MAY 2024

COSTA RICA

From May 12th to May 21st, a group of CCS students went on a 10 day study abroad to Costa Rica.

May 12

We arrived late to San Jose due to some lovely flight delays. The sun showed it’s face for about an hour before the rain from the jungle came. We wondered around the streets near our hotel, brushing up on our spanish and grabbing snacks for the room.

May 13

The morning started with an early bus ride out to San Carlos where we went to a small food store that had colorful native fruits and candies laid out for all of us to try! We got back on the bus and went to Arenal National Park to view and swim near the Fortuna Waterfall. It was over 500 steps down to the base of the waterfall. The water was ice cold but felt amazing against in the jungle humidity. We went back up to the buses and made our way to a resort with hot springs that were naturally heated from the volcano above! If you ever go to Costa Rica, I highly recommend checking out Baldi Hot Springs Hotel & Spa!!

May 14

Our night prior did not go as planned, we had no hot water and roaches were everywhere! But our hotel was flooded from the rains so we had to make do with what we could find! We found a cool local artist market and purchased some art and sculptures for home! Later that night we left the hotel and explored downtown fortuna and went to a local bar playing life music! We did Jager shots and tried to dance to the music all night, as stray dogs followed us back to our taxis, we said good bye to the furry friends we made and turned in for the night.

May 15

We woke up early to travel to the Arenal Volacnic National park. We hiked up the base of the mountain, sweating with every step. We spent the day hiking through the trails and asking our tour guide, Jackie, about her life and travels. We took a long bus ride back to the hotel, and went to bed.

May 16

We rode the bus a few hours to the top of the cloud forest. We took a guided trail through the foggy trees, looking oout for lizards, birds, and even tarantulas! (we did see two on the walk back) We got to the staircase in the middle of the woods, we walked all the way up above the clouds. I could watch the clouds roll over the mountains like a wave. We went on a night trail later that evening, finding scorpions and snakes with out trail guide. Morgan stood in a hill of red ants and was being bitten all the way up to his chest! We found some cool critters but were swatting red ants off of us for the rest of the night.

May 17

We got ready wuth the sunrise to go ziplining. I’ve done it a dozen times before but it still stresses me out when I suit up! We even got Morgan to join us on the ziplinig, (he’s scared of heights, a true feat.) It was a lot of fun but I was ready to be unhooked and get lunch! After lunch we went on a boat tour of Rio Grande de Tarcoles, a river that runs from the west coast through San Jose, and filled with killer crocs. They have all eaten people too. We settled the night watching the sunest from our hotel, Punta Leona.

May 18

Today was a Beach day! We stayed on the hotel property and lounged on La Playa Blanca & La Playa Mantas all day. We had a small hiccup when Veronica broke her nose when swimming but she was taken to urgent care and given some meds, all was well! We ended the night dancing at the hotel bar with Morgan and Jackie until we passed out!

May 19

We went to a local artisan market in Sorachi. I was able to pick some local art to give to my friends and family. We stayed in the Sorachi area and visited a coffee plantation (bleh) I still tried coffee but hated every sip! We ended the night at the top of a mountain side, over looking San Jose, we watched performances of traditional Costa Rican dances, and we joined in!

May 20

Our last day in Costa Rica was spent white water rafting. I was absolutley terrified, I forgot to put sunscreen on, My skin hated me after that! We dodged rocks and trees, but we survived! We ended the night relaxing in the hotel pool, reminiscing from the past 9 days of adventure.

SAN CARLOS︎︎︎