P. 3

A little cliff/waterfall jumping in the Costa Rican Rainforest.

July 19, 2012

Sadly, this is our final blog from Costa Rica. Tomorrow morning we will be up before the sun, heading for the airport and leaving the lush mountains and sunny beaches we have been enjoying for the past 10 days. Yesterday, we had fun meeting some local elementary school children and doing a beach cleanup with them. Everybody had one to two buddies they worked with to collect all the garbage. Once the beach was spotless, we took advantage of the sparkling sands to play some soccer with the kids. After working up a sweat in the hot sun, we jumped in the pool to cool off. In the afternoon we took a very short boat ride across the estuary to explore Tamarindo. We found some scrumptious gelato but that still didn't beat the heat so we headed back for a dip in the ocean. We rounded off the evening with a slide-show of photos of us surfing and a viewing of Endless Summer II. This morning we had our final surf lesson, then loaded up the bus to head back to San Jose. After a long, but well air-conditioned, bus ride we made it back and to a restaurant overlooking the whole city for our final dinner together.

The kids with their buddies.

July 17, 2012

Over the past few days we have toured San Jose, where we acquired some gifts and souveneirs and got a taste of the Costa Rican city life. Everyone had the chance to exercise their haggling skills at the artesians market where locals displayed and sold their wares. Some great deals were found...and some were not, however all had a great time interacting with the locals.

After San Jose we took a bus ride to surf camp that turned out to be a touch longer than expected, though all were patient, understanding and persevered. Upon arrival we had a quick meal and orientation with the staff before checking out the beautiful beach that our villas back up to. Some opted to go for a moonlit jog along the beach, while others stayed and swam in the pool.

Some crocs, large and small that were spotted on our mangrove tour.

About a week previous another group had taken a moonlit stroll that ended in a paddle through croc infested waters. they notified of this once they reached the far side, this resulted in a rather long taxi ride back to the hotel as the nearest bridge was 30 minutes away! We were sure to not take a dip as the crocs had been reported to have eaten a number of large dogs recently.

The next day, surf camp began with the basics. We had some awesome instructors which resulted in nearly everyone either managing to stand on the board or even catch a wave of their own after only an hour of instruction! In the afternoon we played some passing games and a cooking lesson on how to make some local dishes - pinto de gallo, empanadas  and fried plantains. Before chowing down we were treated to one of the most spectacular sunsets! All agreed that it was one of the most beautiful sunsets they had even seen!

schralpin' the gnar of course

Today we continued to surf in the morning with everyone's abilities improving dramatically!  Most can go out and catch a wave by themselves and ride it all the way in to shore. In the early afternoon we went to a presentation on Leatherback turtles and how the beach we have been enjoying is one of several beaches that is a nesting place for these endangered turtles. It was shocking to learn how few are left and that only 1 in 100,000 baby turtles lives to maturity, making tomorrow's beach cleanup so much more significant. Well, we're off to go learn the merengue dance!

July 15, 2012
A poem written by Jenna Blumenthal
Today we went and explored San José -
But first we had breakfast on a buffet.
We went to a market and shopped around town,
While we were eating ice cream, we even saw a clown!
We came back and played a hot lava game,
Then put Sam in 5 Minutes of Fame!
We are excited to go to our next week of surf camp -
I hope at the end we all feel like a champ!

The whole group in San Jose