We’ve stayed in our home stays now for two nights and it’s been really great to get to know the host families and get to see their daily lives. We helped today by visiting two schools where we spoke, danced, and played with the students. We also toured the schools and helped to paint a…

Today our group started out with an early morning trash cleanup. We got out to the beach and paired up to start collecting the plastic together. We learned methods of picking up trash that made our efforts much more effective and quick. After our beach cleanups, we then headed into the house for breakfast and…

Today we visited Jungle Mike’s butterfly farm and learned about all different species of butterflies and all the insects and bugs that live in the jungle. In the afternoon we played soccer with all the local kids. It has been a lot of fun to connect with the community here and it has helped me…

Today we went into Coyote to watch the festival to celebrate Guanacaste’s joining of Costa Rica where some of the students we’ve worked with preformed traditional dances. We then went to the hatchery for our final day of work, finishing off the mesh surrounding the eggs. Our driver, Henry, chopped some coconuts for a refreshment…

Today we spent a lot of time with kids from a school in Coyote. We arrived and began an activity that explained the predators of newly hatched turtles to the students. Then we were given costumes that portrayed the predators while the kids dressed up in turtle costumes. We played a game of tag, where…

Today we went to a local school and had the opportunity to work with the children there. We did an activity where we were able to teach the kids about insects while practicing our Spanish. Afterwards, we played soccer on their field and built bonds with the children. In the afternoon, we came back to…

Today was our groups first day of service work! We began our day with an early breakfast from our wonderful chefs and then hopped on the bus to the turtle hatchery. We split up into groups working on patching holes in the netting, weeding to create a path, and removing nails from the posts in…

After a long day of travel, there is no post from the group, but the leaders report that the group has made it to the field study site and is eager to begin their work with Turtle Trax tomorrow.

The Turtles II group has arrived safely in Costa Rica and is now driving to meet our partner Turtle Trax at their field study location.