⁄¡Pura Vida! Costa Rica Trip 2012: Itinerary

Day 1

Hotel Country Inn Suites

Today we arrived at our first hotel. It is both extremely nice, and also kinda ehhh. The layout of the hotel is very elegant and super nice, but the rooms are "rustic." Our room (Clay, Zac, Mason) is clearly the best. Our room is a two-story room with 3 king-sized beds and 2 showers, however, most of the other rooms are like two or three full beds in a smaller room, with one bathroom. Will upload pics. later. :) Pura Vida! -Zac

Day 2
Scavenger hunt at el mercado de Heredia

This morning we boarded our bus around 7 am. All of us were very tired due to a restless night of sleep from nerves and excitement. It didn't take long though for the screaming and yelling to begin. At the market we were divided up into 5 different teams: Team 1 - Abbi, Callie, Maggie, and I (Ashton); Team 2 - Ben, Alex, and Louis; Team 3 - Colton, Sienna, Olivia, Elena; Team 4 - Cate, Mason, Carrie, and Clay; Team 5 - Jessie, Zac, and Acea. Our task was to go around the market and find different items! Most of the people were very friendly and willing to help, a few laughed at us at first but then they helped us find the items. Team 2 was even offered a "free massage" from a Costa Rican women, but they denied it, thinking it might be a little weird! The market was a wonderful experience to break the ice!! :) - Ashton

Team 2 after they got offered a massage by
the strange lady.

Jessie trying to figure out an item on the list.

Construction men repairing the floor in the middle of the market.

This meat looked really gross..it smelled awful too!

Artisan mask workshop

The Artisan Mask Workshop was run by one lady, named Damaris. Damaris is the only female mask maker in Costa Rica. She has been making masks ever since she taught herself 20 years ago. She makes the masks specifically for a festival here in Costa Rica. The holiday is in honor of their patron saint, "Bartoleme de las Casas". People wear the masks and parade through the streets. The festivities are held on August 4 rain or shine. Children put on their masks, fill socks with sand and hit each other in a fun but painful way. Through the years though this tradition has been less celebrated; but her efforts have helped to rekindle it.

Damaris made a devil mask in front of us. People nowadays have been requesting characters from movies, so she looks them up on the internet and makes realistic replicas. It sometimes takes her 24 hours to a week for just one mask. At the end of our visit, she put on a performance, by putting on some of the masks that she makes and dancing around. She was very comical and artistic. We all had a great time trying on the masks and learning about them. - Ben

La Fortuna waterfall hike

The waterfall was amazing which does not do it any justice. The hike down to the waterfall was fun, well I thought it was fun... The stairs were steep in places and others not so bad. At one point in time we could see out into the open where the rain forest canopy was not blocking our view and it was just pouring down rain. We didn't get very wet due to the thick canopy. Once the group arrived at the bottom it was very cool. There were several people down at the base of the water fall. The water was crystal clear and the water took your breath away when you walked in, because it was so cold. Clay and I were both determined to catch a fish but they were to0 cunning and fast to be caught. All the rocks (as you can see in the pictures on the Fortuna page) are very slimy with moss which made for a fun and slow time moving around from place to place. I think everyone left the falls with their fair share of bruises and maybe a few scrapes but that is just all part of the fun. The hike back up to the top was not as fun but a good workout for your calves, if any one is looking to have some tree trunk legs they should hike that a couple times a day, said Mason on the way up. I want to go back and swim in the oasis but I am ready for another new experience. - Colton

La Pradera del Arenal

We all arrived at our 2^nd hotel safely. It didn’t take long for us to find the hot tub where we spent about 2 hours “mellowing out” after our long, curvy, bus ride. We proceeded to dinner, and quickly after, most of us went back to the room and fell asleep almost immediately. A few of us caught up on sports practices, running in the morning, and playing catch. The 2^nd day at this hotel has been just about the same, except for the fact that when we woke up this morning, we realized we had a breathtaking view of the volcano, Arenal. We were also very impressed at the little things that make this hotel so amazing. As each one of us entered our room, we each found our towels sitting on our bed, each folded up in different animals. Mine was an elephant J. ~Zac L.

