our blogs and worry so much about us). Big love to all of you <33

P.S. We love and miss you guys! Thank you for all the comments!!