Category Archives: Costa Rica & Nicaragua 2015

On the Pacific Coast

18 May 2015

On the Pacific Coast

The first day we arrived in Uvita, Costa Rica and we had a more relaxed day on the beach. Many of the students were playing soccer, swimming in the ocean, and walking the beach. Several students had surfing lessons in the morning. After lunch at the Flutterby house, where we were staying, we hosted a soccer clinic at a Christian school in Uvita for children under the age of 14. There were three different stations where the kids learned passing, juggling, and teamwork skills.

Later, we went to a turtle reserve in Dominical, and learned about the different types of turtles in Costa Rica, and the ways they protect the turtles. Then we did a service project at a primary school down the road from the turtle reserve. At the school we painted two classrooms, we did cleanup around the school, and then made a garden. Overall it was more of working with the community by working hands-on and interacting with them. Continue reading

Managua

Dominical: relaxing and rafting

18 May 2015

After leaving San José we traveled down to Dominical, Costa Rica. As soon as we drove into the town there was an amazing environment of a surfing town. Every person was extremely laid back and going with the motion. No one was in a hurry to do anything other than hitting the waves. Once we got off the bus we all headed towards the beach to get food. As we looked around, we were amazed because there was the most wonderful market right in front of us.

There was a great amount of time spent at the market. Throughout the time we stayed there we had a pool and a much needed hangout area. On the second day we did a thirty minute walking tour plus zip lining. We all had to get strapped in and sent off with a leader and a catcher. There was a total of eight different zip lines that lasted an average of 15-18 seconds of air time; while zip lining it did not seem that long because we were all admiring the beauty around us. Continue reading

Managua

La Liga vs. Saprissa National Semi-Final

12 May 2015

From La Fortuna, we made our way to San José, Costa Rica. The Studio Hotel where we stayed was beautiful, with a roof-top pool. The first thing we did was get cleated up and play a 5v5 tournament where the winner stays on the field. From there we had a relaxing night to ourselves where most people went to bed early, watching TV. The next morning we made our way towards a park to play soccer and go to a nearby festival. The festival was promoting being active daily. There were items such as rollerblading, skateboarding, boxing, Zumba, and much more occurring on the streets. We all went back to the hotel for a break before the exciting semifinal game for the Division 1 league of Costa Rica. It was a rowdy game with an intense atmosphere, much different than any American sporting event. Since we have a diverse group from several sports, we conducted an interview  to know people’s reactions to the game. Continue reading

Home stays

Morgan, Elisa, Jelly:

Going into the home stay was nerve racking because our family didn’t speak any English and we didn’t know much Spanish to communicate with them. We found a way to communicate with them by hand signals and little key words. Some ways we bonded with them were playing Spanish twister and eating hot chili peppers around the dinner table and laughing at everyone’s reactions.  We bonded with our 11 year old host brother André by playing soccer, jumping on the trampoline, teaching him English, and Elisa by chasing him with a toad (Sapo). When it came time to leave, it was a lot harder than we thought it would be.

Aislinn, Becca, Michael, and Rachel:

We entered our house a little more confident than most groups because we had a little more assistance with translating since Michael was staying with us. As we walked through the doors the host mother and one of the daughters were open arms in greeting us. They were so kind and so open Continue reading

Managua

Visiting the Maleku tribe

  1. May 2015

We started our travels early in the morning; it was roughly a 3 hour drive to the Maleku reservations, near the town of Guatuso. Once we got there, a truck took our luggage up to our location while we walked on a long, strenuous, hilly, and rocky road. By the time we got up to the dining area, we were all extremely sweaty because of the strenuous walk we were not prepared for. Once we got up to the dining area we had lunch. The locals knew we were on the reservations so they wanted to play a pickup game of soccer. On our way down to the pickup game we walked through the village to invite people to come watch or to come play.

The next morning we woke up and had breakfast around 7:00. We then split up into two groups; the first group took a tour in the dry forest and the second group worked on an art of painting on a shell of a fruit. The tour in the dry forest consisted of our guide Alex showing all of us plants that are medically used Continue reading

Managua

An introduction to Nicaragua

4. May 2015

We departed from EMU at 6:00 a.m. after 24 students were asked to show their passports. All but 1 were able to do so. The other sends her parents on a trek, first towards home, then turn around and chase the bus towards the airport. Phone calls were exchanged often to check on mile-markers to see if the pursuit vehicle was gaining…33 minutes, then 28, then 25, the two vehicles are getting closer. Twenty miles onto Route 66 we decide to stop for a quick breakfast at the Golden Arches in an effort to both give the group a final opportunity for a familiar American breakfast, and allow the chase vehicle to make up some ground. Within 20 minutes the chase vehicle arrives, and drops off the goods. We board the bus and head to Dulles. And so, the adventure begins.

The flight took us from Dulles to San Salvador, to a final destination of Managua. We touched down on time at 3:49. Going through customs was a breeze, then students observed the variety of sights, sounds, and smells of the city as we drove through the streets of Managua. We arrived at Quinta Shalom guesthouse for a hot meal of chicken, pasta, rice, salad, fruit drink, and for those that had room, an iced white cake.
-Rogelio

The first day in Nicaragua was spent touring Granada, Continue reading

Managua