Waterfall Hike & Environmental Justice

Cheers everyone! This is Ryan, Jerry and Juan writing our LDD daily blog post. For today’s breakfast we had a burrito that had rice, beans, and eggs and for our side we had fruits such as watermelon, papaya and apples. After breakfast we had our daily mental warmup leading us to the bus ride to the waterfall. The entire morning and afternoon was soaking wet as the Costa Rican weather today was not as forgiving as other days causing minor setbacks to our schedule. 

At around 10:30 in the morning the group had split into two where one group stayed at the restaurant and the other experienced the waterfall where one was bone dry and the other was absolutely drenched. We’ll tell you the details here:

“I spent the early afternoon hanging around with my friends and Ms. Sharon at a restaurant where we spent our time trying out different foods and snacking meanwhile the rest of our group were on their way to the waterfall. Even if we didn’t get to see the waterfall, I did enjoy spending my time with friends.” – Juan Macías

“The hike to the waterfall was a wet experience where the group of seventeen battled harsh rain and muddy trails. Some of us did slip on the way down but thankfully no one was in bad shape. The trail showed many amazing views of the valley but walking down the ‘path’ was an experience on its own. After twenty minutes of struggling down a slippery path, we finally reached the waterfall and man was it a sight to see. The waterfall itself was astonishing and had a presence where it captivated the entire group. Although I did not go in the water, Ryan did and said the water was freezing, but after a while his body adjusted to the temperature.

We spent the next twenty or so minutes down in the valley snapping pictures and feeling the freezing cold water until we had to head back up, which was even more treacherous than coming down. By the time we reached the restaurant, my shoes were soaked and filled with mud while others experienced the same experience of being absolutely soaked.” – Jerry Lieu and Ryan Zajac.

After we got back from the waterfall we had a little bit of free time, where most students went to their rooms and relaxed, some even took a nap and rested as much as they could. At 3 pm we had a guest speaker (his name was Fofo) where he explained to us about environmental justice and showed us how environmental justice works through the form of an activity where three groups (businessmen, locals of the land, and the local government) had to persuade a government to why they should be agreed upon.

Later on, we had dinner which was pasta with white sauce that has chicken and mushrooms. After dinner it was the nightly meeting which we gave out “Roses and Thorns” and our “Plus and Wishes” to end off our day as leaders. This opportunity to lead a day will forever be something that we will not forget and that we are thankful this trip has taught us the many things that are required to become a leader as opposed to looking and acting strong. Hope you enjoyed tonight’s blog and be on the lookout for tomorrow night’s blog!

-Jerry Lieu, Ryan Zajac, Juan Macías

Note from GG staff:

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