Last November I made the decision to apply to the Global Glimpse travel program. When I was first accepted I was beyond excited that I may actually get to travel out of the country for the first time! Then I began to have some doubts and grew nervous that I wouldn’t be able to fundraise enough for my trip, scared that I would hate it there and be stuck for 2 weeks, and anxious about not having access to my phone for so long. However, traveling to Costa Rica was one of the best decisions I have ever made and truly a life-changing experience for me.
This June I traveled to the small town of Turrialba in the central mountainous range of Costa Rica. I was accompanied by a group of 19 other teenagers, the same age as me, from all over northern California. These people, who I hadn’t met until I stepped foot into the airport the day of my flight, became my new best friends for 2 weeks. Since our phones were taken away on the trip we all had the chance to make genuine connections and be more present with each other in the moment. We also learned to be vulnerable and comfortable around each other very quickly after everyone got a stomach bug; there was only 1 bathroom to share in each cabin.
On the trip, there were many opportunities not only for us to explore the culture but also to learn about it and give back to the community. My favorite day by far was one that we got to spend with a local Costa Rican family. They invited me into their home, taught me how to cook a delicious authentic lunch, chatted with me about their culture, showed me their family, and exchanged life stories with me. After lunch, I got to play soccer with a bunch of local kids at the community field and the host family gave us ice creams called bolis to cool off. The way that the people in the small village in Turrialba welcomed us although they had no reason to and we could barely speak Spanish inspired me.
Later on in the trip we began our service project. Our task was to paint one of the village’s local elementary schools called Escuela Eslabon. It was essentially an elementary school, but not the kind you may be picturing. Only around 50 kids attend school there and they share minimal classrooms and teachers. The hours of class time there are much earlier than what we are used to in the US because many of the children’s parents must drop them off before heading to their coffee bean picking job in the early morning. During our time there, we were able to finish painting the inside and outside of 2 classrooms, as well as rip out and redo out the flooring in one. Our working days were long, so the school was happy to let us eat the cafeteria food for lunch every day, especially since we were doing the job for free. They served rice and beans and some kind of meat along with it every single day.
Aside from immersing myself in the local community, I also really enjoyed the nature I experienced there. While I wasn’t lucky enough to spy a sloth, or a toucan, or go to the beach and see a turtle, the plants and jungle ecosystem were still some of the most amazing scenery I’ve ever experienced. During the first week of the trip we took a hike to the most gorgeous waterfall ever. Cataratas las Trillizas took us hiking through a thick jungle with lots of unique bugs and plant species, down into a ravine where the water fell from way above, down into a swimming hole. We all had the opportunity to get in the water – which was surprisingly not as cold as I imagined – and experience the true beauty of Costa Rica with nothing but the sounds of nature surrounding us. It is hard to say what my favorite part of the trip was but this moment may have been in my top 3.
Each day back at our base camp, the host family cooked 3 delicious meals for all 20 of us. Our diet consisted of lots of rice and beans but also some Costa Rican classic dishes including plantains, fresh papaya or guava in the morning, and yucca. While many of us enjoyed trying this new food, it became extremely difficult to eat it for two weeks straight with no access to our comfort American food. It didn’t make it any easier that a lot of us grew sick with exposure to the new gut microbiomes, and became nauseous at just the smell of food. Overall I enjoyed where we stayed. There was a decent-sized pool for us to cool off in after suffering in the 90-degree humidity all day. A large common area where we had nightly meetings and listened to a guest speaker each day also treated us to a movie night a few times. The cabins were what you would expect, not super fancy, but were cozy and did the job. Even with the endless stream of insects that made their way in through the windows that did not close the whole way, I was still able to get a solid 8-10 hours of sleep every night falling asleep to the sounds of the jungle through the ultra-thin walls. In the evenings after dinner I also enjoyed spending my time on the rocking chair on our porch, reading a good book and writing in my journal, trying to kill each leafcutter ant that was brave enough to crawl up my shin. I got super close with the 3 other girls I shared my cabin with and at night the girls from other cabins would sometimes come in and hang out with us talking pretty late, instead of going to bed.
I am so thankful for every second of my trip, no matter how hard some of it was to be 3,000 miles away from home. I learned so much and it brought me so much gratitude for the life that I live today. I would not have wanted to spend my summer any other way. If you are considering applying for Global Glimpse at Westmont I would highly recommend it. Feel free to email me at 554584@my.cuhsd.org with any questions and or visit the Global Glimpse website directly to get involved!