The Road Best Traveled

Is there a better way to end the first week in Costa Rica than a little road trip? The Women for Environmental Action group don’t think so! After a week full of learning and fun activities, we loaded up the buses early Saturday morning and headed to Guanacaste, a town about three hours from campus. 

Once in Guanacaste, we made our way to La Ponderosa, a zoo-turned-safari park with an additional area for water activities. The students were able to see zebras, ostriches, giraffes, and more animals up close. Some even fed them a carrot snack! 

Saturday was a hot day so it was nice to cool off in the afternoon tubing down a river and swimming in the natural swimming pool. While the tubing part lasted a short time, everyone had a good laugh at how we all looked in the helmets! The area where the natural swimming pool was had a beautiful waterfall that students were able to swim under and explore a cave. There was also a space to climb up the side of the rock wall and jump into the water for a big splash. 

In the evening, after checking in to our hotel in Liberia, the nearby town, we spent some time in the hotel pool relaxing and playing team building games like Marco Polo. Then we went to a cute little restaurant for dinner. On our walk back to the hotel, we discovered a celebration happening in the town square with live music and lots of locals. So we put the dance moves we learned on Friday to the test! It was a great way to experience the local culture and left us excited for the next day‘s adventures. 

Perhaps the favorite part of the trip came on Sunday when we went to visit the Puma Sanctuary. Check out what students had to say of it:

“I loved the Puma Sanctuary! I think it was great to see the animals and see they were taken care of. It felt like we were visiting their home and not like they were in a cage.” Miigis Curley.

“It was interesting to see the efforts that people are doing for the wildlife of Costa Rica.“ Penelope Seitzer 

Esmeralda Spencer: “I want to come back to Costa Rica! I want to see all the wildlife again.“

After exploring the Puma Sanctuary, we loaded the buses once more to go back to campus. Upon arrival, we had dinner and then bonded while watching “50 First Dates”. It was the perfect way to end the weekend and decompress from the Road Best Traveled!