Costa Rica Trip
	The Residential Life Program’s spring break community service trip brought thirteen students to the heart of Costa Rica. Kevin Allen ’11, Jay Cirillo ’11, Henry Dodd ’10, Nick Fraser ’11, Chris Garibaldi ’11, Jay Haft ’10, Scott Hosley ’10, Dylan Johnson ’11, Jake Lopez-Balboa ’10, Chris MacLeod ’11, Will Otremba ’11, Nate Ross ’11 and Jared Zissu ’11 were accompanied by Residential Life Community Service Coordinator Janet McCormick, Head Athletic Trainer Mike McCormick and Assistant Athletic Trainer Tarra Rawdon. Read on as the students give their day-by-day accounts of the trip:

	Day 1: Sunday, March 7
	“Today we left our San Jose Hostel for a three and a half hour drive to Rancho Margot. When I woke up from my nap I looked out the window and could barely see five feet into the distance due to the thick fog (we were in a cloud forest). After we got to the ranch we had lunch and then moved into our rooms. We toured the ranch and then played a soccer game with our tour guides in the wet muddy field by our rooms. After our exciting game we all went to the hot natural pool and had a nice relaxing swim. We ended our night with an amazing dinner and planned out the next day. Day one, done.” – Kevin Allen ‘11& Jared Zissu ‘11

	Day 2: Monday, March 8
	“The day was an early one for three of the fifteen Salisbury people with a wake up at 6:30 am for yoga. Although the night before all fifteen said they would go to yoga, only three were able to get out of bed. After the intense yoga session, everyone met up for a refreshing breakfast of fresh fruit and orange juice that was not Tropicana. After breakfast we headed down to the lily pond where we are supposed to grab lilies from the pond for food for the cattle and for the compost pile (which also helps heat the water). Many of us got neck deep in water while others had to hall the plants away. The highlight of the service was the mud fight that erupted from a couple of people started throwing the lilies at each other. Day one of service is complete, now we realize that it will be difficult but fun. That afternoon we all went horse-back riding and for many kids it was their first time on a horse and some even overcame their fear of horses. After a scenic walk up the mountain and through the forest, everyone enjoyed galloping and crossing the rivers. Before dinner we visited the nearby town of La Fortuna and bought many souvenirs to bring back to the states. Overall, it was a great first day to kick off this trip.” –Chris Garibaldi ‘11& Nate Ross ‘11

	Day 3: Tuesday, March 9
	“Today we woke up early because we were heading to a new town (Cano Negro) for community service. After eating we took a long ride north and we arrived at the new village. After settling in we ate lunch in town then headed over to the school and started painting a classroom. After going back to the room to change, we headed over to the local soccer field to challenge the locals. We dominated the game offensively, but our all star defense was lacking. But after making a comeback, because of my [Dylan] game tying snipe, with little to no angle, we tied the game 4:4 and ended the night with great food from a local restaurant, and headed back to the rooms for a sing along to Avril Lavigne.” –Will Otremba ‘11& Dylan Johnson ‘11

	Day 4: Wednesday, March 10
	“Today we woke up earlier than we usually do. When everybody was up and half awake we ate breakfast at the local restaurant. After breakfast we walked back over to the school where we put a second coat on the room we started the day before and started on a new room. This time when we painted it was a lot faster than the previous day of painting. After we were all covered in paint, the rooms looked great and we went off for the river boat tour. There were “little” alligators [caiman] (no matter the size of the alligator they are still scary) different types of birds and anorexic looking cows (which we learned are a particular type of Costa Rican cattle). The boat went really slow and between the early start, morning work and hot sun, a lot of people dozed off. After the tour we ate lunch and went to a Maleku village where our tour guide Al is from. One of the men from the tribe talked to us in their native language about some of the things they sold. During the presentation we ate part of a leaf that made your mouth feel like it was sizzling but not hot, their tribe used this plant to numb tooth pain. Back at the ranch the hot springs were a nice end to the day and a good night’s sleep was needed.” – Chris Macleod ‘11& Jay Haft ‘10

	Day 5: Thursday, March 11
	“We went down to breakfast and then off to the zip-line which was a very fun experience. It was really cool going over the jungle and was also a great adrenaline rush. After lunch we split in to several groups of four and proceeded to do some community service at the ranch. Henry…The job I had was replanting some lemon grass and then I helped to corral the chickens. In the process I ended up catching 5 chickens and a rooster (by hand) which was kind of fun. …Jake…I got to work with some poo. Will and I began by picking through a huge pile of dung with our bare hands to find stray worms. The worms turn cow poo into good fertilizer soil by eating the cow dung and pooing out good fertilizer, our job was to take out any leftover warms in the fertilizer soil…From there we went towards La Fortuna to go to the hot springs. They had a bunch of different pools with different temperatures but after testing each one we headed back to the ranch for a late night dinner and an intense game of catch phrase.” –Henry Dodd ‘10& Jake Lopez-Balboa ‘10

	Day 6: Friday, March 12
	“Once I was done with breakfast… Jay… I broke off from the rest of the group and went to go kayaking. When I got to the lake I realized that I had an amazing view of the volcano, and that there were no clouds in the sky, letting me see all the way to the top where the smoke rose from it, and down the sides as the lava rocks fell down. After rowing for a while and looking around at the beautiful natural landscape, we took a break and jumped into the water to cool down before continuing across the lake. Once we reached the other side we began observing wild life and saw several monkeys swinging from trees in addition to many vibrantly colored birds. …Scott… we went to the stables to get our horses. We rode our horses to the waterfall which was 2 hrs away. At the waterfall most of us went swimming. We then rode the 2 hrs back to the stables. We then packed up and went to lunch. After everyone reconvened for lunch we packed up our stuff and drove to San Jose. Some got an early night sleep while others stayed up until our 4 am wake up call for the airport.” –Jay Cirillo ‘11& Scott Hosley ‘10