Day 3

Farm visit with local school and tortilla making

Okay, so today was just another awesome day in Costa Rica. We began our day with squeezing the juice out of sugar cane, who knew? First, we had to hit the cane with a hammer. Ben was the first brave soul to volunteer to hit the cane. Then Abbi and Sienna got to use an old fashion crank juicer. But they didn’t get all the juice out so we had Colton and Acea to finish the job, but THAT wasn’t enough. So to finish the job they had the two strongest people on the trip do it...me and Carrie. After we finished juicing it we all took non-alcoholic shots. It was a very interesting taste...

Then the farmer took out his machete, like a boss, and chopped down a tree in one whack! Impressive I might add. Then we had to pull out the root of the tree. It took 6 people to pull out the root. Elena, Jessie, me, Colton, Clay, and the one who finally pulled it out, Mason. The farmer told us that a healthy tree would have 5 roots. The root we pulled out had 15 roots! ¡Somos fuertes! We ended our tour with viewing the garden. We tried different plants and we smelled different plants. They were all very good in their own way except for the plant that helped your stomach. That was the worst taste EVER! Overall the experience was worthwhile.

After we worked very hard we made tortillas. There was a special way to flatten the dough. As Mrs. Moreau pointed out, the guys made better tortillas than the girls (but the girls did better than the guys at shooting arrows.) Besides that fact, lunch was fantastic! It was the first authentic meal we ate in Costa Rica. Before we left, Ben, Louis, and Clay finally opened their coconut they bought in the market the first day. Well, actually the farmer used his machete. But Ben did hit it against the ground and got to the meat.

After we ate, we went to a high school. It was very different because the school was only for students going into tourism. A group of students, going into eco tourism, gave us a tour. The school was outside and there were lots of different animals - definitely not like Baldwin High. Each group traveled deep into the rainforest to plant a tree. We planted the trees to make up for the possible damage we might have done by traveling. When we regrouped, we ate juicy pineapple and watermelon and had group bonding. Today was amazing! Words cannot describe how breathtaking this place is. Pura vida :) (a phrase we learned, pure life) - Cate

Malekus Indian Reserve

This morning we traveled north to visit the last full-blooded Maleku Indians in Costa Rica. They introduced us to their culture and their way of life.

Halfway through the presentation, the Maleku led us to a small clearing in the rainforest. In this clearing, the Maleku taught us how to shoot a bow and arrow. Contrary to expectations, the girls were better at archery than the boys. Ashton was the champion of the group, hitting the target 3 times (the first time anyone has ever done this!!!) On the boys side, Clay broke one of the bows. He pulled back too far, and it snapped in half. When he offered to pay for the damaged bow, the Maleku gave it to him for FREE.

When we returned to the hut, the Maleku demonstrated one of their traditional dances. They selected some of us to join them in the celebratory dance. Following the dance, we all took a group picture.

The entire experience offered great insight into the lives of these native people.

Hot Springs (los ecotermales)

Today we went to the Hot Springs called Baldi. It was not at all like any of us expected because it was centered around pleasing the tourists, and was more like Oceans of Fun than the rainforest. We realized it was across the street from the one the last group went to. The pools’ temperatures varied as you went down the slope, from hot to cold. At the very top there were three water slides, but one was the best! It was dark and fast and we would catch air on the last turn before coming to a dramatic, screeching halt at the bottom. We would all sit at the bottom and cheer on our friends as they came down. While there we met up with a group of Canadians. We spent the rest of the night with them jumping from hot to cold pools and having a good time. The two allotted hours flew by and we were all content, but not necessarily ready to go. All in all, it was a great day. - Clay

Day 4

Arenal Volcano Hike

Today we visited the Arenal Volcano lava flow from 1968. It was very foggy at first, but it burned off. It sprinkled off and on the whole time, but it didn't take away from our experience. We saw a seismograph and many birds. Acea found an egg, and our guide Beto came up and picked it up and broke it saying "Oh, this is an...was an egg." - Clay

