CCC ~ Cartago & Cow Crossings!

Hi everyone! This is Bri and Erin – the GGLs for our trip to Costa Rica!! Everyone is doing fantastic so far. We’ve been impressed with everyone’s ability and willingness to make new friendships and step out of their comfort zones!

Most Glimpsers woke up VERY early on our first morning at the base house thanks to the 5:30 AM sunrise. We started off the day with pancakes, eggs, fresh fruit, yogurt, and fruit juice (and coffee). Before we leave every day the Lideres Del Dia’s (LDDs aka leaders of the day) lead the morning meeting. We are the LDDs for today so we had our meeting to go over what history and culture mean to people and review the schedule for the day.

After that, we boarded a 1.5-hour bus ride and we all sang karaoke the ENTIRE ride. Tops songs were:

• Party in the USA
• Someone like you
• I want it that way
• Disney songs
• Songs from the Hamilton musical

Upon arrival in Cartago (the former capital of Costa Rica), we met with our guide outside of the Cartago Ruins. Fun fact – these are not ruins, it is an incomplete church. The lore is that a priest murdered his brother at the location and now it’s haunted so it’s being left as is. It is now home to some gardens and the city center. After some history and background, we went to a local market called Mercado Municipal where students bought fresh fruit, gifts for family, and ice cream. Our guide then took us to Basilica Nuestra Señora De Los Angeles, a very popular local church. People come from all over the country to visit the church to pray for good health. After exploring the grounds, we had lunch at a local restaurant and went to a souvenir shop. The students are excited about buying gifts for their loved ones – including a lot of sloth memorabilia (let’s hope they’re manifesting us seeing a sloth)!!!!

On the way home, traffic was stopped for several minutes due to cows crossing the street. The students were VERY interested and excited. We (the GGLs) were asked to take pictures of the event (see below). This tells us that they are going to be thrilled tomorrow when they get up close and personal with cows while milking them. Don’t worry, we will take LOTS of pictures.

Once we returned to our base house, we learned more about Costa Rican culture and history from our PCs and then played some team-building games. Glimpsers had some downtime before dinner where they played pool, ping pong, card games, and soccer, and relaxed. All of our food at the base house has been fantastic tomorrow.

You’ll hear from our first two student LDDs tomorrow evening where they’ll tell you about our tours of coffee and cheese businesses!

Glimpsers are doing great! We will continue to post pictures in our Google folder (here’s the link if you need it!)

~Erin and Bri