Day 1: May 31, 2025
¡Bienvenidos a Costa Rica University of North Carolina Charlotte! What better way to start this journey than with food, specially traditional costarican dishes like a casado or arroz con pollo. ¡Muy rico! We headed to a beautiful city called Heredia where the students were super exited to meet their new costarican homes and families.
Day 2: June 1, 2025
We started the day going to the local marker ¡La feria de Zapote! It is a very traditional marker where plenty of fruits and vegetables can be seen, very fresh. After an exciting morning, the group had a tour in the capital of the country, San José. They got to explore the Teatro Nacional which is a very important and historical building. Just like time traveling!
Day 3: June 2, 2025
Una muy tranquila mañana ¿No lo creen? The group enjoyed the morning visiting the San Joaquín de Flores Church, very beautiful; we also had a little game to get to know more about the city. ¡A scravenger hunt! We interacted with locals and explored. In the afternoon, our professors waited for us to teach us a lot of new spanish vocabulary.
Day 4: June 3, 2025
¡A trabajar duro! Today the group volunteered at a local school in Heredia, after a short explanation of the ONG and being handed the correct equipment, the group was more than ready to start the action! Painting walls, cleaning and washing some furniture were some of the efforts made to make a difference and a better academic environment for the local students. We played with the kids too!
Day 5: June 4, 2025
With still some work to do at the school the group returned again super exited. They continued working on the organic vegetable garden the school has, later on we got to participate in an school activity where the kids danced and played in the band.¡Que bello!
Day 6: June 5, 2025
A free morning! Some of the group were able to sleep more while others decided to continue exploring the streets of Chepe, which is another way of refering to the capital city. In the afternoon the group had clases, they played grammar games and continue learning spanish. Getting better every day!
Day 7: June 6, 2025
Mishka! That's welcome in Bribri, one of the indigenous tribes in Costa Rica. The group traveled early in the morning to the indigenous territory, crossing the Telire River. They reached Casa Cónica which is a ceremonial house where a curandera, the healer of the village, greets them by singing.
Day 8: June 7, 2025
¡Medicina Bribrí, impresionante! The students learned amazing details about medicinal plants common to the area, in gardens or the forest close to the village. It is incredible the ability of the Bribriís to find these kinds of plants and know all their uses. After a delicious lunch of local cuisine and an amazing experience at the village, the group headed to the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. ¡Vamonos!
Day 9: june 8, 2025
after the great experience in talamanca with the bribries, the group continued to the coast where everyone wanted La playa, they were excited about,so one of the activities was to visit the cahuita national park where they walked through the tropical humid forest, some of them spotted a sloth, tucan, and lovely family of capuchin monkeys. right after was the time for chapuzon on the sea. incredible day ending at the hotel with a delicious rice and beans with chicken typical dish of this area.
Day 10, june 9;2025
what an end in caribeanside, listening one of the most follklorical music in cahuita which is the calipso music, they started playing and students started dancing with the rhythm, then they were sharing with the musicians and trying to play la Conga which is the instrument.
after the beautiful show, we were getting ready for lunch because after we were going back to Heredia.
Day 11, June 10, 2025
After unforgettable weekend on the caribeanside, it sounds great to have part of the morning off ,some of them , they took that morning to sleep a little bit more, others they did laundry with mamá tica and also they went to spent some time with their classmates in the cafeteria.
During the break some played soccer in the campus and they were talking about soccer culture in Costa Rica because they knew that "la sele" soccer team of costa rica was going to play.
After clases they were going to watch the soccer match with their families.
Day 12, June 11, 2025
Cocinando a lo tico! Ready for the costa rican cooking clases, they got ready for this new activity where they cook for themselves, firstly they started learning the names of the vegetables and utensils.
Then, they were preparing the dish " picadillo de chayote con carne molida" some were cutting, others chopping and also making the homemade Tortillas.
Once everything was prepared.
We set the table and we ate the delicious food that they prepared, "buen provecho "
