Written by Hunter & Maddie
Hello friends! Hunter and Maddie here for the weekly blog We started the week off in Turrialba finishing up our Spanish classes.
Cuddling is a must after a long day of learning. Caroline, Emily, Erin, and Maddie snuggled up on a couch like true besties.
Here we have the girls learning to be #ballers during Emily’s basketball passion class.
Our week was filled with lots of dancing! We did 3 Zumba classes because the group fell in love with the vibes from the local Zumba moms.
We also took a dance class where we learned salsa, merengue, and bachata. Caroline and Saúl were a dynamic duo on the dance floor.
We ended the week with a waterfall hike nearby. Saúl smiled through the pain of how cold the water was, but so worth it!
On Sunday we journeyed to Mastatal for our stay on a permaculture farm. Waterfalls have been a big theme so far, as we take a dip almost everyday after a long days of work and sun!
Matt, Elliot, Hunter, and Emma can be seen bravely traversing a river en route to the nearest cascade.
We’ve done lots of fun activities here too! On our chocolate tour, we made delicious truffles from fresh cacao. Emma was crushing it (literally).
Emily’s spreading skills are super suave.
We planted lots of almond trees on day 1 to help diversify the macaw population. The jungle was (ma)calling us.
We also took a tour of a neighboring permaculture and green building ranch and got to try lots of funky fruits. Yum!
Saúl was sporting some natural face paint 2 weeks in a row.
This week in Mastatal is our final no-wifi week, so we’ve having lots of fun together as a group, but also reflecting on our time this far. Here’s Hunter looking pensive and peaceful one fine morning.
The week in Turrialba also featured on CDL on Love with Ryan, which ended with pairs creating their shared definition of love 💕
aul led us in an amazing passion class on American Sign Language, in which we all learned to say what we like and how communication can happen at any distance in ASL.
Words of wisdom from the library at Rancho Mastatal.
Mastatal represents one of our final weeks here in Central America. For most of us, the past 3 months have represented a time of hardship and new experiences, and from that, a time of growth. Everyone here has learned and grown whether it be some new and useful spanish, or some dance moves. More importantly, we all learned something new about navigating a new social group, that being our travel companions, in the crucible that is this semester. As we go forward in life, in our individual professional careers or our personal lives, our experience here will serve us well in each of our pursuits. To each other, we have been sources of strength, inspiration, and at times serious annoyance and irritation. Truly, we have become a family to each other.
We’re excited to enjoy these last 2 weeks together! Thanks for tuning in to our bussin blog. Your favorite blogger baes signing off,
Maddie and Hunter