Simms' Fam Jam

Just before we left for Costa Rica, our class split up into three families to make it easier to travel, and to have an easier time while we were there. I was in Simms' family along with Alexa, Bailee, Lauren, Megan Stev, Will, Thomas, Ann- Marie, and Simms. We all got matching Buffs before we left to be able to easily see our family members, and because they look cool.

After we arrived in Costa Rica at our Eco Lodge in Arenal, we had family pot lucks, so everyone in the family pitched in either food or money, and we went to the grocery store to buy some items. We had Mr.Noodles, along with pepperoni sticks, cheese, bread, sardines, and nachos. On the last night in La Fortuna, we again split up into families and went into town to eat family meals. My family went to a local restaurant, with Kat and Jorge the bus driver, and had a fantastic meal. We waited and played games and were the loudest people there by far.

The next day, we travelled in a van with our family for about 4 hours. During which we played many games such as hand seed ball, music artist, and had an eating competition. After we arrived in Monteverde, one of the nights, we played "Minute To Win It". Our family placed second overall losing by about 2 points to the first place team. In Samara, we were not really in families, but in groups. The family aspect was an awesome addition to the trip, because we had a small group of people that we could rely on, and we grew as a family throughout the trip. 

Thanks for a great trip Simms!

Alex Dunlop

100 New Experiences

Each one of us traveled to Costa Rica thinking of all the new things we were about to try. But none of us ever thought of the effect it would truly have on us. Ziplining over top of the cloud forest, river rafting through a river in the middle of the rainforest, catching the perfect wave on a surfboard, paddling on a kayak through the ocean, snorkeling in the Pacific Ocean...these are all experiences people dream of doing and you have them checked off at 16! It is crazy to think that Costa Rica has already come and gone and we are back in the classroom but the stuff we accomplished and succeeded at over those 9 days in endless, and the way it made us feel is priceless. Sure we might not be able to tell everyone we went surfing but each one of us knows how truly awesome it was to experience that. For me surfing has always been near the top of my bucket list and it is still crazy to think how easily the opportunity arose. Just simply on a school trip and we decided to rent some surfboards along the beach and next thing I knew I was up on the board surfing! Actually able to come home and say that I did it. No one can ever comprehend what each of us felt over the span of those 9 days but we will always remember.

- Megan Stevenato

Prep for Costa Rica 2012 !

Hola GEO !

Remember when we first started our Costa Rica countdown? (thanks Christy!) I know I had my own countdown from around 200-something days! Every time I checked it I would get more and more excited each time. It seems like Costa Rica was so far away, and as the days got closer, it felt even longer till we left !

Once April came around, and only 17 days were left, I knew everyone was getting super pumped, but we still had a lot of preparation before we left!

I know that one of my biggest fears for this trip was forgetting something that I would need while in Costa Rica, so I started my preparation as soon as possible. I made many lists with stuff that I'd need, which included what clothes I would wear (taking in account for theme days), what kind of shoes that would be appropriate, and all the extra stuff that would help this trip run smoothly. Going to the stores to buy stuff like sunscreen and bug spray was weird because it finally started to feel like this trip was actually going to happen (and not get "cancelled", thanks to the seminar group for that scare).  

But when we were put into our families, it seemed even more realistic that Costa Rica was just around the corner! Preparing for our family pot-luck and coming up with gift ideas for our extended family also made the time fly by. The prep we did for our family pot-luck was definitely worth it because our dinner was delicious (in the Glass family at least!). 

In the Andrychuk extended family was Alex, Tom, Alexa, Megan Stevenato, Laura (adopted ;) ) and myself , and our Costa Rican family was amazing ! I'm so glad we planned before we left and brought them some great gifts. It was so heart warming to see the youngest boy, Miguel, light up when I handed him the soccer ball we brought them because I know how much soccer means to people in certain countries (including Costa Rica). Also seeing Tom teach him how to use the Badminton rackets was awesome because it was a sport that he never knew about and it was something new for him to learn.

 (Miguel is missing cause he fell asleep)

April 16 was pretty exciting because it was gear check day! To be honest, I thought it was going to be more intense, but I felt beyond prepared anyways. From the itinerary test, to the document check I think everyone passed with flying colours (atleast I hope!). But when we received our GEO shirts, and our family buffs it felt like the final touch was added and we ready to go on the trip of our lives.

I can't believe after all this preparation and anticipation for this trip, that's it's already over, but I'll never forget all the amazing things I experienced and all the memories that we've made as a group. 