Lake Arenal crossing

After the hike, we took a ferry across the lake. We again saw a lot of different birds and some howler monkeys. All of us were drugged up on Dramamine, and Ben fell asleep and everyone took pictures of him curled up on the bench. - Clay

El Establo

Today we arrived at our 3rd hotel. We were surprised at the breathtaking view. The whole hotel is built on a massive hill, and it is very beautiful at sunset especially. The first day the group found a small soccer court on the hotel grounds. We played a pick up game and quickly lost track of time. Our guide and bus driver even played with us! We ended up playing a whole 3 hours. :) - Zac

Day 5

Zip Line

Our first activity of the day was zip lining through the cloud forest. We all had to wear helmets, gloves, and harnesses. After we got fitted for those we rode a ski lift to start zip lining.

We went down a total of 10 lines that were varying in length and height. It was pretty cold and really wet because it was raining the entire time. By the time we got done we were all soaked and covered with this nasty brown water/mud stuff from the water mixing with the rust on the lines. The guides told us it was monkey poo and some people started freaking out. We had to go in pairs on some of the lines and a couple people got to go with guides and they got to spin and ride down the lines upside down. The workers had rags waiting for us at the bottom so we could wipe off our faces.

Every one in our group made it down the zip lines, even Ms. Marten! :) Most of us think it has been the best activity of the trip so far. It was incredible being so high up, we could see a ton of the cloud forest because we were so high up. - Abbi

Monteverde Cloudforest hike

After we got done zip lining we got lunch at a pizzaria and then went hiking. We hiked through the Monteverde Cloudforest. We saw a lot of really cool animals like birds, a tarantula, and these weird centipede type things.

Unfortunately we did not get to see Quetzals but we did get to hear a female. Beto, our guide, was making Quetzal calls the entire hike, which was like two hours! He also suffered from a little A.D.D. Several times he would be saying something like this, "OK guys it is very important too...oh look at that beautiful bird that just flew by." and then we would start walking again. Quetzals are very beautiful and rare birds that live in the Cloudforest. Most of us have really muddy gross shoes because the trail was more mud than it was rock/pavement. Today was a very exciting and very pretty.

Everyone has been enjoying themselves with the activities we have done and even the hotel. The hotel is beautiful, everything is spread out down the mountain and the rooms are super nice. Monteverde is an incredible place, tomorrow we are off to the beach! :) - Abbi

at the Continental Divide

Day 6

After a late night of group bonding, everyone was tired for the 5.5 hour bus ride to Manuel Antonio. For the most part everyone tried to sleep, except for Beto waking us up every 30 minutes to look at plants, hawks etc.

"man tank" photo

Along the way we made a stop at the ocean. We got to spend 30 minutes there to enjoy the warm weather. For some of the students, that was the first time they had seen the ocean.

About an hour from Manuel Antonio, we stopped at a crocodile bridge (Tarcoles) and saw almost 40 crocodiles “in the wild.” It was pretty awesome. Beto called the cops on two guys throwing meat into the crocs, which was pretty funny. - Sienna

Explore Manuel Antonio and Quepos area

We reached our hotel in Manuel Antonio and right away changed into swimsuits to go shopping and swimming. The shopping markets were all contained with bright jewelry, clothes and bags. All of the girls got dresses to wear for dinner tonight. The ocean had high waves and was extremely salty, all of our eyes were burning and we were really sunburnt. All of us are tired and ready to have a good nights sleep after five long nights of group bonding and long hikes. We are all really excited to finally be at the ocean and the girls are excited to be tan! - Sienna

As far as animal sightings are concerned, students saw a sloth WITH its baby. They also saw a Jurassic Park-sized grasshopper! - Miss Marten

Hotel Casitas Eclipse

Our last hotel was arguably one of the most fun in terms of layout. The campus had long, narrow walkways to each of the rooms which acted more like a maze of random paths. Besides that fact, the landscape was full of beautiful foliage that most of us enjoyed (along with the hundreds of geckos that came with it.) Many of us also took advantage of the weird paths, and we found away to climb to the top of Ms. Marten's and Ms. Moreau's hotel room roof. Needless to say, that provided hours of fun. =P - Zac

Day 7

El Campesino rainforest hike and waterfall swim
Today most of us woke up around 5 something . . . eww . . . and were sitting down to breakfast by 6:30. The water became confused after Colton accepted a meal he didn't order, which screwed up a lot of orders. Colton also is now known as the bug whisperer because apparently the bugs only listen to what he says.

