Day 3: History and Culture! (No. 2)

First, we apologize for the mix up with the blog post from yesterday. Parents, please see the email from Carissa with a link to the blog post from last night! It should be fixed on this blog link soon as well.

Today was the group’s third day of the trip, and we had an AMAZING fun filled day!! First, we woke up the students at 6:30, and then reported to breakfast at 7:30 where we ate banana pancakes, scrambled eggs, and fruit! After breakfast we engaged in the morning meeting where the students set intentions for the day. Our question to ground our learning for the day was, ¨How does history shape people’s culture and identity?¨. The quote to inspire them that morning was, ¨A people without knowledge of their past history, origin, and culure, is like a tree without roots¨ -Marcus Garvey. Next we departed to  the town of Cartago, where we met a local guide, Daniela, at the Basilica de los Angeles. Students learned about the history of the first capital of Costa Rica. We also visited the nation’s principal church, Bascilica de Nuestra Senora De Los Angeles. During this tour we also visited the ruins of Santiago Apostle Church, the city museum, a local market where we had ice cream, and ate a delicious lunch!

After lunch, students were able to buy souveneirs (sorry mom and dad, let’s just say lots of money was spent haha!). During the 90 – minute bus ride back to our accomodation, students spent a lot of time bonding with fun get to know you cards that spark lots of conversations and laughs. Students also had some spontaneous singing that brought the whole group together, and this was a highlight of many of the students’ day.

Upon returning back to the accomodation, our program coordinators presented to the students more on the History and Culture of Costa Rica, where we had very interesting conversations about how our culture, history, and political systems in the U.S differ from those in Costa Rica. Students were interested and curious about these differences and posed very insightful questions. We discussed how Costa Rica does not have a military and has used the funds to fund education and health care, and how Costa Rica has eliminated zoos for animal concervancy and protection.

After this, we had a delicious dinner from our food providers which was Costa Rica nachos!! (Many students’ favorite meal so far). During our nightly meeting we passed the torch to our first student leaders of the day, Rob and Mitzi! Mitzi showcased her sketchbook as her special talent, and Rob performed a traditional Folclorico dance with his school mate, Destheny. They overviewed tomorrow’s activities, led our ¨Big Love¨ gratefulness circle, and then closed the meeting with our Unity Clap where the students chose our word of the Day, ¨Acochete¨ which is slang for something being good or amazing.

Overall, students had an amazing day, reflected a lot, continued to open up and make new friends, and are currently playing games together before their night will end at 9:30pm for bed time so they can rest up for another fun filled day tomorrow!

P:S: We finally have our google drive folder ready with all the pictures and videos from every day! These will be updated by the time every blog post is posted. See more from our trip here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-7kEvu-_SIYMsGJK0mP1CTz9CYsz_dfP?usp=sharing