Discovery week for Francis Parker middle Schoolers have started off great in Costa Rica, the kids arrived on Friday night in the Liberia airport and travelled to the vamos Rincon de La Vieja volcano.
We spent two night at Hacienda Guachipelin, we went for a nature hike in the national parked and learned a lot about the local eco system, that area is know as the dry forest due to the lack of rain the area has. We also learned about the famous legend of how the volcano got his name, along with the uses of different plants, not to forget all the wildlife we got to see.
After our hike we headed over to Rio Negro where we painted out bodies with natural mud, and after we rinsed off in the river we got to soak in the natural hot springs, we headed back to the ranch for a delish typical lunch and then we took the bus down to the river to start our river tubing adventure.
All the kids had a great time, but that was not the end of it. The following day we woke up early and went ziplining through the beautiful canyon. After all the adventure the kids were ready to start their full immersion experience! We went to CPI school to take the placement test and then we met the families.
Our first day of school was good, after classes we had a cooking class, where we cooked our own lunch. We made the typical "casado" which consists of rice, beans, tortillas, carne mechada (shredded beef) and salad. After that we headed over the famous Flamingo beach were the waves were awesome! The kids had so much fun swimming in the waves and body surfing. We watched part of the sunset and then back to the homestays.
On Tuesday we visited the local town of Santa Cruz which is one of the oldest towns in the area. Santa crux got its name from Bernabela Ramos Sequeira who was the daughter of one of the original settlers of the city of Santa Cruz which was established in 1760. Santa Cruz means ‘holy cross’ and the city was named after 1a huge cross Bernabela placed outside her home where people of the area came to pray. Bernabela bequeathed four parcels of land to the city at her death which were used among other things for the building of the church in Santa Cruz.
The kids had to do a scavenger hunt finding out about the local town through talking to the locals. What better way to learn than to immerse yourself completely. After learning about the town we learned about the local pottery art in the area. We visited Willy who is from the Chorotega tribe and makes pottery using everyday objects he finds around the house and garage. This was definitely a great experience, because the tools he used were definitely not your ordinary pottery tools from the USA.
After our great day we ended with gelato to cool off and talk about the lovely experience we just had!
WEDNESDAY=SURF DAY
We visited the most famous surfer town in Guanacaste for our surf lessons. Tamarindo is a very known surfer town and is great for all levels of surfing, especially for the beginners. Some kids surfed and some boogie boarded, everyone who surfed got up on an got some waves, which was an amazing experience for them! Least to say that every one had a great time! We also had some free time for walking around in the town for shopping.
Thursday was a community day. We went to the town of Huacas to paint the house of family. The family has 10 members and live in a two bedroom house, the organization build a second house for the family so that they have more space. We went to beautify the old house and paint the new house. We also added small rocks around the houses to avoid sewage from getting there. We helped them have more space and a cleaner environment around.
FRIDAY = LAST DAY
Today we said goodbye to our homestay families, which was bittersweet. The students were said to say goodbye but happy to have had this great experience. Today is also the last day of classes, the student had a small cultural activity where they learned about the typical foods of Guanacaste and then we had a graduation ceremony and give out their well earned Spanish certificates.
As our finale we went on the sunset catamaran tour where everyone enjoyed the beautiful views of the ocean, swimming, jumping off the boat and delicious snacks. What better way to end our trip than on this amazing boat with great company!
PURA VIDA PARKER SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!!!