Students on pulley

By 7:30 we were driving to Campesinos (which means peasants). The drive took about an hour. Most of us were nervous about the hike because we had been told that it would be really difficult and steep. Upon arrival, we met our two guides, Freddy 1 and Freddy 2. Before beginning our hike, we crossed a river on a pulley. Only 3-4 people could go on the pulley at a time. We were also given 3 horses, just in case one of us was really dying.

The hike up the mountain probably took around 2 hours because we made a lot of stops. All of us were sucking air when we were done. Beto tried to keep us energized by singing marching tunes (i.e. "I don't know what I've been told"). We weren't very energetic.

When we finally arrived to the top, we were joyous to see guanabana juice, shelter/shade, and BANANA PANCAKES! They actually tasted a lot like funnel cakes. Then most of us went to swim in the pond/river/waterfall area. Next, we were provided lunch by 2 local women. They prepared everything without a conventional oven or stove.

After lunch we had to go back to the bus by crossing a long, rickety, wooden, slightly right-leaning, and narrow bridge. The bridge could only hold 6 people at a time, and the boys were instructed NOT to jump (which made Miss Marten happy).

Next we stopped at the local school so Cate could give her school supplies. The school had only 1 teacher, 7 students, and 1 schoolroom for all the students. Eventually, we finally reached the bottom of the mountain, all of us crispy and red. We had to use the pulley system to cross the river once again. This time, students were allowed to work the pulleys.

Carrie made up a song as a form of "payment" for using Miss Marten's aloe vera. It went something like this . . .

I am so burnt.
Clay, Colton, and I thought we weren't.
But us gringos went too close to the equator.
And looked at that stupid alligator.
I am so burnt.

- Elena

Day 8

Manuel Antonio National Park visit
I'm going to preface this entry by noting that this is Maggie's version of events, five days later. Maggie's account is a tad exaggerated, so I will have my revisions and notes in red italics. - Miss Marten :)

We had to leave the hotel by 7 in the morning and we got dropped off like a mile away (a few blocks) from the entrance of the Manuel Antonio National Park. Everyone had to walk all the way there in the terrible humidity. We finally got to the park and Beto told us about many beautiful birds and birds of prey.

a wild, lurking hermit crab

We started our long, strenuous hike (the shortest, flattest, and easiest hike of the whole trip) and saw a white tailed deer, a raccoon type animal and a 3 toed sloth. There were a lot of trees and wild animals lurking around every corner. When we almost got to the beach, some guy was about in tears and told us that he narrowly escaped a jaguar attack. (He was really excited to ask Beto what kind of animal it was - no tears. And it wasn't a jaguar; it was actually a small cat, and it ran across the path ahead of him. There were no attacks.)

flip flop football game

We kept walking even though we knew we would die at any second if an animal decided to attack. When we finally got to the beach, we hung our stuff on a very nice tree. A big group of us played football with a flipflop because a massive shark swam up on land and ate our football. (Alex actually left his football at the previous hotel. So far, "reported" lost items include a football, ipod, 2 passports, 2 towels, a swimsuit, a camera bag, and retainers. Thanks to Ms. Moreau and I, we were able to get a lot of these items back, but the football was unfortunately a permanent loss.)

a lunging monkey

When we got ready to leave, about 20 monkeys showed up out of nowhere and like 5 lunged at me. (They were capuchin monkeys, and they showed up because tourists were feeding them. No monkeys attacked or lunged at anyone.) They were very cute though.

poisonous tree

Beto told us that the tree we put our stuff on was highly poisonous. (This part is true.) We were all fine though. We saw a 2 toed sloth, and we all made it out alive. It was quite an adventure.

