¡Pura Vida! from Costa Rica 🇨🇷 Our Adventure Begins!
Student Trip Blog
Today was a day full of singing and questions. We started with breakfast at the hotel by the beach. We had many options to choose from, and left with our stomachs full. We quickly ran back into the hotel to pack our stuff for the long and bumpy ride ahead—piling into the bus like ants and going immediately on our way. About half way through, we took a quick pit stop, faster than Team Ferrari (f1 reference), and picked up some snacks and food. I (Elliot) got two huge lollipops and 2 packs of m&m’s (I have a sweet tooth if you can’t tell). Katie just got 1 pack of m&m’s…After piling back into the bus and doing another tedious head count with a water reminder, we were back on the road. Julia played some sick beats for us and gave us the opportunity to add some of our own. We were able to show off our incredible singing skills and had the time of our lives screaming the lyrics to Baby by Justin Bieber and Nacho’s fave, Stand by me by Ben E King, but we all know Nacho is the real king of course. Once we got back, we all ate some delicious locrio de cerdo (pork rice) and then played pool and Uno. Afterwards, Elliot and I had to fight our fears of reading out loud during our mental warm up. We headed down to the site where we would be met with the owner of the house, Elena, and looked around at the house we would soon be demolishing and rebuilding. It’s incredibly heartbreaking that there are people like Elena who are living in these horrible conditions: rotting wood, cracking concrete, and unfinished walls, which were being fixed with random pieces of press board. We spoke to Bernardo, the president of the Fundacion Alegría Inocente. We were given the opportunity to ask him questions like what made him and his coworkers so passionate about the organization and helping people in need. After leaving, we stopped by the supermarket to get some snacks. I grabbed a dragon fruit juice, Choco pies, Pringles, and ice cream. Katie got nothing… After arriving back to the villas, we sat our peers down for dinner!! We were made pasta with white AND red sauce with an option of beef or beans on the side. We were being fed GOOD. after playing MORE Uno, we headed back to the guys house for the nightly meeting, where we were explained what would happen on day 6 and passed the torch off to the next leaders, Kai and Alina. After the meeting, we played multiple rounds of mafia!! So much curiosity and bonding today!
P.S.-
Tell Mocha I miss him. I love you all! :3 -Elliot
After a day of leading, Elliot and Katie are signing off. ¡Adiós!