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EDGE 2019: Costa Rica

Life-changing service trip to rural Costa Rica
This March Break, 12 Shawnigan students, along with Ms. Cholack and Mr. Loiselle and their family, travelled to Costa Rica for a life-changing EDGE trip.

We began our stay in rural Costa Rica, in the Indigenous community of Bribripa. Here, we were quickly introduced to the challenges of open air sleeping, ice cold showers, kilometre upon kilometre of daily steep uphill walking, and of course, insects the size of small birds and nightly encounters with scorpions.

Our trip then took us to Longo Mai, a community of refugees from El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras, who have escaped violence and war in their own countries. Staying here provided us with the opportunity to experience home stays, truly immersing ourselves in the local family life. Surrounded by the tranquil beauty of the mountains and jungles, we worked side-by-side with members from the community. We built two vegetable garden beds and two composting areas, we learned about chocolate making as well as sugar cane harvesting, we visited fields and now have a greater knowledge and understanding of how labour intensive farming really is. We used some of the money we had fundraised at school to make a donation towards the construction of a new music building being built. This space will give the young people in the community healthy and creative music opportunities.

Finally, we visited Altamira, where the community leaders of  AsoProLa had identified a family of 5 who were in need of some help. The team spent four days getting to know Shirley, a single mom, and two of her four sons, while working to build a retaining wall to support their home’s crumbling foundation, and to pour a cement floor over the previously uneven dirt one.

Our daily diet of culture, adventure, and service helped us to embrace the ethos of the Pura Vida spirit. Surrounded by lush tropical jungles teeming with wildlife, we learned to appreciate the healthy respect Costa Ricans have for their environment, organic farms, coffee co-operatives and eco-tourism. We were extremely fortunate to have Esteban Gutierrez Mora, of Sustainability Education CR, as our guide on this trip. This 17-day adventure, by design pushed everyone outside of their comfort zones, and gave us cause to reflect on the many privileges we enjoy, while also helping to build empathy and gratitude through a deep engagement with our teammates and the beautiful people of Costa Rica.

Catch up on the entire trip on the SLS EDGE Tours blog.
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We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.