Hello family and friends of the Georgetown Visitation program in Costa Rica,
WLS staff here! The group is happy, healthy, and having a BLAST in Costa Rica! They've been so busy they haven't had time to write up a blog entry, but they sent some photos to share with you. We hope you enjoy seeing a glimpse into their experiences! As always, feel free to reach out to the WLS office with any questions or concerns. Thank you for your continued trust and support, The WLS Team
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GOOD MORNING AMERICA!! Coming to you live from Costa Rica, this is Bailey and Camila giving you the low down of the day 5 adventures.
First things first, the highly renowned breakfast. We had the usual eggs, bread, fresh fruit, and the most amazing coconut cookies you will never taste sadly because you aren't here. After breakfast we had a long braid train and got ready for the day. We equipped ourselves with long pants and stinky t-shirts and made our way to the school. Once we got there, we started working away. It was by far the hottest day and we might add, the sunniest day. We all sweat buckets. But Sarah, one of the World Leadership counselors, saved us by bringing us Chikys (also sad you will never taste these...except we are so bringing them home in bulk buttttt only for ourselves) and some refreshing sodas. After that much needed break (keep in mind it was literally 20 mins after we started) we kept working for about another hour and then played a huge soccer game. A bunch of local kids and almost all the girls from the group game to play, and Elizabeth had four goals - a newly discovered hidden talent. After the game, we went to have lunch with our homestay families. My family (Camila, Elizabeth, and Molly) served us another amazing lunch with rice, beans, and chicken straight from their backyard. We then gave them the gifts we brought which they seemed to really enjoy and sat down to play a game of Uno with the cards Elizabeth brought. After playing one game, Mollie and Amanda came to visit us and joined in another game. Before leaving to our next activity we took a family picture (sorry parents). So for my homestay lunch (Bailey, Ellie, and Jorgen) we were welcoming with full plates of rice, beans, and beef. To much of surprises, we ate the whole entire plate. After our meal, we played with their sweet puppy, lulu and fed the piglets our watermelon rines. After, the two young children shook off this spiky red fruit from a tree and bit off the top and encouraged us to eat it - it was delicious!! yum. After our homestay visits, we came back to the school and started our Costa Rica amazing race! Which consisted of latin dancing, making the perfect tortilla, conducting a Spanish interview, and milking a cow (which we all had extreme trouble with). Anndddd Ms. Stacy filmed everyone dancing expect our group (Bailey, Camila, Macey, and Samantha). Oh well. Then we finished the day with refreshing ice cream bars that everyone had been craving YUMMY and a hefty dinner. So far, Costa Rica has been treating us well and we don't want to come home. That's all for today folks. See you in a few years! Hola from Costa Rica!!! It's Joanna and Ellie here giving you the low down on Day 4 of our trip! So much for being "unplugged"...
The day started off well with a delicious breakfast with the same eggs, toast, rice, and fresh pineapple and watermelon that we' had in previous mornings! We were lucky that it wasn't raining so that we could finally go on our hike to the waterfall. It took about 2 hours to hike there, play in the waterfall, and hike back. On the hike our lives were threatened by ants attacking our feet but we proceeded to drown them ferociously in the rivers that we crossed. The rivers themselves posed a great threat to our survival but we got through them by holding hands and pulling each other across. No lives were lost with the exception of a flip flop. After a long hike we arrived at the waterfall and were welcomed by much needed relaxation in the cold water. To fulfill our obligation to take many, MANY pictures we all tried to fight against the current to make it as close as possible to the waterfall. I (Joanna) was the first to succeed but everyone, including Ms. Stacy and Sister Rose, eventually made it across due to teamwork and dedication. After coming back to the community center at Dos Brazos it was time to dine with our homestay families. Our (Ellie, Bailey, and Jorgen) house is the farthest from the school but it's worth the walk. The family has two young kids and a very nice mom but we haven't seen much of the dad. Today she fed us the usual, rice and beans, and hardboiled eggs from their chickens. After eating we played with the children's fake kitchen toys. Then we looking at their chicks and came across one that was barely alive. Unfortunately the little girl thought she could save the chick by poking it several times and that was the end of our visit for today. Our (Joanna and Sophia) homestay family lives pretty close to the school. There are two older kids and a mom and we think we saw the dad for the first time today. Lunch with them has been pretty awkward these last few days because 1) none of them introduced themselves the first day so we don't know their names 2) whenever the mom tries to talk to us, she talks really fast and when we ask her to talk slower, she says something to her kids and they all laugh (we think they're mocking us). So after eating we asked the little boy if he wanted to play soccer down by the school yard. Within two minutes of playing a bunch of little boys from the school had joined so we decided to play Uno instead. It was hectic trying to explain the rules of the game to the kids in Spanish but it was so worth it. I can honestly say that Sophia and I thrived today! Our day continued... After such a fun time at the waterfall we all returned very very tired but we still had to complete our service work for the day. Through pouring sweat we made it and honestly did a lot of work. Tomorrow we move on to a completely new area. It was a long day and we were even more tired by the time we got back to the house so we were all looking forward to a delicious dinner of empanadas, rice and beans, salad, and broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower. We slept like babies that night. PS. Macy wanted to wish a happy birthday to her dog and Elizabeth wants to remind her mom to feed her fish this time! We love and miss you parents! ~Joanna and Ellie ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ Another beautiful day in Costa Rica! We woke up to find the glorious sun replaced with quite a lot of rain, but we weren't fazed. We had a delicious breakfast of fruit, eggs, cookies that tasted like Nilla wafers, and juice, and started off our day with some inside games and activities.
