Into the Wild!

Hi! Lizzie here.

Today we started out a little before 8 am for our walk of one mile to Escuela Cristo Rey. Because this was our last visit, we jumped into our classes: PE, Art, and Library. In PE, the fifth graders today were fast learners. As we dived into playing a game against each other, they were pretty good! In Art, we did our interviews with the children to learn more about their lives and customs. In Library, we started to make a blog between Crane and Cristo Rey, so we can keep in touch with each other. After we finished, we enjoyed a delightful performance. We sang Costa Rica’s national anthem and flag anthem and watched their choral poetry group. Interestingly enough, they actually sang our national anthem, too. A high-school dance group called “Breaking Streets” also performed some hip-hop, as the name suggests. Some of us also performed. Camila, Shelagh, Arin, Anna, Leah, Sienna, and Isabel did a song, with cups as instruments. Gabby did some gymnastic moves, and Mia did some flamenco, with the help of Shelagh. When the fun and festivities were over, we ate a meal at the school of rice with chicken, beans and salad. The drink that was served was, as Anna said, like “drinking liquid bubble gum,” only it was a mixture of fruits. Then we headed back in the 1:00 sun, back for river rafting.

Laura led a fascinating conversation with Cristo Rey fifth graders

Hello, Merith here!

            Where did we leave off? Ah, yes, river rafting! We had so much fun! So, after we arrived at the lodge, we immediately went to change into our bathing suits and set off to Hacienda La Linda. There we put on all of our equipment: life jackets, helmets, and paddles. We had a brief lesson on how to river raft properly and how to “save your life” when you were in trouble…like me (no comment). Anyway, to begin we could jump off a small cliff (10-feet-ish). Almost everyone wanted to go. It was a very fun experience! Everyone has a photo of them jumping off, so we can see that later. At last, we got onto the multi-colored rafts that were pretty comfortable, if I do say so myself. There were six people on the raft, seven if you count the guide. So, there were 6 groups with 5 kids, 1 teacher, and a guide who would tell you to paddle forward, backward, etc. We got wet from head to toe, mostly because we were doing something called “Raft Wars,” which is when we tried to splash people with water. Some people fell into the water on accident…or on purpose (mainly Jonathan!). Some of the rapids were fast, and some were slow. Some of them even had names. For example, one was called “Ay, Caramba!” while another one was named “Air Force.” There was also one that was named “Surprise!” because you bump into a wall (don’t fret, no one was hurt at all). It even rained in the middle of our ride. After some awesome pineapple and watermelon on a little break, it was time to head back. Every single person said that they enjoyed and loved it. Since it was my first time, I really did love it! This was a very nice conclusion to our visit. So sad to leave tomorrow, but see you very soon (Lizzie says so, too)!

Elizabeth one last time:

Tomorrow we head back to San Jose for some city adventures before we catch our evening flight, so this could be our last post. We are all agreed that this has been a special trip, and the kids are eager to tell you all about it in person. See you in the parking lot!