July 12th, Sarah G.
Our day started very early this morning: 7:30 am. We had breakfast and then went to a beach near Davina’s house to plant trees. Davina explained that we needed to plant them along the beach to prevent erosion and to create a sort of tree bridge so that animals could go from one side of the beach to the other. When we went over to place where we were going to plant the trees, we had to cross a river that connected to the ocean. Although most of the river is not that deep, the current is very strong. According to the locals, there is a crocodile in that river, so having a shovel in my hand made me feel better. Instead of bringing baby trees with us to the beach, we actually just pulled up some “volunteer trees” (as my mom calls them). They are the very small (about 1 to 1 and ½ feet tall) baby trees that have grown from the seeds of a bigger tree when seeds are blown off that tree in the wind. The reason we used these volunteer trees is because there were tons of them underneath another tree and would not have survived being so close together. We replanted over 100 little trees along the beach! Hopefully some of them will survive. The trees were called Beach Almonds. After we finished planting, we went back across the river and drank coconut milk. Three people from the town (who we have gotten to know over the last week) came to help us plant trees. When it was time for us to drink/eat the coconuts, they were very helpful. I thought that the woman, Isabelle, was going to be the one helping us open the coconuts, but I was very surprised when the (probably 7 year old) kid picked up a machete and started cutting them up! One of the coconuts that I had was sweet and had the coconut jelly inside. The other person who came with us was an adorable little 4 year old girl named Sophia. Every day that we have done community service Sophia has wanted to help us—she is so cute! In the afternoon we went surfing and swimming. The waves were very strong today so I didn’t go surfing but the waves will probably be better tomorrow.
Happy Early Birthday, Tyler!
Parents, we’ll see you soon!
July 8th, Written by Sarah Wilker
In the now three years I’ve been on this trip, it has never rained as much as it has in this past week. Personally, Im totally fine with that; I love rain, it’s my favorite weather. My oppinion on rain isn’t shared with the rest of the group, but hey, everyone’s different.
Needless to stay, we woke up to rain pounding the roof of the Tico Lodge. After a breakfast of egg, toast, and fresh fruit we made our way down to the beach for surfing. It stopped raining just as we started paddling out on our surf boards. The waves were really big today, but everyone got out in the water and got some time in the waves.
After surfing we came back up and had taco salads courtesy of Katrina. A couple hours of chill time ensued (food coma induced); there was book reading, shopping, TV watching, and much much more. After relaxing or a bit we all headed down to the beach with trash bags and spent some time picking up trash along the beach. Though it was pretty cloudy, we all piled into the van and headed over to hotel a little ways away for some fruit smoothies and a view of the sunset.
Dinner tonight was meat, beans, rice, salad, and plantains. Now everyone’s just hanging out. Maybe a ping-pong tournament, maybe a movie, maube some night swimming. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Thanks for reading, and best wishes from Samara!
July 7th, Written by Eva R.
We woke up this morning at 8 and had delicious breakfast sandwiches made by Katrina for breakfast. Then we headed out to the beach to surf. We then went back to the Tico Lodge, showered up, and started our drive to our community service destination, a small school that needed to be repainted. We had a traditional Costa Rican meal for lunch at the school and got to painting after eating. When we were done with community service, we went back to the hotel and had some time to relax. Later on, we went out to a small local restaurant called La Perla for dinner. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and now a couple of us are sitting in the pool house watching a movie. It was a great day!
-Eva
PHOTOS!!!
July 5th, Written by Lela G.
This morning we woke up around 7:30ish or 8 to eat breakfast before we head to the beach to surf. We went down to the beach to find the largest waves we have seen the entire trip. Most of us beginners were quite unable to handle this velocity of surfing on only the first week, so we got to sit on the beach and enjoy watching many locals surf (including our instructors). This was quite a treat since a majority of us haven’t seen surfing like this anywhere besides the TV. Our instructors stayed out for a while, when they finally came in we were scared that we wouldn’t have enough time for a full lesson before we had to get to community service on time. Jesse came to the rescue and called Davina, so that we would have enough time for a full lesson! Well my instructor, Samurio (pronunciation: Some-Oreo), kept my group out for quite a while (basically killed me in the surf, but that’s perfectly fine). We headed back to Tico to speed over to the new school that we would be painting. A few local woman from the school prepared lunch for us. It was utterly delicious Costa Rican food. We worked hard to prep and paint the main portion of the outside of the school a very nice cream color, which we basically completed all today. We came back to Tico to relax for a while and now after eating an easy dinner of pizza, vegetables, and fruit we are watching a movie.
