Hello everyone! Today was our final day in Costa Rica, which means it was a bittersweet experience for all. We started the day by enjoying our last breakfast at the base house, made by Diego and Emilia. Instead of having our usual mental warmup today, we participated in a final reflection. This moment was very heartfelt and allowed us to be vulnerable with each other. One of the activities we participated in consisted of touching someone’s shoulder who aligned with the prompt being read. For example: “Touch someone on the shoulder who you can tell anything to.” This was completely anonymous, which allowed us to fully open up with ourselves and others. In the end, we all shared a big group hug to wrap up the meeting.

After our reflection, we had time to pack up our loose odds and ends before heading downstairs for lunch. We ate white bean stew with pork, rice, and salad with our choice of juice! After lunch, we experienced our first heavy Costa Rican rain shower, where we danced and took pictures. Then we waited for our bus to arrive to take us back to the hotel in San José. On the bus ride, we listened to our favorite songs together and looked at the beautiful scenery we will soon miss dearly. Upon arriving at the hotel we were assigned roommates and put our luggage in our rooms. We then played games in the hallway and talked while we waited for dinner. During dinner, we had a buffet, which we were all excited about. We got to enjoy salad, chicken, rice, and veggies.

Afterward, we ended with our final nightly meeting of the trip where we shared our most memorable moments and all came together to close it out with our loudest unity clap yet! Overall, even though we started out as a group of strangers with the hope to make an impact, we ended this trip as a group of friends who took the leap to make a change in the world.

Signing off,
Emilee and Kimberly <3

See you soon! ¡Pura Vida!
T2D2 Turrialba 2023