After the rain called down, we journeyed across a mighty river (small overflowed stream) to the school where we would meet our homestay families. We had delicious lunches with our homestays and met lots of little kids and a variety of exotic animals. After lunch we began our community project of hard physical labor hehe just kidding. We dug a trench around the school to plant bushes and dumped fertilizer. We sweat off almost all of the rice and beans that we'd eaten for the past couple of days. We finished off our day in Dos Brazos strong with a cooking class led by some local women. We made empanadas and tortillas. Amanda seemed to have a real strong knack for the tortilla making... We all think she should peruse it as a career. After returning home, we traveled across yet another mighty river in our backyard and went exploring. Our favorite part of our journey was the sighting of tiny Jesus Christ lizards who could run on water. We also spotted a tiny waterfall which prepared us for the next days ventures. We then played a lot of tongues and mafia. To end the night we had YUMMY beef and mashed potatoes. We slept safe and sound and all celebrated despite the bats and numerous bugs who had somehow managed to get into our rooms. Shout out to Tony Colosi on his birthday!! Jorgen and Sophia Hellooo. It's your first leaders of the day, Amanda and Elizabeth. Today we were woken up bright and early by our wonderful friend, the monkeys!!!!! We then indulged ourselves on rice and beans which we have been eating non-stop. Que delicioso!! We were then transported in our sweet ride--a large truck-- to a chocolate farm. We tried many delicious fruits including one that smells similar to blue cheese YUMMY! We also enjoyed a absolutely scrumptious chocolate cake, all with the view of a lovely snake. Afterward we got back on our truck and headed to our next destination. We were ever so blessed to experience some nice rain on our truck ride. We got slightly damp. We finally arrived at our beautiful place of lodging and much to our excitement, our beds have bug nets!!!!!! We began some bonding activities and a highlight of these activities was a chant called "una tortilla de maiz". We then chowed down on a beautiful meal prepared by our host. Our rooms were visited by different friends including bats and many forms of bugs. We then journaled, took some showers, and hit the hay!!!!!!!! So basically, to sum it up, we are #thriving in the Pura Vida lifestyle!!!!
Hello family and friends of the Georgetown Visitation program in Costa Rica,
The girls arrived safe and sound yesterday and are settling into the Pura Vida life quite well! They are on their way to a chocolate tour right now, and later in the day they will make their way to their host community of Dos Brazos del Río Tigre. Everyone is happy, healthy, and in good spirits. Their wifi is limited right now, but they will post updates once they have access. Feel free to reach out to the WLS office at 303-679-3412 with any questions or concerns. Thank you for your continued trust and support, The WLS Team It is a quiet Sunday Morning for me. I am sipping my coffee, the dogs are asleep next to me, I am trying to figure out how this blog works and life seems calm. One would not know that I along with 17 young women from Georgetown Visitation are about to embark on great adventure in less than 24 hours. A few in the group have ventured to Costa Rica before, I am not one of them. So part of me is calmly sitting, sipping my coffee and the other part is plotting out my day to accomplish all the tasks before we meet at the airport in the wee hours of the morning to go to Costa Rica.
Yet, as I sit and sip my coffee, I can only imagine what tomorrow holds for me. What an exciting feeling grows through my body, one with great anticipation and thirst for the unknown. It is through travel outside our comfort zone that we truly grow and change. It may not be easy, nor comfortable but we will be better people as we grow, change, learn and appreciate the places we will go. I am blessed to be able to travel and serve others, a gift from God that I treasure. As we venture out to serve others, may we learn and grow as individuals, as a group and as sisters in Christ. "Let us be great souled women of faith. Giving everything over to God and the people we serve." - St. Jane de Chantal |