Pura Vida: Reflecting on Costa Rica

Photo credit to Catherine Graves

About 18 months ago, Ms. Moreau, a Beacon math teacher, had the idea of bringing 35 students to Costa Rica for a cultural exploration trip.  The idea was sparked after she had made several trips down herself, changing her perspective on life and the way she lived it.  When I signed up for the trip I had never been out of the country, and the sound of warm weather in February during my senior year had sold me right away.  The itinerary of the trip was to go from coast to coast to experience the different cultures throughout the country, as well as seeing those changes for ourselves.

With a 4am start the morning of Friday (the 13^th) morning at LaGuardia airport, we landed in San Jose in the afternoon and hit the ground running from the East Coast. We met our driver, Minor, and our 24/7 tour guide Gerardo. The two would stay with us on the 8 day trip, driving and leading us through their home country. 

The most overused word on this trip would definitely be "rustic", specifically in context of the 2nd place that we stayed: Ilán Ilán Lodge. The villa "resort" was just along the waters of Tortuguero, and I am not kidding when I say just along. We had to take a boat to go anywhere from there and back. Many may complain about this specific stay because of the scary nights full of Howler Monkeys, geckos, humongous insects, as well as the lack of Wi-Fi,  electrical outlets, and hot water. However in the grand scheme of things I really didn't mind. The time spent in Ilán Ilán was important because I got to know everyone outside of school and social media. As a senior, it was especially important to me because before the trip I had barely spoken to half of these students.  We only have a certain amount of time left, so all of those hours that we spent without from Wi-Fi we got to bond and that was really amazing.

First Lunch at Ilán Ilán 

I realized on the last night that some of my favorite moments were spent during "in between" moments, like between traveling to a new hotel or destination on the buses and between dinner and curfew.  There was one day when we had had a long traveling time from a waterfall to the hotel and a group of senior girls and I reminisced about our favorite times at Beacon (a majority of them had been during Freshman and Senior year). It was fun to laugh at moments we had to dig up to remember and all of the embarrassing things we might have done, and how 3 years can bring so much change.  In the first night at Ilán Ilán a small group had gotten together in someone’s room and we had went around sharing funny stories. Lots of games and improv activities were played; cards, word games, making music videos with "Video Star" and the most popular, Odds Are.

My Pura Vida moment came on our last full day.  We had hiked to a waterfall, took mud baths and then proceeded to a hot spring.  How many times in my life am I going to have a chance to do that? As I entered the refreshingly warm waters of the spring I had this overwhelming feeling of happiness and I don't think I have ever been more grateful in my life. For my friends, family, and the experiences that have been and hopefully will be given to me in the future. I didn't need anything else in those moments but the people around me and Costa Rica.

Lastly, I would like to personally yet publicly thank Ms. Mo for setting everything up (I know you're crazy because you love us) and coming up with this idea in the first place.  Along with the chaperones who were amazing: to get to know none the less; Ms. Schmidt (my group/squad chaperone), Mr. Traglio, Mr. McKenna, and Ms. Joya. I have also only had one of the chaperones as an actual teacher at Beacon, and nothing was better then to be out of school with them for 8 days (and I mean that in the nicest way possible). All of them are amazing adults, and have personalities I would have never gotten to see in a classroom. 

As a senior who is only a few months away from graduating, I can say that this has been the greatest experience I have had as a part of the Beacon community.

Survivors
 - Photo credit to Laura Nascimento