Thanks for the time of my life!
Emily Phillips :)

Costa Rica 2012

HOLA AMIGOS
Going to Costa Rica was unreal. The people I travelled with, the things i saw, the things we did are all aspects that made it unforgettable. I feel like I got a lot closer with each and every person in Geo and I am so happy to have had the opportunity to do it all in Costa Rica. One of the high lights I thought was the river float, even though both simms and I lost our buffs....

It was exciting and so much fun. The La Trocha day was a lot of fun because we just did spontaneous things, like eat in a tree restaurant, went to a snake zoo and played ultimate frisbee in a bull ring which was not a surprise considering we were in Simms' group.

 The Hydrological Coastal Studies was by far my favourite part though, because it was such an amazing feeling finally standing up after falling and falling over and over again and ive wanted to surf ever since i was a young one trying to surf in lake Couchiching with a foam kick board.

 I think im still in denial about being back home, and if i could I would go back right now and experience more adventures with you all.

ADIOS
-Christy :)

The People We Met During Our Amazing Adventure!

Dinner with locals!

Costa Rica was an amazing journey, we had many new experiences and saw many different things. Along the way we also met alot of great people. I found that everyone is very polite in Costa Rica, they are always saying Gracias and i can't even recall how many times people said mucho gusto to me for the simplest things They always had a smile on their faces and were so happy, which would put me in a great mood! 

When i went to have a dinner with my local family the mom had everything prepared for us and was so welcoming, i felt completely comfortable being in her house and had a great time.

When we first got to Liberia we met Jorge, he ended up staying with us for 6 of the 9 days as our driver. He was a super nice guy and got us to all of our destinations safely, we wouldn't have been able to do everything we did without him.

On our first full day in Costa Rica we went River Rafting and had an amazing time! My guide was Paola and she made the trip down the river even more fun! She taught me alot that day, i learned how to slap my paddle on the water to scare the monkeys and she informed us on many of the different species around. Paola was a good time and her main saying was PURA VIDA...similar to almost every other Costa Rican around! Our group would always put our paddles in the air together and chant out pura vida. She enjoyed making us laugh and at one point even jumped out of our raft and left us alone to float down the river for a bit, thinking it was a funny joke until we started going to fast out of her reach! I'm happy i had the pleasure of having Paola as my guide!

PAOLA!

During my family dinner in La Fortuna we went to a little restaurant and had the pleasure of meeting Joshua. He let our entire family have a good laugh because he kept flirting with Laura! He always complimented her smile and said she was like a barbie doll... he was quite the character and made me laugh!

In Monteverde we went for the hike up La Trocha to town and i was in Simms group, on the way we set goals out to do along the way! One of the goals was to find a guy named Carlos. We were on our way back from town back to the Ecolodge and had almost went into all the little stores along the way so our chances of finding a Carlos were slimming. As we were walking into the Art Gallery me and Kramer were going over the goals and saying how hard it was gonna be to find a Carlos, two minutes later our group asked the workers name in the shop and he said CARLOS. Our entire group dropped anything we were looking at and ran over to the guy screaming Carlos...he must have thought we were nuts! But it was such a great feeling.

CARLOS!

As i was walking along the beach in Samara with Lauren and Christy a Australian guy asked to take a picture with us! All 3 of us were pretty excited about this and still talk about it sometimes haha! Me and Christy both agreed we can now cross; take a picture with a hot Australian boy off our bucket lists!

Out of all the people i met in Costa Rica, the little children i met at the school were deffinately my favorite. It was a great emotional experience. I loved seeing their faces light up over the simplest things, that most of us would just take for granted. I had a blast playing soccer with them, some of the 8 year old girls were kicking my butt, which i thought was awesome! Watching them take all the clothes and school supplies was one of my highlights of the entire trip because it just made me feel so good and warmed my heart! I'm so grateful i had this experience!

Costa Rica was an unforgettable adventure, i will never forget it!

Courtney

Costa Rica Trip, From the Eco Lodge!

Its hard to sum up such a life changing and influential trip, i thank Simmers for making this trip possible and also my parents and sponsors that made it affordable for me.

