High School Spanish Club members visit Costa Rica

Pura vida.

Twenty-seven high school students, and four chaperones, spent 14 days in a Central-American country and the main thing that students brought back were fond memories and a simple phrase.

"They have a saying in Costa Rica, and it's pura vida, which means pure life. And they say it just about for everything," Foreign language teacher Kara Janes said.

Whether relaxing on a beach or teaching at a school, the phrase can be used as a greeting or a farewell, as a way of giving thanks, or as a way of saying that things are going well.

During the 14-day trip students both worked as a service tour and immersed themselves in the culture.

"We wanted to make sure students were involved in the culture, had a hands on approach to it and not only to use their language but to also see a different perspective from around the world," Janes said.

Among other things, students worked at a school teaching Costa Rican children English, at a church painting, and in a rainforest clearing trails.

At one point, Janes said a tour guide was astounded with the work ethic of the children on the trip.

"He wouldn't stop saying how wonderful our students were and the work ethic that they had," she said. "At one point he told me 'You gotta slow them down or we're going to get done way too fast.'"

Janes said the work ethic of the students comes straight from where they come from.

"I think that reflects our community, in wanting to give back for how much our community has supported us to be able to go," she said.

The group also worked at an animal reserve in the rainforest.

"The animals that were there, most of them had been in the zoo for 40 years, and these were the ones they couldn't let back into the wild because they would find people," Janes said.

Yet, even though the students gave back while they were in the country, most of their memories were associated with the people they interacted with.

"I enjoyed the culture and getting to know people, and seeing their way of living," Josi Thurgood said.

The group also bonded with one of their guides, a woman named Raquel.

"To me she was like the embodiment of the people of Costa Rica," Sierra Schmidt said. "(Costa Ricans) just love their country and love their environment and care so much about it, and she showed that to us in how much it matters to all of them there."

Raquel had been the group tour guide when high school students visited the country in 2011, and Janes said because they had such a good experience she requested to have Raquel be their guide again.

"It was really cool to see how she thinks in this country that only takes 8 hours to go from border to border, and how much life is in those borders, and how she feels connected," Logan Kay said.

Raquel also explained to the group that Costa Rica doesn't have a plethora of monuments and historic buildings.

"Their nature and their mountains are what gets them closer to their God, they don't need manmade things," Sierra Schmidt said.

Along with getting to know about the history of the country through their tour guide, students said they also enjoyed practicing their Spanish speaking skills while they were abroad.

"It was hard because we really haven't been in Spanish for that long, so there was a lot of miscommunication now and then," Hannah Channel said. "But I had so much fun trying to talk."

Along with practicing speaking Spanish, students also had a chance to practice their attentiveness to spoken language.

"It was also how much you understood, even though you've only taken two years of Spanish." Bailey Fisher said.

Other students pointed out that although practicing Spanish was tough at times, having friendly people to help learn was a big deal – especially when dealing with children.

Haylee Hoffman pointed out that while working with students between kindergarten and sixth grade, she wasn't stressed out at all.

"They were really patient with us there, especially for me, when we went to the school and we were talking to the little kids. They were trying to explain something to me, and they would do hand gestures with it," Hoffman said. "And all of a sudden I had this group of kids around me explaining to me this one word that I couldn't figure out."

Even outside of the school students were immersed in countless opportunities to brush up on their Spanish.

"There were so many authentic learning opportunities that really, we try to facilitate in the classroom, but I think there's a whole new explosion of learning that happens when you are submerged," Janes said. "And so the authentic learning opportunities were abundant."

Along with seeing the sights, giving back, and practicing Spanish, students said they most enjoyed just being in a place that always seemed happy.

"I love the way they live," Kay said. "It's simple, laid back, everybody does their part, they're not materialistic, they appreciate everything they receive, that they give – it's a very special country."

Some students pointed out that almost nothing went to waste while they were there.

"They cared so much for their country that they don't even flush their toilet paper. We had to throw our toilet paper away, every toilet that we tent to," Kay said.

As a whole, the students agreed that being able to experience another culture was a fantastic thing.

"It felt good to take in someone else's culture, and take it as your own," Fisher said. "It was like a whole new life there."

Part of the culture that students loved was the air of non-violence. They pointed out that Costa Rica doesn't even have a standing military force.

"Because they don't believe in the war, they don't believe in violence," Hoffman said.

In 1948, Costa Rica abolished the military of Costa Rica following a civil war in that year.

Some of the activities that students took part in were spending time at the beach, horseback riding, zip lining, visiting a coconut farm, hiking in the rainforest and climbing two volcanoes.

"One of the activities, it was kind of just on the fly, Raquel took us to a soccer field. And there was a team practicing, we went over to the coach and said, 'Can our kids play with you?'" Janes said.

The Thermopolis students went on to play, what they called, a one-sided game against the much younger Costa Rican athletes.

And as they were losing, Kay shouted "Futbol Americano!" and the game changed.

"During it Haylee (Hoffman) just grabbed the ball and took off running with it," Schmidt said. "Here people would get all mad and quit, but they just grabbed the ball, too."

The student's said that the ability for the Costa Rican children to simply go with the flow and adjust for the sake of fun was the personification of the phrase Costa Rican's were so apt to say.

Whether a child or an adult, everyone there seemed to be living a pure life.

Pura vida.