Weekend Group Trip to Limon, Costa Rica

I just got back from a weekend trip with everyone from the LASP program to Limon, which is a city on the South Atlantic coast of Costa Rica. It’s a major port city for CR. There is a strong African influence and also a large amount of poverty in the region. This was a trip for learning, experiencing people, seeing the beauty of the beach, and bonding with staff and students in LASP. FRIDAY morning we met at LASP and listened to a speaker talk about Limon and racism. He was Afro-Costa Rican and had lived in Limon for a good chunk of his life. After that “chaula” all 42 students and 5 staff PILED into two buses and hit the road. We stopped at a coffee plantation, pineapple plantation, and banana plantation/factory. All 3 of these things we had talked about a great deal because they were significant to Costa Rica’s history, especially with the indigenous people, so it was really neat to see these places first hand and learn a little bit about the production and trade of each crop. We also stopped at this restaurant about an hour out of Limon for lunch. (Rice, beans, meat…the usual, but so delicious) We got to Limon, moved into our rooms at “Hotel Miami” (no joke), and then were free for the rest of the evening to roam around Limon in groups of at least 3 and preferably with a male in the group. ;) I went out with a group of my closest friends down here, Tristen (my roomy for the weekend from MI), Shelby (WA), Miranda (TN), and Jake (TN). Keep in mind that we do have an assignment woven into this trip. We have to interview 3 people from San Jose and 3 people from Limon (at least) about poverty and then write a reflection paper about it. We asked this lady at an ice cream shop if we could talk to her about it for a little bit and she brought us over to this older woman (we call her the matriarch now). We ended up sitting down with her and 3 other women and having a great discussion with them on poverty and their views on it. We also got a chance to talk to another younger guy and two homeless people who were living on the street. Talking about this with people and hearing their opinions on it was EXTREMELY interesting and enjoyable for me! I believe that one of the best ways to learn about anything or anyone is to talk to people who have personal experience. In addition, it’s all part of trying to learn what the people in Costa Rica are like by talking to them and hearing their stories! I LOVE IT!! Anyway, we walked around, talked to people a bunch, ate dinner at Pizza Hut (only thing that was open…and so delicious!), and then came upon a drum line and dancers who must have been practicing for Costa Rica’s Independence Day this Tuesday (14th). They sounded incredible! After we listened and watched for a little while we headed back up to the hotel, sat out on our balcony, drank glass-bottled coke, and hung out together. This trip was the first time that we (students) have gotten to all hang out together, so we were really excited to spend some quality time getting to know each other better! SATURDAY morning we were on our own for breakfast and just had to meet back at the hotel by 8:00am. Tristen, Shelby, and I found a good ole Mussmani bakery and got some delicious pastries with apple, strawberry, or pineapple inside of them! MMmmm! So Good! As a group we went to an indigenous tribe reservation. We meet and listened to a woman from this BriBri tribe talk about her tribe, their beliefs, their interaction with the government (negative), and how they raise these iguanas. Afterward, we got to see their iguanas, a couple hogs, and roaming turkeys, which are NOT NICE by any means. haha Then we loaded up the buses and headed to the beach! The forest literally went right up to the sand! We saw a sloth on our way to the beach and there were a few white-faced monkeys hanging in the trees around our table of food. We had beef/chile filled empanadas, sweet plantain filled empanadas, fresh cut watermelon, fresh cut pineapple, and bananas! SOOO DELICIOUS! Everyone chilled in the warm water and smooth waves, hung out on the beach, or played ultimate Frisbee on the shore. Once we got back to the hotel, everyone showered and got ready for dinner. We went to this upper level large room where a woman had made dinner for our group and there were 5 men on the stage playing Caribbean/Jamaican sounding music for us! After eating, of course, there was a long period of dancing!! We were all having a blast, but needless to say, our showers were pretty much pointless because we were all sweating FAR worse that we had all weekend because it’s humid there to start off with! After our older bus driver show us some moves, working on new dance steps, and doing the limbo we ALL headed a few blocks over for some ice cream to cool us down!! After this I headed back up to my room with Tristen and got to talk for a long time with her and exchange life stories and such. She is in the same concentration as me and is becoming one of my best friends down here! SUNDAY morning Tristen and I hit up the bakery again and then our half of the group went to a Catholic church serve in Limon conducted in English because it’s actually fairly prevalent there (through education and such). It was soooooooo incredible hot and STICKY! We were sweating through our nice clothes and fanning ourselves with the programs. haha Anyway, after church we loaded up, ate at the same restaurant on the way back, and arrived in San Jose around 1:30pm. It was an incredible trip! I got a lot closer with some students, learned a lot about and from the people of Limon, and got to enjoy a beautiful tropical beach!