El final

After almost two weeks in Pura Vida aka Costa Rica, Y-Immersion Costa Rica has made a safe journey home! The way back was much more doable as our flights were only delayed a total of 90 mins and we were provided with blankets and cots for our overnight layover in Dallas :)

The final step now will be bringing our trip back to the Twin Cities. From what we learned about conservation we are confident that we can re-emphasize the importance of conservation through basic means such as recycling, not littering, planting native crops and not domesticating wild animals. These may seem pretty basic, or a little strange but it is important to think about the cycle that one is interrupting when doing these things.

Overall the trip was very enjoyable and we now have one correspondent (Rui) stationed in Costa Rica until April to provide us with more information that will no doubt make us extremely jealous... to say the least.

-Dustin

We are almost here at the end of the trip. Tomorrow morning we head back down to San Jose for the journey home. I have been very interested in what I have seen on this trip. A country on the tipping point between a first world and third world economy, a multitude of natural resources at its disposal, and a conflicting will to both protect the environment that gives this country its beauty, and also grow economically. It has been trying to do both through functions such as eco-tourism or even delving into functions such as bio-digesters and other forms of locally grown energies. Any form of tourism has its downfalls though, as you can see an area lose its spirit and culture under the greedy hordes coming in from other countries to see Costa Rica. It isn´t always a bad thing, but if you let it get out of control (think Cancoon) things can get out of hand and you can strip away the very meaning of your country in exchange for some money in return. Costa Rica has some interesting choices over the coming years, and there actions are going to be the example for the other countries in this region to follow for either success or faliure of their economic and their environmental concerns.

Nick Spartz

We arrived in Santa Clara last night, and today is our first day at Amureci. We meet the women who started the organization and they explained a little about what they do. The organization a group of women who started their own business by recycling paper and making it into Journals, photo frames, and other paper souveniers. They started their business 7 years ago and it has been growing ever since. We spent the morning learning how they make paper and decorating our own photo frames. This afternoon we plan on having lunch with a family near by and going for a hike. The weather has been treating us well, and everyone is having a good time!

Update 1-14

Ahh another day, and more adventures. Today we went on a canopy tour of the jungle around La Fortuna. That involved flying down a series of zip lines to reach platforms which we 100 plus feet in the air. We rode horses to get there, which was a lot of fun. Tonight we will be hanging out in some hot springs and hiking around the volcano Arenal that looms over the entire town. There had been tons of hiking, walking, climbing, and falling. We have been stuffing our faces with food, which is offset by all these activities! We are looking forward to staying with a new set of Costa Ricans for the remainder of the week.

Hello all,

Today was very eventful. In the morning we cleared some rainforest brush and planted bananas and yuca plants. This afternoon we will be able to relax and hang out with our host families and later this evening we will be touring an English school for teachers learning how to teach English as a second language.

So far our trip has been excellent. Each day we have done something new and fun. Our first afternoon we went swimming in a local river and last night we went to a families house to watch a soccer game between two of the countries biggest rivals. Comming up we will be going to a rainforest on Sunday and we will be enjoying some tourist activities on Monday before we go to our next stop at Amureci. Some of the group members already know that it is going to be hard for them to leave in a little more than a week.

Hasta luego,

We have arrived in Pura Vida

Hola,

First of all, thank you to the parents who drove out to the airport. It was greatly appreciated by our group. After one cancelled flight, and two delayed flights we have finally arrived in Costa Rica. We flew into San Jose about 5pm on Monday night. We took a van to our host families in San Carlos. There are two or three students living with each family. Jered Bright and I (Eric Garvey) are staying with Castelia (mother) and her son Mario who is 26 years old. On Tuesday morning we were transported to Proyecto Asis which is run by a guy named Alvaro. We were split into groups to complete different projects. One group worked on making concrete and cemented the floor of a cage for Benjamin who is a kinkajou. The other group worked on pulling weeds and clearing the walking paths at Proyecto Asis. Proyecto Asis is all about wildlife and rainforest conservation.

After volunteering for they morning, everyone was dropped off with their host families for lunch and after lunch we were transported to Pechuga River. The river is formed by water coming from the nearby mountain. A few brave souls jumped from the bridge into the water, but no worries, it was only a 15 foot jump. Last night was spent with our host families relaxing and eating dinner. Though people are a bit tired from all the traveling, Costa Rica has rejuvenated our spirits and it has been an amazing trip thus far.

This morning after breakfast, Alvaro picked us up and we then traveled on a bus to the city of Quesada. We have been shopping all morning as well as saw the church here and the main park. This afternoon we will be taking salsa classes. I am writing to you all from an internet cafe down the street. The bus is coming in 5 minutes, so I better get going. Adios!

Tuanis,
Eric Garvey

Jamie

Hey! I'm Jamie from Minnetonka area in MN. I am currently a sophmore at the U of M working on an animal science degree. I love to travel but other than traveling around the US quite a bit I've only been to Mexico. I'm super excited for Costa Rica and the exploring the rainforest and all the animals around, along with getting to know the host families! Only a few more days!