The following post features student writing.

Salsa

In the evening of our first day in Costa Rica, we took salsa lessons. The instructor taught us some of the basic steps, and then we paired up and tried them with a partner. It was interesting to see the different techniques that people use in dancing salsa. We were taught the importance of “feeling the music.” We were also given a choice of fruit juices, all of fruit typical of Costa Rica. The experience immersed us all in Costa Rican culture.

Breakfast

The next day, we went to breakfast at a local restaurant. Some of us tried gallo pinto, a traditional Costa Rican dish.

Surfing

The group then went to the beach for surfing lessons. The instructor started off by telling us how to stand on the board, and when we got in the water, he guided us through it. When we felt comfortable, we were able to surf on our own, without any guidance. Some of us have surfed before, but all of us caught at least a few waves. Needless to say, we all felt incredibly accomplished at the end.

Orientation

After surfing in the warm Costa Rican waters the group came together in the yoga room to go over orientation. We started with playing Evolution and sharing an interesting fact about yourself to create a deep bond. As we started to settle down we went over what we would be doing in the village and talked about the basics of our projects. We will be laying floor tiles in their local church and installing drywall. Next we moved onto the program contracts and talked about the program rules. We signed the contracts then played the human knot game, when suddenly we saw a wild monkey running across the rooftop.

Turtles

After dinner at the beach we headed down to a turtle tour. We walked up and down the beach multiple times, but found nothing except crabs and sand. We waited till around 11 — then all the turtles came out! The turtle we saw laid eggs and there were 86 eggs that it had laid. It dug a huge hole and laid the eggs in it, then buried them. The turtle uses the “turtle dance” to compact the sand down.

Stay tuned!

– Avery & David