Throughout our time together on this journey, we have learned about ourselves, each other, and ways to positively impact our environment. Today, we started the morning by eating pancakes and fruit to give us the energy necessary for the day. After our nutritious breakfast, we went to pick up our friend, Edgar, before we went…
Hello from Dartmouth, Massachusetts!! Today was a day filled with fun, laughter, hard work, and support. We began the day by eating breakfast together, which consisted of delicious homemade bread. During breakfast, everyone talked and Jorge, the group leader of the day, shared the itinerary for today. The morning was peaceful as after breakfast we…
I woke up at 8 am and had some breakfast with the group. Some of them had woken up a bit earlier than me, but there was no rush to start the day. After breakfast, we all went on a tour of the farm and ended up on top of a huge boulder where…
Last night’s turtle patrol was slow. We began by going to the southside, and then took a 15 minute break. Then we went to the northside and took another 15 minute break. We decide to head back early because a thunderous storm was rolling in. We started off the next day with some french toast…
Today we started off with a very adventurous morning that consisted of a jungle hike to Up In The Hill. We learned a lot of interesting facts about Javier and Jeanettes farm including that bamboo grows about 1 foot a day and that pineapple grows in bushes! After learning about how the owners created their…
Summary by Kevin and Alondra based on group reflection… Today was all about food! This community lives and eats in ways that are closely tied to the local environment. Most of the foods that we have eaten have come from the area. We began the day with a visit to a small dairy very close…
Greetings from Costa Rica! Last night, the group that went on turtle patrol found two turtles. Unfortunately, one of the turtles was a dead male turtle who had washed up on shore. However, the other turtle was a female who dug a nest and laid 109 eggs! These eggs were also the first batch to…
One moment or experience that I am choosing to reflect on was earlier in the day at the gold mines. Specifically Dona Rosa and her cooking. Not only was the food delicious, but I really enjoyed her eagerness to share a little bit of her culture. She made a variety of traditional dishes using…
After a week at the San Cristobol community center we feel mixed emotions. On the one hand, we have loved getting to know the kids. On the other hand, we are dreading having to leave as we know we almost certainly never see our new friends again. To make matters worse, the youngest kids don’t…
Today we woke up around 7:30, which is our usual time when we get up. Breakfast was served at 8am. We had toast, eggs and watermelon. It was very delicious, especially the toast. After we all ate, we cleaned all of the plates and got ready for the day. Today I was very excited for…
Hello all! Today we had an exciting day of touring a cacao farm and medicinal plants in San Cristobal followed by volunteering at San Cristobal‘s community center. We started off our tours by meeting the Ngobe ladies who ran the farms and our translator Sergio who helped with the Ngobe to Spanish translations. Although I…
While we were at the trapiche Don Carmen, Victor shared with us a very personal story about his life and the struggles he faced, including not being able to go to school past third grade. This was very touching and really gave us a new perspective and new awareness for the privileged life we live….
Today was a relaxing day in Panama! We had a beach day that started off with a 45 minute boat ride followed with snorkeling adventure. While in the water, I noticed that the ground I was standing on was all dead coral. This made me realize the dangerous condition our oceans are in. We relocated…
Lily: While riding horses with Victor I was able to talk and reflect with him about his life and Rancho Quemado. He talked about his job and how he loves what he does, he owns multiple horses, many that are used for riding in festivals in Costa Rica. He also monitors a farm close to him…
Today we boated to the farm of a man named Luis, who’s the son of the man who owns the hotel we’re staying at. There was a path for the boat through the mangrove trees that took us to his family’s farm. Luis showed us the different exotic fruits he grows and let us try…
Hey! It’s Elsie writing to you from our 5th day on the Southern Nacoya Peninsula. Today, we started our morning with a beach clean-up along Playa San Miguel. We spent a little over two hours picking up trash of all sorts along the beach, that ranged from plastic water bottles to Cars-themed crocs. To be…
When shoveling the irrigation systems at the center, we all had to work together and help each other out. There were no leaders or group members with higher authority, but we all were equals in the process, as Jessica taught us, allows organizations to thrive. It also helped us to understand that everyone working at…
Today was a beautiful day in Panama! Our group started off with a short beach hike where we quickly became friends with three local dogs. We swam in the blue water which we all really enjoyed. The beach swim was followed by a group reflection in which we talked about our presence on Bastimentos….
Today we woke up at around 7:00 and got ready for a day of hard work, but lots of fun. We walked outside to find that Maribeth had made us delicious scrambled eggs, rice and beans, and of course accompanied by Costa Rica’s famous Lizano sauce. We took a short bus ride to Coyote where…
Last night (around 1 am) one of our night patrol groups found a female Olive Ridley on the beach. We came across the turtle tracks that lead us to her and the nest that she was building! Elsie got to catch the eggs as the female turtle laid them. She counted 101 eggs in total…
Throughout this day we followed Sandro, one of the local tour guides through an organic farming tour where we learned about how the local people here in Rancho Verde use the environment to survive and consistently make food. Sandro is morally courageous because he took a risk by starting to become eco-friendly. He decided to…
Ashley shared her story about her daughter Esperanza. There is not enough work in Rancho Quemado, so she has to leave with her parents so that she can work in another town. It drove home the points from our pre-course curriculum about the economic challenges facing people in this region and the difficulty in balancing…
It was a great fifth day in Panama. We had a very packed schedule starting with a beach cleanup and a tour of the recycling center in Bocas. We learned about the roots and reasoning behind the issue of trash in Bocas and how groups like Unidos por Bocas are trying to implement a better…
We are thrilled to have arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica and anxiously await our final companion joining us tomorrow. Travel days are difficult. Even when all goes well, they are long days filled with early mornings or late nights. As several of our group experienced, sometimes you get both. A red eye from the…
Hola! To start off our fourth day in Panama we had a delicious breakfast of pancakes and fruit, followed by lesson planning for the community centers and a discussion about “learning service” vs. “service-learning. We discussed our intentions for this trip and how we can leave a positive impact on the communities we encounter. “Learning…
The group has arrived, enjoyed a meal together, and is tucking in for a well-earned rest.
The past 48 hours have been an extreme journey starting with the 3:45 am wake-up call on Sunday morning, which consisted of a four-hour flight to Dallas, a connecting flight to Houston, and then the last and final flight to Costa Rica. After a fog block and flying in circles for a good 45 minutes…
Hi from Bocas del Toro! We had a very exciting day at red frog beach! We played soccer and had a Sandcastle building competition! However, the most fun part of the day was playing lots of volleyball with some local kids at the beach Tomás and Emiliano. We had a nice dinner at a local…