Costa Rica arrival!

 The Costa Rica group arrived safely at SJO.  Stay tuned....

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Wednesday, June 5

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Hey Menlo Parents, It's us again, Jilynnette and Justin. We are currently in Cahuita on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. The students needed this break after shedding many tears this morning, saying goodbye to the places they have called home and the people they have called family for the past few weeks. It was especially hard on the host families who adopted all of our students with loving, kind, and open arms throughout the entire trip. We are looking forward to the next day and a half of relaxing, but more importantly, the students will spend a lot of time reflecting on their experiences. They will reflect on the hardships they have overcome, the frustrations of cultural differences they encountered, and celebrate all the wonderful and fond memories that will stick with them for a lifetime. Pictured below are all the students with their host families. Unfortunately, some of the host moms and dads had to leave for work early in the morning and are not pictured. Nos vemos, Jilynn...
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Friday, May 31

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 Hola!  We were all excited for a change in our routines. Taking a break from our homestays, we jammed out to music on the long, but fun, drive to La Fortuna. Our excursion began with a visit to the Maleku tribe, a group of indigenous Costa Ricans. We enjoyed another good local meal, with an appetizer straight out of a termite nest on our hike prior, which had everyone curious to try. The excitement calmed as we focused on painting jicaras with our favorite animals just like the artisans in the Maleku tribe. In the evening on Thursday, the hot springs and a nice three-course meal were a perfect way to end our first day away. Enjoying our first warm showers in over a week and a lazy morning, we felt energized and ready to conquer the three-mile hike around the Arenal Volcano in La Fortuna. Surprisingly, the hike felt shorter as we were awed by the wild animals, lagoon, and gorgeous views.  Hunger got the best of us, and we had a very late lunch. Devouring our food, we were...
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Saturday, May 25

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After packing up all our things last night, we all headed onto a bus and were each dropped off with our roommates at our homestay families. We spent the night playing games with the children, including soccer, Jenga, and Uno, and chatting with our new homestay parents, getting to know them. We then enjoyed delicious dinners prepared by our homestay parents and went to bed early after a long day. We woke up in our new homes, met by another tasty breakfast before getting picked up by the bus again and heading to the soccer clinic. On the bus, everyone excitedly talked about their different homestay families and all the animals that were at each of our houses, including dogs, cats, cows, rabbits, and some very loud roosters. Once there, Chino, a community organizer who runs the soccer clinic and used to play on the Costa Rica Premier Soccer League, talked to the group about the importance of shared values and coming together as a community. Before starting to play, we were introduced to a...
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