Menlo Abroad Costa Rica flight - delayed again - but on its way

 Dear Parents,

There has been another delay. The flight from PHX to SFO is now due in Terminal 1, baggage claim #2, at 11:12 pm. It’s late, but it has taken off - whewI — and soon our kids will be home -- Hallelujah! 

A final note: The last few days have been long indeed, and Justin and Ella have been heroic in their handling of this difficult return. Thank you, Justin and Ella!

Parents, see you soon at SFO,

Peter Brown
Global Programs Director
History Instructor
Menlo School
650-330-2001 x2238

PS: And here’s a final thought along the lines of encouraging reflection on the trip (something to do once your children are well rested, fed, and recovered): you might be interested to know that the main event we had planned for our cancelled event this evening was a narrated slide show where each student was to present 1-3 slides emphasizing the inner journey of their travels. In preparation the students had taken photos documenting their times in Costa Rica. Their work this afternoon, then, was to be selecting the best photo(s) and preparing corresponding remarks. While these plans have been scuttled, students have (or should soon have) access to their photos. They might be interested in sharing these with you (or sharing some of the reflections they wrote in Cahuita, a related but different activity)…. So in good time, you might want to ask them about these things. 

Costa Rica Return - DELAYED

Dear Parents,

Lightening storms in San Jose, Costa Rica, have led to a 3+ hour delay in this afternoon's departure from Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO). Consequently, the group has missed their connecting fight to SFO this evening. Because there is no other good option out of MIA tonight, the group will stay in Miami and return on the best available flight option  tomorrow, Sunday, June 11. Thus the group is now booked at WoodSpring Suites Doral Miami, a 3-star hotel, at or near the airport. The group should arrive there by about 6:30 pm PST if you’d like to check in with them. Here is the front desk number: +1 786-533-3636

Tomorrow’s flight itinerary is a long day in transit:  

Sunday, June 11: 

MIA to ORL — AA2124: 12:11 pm - 1:30 pm

ORL to PHX - AA 2118: 6:31 pm - 8:03 pm

PHX to SFO - AA 686: 8:29 - 10:32 pm

 

Please plan to meet and hug your children at American Airlines arrivals / baggage claim tomorrow at 10:32 pm. They will no doubt be tired.

Given this unfortunate travel delay, our re-entry day activities and the dinner celebration scheduled for tomorrow evening is cancelled. We’ll survey the students and possibly reschedule something for early in the fall when we return. But there is something important about revisiting experience when it is fresh in the heart and mind. So while I know you’ll do this anyway, I want to give you additional encouragement to engage with your children when they return around their Menlo Abroad experiences.  Ask your children what they learned, what they felt, and how they’ve grown. Ask them what changes for them now that they’re on the other side of the Costa Rica experience. Ask them to share any reflections they care to and may have written during their time in Cahuita. Transformation comes from reflecting on experience as much as from the experience itself, so the more your children can reflect and make meaning of what happened, the better. 

Thank you for trusting us with your children these three weeks and a special thank you to Justin, Ella, Lucia, and Randall: The trip would not have been possible without their competence, exuberance, skill, knowledge, and constant concern for your children!  And thanks to Joan Barada for all the help and support with medical needs.

While this trip is not ending the way we originally planned, and it has not ended yet, I look forward to it ending well — tomorrow at SFO.

We’ll see you there!

Peter Brown
Global Programs Director
History Instructor
Menlo School
650-330-2001 x2238

06/09/2023

 ¡Pura Vida from San Jose! 

As our trip is sadly coming to an end, we all decided to get up bright and early this morning to watch the sunrise in Cahuita. We spent the remaining 2 hours before breakfast reading, talking, reflecting, swimming, and sleeping. After breakfast and packing up, we reconvened to write our formal reflections from a list of prompts that got us thinking about the connections we made throughout the trip, the impact we left on Costa Rica, and the impact Costa Rica left on us. 

We then started the 5 hour trek to San Jose, and for our night tonight we will have the final candle ceremony to close out the trip. We can't wait to tell you all about everything we've learned.

We are so excited to see you all tomorrow night! 

- Maddie & Kylie

The view of the sunrise this morning!

06/08/2023

 Hello everyone,

Today is going to be a short blog as we are coming to the end of our trip. We did a 5-mile hike today through Cahuita National Park and then had a great dinner in the nearby town of Puerto Viejo. Tomorrow will be our last blog entry.

Buenas noches,

Ella, Lucia, Justin

HERE is a short video of all the kids at dinner.

06/07/2023

¡Hola a todos!

Last night we all got together with our families for a farewell party. We ate, danced, and shared some heartfelt words in wishes. It was a beautiful celebration.

After many hugs and sad goodbyes, we left our home stays to go to the beach. We are all very grateful for having had this experience where we shared our cultures with each other and learned to live the “Pura Vida” lifestyle. We’re very excited for our last few days where we will get to relax, have lots of fun and bond some more before finally say goodbye to this beautiful country.

Hasta mañana,

Ana y Sandro

06/06/2023

 Pura Vida Mae!

On our final day at Linda Vista, we wrapped up the projects that we’ve been working on for the last week. Yesterday we got together as a group and reflected on the impact we’ve made on the local community. Randall brought back the four pillars of World Leadership School: investigating the world, recognizing perspectives, communicating ideas, and taking action and asked us to connect them to the three projects. 
At Daniel’s farm, people reflected on the gratitude that he expressed to each of our groups and how something as small as painting a house can have a huge impact on a person. At the women’s co-op, each person we helped had their own unique story and goal which allowed us to recognize their different perspectives. Finally, at the elementary school, the students showed eagerness to learn English and even though the school lacks the resources for a fully developed English program, we all saw the potential of each student and the school as a whole. Overall, we have all grown as individual people and as a group with the different conversations and experiences we’ve had over the past couple weeks. 
Today we returned to the projects for a final day at the school and to help the farm and the co-op with their social media pages so they can reach more visitors like us to come experience their projects. Tonight we celebrate our time with the homestays at a party with all the families and delicious food. We’ll update you tomorrow!

