The Last Day!

Remember the room below from the Day 3 blog?? It was filled with all kinds of stuff!

Well, today we officially finished the Communal. What a great feeling for everyone! We celebrated with a day on the beach, taking turns surfing (without an instructor!) and enjoy our last afternoon in Costa Rica. After the surfing stint at Playa Samara we headed over to Playa Berragona, an exciting beach filled with some exotic wildlife. Once there, Charlie Foerster, owner of C & C Surf School, threw an awesome barbeque. We all hung out together enjoying the food, company and the serene beauty around us. The sunset was incredible and the stars shined brightly with the only light around being our bonfire. For tonight's blog it seemed appropriate for the Triskallian team to give some thoughts on the students and the experience as a whole. Here they are!

Hello everyone, this is Jesse, Peter and Brian from Triskallian Tours. We just wanted to take a moment to let you know what a wonderful experience this has been on our behalf. Tomorrow morning we send the group off to the airport at San Jose. Earlier this evening, in a rare moment away from the kids, the three of us were reflecting on how it's going to be a bittersweet morning. It will be very sad to see them go; we have formed real, lasting friendships with each and every one of them. However, we are also excited to see them take what they have gained and extend it into their daily lives. We genuinely look forward to keeping in touch with them and watching them continue to develop into young adults. These mixed emotions often accompany the end of a voyage, and it is one of our favorite parts of traveling. It is partially this feeling that inspired us to start this company, and to be able to share this with a group of Peddie students we have come to care deeply about is rewarding. - Peter, Jesse, and Brian

PURA VIDA!

Almost there!

One more full day left after all of this ->

Hola everybody! Our trip is almost over, it's hard to believe. This week has flown by, each day packed with various activities. Today greeted us with a morning of painting. We got the kitchen, bathrooms, and most of the high up walls done. The community center has come a long way from that first day when we saw it. It's really awesome how well we all work together and still have a great time with it. I can't wait to stand back and look at the finished product that we made possible. The community of Samara really deserve a beautiful, clean environment for their events. After a vigorous work session, we all headed over to the beach to refresh ourselves and maybe get the paint off. The water here is absolutely beautiful, blue and at a perfect temperature. We had some down time after the beach before heading off to our next activity. Personally, I spent it wandering around town attempting to pick out gifts for people back home. I also took a trip to the supermarket for some delicious coconut cookies. Seriously, they are amazing. For our next outing, we walked over to a restaurant and met up with a group of kids who were there. Our activity? Karaoke! It was so much fun. The kids really seemed to enjoy themselves while singing their favorite songs. The children of Samara are really something. They have a deep appreciation for what they have and any kind of new activity for them is really special. We also witnessed this phenomenon when we showed them lacrosse, each child relishing the opportunity to learn something new. To sum up the karaoke, it was extremely amusing. The kids were cracking up. All the girls, myself included, sang "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)" joined by Ethan. During that song, while everyone was singing the lyrics as best as they could manage, I was struck by how close we became over the course of this trip. Everyone in this group is awesome, we all get along very well. It's also cool to watch people develop their sense of Pura Vida, and let go of those every day trivialities that circle our minds for no apparent reason. We have realized that, yes, it is really hot and there is paint all over us, and yes, there is still much work to be done, but what we are doing is beyond our complaints. We are serving a greater cause that deserves our attention more than our own selfish complaints. I hope that everyone carries this important message over back to our lives back in good ol' NJ and tries to remember the relaxed life of Pura Vida. See you guys soon!

-Sophia Siciliano

Hello everyone. Everything here is great and hope it is back at home too. Today we had the tedious job of finishing the painting in the community center. It really is humbling to look at what they had as a community center compared to what we have at home in the United States. We really are helping out a lot with our renovations and new coats of paint, but it was tough and tiring work. We were rewarded for our hard work by being given free time for about an hour or two, going to the beach, or shopping in town. Then we went to a restaurant where we had ice cream and sang karaoke with Costa Rican school kids, it was a blast. Having no stress and relaxing with the kids eating ice cream freed my mind of everything. After that we had free time again; I went shopping for some coffee beans and sat on the beach as the sun set. It was beautiful and calm. The scene on the beach was the icing on the cake for my day. although we work hard we are rewarded greatly by the small things nature provides us with, like the sun setting and the calm ocean. Pura Vida.

-Chris Allen

Advisor - Advisee picture from Chris!

Day 4!

And here is day 4!

Today was an exhilarating, high-energy day! It all started off with a 5am wakeup call to walk to the beach and see the sunrise over the mountains. Afterwards, we returned for an egg and toast breakfast and set off towards Buena Vista beach to help out with the sea turtle conservation project. In what felt like 500 degree weather, we planted palm trees along the beach to protect the beach from erosion, so that the sea turtles would have a place to lay their eggs. I was a "digger" -- meaning that I dug the holes that the coconut trees were planted in. I had so much fun with this job, helped out by the gardening skills provided my my dad, and worked with everyone else to plant about 3o palm trees along the beach. When we finished, we were filled with a huge feeling of accomplishment because we knew that we had done something that would be beneficial to the survival of the sea turtle population.