dangerous merman with coconut bra and leaf pillow

Day 9

School
Wednesday was the first day that we got to go to schol with our host brothers and sisters. We are all in the same colegio (high school), Liceo Experimental Bilingue Jose Figures Ferrer. In order to get to school in the morning, most of the students take the city bus or the school bus. Only a rare few get dropped off by their parents because for the most part families only have one car. So on Wednesday I got up before the rooster at the deathly 5a.m., that we all dread, in order to catch the bus that leaves at about 6a.m., and arrive at the school in time for the 7a.m. classes. Kathe (my host sister) and I took the school bus. However, it was not the big stereotypical yellow monster like in the US. Some of the school transportation vehicles are large vans and others are brown and cream colored buses. Perhaps the most shocking experience about my bus ride was the fact that we had to pay a fee in order to use the school transportation system, as someone would have to pay for a city bus!

The students in Costa Rica also have to wear uniforms. In the public schools the elementary students wear a light blue polo with navy dress pants. The high school students wear khaki pants and a white collared shirt. So not only did we stick out like sore thumbs because we were Americans, but also because our clothes were so different.

The school is composed of several different buildings with covered outdoor walkways between them. It is a beautifully landscaped school with plenty of trees and shrubs to lighten the mood. The walls are also painted with different murals which often are enforcing the importance of nature.

school mural

Students change classes as they do in the US. However, they are put into certain groups depending of intended major and they attend most of their classes with that same group. They are given longer breaks between classes and are given two ten minute snack breaks as well as a longer lunch. Teachers are also much more relaxed in Costa Rica. For example, being on time is not really enforced. There are no detentions or In School Suspension for being tardy to a class. It is looked at as only hurting yourself because you are not there to learn the material. In some ways, it is more similar to college life in the US because the students are given more independence and are allowed to make decisions for themselves.

For lunch the students have two options: they can either eat in the cafeteria or the comedor. There are about 750 students in the school, grades 6-11, and they all eat lunch at the same time.

Toward the end of the day some of the ticos got to skip class and join us in a game of kickball, and many mejengas (pick up soccer games) were played throughout the day. Some games are Americans vs ticos and others are mixed. - Jessie

Day 10

School
Well to start off, on Thursday morning Kathe and I missed the bus. So instead of taking the long bus ride on the school bus, we had to walk and find a city bus that would then take us to another bus, that would then take us to the school. ( I know, confusing...right?) We ended up being about 20 minutes late for the first hour of the day, which was English Literature. However, the strangest thing happened when we arrived. Instead of getting a late slip or being sent to the office for an unexcused tardy, we walked in like normal. The teacher greeted us, and no more was said. The whole situation was extremely strange, to walk into class 20 minutes late and have absolutely nothing happen. Well I suppose that is Pura Vida for ya!

Anyway, on Thursday we attended the full day of school. We went to 3 classes before lunch and 2 classes after lunch. The students then got out of school early to study for final exams that began the next day and continue into next week. When leaving the school, I got my first experience with the after school rush to the buses. It was INSANE!!! It is a free for all with no order whatsoever. There are few spots on the bus, but many students who are willing to fight for them. It was a huge mob of kids pushing their way through the one door. We soon figured out there would be no nice way to complete the task, so we just lowered our shoulders and shoved. With the help of our host siblings, we all made it onto the jam-packed bus. Unlike in the US where every kid has to be sitting down, the students stood in the aisle on a city bus during rush hour. - Jessie

Day 11

School

This morning our host siblings had their exams until 9a.m., so we were told to just hang out until they were done. The school day would then be extremely short because after they were finished, we would take one of our excursions to the volcano. So while we were waiting for the students to finish their testing, we got a mejenga going in the gym. We then returned later to play a quick game of basketball with the ticos. We decided it would not be totally fair to have a game of Americans vs Ticos since we are on average a foot taller than them. So, instead, we mixed the teams and had a game of about 20 on 20. It was wild but fun!! - Jessie

Family Stay Excursion - Irazú Volcano

Instead of attending a full day of school on Friday, us gringos, along with our tico host brothers and sisters went to the volcano Irazú, near Cartago. The drive up to the volcano was very scenic, and it provided a great view of the central valley below, until the clouds rolled in. After that, we had a fantastic view of the tops of the clouds and the surrounding mountain peaks.