July 4th, HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!! Peter K.
Today we got up around 8:00 and had eggs and toast for breakfast. When we were full, we went down to the beach for some relaxation and to surf. After about two hours of baking in the sun we decided to head back to the lodge. We cooled down in the pool and played some games. Then Jesse made us tortillas and sandwiches for lunch. In the afternoon we went kayaking to an island just off the coast. After about 45 minutes of paddling we had arrived at the island and went snorkeling and hung out for about an hour and a half. The journey back only took 30 minutes because we were with the current. The tricky part was avoiding the waves when we were close to shore. Most of us capsized trying to get to shore. We were all tired from paddling so we headed back to the hotel. We celebrated the fourth of July by having hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner.
July 3rd, Eli P.
This trip so far has been incredible; today we got up at 8:00. Right when we got up we went to the beach. We spent the next 2 hours relaxing in the sun, or surfing. Eventually the whole group became hungry so we came back to the house and hung by the pool and ate French toast. After hanging out at the house for a while we went into the mountains to a remote waterfall. Everyone went for a swim. After we had our fun Jesse drove us back to the Tico-lodge. Then we all went out to a really amazing restaurant and now were all hanging out watching a movie.
We will keep you updated!
- Eli Pipkin
July 2nd, Written by Sarah G.
Today started at about 7:30 when we had pancakes for breakfast. After we ate, we all went back to the school that we started painting yesterday in. None of the kids were there today because they are now on summer vacation. However, Davina, an American volunteer coordinator in the area, was there along with some of the other teachers. It was very hot this morning but everyone did a great job painting and we got a lot of work done. At one point we were unsure of how we were going to paint the highest part of the wall, but then Tyler had a brilliant idea of attaching one of the roller brushes to a broom. While we were painting, lots of dogs, cats, chickens, and roosters came by and even two tiny little kittens! We had pasta with tuna for lunch, made by the people at the school. After painting, went back to Tico Lodge and went to the beach. Charlie, the owner of the surf school, set up a volleyball net for us so we got a game going while we waited for the waves to get bigger. I think that almost everyone went out surfing by themselves today. The temperature of the water here is perfect and we all had a great time. After taking showers at the hotel, Katrina, Eva, and I walked into town to get snacks. On the way there, we heard some very loud animal noises and when we looked up there were three monkeys in the tree! We also saw one further down the road, which was walking along one of the power lines. Katrina tried to take pictures of it, but the monkey was moving, so they didn’t come out very well. Right now, everyone is in the Pool House watching the movie Best in Show.
We’ll keep you updated!
-Sarah G.
July 1st, written by Mary C.