We returned to the Tico Lodge after a quick lunch and decided that for dinner, we would partake in a Cook-Off Challenge (boys vs. girls) to see who could shop and make the best meal with a given budget and cooking appliances. The girls team and I shopped in town, and while we went slightly over the budget, we managed to buy all that we needed to prepare a tasty dinner. Afterwards, some of us went down to the beach to surf, tan, or play in the sand, while others (myself included) remained at the lodge to swim in the pool and take a relaxing nap in a hammock. Then, we all piled in the van to take a hike through the Costa Rican rainforest to this secluded beach, where we spotted crabs and enjoyed the wonderful scenery. On top of a bridge, we observed a gigantic crocodile devour our chicken meat bait. I was expecting to see a tiny baby croc, but when a gigantic 5ft crocodile emerged from the swamp to snatch the bait, I was terrified and thrilled! 

We then continued walking to a beautiful hotel that overlooked the beach, the ocean, and the vibrant setting sun. Sipping pina coladas, taking memorable photos, and spending time with each other in front of the sunset was a perfect way to relax after the hard day's work. We returned to the lodge and busily prepared our meals for the cook-off challenge. The boys grilled steaks and served them with grilled vegetables and rice. However, the girls won (of course :) ) with cooked pasta and red sauce, garlic cheese bread, and fruit dipped in chocolate for dessert. At last, we all gathered together to congratulate ourselves on our hard work today and look ahead to plans for tomorrow.

Overall, today was a day filled with delicious meals, tiring yet rewarding community service, a scenic hike and beaches, a thrilling view of a crocodile, and watching both the sunrise and sunset together as one bonded group of newfound friends. 

-Lindsay Spring

Today was really fun-filled and memorable! Watching the sunrise and sunset in one day was beautiful. Waiting for the sunrise we all gathered to take a picture of our words,"Peddie in C.R.", surrounded by our feet. After the sunrise we headed back to the Tico Lodge for breakfast. From breakfast we headed directly to Buena Vista to help the turtle conservation by planting precious coconut trees to help stop the beach erosion. After a long day of working on the beach under the hot cooking sun we finally finished by planting many trees in either the cotton debris or in the dead shrubbery. All we were given were a couple of machetes and some shovels to make all these transformations to make the beach more enjoyable and to allow the turtles to have a better habitat. 

After exiting the turtle conservation camp we went back to the lodge to either go surfing for a half an hour or to get food for our Boys V. Girls Costa Rica  Iron Chef Cook-off. I chose surfing. It was my first time surfing alone, I still tried, although I was not very successful. After gathering supplies for dinner, the group went on a hike  through some exhilarating paths. From the voyage we then walked to try and find crocodiles which ended up coming out to greet us on the bridge. We dangled chicken above them, using a fishing line as we lured them near enough for some pictures up close. From the hungry crocodiles we headed up to a mountain where we chilled drinking some juices and watching the sunset on the beach. We then waited after sunset for our ride back to the lodge to start our dinners.

 For dinner the males prepared steak, along with rice and some pineapple. The females prepared some pasta with tomato sauce, some cheesy garlic bread, and for dessert, some chocolate and fruit. After our loss the males had to do the dirty dishes but it was all worth it; after all it was a hard fought battle.

  Today was a great, not too stressful day and it brought out "Pura Vida" -- no stress, relax, no worries. From being in the most beautiful places all week I very much enjoyed today's itinerary and hope to have tomorrow be just as wonderful as today and the week so far.

  

-Ethan Kibrick

Another Day of Rewarding Works!

Beach clean up at 6:30AM, painting in 90+ degree heat(no pics here), lacrosse with the El Torito kids(you can't tell but there were over 100 of them)...another full day of work.

After a successful day, cleaning out the community center, to day started off with more hard work, this time repainting the walls a mint green color. Without the steady breeze we had yesterday the heat was a killer. Realizing we had loads of work to do we made the proper decision to hold off the surfing lesson in order to pursue our main goal of renovating the center. 

After a short break on the beach with fresh watermelon and cantaloupe we got our spirits up and knocked out hours of painting. The jobs were tedious; they included varnishing the kitchen counters, painting many bars with non-corrosive paint and getting on ladders to reach the high ceilings.

With a great lunch from our favorite restaurant we headed back to the lodge to prepare the lacrosse sticks to hand over to CREAR, the after school program we are working with. At the El Torito school nearby we had a lacrosse clinic and played games such as keep away. It was a "deporte nuevo" (new sport) for the kids and the looks on their faces to hold the stick and learn to throw was worth bringing them here. I, along with the others, felt their Spanish improve drastically from playing with the kids. 