Arriving at the volcano, the group walked to the craters. We marveled at the depth of the craters as well as the view of the gorgeous sulfuric lake at the bottom of one crater, until, once again, the clouds rolled in, and we were provided with a photogenic white marshmallow at the bottom of the crater.

To pass the time before lunch, we played Red Rover and a Costa Rican game called Burra. In Burra, you divide into two teams. One team is jumping and the other team makes a line. The team bends over into a type of huddle, each person putting their neighbor to their left in a headlock and trying not to fall over while the other team jumps on their backs. Believe it or not, this game doesn’t usually last very long. After the games we shared our lunches with a very friendly Costa Rican version of the raccoon before leaving for the haunted house/hospital building down the mountain.

Most of us gringos thought that it was going to be an actual horror house, but in reality it was just an old building that had been used for many different things: jail, insane asylum, tuberculosis hospital, and a juvenile delinquent home. Still, the locals consider it a cursed place due to the large number of people who died there during its years of operation. Some kids had a great time terrorizing the other kids by hiding in the nooks and crannies and jumping out to scare them.

Once all the dusty corners had been explored, we tried to leave, but the bus wouldn’t start. So the boys had to get out and push the bus to get it moving.

Later on in the evening, after the group of “gricos” (ticos and gringos) got gelato and played a very serious game of b-ball, we went to Maggie’s host family’s house and danced! The ticos kindly showed us how to salsa and merengue. We showed them how to dance to Footloose. Colton beat the piñata into submission and provided us all with a candy rain shower. - Carrie

Abbi, Sienna, and Callie with their host sisters

Colton learning to salsa

Maggie with her host sister, brother, and mom

teaching the Ticos how to dance to Footloose

Day 12

Family Stay Excursion - Botanical Gardens and Orosi Valley

Our entire trip was epitomized in one quintessential Costa Rican experience: touring the Central Valley without an itinerary. We were all warned about "Tico time" in our pre-trip meetings, but it took accidentally attending a Costa Rican wedding, napping in a botanical garden, and staring at a river for no apparent reason for us to truly understand and appreciate this mythical time-bending mindset.

After traveling to the nearby botanical gardens in Cartago, sans Tico siblings, many of us found ourselves napping in a mini Japan, following ants into the forest, or being eaten by mosquitos for the next two hours.

Once we completed the only officially scheduled event on our agenda, we proceeded to drive into a neighboring valley. After arriving in a small town at the bottom of the valley, we pulled up to a church and were greeted by a slang-talking elderly street artist with all of 5 teeth. From there we were promptly invited to attend a wedding in the church and take photographs as long as we didn't use the flash on our cameras.

site of the wedding

Deciding after extended debate that crashing a stranger's wedding was not in the spirit in the phrase "pura vida," we moved on to look at a river for no apparent reason. Then we went to the bus again, drove around for awhile, and ate lunch. Despite the randomness, everyone enjoyed the day off from itineraries, deadlines, and hiking, while doing some major group bonding on the trip. - Carrie

Day 13
Students had all day to spend with their families. Some students went to the movies, while others went shopping. Some families explored Taras de Cartago, and others spent their last day together at home. The teachers were able to explore the San Jose Art Fair.

Views around Cartago

view of the valley of Cartago

entrance to the San Jose Art Fair

lake at a San Jose park

National Cathedral

Holy Water

inside the cathedral

Day 14
We arrived at the airport at 6:00am. It took us almost 2 hours just to get our bags checked. Once we arrived in Dallas, Ashton and Jessie were "randomly" selected to be checked and questioned. Ashton made it through, but Jessie had some illegal lotion that went off when it was scanned. So Jessie had to have a full body search, but finally made it through. - Alex