Today at work making arepas and helping edit the Organic Farm's Facebook page.

Helping with the Instagram, Google Maps, Facebook and Menu at the co-op!

Learning English words with Kindergartners at the school.

Tuanis Mae!

Logan and Lucia

06/05/2023

 ¡Pura Vida! 

We started off the day meeting Digna's mom. Digna is the matriarch of the town of Linda Vista. We found it fascinating to see and learn about Costa Rican culture through 5 generations. We then parted ways (sneaking in a post breakfast ice cream) and headed to work:

At the organic farm, we continued to paint Daniel's house and were given a much needed arepa break where Daniel expressed his gratitude to us. 

At the school, we taught the students the game Simon Says and helped them learn the names of body parts in English. They picked up the language so quickly! We also worked to clean the fence so that it can be repainted. 

At the co-op, we prepped land for a new butterfly sanctuary. The head of the business, Georgina, hopes that a bigger sanctuary will bring in tourism and allow them to sustain their land. 

After our work day, we hopped in the river to cool down and then had a group reflection. We loved hearing everyone share what they had learned: from understanding the value of human connection, to learning about different work cultures and discussing what we would tell students who might come here next year. It's really cool to see how much we've been impacted and learned from these experiences. Now we're off to make yucca at one of the homestays! 

Adios, 

Maddie, Lizzie, and Kylie

Daniel's painted house!

A video from the school!

Clearing space for the butterflies at the co-op!

06/04/2023

 Hello!

Today we had an exciting adventure in a small tourist town called La Fortuna. The town is centered around Volcan Arenal (which hasn't been active for 13 years). We first visited a beautiful waterfall where we climbed and swam between rocks and enjoyed the mist and cool water. After that refreshing experience, we climbed back up the 500 stair flight to get to the bus. Then, we got the chance to explore the town—we got to pick which restaurant we wanted to go to and enjoyed some souvenir shopping and free time. On the way home, we stopped at a lake to take pictures. We were so lucky to see the volcano free of clouds. After a long day of swimming, eating, and sightseeing, we are ready to retire to our homestays and to rest up for work tomorrow. 

We can't believe we only have 2 more days of work before the beach! We'll be home before we know it and are looking forward to hot showers and the comforts of being back, but are sad anticipating saying goodbye to the community here. 

Pura Vida, 

Chase and Savannah

Views of Volcan Arenal from La Fortuna and Lago Arenal.

Views from the lake, the top of the waterfall, and the rocks beneath it! 

06/03/2023

Hi Everyone, 

Happy Saturday! As we head into our final week of the trip, we first spent today back at the local soccer clinic (shoutout team KFC, who won the World Cup tournament), and then back at the lodge for a dip in the river, lunch, a local artisan faire, and group reflection time. 

Everyone is really connecting with their homestay families—we keep hearing the students express how sad they are going to be to leave Linda Vista and the community here when we head to the beach on Wednesday. Coming from a group that was slightly apprehensive about the homestay experience a week and a half ago, we couldn't be prouder of our Menlo Students and how much they've leaned into this experience. 

Tomorrow we head out for a day of exploring in La Fortuna, then back to work at the projects on Monday!

Look out for a post from our students tomorrow :)

See you soon! 

Ella, Lucia, and Justin. 

Students painting Daniel's house at the farm yesterday.

The school group playing games with Costa Rican students to learn English sentences yesterday.

The co-op group preparing to lay a gravel path at the stevia farm yesterday.

Swimming in the river!

 

6/02/23

 Hello everyone,

There will be no blog today; however, please click on the link below to watch the video for a special message from the students. We will return to our regular blogging tomorrow. 

Best,

Trip Leaders

HERE is the video.

6/01/2023

 Saludos desde Costa Rica, 

Things have been going well recently as we've settled into our homestays. We are all enjoying spending time together and bonding with our homestay families - dance parties, karaoke, Monopoly, card games, and cooking meals together are a few new favorites. After two days of hard work on our individual community projects, we have taken a much-needed break as a group to relax and reflect on our adventures so far. 

We hiked down to a beautiful local waterfall and had some downtime swimming and chilling on the rocks. The view was wonderful! Later, we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon at the Termales del Bosque hot springs and we are all looking forward to getting a good night’s rest at the Eco Lodge before returning to work and homestays tomorrow.

Hasta Luego, 

Bella and Makenna

Eating dinner after the hot springs

05/31/2023

 ¡Hola Amigos!

We started our day by waking up to the smell of fresh pancakes or to the sizzle of crunchy empanadas. Many continued their early morning running streak by running along the beautiful roads with the smell of the past rainstorm still lingering. After we joined our group for our community work. 

The group at the organic farm planted more yellow almond trees for the stunning but very noisy macaws. While at the women's co-op they worked to create sustainable garden beds. At the school the group played games and helped the kids learn English. Then everyone was off to Puerto Viejo where we shopped around in pairs of three while some of us restyled our hair.

Overall another great day! 

Best, 

Josh and Octave

Students at the co-op eating empanadas and fried cheese sticks for a snack.

Students at the organic farm painting the house that serves as the cafeteria for tourists.

Students at the school working with English flashcards.