The group had a walk back from the school and then we spread out, some going to get ice cream, some shopping, and others coming back to the pool. We had another successful and very fun day here in Costa Rica! We're off to bed to get up early to watch the sunrise! 

-Kristin Kay

Waking up this morning and walking straight to the beach was a wonderful way to start our day. We headed over there to pick up some garbage and help clean the beaches. This was a great way for all of us to get into the "volunteering spirit" and ease the transition between waking up and going to work. We came back and had some french toast with bananas and mangos.

From there we all headed over to the community center carrying a 24 foot extension ladder that would later help us out with our painting. We started work immediately and everyone did a great job getting involved. Everyone was varnishing wood and within 10 minutes all of it was more or less finished. Unfortunately, none of us wore gloves during this escapade and most of us were trying to get a sticky layer of gunk off of our hands. We spent very valuable time trying to clean ourselves rather than worrying about what needed to get done next. Due to this setback, we were unfortunately unable to go surfing because we started falling a little bit behind schedule. After taking a quick break and enjoying some fruit on the beach, we were no longer fazed by the varnish coating on our hands and got down to work.

Everybody was focused all the way through lunch and up to the point we had to leave. We completed a majority of the painting and only have about one more coat left to paint.

From the community center we headed back to the lodge and assembled the lacrosse sticks that were donated to one of the local schools. In total, we assembled 84 sticks in about 10 minutes and then headed straight to the local school. While we were there, we taught all of the kids what lacrosse was and showed them the basics of how to play. Most of the kids caught on quickly and all of them enjoyed playing this new sport and running around with us. It was very nice to see all of the kids truly enjoying themselves doing something that they had never even seen before our arrival. I personally had a lot of fun doing this.

After spending some time with the kids, we walked back to the lodge and rinsed off the paint and varnish from earlier. We enjoyed some pizza for dinner and our daily discussion, reflecting on the events that occurred throughout our day. We all are looking forward to participating in the turtle conservation tomorrow as well as the hike that has been planned for all of us. 

-Brian Tedeschi

Best Day Yet!!

I'll let our student bloggers tell the story!

The day was kicked off with a casual stroll along the beach for some of us, while others worked out or slept during the sunrise. But the real story begins when we reached the community center. Yesterday, a few of us saw the community center through the rough bars and I, for one, honestly did not see the real disaster that awaited us inside. Today, we met our foes which were inches of dust, grime, thousands of ants, run-down furniture, and grotesque graffitied walls. With all of these enemies we found it a little hard to believe that we worked together as well as we did. Each person contributed to sanding the doors, scrubbing the walls, ideas for our painting, but most importantly motivation and support. The majority of us have never worked 7 hour manual work days, but nobody ever complained or turned down an offer to help someone else, or exchange jobs. I do not think I heard one person complaining but everybody was laughing and communicating as if we were just hanging out. No doubt that we were all tired and by the last hour some of us wanted to throw in the towel but there was always another member of the team there saying, "it's okay we're almost done for the day, keep going." But now after relaxing a little bit a lot of us cannot wait to go back and finish what we started, giving these kids a clean community center in which they will be more than happy to go to on a regular basis.

During our reflections out on the beach, underneath the stars, we were reminded that people do things like this on a regular basis and receive no thanks for it but merely a paycheck which they need to use to support their families. And although we are not saving lives, we are still doing something that will impact people for a long time to come. After putting that into perspective we looked back on all the work that we completed during those 7 not so long hours of manual labor a lot of us still felt a sense of accomplishment and pride. I believe this is well deserved considering that everybody is truly embracing the Pura Vida lifestyle and doing things that they never thought they would. On that note it has been a rather long day for all of us. See you all soon! Pura Vida!

- Jenn Creel

Today was a great and productive day in Costa Rica. With an early morning walk on the beach preparing us for our long day, we were both prepared and excited to take on the long list of tasks that were planned for the Samara community center. The condition of the community center and the rooms within it were horrible to say the least. Rooms were covered with dirt, dust, and countless other types of garbage that needed to be cleaned. With the help of the entire group, many pieces of dusty furniture were carried out of the community center to let the full cleanup begin. Rooms were cleared, walls were washed, support beams were dusted, and wood was sanded during several hours of group effort. The result for one day of work was nothing short of phenomenal. The amount of effort was immense as we all worked together as a team to tackle each task. While yesterday offered its fun in a thrilling and spectacular way, today delivered a feeling of joy to the entire group as we realized the great impact we are making for the community in Samara. It felt incredible to know how many people we would be helping knowing that the community center will be used much more frequently than before we had started. After the long and hard day of work, we are all still prepared to finish what we have started in the community center. See you tomorrow. Pura Vida.

- Tommy Brophy