Vibin’ at the Base House

Buenos días padres y amigos, somos Willa y Salma. Hoy es martes, día de ocho y la lección es la justicia ambiental. 

Today we woke up a bit earlier than usual, at 7:00 am to be precise. We had pancakes, scrambled eggs, yogurt with granola, and of course, the most delicious fruit ever, PINEAPPLE which is our favorite. A bit later we had our mental warm up where we played a fun quiet game of birthday order which helped us sit next to new people. Then we started our second CAP seminar led by our faves, Memo and Fabi. They discussed environmental justice and touched on sustainability which was very informational. We took a short break and then came back to watch “The Goose with the Golden Egg,” which was an environmental justice documentary based in Costa Rica. It touched on how tourism and big hotels were and continue to be detrimental to the people and environment in these areas. Then we split up into groups and created our own countries taking social distribution and environmental laws into account.

We then had lunch which was rice, beans, fried plantain, fried fish, salad, and garbanzo bean patty as a vegetarian option. We had around two hours of downtime where we played card games and talked. It began to get a little stormy which was a nice break from the constant sun in the morning. Our guest speaker, Andres “Fofo” Zuniga, arrived, who is from Turrialba and has a Master’s in Environmental Management and Ecotourism. We learned more about environmental justice and what it means to Costa Rica. After an hour of the first half of his presentation, we got a break. Once we joined back we began our mock trial where we were split up into three teams, one being a luxury hotel corporation, one the locals, and finally, the judges. We got 15 minutes to prepare our arguments before facing the judges. The corrupt judges chose Willa’s group which wasn’t fair. Although group number one put up a valiant effort, group number two won because they did have the more Eco-friendly approach and had the better topic.

It was our beautiful Arlo’s 17th birthday, so we decided to surprise her at the end of the day. We all pitched in a dollar and got her balloons, and tights (ice cream in a plastic bag), as well as signing her a card. Dinner was pork chops, scrumptious roasted potatoes, and a salad. For the vegetarian option, it was warm veggies. After dinner, Salma went around collecting signatures for Arlo’s card, and I (Willa) blew up the balloons. Then we decorated the main room and got ready to surprise Arlo. After having a little celebration we had our nightly meeting.

Together, both of us learned how tourism cannot always be great and the lasting effects it has on the environment and those communities. We found out that we had it in us to be in leadership positions and succeed. Today, we felt engaged with the speaker because he led interactive activities and gave us breaks. All in all, it was a very powerful and educational experience that left us more aware of what being a great citizen looks like.

Love you Mom, Dad, and Kiara <3

Willa

Happy Birthday Mona, if they couldn’t find my gift for you it should be in the shelf under Amina’s in the closet. See ya’ll soon.

Love, Salma

PS: Here’s the public google photos folder so you can see all of the pictures we’ve taken so far!