Out of a list of 22 different things written on a list i chose to write my blog entry about the Eco Lodge!
Although it wasn't as warm as Samara, and didn't have a nice pool like La Fortuna, it was an amazing place to just chill out for a few days and think about all the stuff we accomplished in such a small amount of time. Even the second day i was there i heard people saying "wow it feels like I've been here for about a week!" And that was so true, our trip was packed with fun tours and activities every day... back to the Eco Lodge! Well just before we got there we got the opportunity to Zip Line, and for anyone reading this from Ontario that's been on like a 100ft zip line and thought it was crazy, we went on a total of 9, and all of them were over 1500ft. Although it looked to be a rainy fogy, and cloudy day, the wind picked up and the sun came out and all of a sudden i could see hundreds of kilometers away, it was truly amazing! The guides that worked there were super energetic and loved making everyone feel comfortable (for those that were afraid of heights). After an amazing day of zipping down at super fast speeds we headed to the Lodge. The roads were super bumpy and it was sweet gettin flung around the van haha! once we got to our destination, everyone unloaded the vans and brang their bags to the main room to hear a few facts about how the lodge started and of course the rules we had to fallow while we stayed there. Due to the fact that it was centered in the rain forest we had to stay quiet, for it was a place of peace and study. :) Once everyone got the hang of lowering their voices we headed off to our rooms, which i thought were spectacular, no bed bugs crawling in my sheets, no weird green bugs gallivanting across my ceiling, and no ants trying to eat the garbage cans!

The weird green bug ! 

 I was in a room with a good bunch of kids, like all the other nights i got along well with my roomies. After we figured out our bed arrangement we all headed up to the main building which was about 5 mins away, to start our night hike. Rain forests are among the most diverse places on earth, however not everything likes to come out during the day. On our night hike we saw so many bugs, crawling, hopping, and flying. But my favorite part of the trip is when we spotted something in the trees! We never really found out what it was but it got everyone excited and we kept our eyes peeled till the walk was over. Just as we were finishing our walk we saw a tarantula!

 Anyway we all headed back to our cabins for a good night sleep. When we woke up the teachers told us all about our day and that we would self guide ourselves up La Trucha, which was a massive paved road that winded up a hill that peaked through the clouds! When we finally reached the top we could see everything. It was a heart stopping view, and one that i personally will never forget! When we all caught our breath we decided to walk into town and meet some locals and buy some souvenirs, it went great! That night we played a game called minuet to win it, held by miss A, it was sweet :) everyone got into it and there was positive energy all around! The next day we were guided by Paul, one of the students studying at the Eco lodge to the waterfall. It wasn't as mighty as the Niagra Falls, but i thought it was equally as beautiful, it fell in 3 separate sections, eventually leading to one that we could jump around and swim in. The water was nice and refreshing, actually freezing! it was defiantly worth the 1 hour walk! After we played around in it for a little me and a few other buddies decided to fallow it down stream a little and re direct the water! it was tuns of fun, we dammed one portion and made the water flow a new direction.

When we got back to the lodge we packed up and made sure we had everything ready for the morning! i wrote my journal before dosing off and when i woke up there was an amazing breakfast prepared and we even got to make a lunch for our travel to Samara, the last place on our list to hit up! Throughout the trip i learnt many new things, and i also realized how valuable time is, and when you use it right you can accomplish anything you set your mind to!

William Lerch

The Glass Fam!!!

SUNS OUT GUNS OUT

Hey everyone, so for my blog I have gladly accepted the responsibility of recounting the adventures we had in the Glass Family!

Our family consisted of Courtney, Emily, Laura, Allyson, Jonny, Mauricio, myself (Tyler) and of course the Glassman!  Our first gathering together in Costa Rica was during the first night when we held the potluck.  It was a mixture of some Canadian and Costa Rican cousine that was either brought over with us or purchased at the super market in La Fortuna. I personally enjoyed a meal of coldcut sandwiches, nutella, some Mr. Noodles and nachos which was absolutely delicious!  Most of the family gatherings we had occured over the dinner table or briefly when we needed a headcount.   

We were actually lucky enough to have a birthday in our family while we were in La Fortuna.  Emily was celebrating her 17th and so on our last night in La Fortuna we had a family dinner at Luigi's Pizza, where Glass presented her with a family gift of a brand new headband which I think she enjoyed very much.  Emily also recieved a beautiful, freshly picked flower from our very charismatic waiter.

I think I can speak for my family when I say that another highlight for us was definately the Minute To Win It put on by Ms. A.  Everyone had a blast participating in their event and in the end our family came out on top after a close battle with the Simms family!  My favourite event was the headcounter one where Glass, Carlos, and Lauren faced off to see who could shake their head the fastest for one full minute.  We got some great videos from that event that I know we'll watch again in 20 years and laugh as hard then as we do now!

Over the short span of nine days, the eight of us became so much closer and I think we really learned the true meaning of what it is to be a family.  We learned a ton about each others interests and pet peevs and we always had a great time together!  Finally, I would also like to say a big thank you to Mr. Glass, because without you it would have never been the same!

 

And remember,

If the Sun Is Out, Get The Guns Out!