Well it has been a rough and tumble day today here in Costa Rica. No, not really, I just felt like I had to start with something to catch everyone’s attention. Did it work? Ok well, here it goes. Today: A synopsis: We had eggs, plantains, toast, and pineapple for breakfast and after a slightly late start, we headed of too a local school to paint some walls. It was the kids last day so they were super, super excited… and so were we. After a few hours of enthusiastic painting, singing, game playing and what not, the kids began to take interest in our work and somehow they ended up doing lots of the painting for us. While they did this, we attempted (and in some cases failed miserably) to start conversation in Spanish. My personal favorite was when one of the boys came up to me and proudly stated, “Mi pelo, mi pelo! Esta¢ amarillo!” Meaning, “My hair, my hair. It’s orange!” After a little stumbling about in a forging language, I soon discovered that he really liked the color we were painting with (a papaya-peachy-orangey color) and decided that it would look really good in his hair. So he took the obvious next step and painted his head. Yeah I still don’t really get it. But, as a whole we had a really good time painting the school. We went there to paint (and did a pretty good job if I do say so myself) and ended up playing with a lot of really fun kids. It’s really kind of cool. They just want you to play soccer with them and help you out. The fact that you don’t speak the same language doesn’t seem to bother them. After we painted and played, the teachers at the school were kind enough to feed us a delicious lunch and once we were done with that, we cleaned up and were on our way (though we will be back tomorrow). When we got back to the Tico Lodge, we put on our bathing suits and were in the pool. Painting in the Costa Rican sun can really make you work up a sweat. After a quick dip and some incidents with a Frisbee, we headed off to the beach to hangout and surf. Apparently there is a big swell coming through so the surf was kind of big and a little rough but nothing we couldn’t handle. When we were not surfing, volleyball games were being played, yoga practiced, and yet more incidents with a Frisbee occurred. However, the most talked about event of the day was the basketball throw down between Harry and Jesse. Despite all Jesse’s trash talk and extreme confidence, Harry beat him 12-10. All in all, it was a pretty stellar day at the beach. By the time we got back it was about 4 o’clock and our timing could not have been more perfect. It started to rain about ½ hour later. But don’t worry we did not let that dampen our fun. We hung out in the pool house, took naps, etcetera until 6:45 when we went to dinner. It was this really good little hotel/food counter place with the most amazing Costa Rican food. I must say; it was some of the best arroz con pollo I have ever had, and that is saying something. During dinner the rain began to let up but on our way back it came returned with vengeance. We are now sitting in the pool house attempting to watch a movie, which is kind of difficult because of the epic down poor on the tin roof, but we are making due. So, that was a very, very condescend version of our day! I hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did. Sorry there are no pictures. We lost the USB cord and are currently in the process of attempting to find another. There WILL be pictures tomorrow!
With Love,
Your Children
(P.S. We’ve got a lot of really great pics coming your way, as soon as we can find the cord to upload them!)
June 30th, Written by Sarah W.
At around 3:30 this morning, ten sleepy teenagers stumbled out of a big blue van in front of the Tico Adventure Lodge in Samara, Costa Rica. As I looked up at the surf-board-shaped sign in front of the hotel I couldn’t help but smile; I had been looking forward to this trip for a very long time. I’m a third-time traveler, and love the Triskallian program enough to come back for all four years. So I guess you could say this piece isn’t exactly objective.
Everybody emerged from their rooms at around 10am, already in bathing suits. After making scrambled eggs in the pool house (our hangout spot on the trip, consisting of a kitchen, a table, a futon, and a TV), we made our way down to the beach as a group. Getting to the beach from Tico Lodge is easy: take a right, and follow the rough, rocky road until you see the two surfboard signs. We all ran down to the water; it was low tied, so there was some distance to cover. The next hour or so we swam and played a myriad of games including basketball, ultimate frisbee, and a game called beach flags (Mary taught us how to play).
And then, the moment we’d all been waiting for: surfing. A couple of us grabbed a rash-guard and a surfboard and jumped into the white water, while others divided up among the surf instructors for lessons and in-water instruction. Between waves, I would get a chance to look around and see how everybody else was surfing. Whether riding the waves, paddling out, or catching our breaths after getting hit by a wave, every one of us looked happy. Cheering as people stood up on their first wave, I realized one of the reasons that I love this trip so much: the friendly atmosphere. Everyone was having fun.
We finally had to leave the beach due to the downpour of rain and choppy surf. After snacking on chips and homemade guacamole, fruit smoothies, and cookies, we played games and hung out until dinner. A rowdy round of Apples-to-Apples ensued (if you’ve never played Apple-to-Apples, you should put it at the top of your things-to-do list), along with movie watching and ice cream.
It’s now 9pm, and people are drifting back to their rooms to go to sleep. Tomorrow we start our community service: painting a school in a nearby town. And of course, there will be more surfing. It’s going to be two fantastic weeks.
Thanks for reading!