The Rich Coast - Pura Vida

Costa Rica: EIL 2010

Words cannot describe how amazing my summer experience was with the Experiment in International Living. My life-changing trip to Costa Rica started off with a three-day stay in the capital city of San Jose. In San Jose, my group explored local venues, such as the downtown markets, the national museum, and the San Jose nature reserves. We left San Jose and traveled to San Gerardo, where we did a lot of hiking and bird-watching. We were fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of a Quetzal, the national bird of Guatemala.

We traveled for days through various Costa Rican cities and other nature reserves.

We continued through the first two weeks visiting many breath-taking places such as Corcovado National Park and Proyecto Campanario. Proyecto Campanario is a well-respected biological reserve located remotely outside of the park. This area is one of the only sites where there are no high-rise hotels. Instead, the forest line comes right up to the beach and is abundant with various types of wildlife.

After Campanario, we traveled to Uvita, a beautiful beach that is also home to the famous "whale's tail." We were fortunate to witness a stunning Costa Rican sunset over the "whale's tail" from our hotel balcony in Uvita.

From Uvita, we traveled to our host-families in Pejibaye, a small and remote village in the Cartago province located to the east of San Jose. The family that I stayed with was amazing. They were very accepting and went out of their way to make me feel as if I was a real member of their family. In Pejibaye, I participated in a lot of community service as my group and I worked to paint several murals on the walls of the local elementary school and to remodel the local meeting house. Every day was life-changing. My host-mother cooked every meal and always wanted to serve me first. I met my host-great-mother who was 101 years old! I was able to spend a lot of time with my host-brother and his friends and even our extended family. They truly made me feel as if I was a tico myself.

Everyone in Costa Rica was so happy to see and to spend time with us. It truly was Pura Vida down there.

After our departure from the host-families, we traveled to La Fortuna to visit one of the ten most active volcanoes in the world, the Arenal volcano. While in La Fortuna, we were fortunate enough to go zip-lining above the cloud forests and catch a glimpse of Lake Arenal, the largest lake of Costa Rica.

Whether it was finding our way through the very populated cities or it was hiking through the breathtaking rain and cloud forests, there was not a minute of downtime. I want to express how grateful I am for having the opportunity to experience this and there is no doubt in my mind that it has changed my life forever. I want to say thank you to MBA, Ms. Lanigan, the whole language department, and particularly to the Wilson family for making this wonderful experience possible.

-- Patrick Duffey 2011