EDGE Tour - Costa Rica
Comida en Parismina de Costa Rica
In Parismina, We stayed in a homey cabin style place near the beach and the river close to the main town. When we arrived we were welcomed with amazing food and kindness, and our Spanish was tested asking for maybe more food, no pork, or juice instead of water. Which, by the way, is más jugo por favor. We are all different types of food including rice and beans, noodles and chicken, and eggs and pancakes. While the food items were familiar, for most of us, the style and taste were unique and new, and everyone loved the flavours. I, however, grew up eating mostly spice, beans and rice, so for me the experience with the food was amazing because it was familiar. As we move on, I’m going to miss the cooking theses ladies do, but I’m thankful we got to experience a real home-cooked Costa Rican meal. - Mimi G.
On March 7 our team got to visit the local community Parismina that is close to where we are staying. The community is about a 5 minute boat ride from Esmerlada, the lodge where we are staying. We got to do some shopping at a small local market and then a tour of Parismina. During the tour we got to see the elementary and high school, police station, airway , and also the city centre. Seeing the local community allowed us to interact more with the Costa Rican culture and see how the small communities live here. - Paige
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One of the highlights of this trip has definitely been visiting the city of Parismina. The reason behind this is not just because of how different and unique it was, but also because of what lies in its core. The Turtle Love organization “headquarters” is located in that small town. The aim of this NGO is to save the Leatherback Turtles, a species that it’s numbers have been drastically decreasing over the past few years. Rinato, the leader of the organization, is from Brazil and has done a lot of research to help understand why the turtles have been going extinct and how to prevent that. Rinato is a very credible source, and has received many scholarships from universities as well as a scholarship from National Geographic. He gave a presentation about the organization, and it was heart-touching. Seeing the graph and how low the numbers are getting conveys the sense of guilt and the urge to help. However, the organization has been trying to attract volunteers, but with the harsh living circumstances, no one wants to. That’s where our EDGE team stepped up and we decided to help. We bought new mattresses and pillows to the place where volunteers would stay, and seeing the smile on their faces was rejoicing. Moreover, we offered to help in the patrols that they did on the beach to find turtles. Unfortunately we didn’t come across any, but they very much appreciated the 4km walk that we did with them. They are doing this not for the money, but for nature. The level of sacrifice that they have put in this project restores my faith in humanity. On behalf of the Shawnigan EDGE team, we thank all the efforts that Turtle Love organization has been doing to help save our nature. - Tarek
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.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful West Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
