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…
Hello, back home! We began our eventful day with a morning 30 minute walk from our home away from home, our hostel! From our hostel, we traveled to the historic site Chicano Park. Chicano Park has a profound history, as it is an important landmark for Chicano citizens in San Diego. The Chicano community in…
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…
Hello, back home! Our first full day in San Diego is coming to a close and we have already learned so much. We started our day riding the trolley to Old Town where our incredible host Alex Gomez taught us some of the history of California, including the impact of the Mormon church in fortifying…
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…
The entire San Diego group has arrived safely and is ready to begin their field study in ethical leadership.
Yesterday we left San Miguel and Turtle Trax, which was bittersweet. I am very grateful for the time I had there, as I learned so much and made memories that I will never forget. For me, the most impactful part of working with Turtle Trax was being exposed to the amazing, thoughtful NGO leaders and…
To start off the morning we visited the local elementary school and saw some traditional dances. We all loved watching the dances and learning about how the girls learned how to dance. In addition, we showed the kids some American line dances and taught a few of the girls the Cotton Eye Joe. We loved…
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…
This post is from July 21…. Today we got the opportunity to really see the effects of all of the plastic waste in the world. We started off our morning by cleaning up as much trash as we could around the hatchery, and in doing so, we saw so many things that are such common…
It was a long day of travel so there is no post but the leaders report the group has made it to La Fortuna and is settled in to finish the last phase of their field study.
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.
Today we spent time with jungle mike who is an expert with insects and gave us a good insight of how insects interact in different climates, we also went on a jungle hike in which we were able to see how different species interact with the environment around them. We were also able to eat…
Uncomfortable. I know some would like me to sugar coat it and market this trip in a way so that more people will come, but this trip was uncomfortable. While uncomfortable might seem like a weird way to describe this trip, I’d like to bring up something Neil Christansen (founder of Give + Surf) mentioned…
Today our group got to meet with Alex from Mother of Corals and learn about how they are trying to restore coral reefs in this area. After his presentation, he took us snorkeling to see the coral regrowth process up close. At the Basti school center today, we got to play soccer and kickball with…
Today, we started the day by sleeping in until nine. After breakfast, Juan took us on a walk on the beach. Because it was so hot, we found a shady spot along the beach where we sat in a circle as Juan, our guide, taught us the process that must happen after finding a turtle…
oday was a mix of learning and relaxation. We were able to go to the turtle trax office and learn more about turtles from a researcher that we haven’t seen before. She had a lot of knowledge and expertise about specific turtle facts. The information helped us be more aware of all the threats to…
Today we were asked to write about a life lesson we have learned on this trip and how we will use it to influence our daily life back home. Although I acknowledge the prompt, I am going to stray from it a little in writing about a lesson that has followed me throughout my life…
oday’s morning started off by going to Bocas del Toro’s recycling center where we learned about the different types of plastics, how they recycle each type, and how “Wasteless World” was started. Following that tour, the group went to lunch at “Red Snapper”. The group then split off to either Bastimentos or to Cristobal. At…
Today we woke up early in order to be at the greenhouse on time. When we arrived at the greenhouse, Edger split the group up into smaller groups who would each completely different tasks. One group transplanted trees from small pots to large bags which were reused. Another group fixed the mesh along the greenhouse…
Hi my name is Ellen Cabin and I am a rising senior from North Carolina. Today we had a leisurely morning before meeting with Niel Christiansen, the founder of Give and Surf. Then, in the afternoon we split into our groups and each went to work with our groups of kids. Three highlights today would…
oday we spent much of the day in San Cristobal. The morning was dedicated to learning about the cultivation of cacao in Panama. I was most fascinated by the approach that the people in San Cristobal have to the cultivation and what they use the cacao for. The farm on Cristobal is completely natural and…
Today, our fourth day on our Shoulder to Shoulder excursion to Costa Rica, we woke up an hour later than the previous days in order to recover from our first turtle patrol. For our turtle patrol, we split into four groups. Two groups left the house at 10:30 to do the first hour and a…
Today we woke up bright and early at 6:30 for a delicious breakfast cooked by our awesome chef! We had pancakes and fruit, and then we headed to the hatchery. At the hatchery, we met some amazing researchers who truly care so deeply about the work they are doing. We helped out by splitting into…
Tonight, during our group discussion, we talked about some of the characteristics of ethical leadership. While all eight qualities we discussed tonight are important to being an ethical leader, the two that stand out to me are applying global perspectives and showing a strong sense of empathy. Both of these characteristics allow a foreigner down…
We just wrapped up our first week at the after-school centers. At the beginning of the week we went into the center on Basti Island with a game plan. We soon learned that the game plan we created was just not going to work for many reasons. One of those reasons being the language barrier….
Getting to know people who do not live in the same area as you is kind of hard but at the same time it helps better yourself and because we did not have out phones it made us be able to connect more, also the pressure of looking good is relaxed, the feelings of having…
Even though traveling was really hard we really enjoyed seeing all of the animals and looking at all of the scenery. In addition, we enjoyed bonding with all the girls and getting to know everyone individually. We stopped for lunch(Soda) at a restaurant that had local Costa Rican food and it was our first local…