Today, we celebrated our last day at CRER. Highlights below. 

Now, I write to you after dinner, en route to the airport. It will be a long journey home. Many of us cannot wait to return to the comforts of home. Each of us returns with memories and life lessons that will stick with us for the rest of our lives, myself included. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for your trust and support to make this trip happen. Expect to find an exhausted, happy, and smelly kid (and teachers) at the airport. 

Our last activity in Costa Rica was ziplining through the forest. As we waited for our turn to soar, we heard howler monkeys above. It was incredible to finally be up in the trees, seeing this beautiful country from the point of view of its treetop inhabitants. 

Today's student team leaders were Katie, Ella, and Jackson. They led our final ANCHOR, setting the tone for the very meaningful candlelight circle that Nadi led.

After many appreciations, we began to make the shift back to the world, returning passports to students and reminding them of the importance of vigilance. This symbolic end to our rainforest peace was bittersweet for me. I love seeing the kids step up to self-manage, but it was such a joy to watch them play like carefree little kids this trip, freed not only from the responsibility of their passports but also devices (though I've heard many of them now can use absolutely every feature on an apple watch). 

To close our time in Costa Rica, we held a closing candle circle. Nadi brought three items--a rock, a stick, and a leaf--to guide us in our concluding reflection. We each identified one thing that rocked, one thing that would stick with us, and one thing that we would leave behind. Here are a few sneak peaks of the circle. 

SPS students had a chance to compete WITH the Chilamate youth team. This team mixing elevated the level of competition a bit as it let SPS students face off. My favorite part, though, wasn't who won. It was that nearly every student played! 

Nombre 10 on the Chilamate team was not only the best player but he played barefoot. At the end of the match, we got popsicles and bananas. It was so hot and the coolness provided the perfect recovery food. Here's a picture of the full team after the match.

Today's student leaders did a fantastic job facilitating our silly evening ANCHOR session. Tonight Haley, Ryann, and Owen lead our appreciation (always plentiful), news, concerns, health updates, Oh, how cool, and reflection. It was trickier tonight to get everyone into a deep reflection. This sort of challenge in a group always makes me ask myself what about the day contributed to this. 

I had a chance to connect with Haley after ANCHOR. She noticed how differently everyone is dealing with this difficult and complicated end. We're not only nearing the end of our trip but also "the end of a lifetime," as Haley put it. This class is about to graduate. Our time in this special community is ending forever. 

So as we begin making our long way home tomorrow, I think we will be thinking, each in our own way, of what this community has meant to us, what it will mean to lose it in that strange and radical way that school communities end, and what will fill our hearts and minds next. It's a terrifying, deeply sad, and yet beautiful moment. 

Today's student leaders did a fantastic job facilitating our evening ANCHOR session. We were all exhausted from rafting with full bellies from the extra special dessert-- Wyatt's birthday cake! These students still got us to share our appreciation, news, concerns, health updates, Oh! Cool moments, and reflection. I especially loved Pax's take on the "Oh, cool." He asked each person "What's cool?" before they shared and responded "Oh, cool!" after they shared. Zach was a master at moving us through the parts of ANCHOR so students could have a little extra time. And Sean brought his smile to each step, modeling how to have serious fun. 

Every night, Connor and Nani (our incredible WLS leaders) tell us what to expect for the next day. Tomorrow, we will be playing soccer in the morning and then going to La Fortuna for the day. 

Today was our last day of community rotations. Over the last three days, each group has had a chance to visit a local organic farm, a school, and a biological preserve. The information we learned and the connections we made at each location will stay with us throughout our lives. 

My group finally made it to the organic farm today. Up until now, everyone had remained quiet about the host, Danny, and his moving story. Today, we finally learned why everyone came back so impacted by this exceptional man, his experience working for a corrupt farming business in Costa Rica, and his path back to organic farming. Something you may have noticed from all the farm visits is students planting a tree. These pictures capture us becoming part of Danny's "Leave your mark on Costa Rica" project, where he invites his guests to plant a tree on his farm. These trees are a species that had been removed from this part of Danny's home. He invited us to return to see our tree as it grows and to remember that we are part of preserving the magic of this incredible part of Costa Rica. 

Rafting was moved from Sunday to today so we could zipline in the morning. This helps ensure that thunder won't cancel our zipline tour. Naturally, the students were thrilled to raft earlier, especially as we continue to adjust (or not) to the humidity and heat. Our rafting guides were as knowledgeable as they were comic geniuses. My raft's guide taught us to use the boat to sing "We will rock you." I think the students' 4 rounds of "Feliz Navidad" might have had something to do with it. We could not take cameras on the raft. But the rafting company had a professional photographer following along the way. We leaders were so impressed with our group's teamwork that we individually purchased the pictures for our rafts and will share those albums once we receive the links.

After our first full day in Chilamate, students reflected on their experience working with a local guide at their community rotation. Here are a few reflections students wanted to share with you.