Costa Rica with ISV

Last Wednesday I got back from my trip to Costa Rica and it wasn't until my last Saturday there, when I was in Samara, that I actually felt like coming home. Up until then I wanted to stay because I absolutely loved it there and didn't want to leave. Particularly the people and the town I did my project in, San Pedro.
It was through ISV that I had the opportunity to go, have the time of my life and meet some amazing people. During my project, my group and I were in San Pedro working to help the community by building an eco house for their coffee season so that they could store their materials and tools for when they were planting coffee plants and we were also making eco bricks to make a small bridge for the community to use.
During the two weeks we were there, not only did we become close as a group and become friends but we also became quite close with our host families and really come to feel at home there and like we were part of the community. And it is just an amazing feeling knowing that my group and I helped build something that the community needed and will be there for a while.
The town and the people who live there were so wonderful in welcoming us and making us feel at home that towards the end of our project, when we were driving back into town the day after our second day off it felt like we were coming back home from a camping trip or something—we really felt like we were at home there.
After the project, we rejoined a lot of the people who also went to Costa Rica and went on a two week adventure tour around Costa Rica and again had an amazing time. I met new people and formed new/more friendships with them and had a great time travelling around visiting new towns, staying in beautiful hotels- some of which were surrounded by equally beautiful scenery and natural surroundings- and the activities were so much fun- I honestly don’t know if I would have considered zip lining if I hadn’t gone to Costa Rica but it was honestly my favourite thing that we did there.
Being able to have this experience was amazing! I had the best time and it was honestly the best experience I have ever had. I learned a lot- not only about the environment and being more conscious of how I use things back home- but also about myself and different living is over there and how easy it is over here.
Coming home to Australia and not waking up in Costa Rica and seeing all the friends that I made there everyday seemed like a strange idea at first and unreal the night before we flew out of Costa Rica and it slowly got more real as we all started going our separate ways- whether we were going back to Australia or New Zealand or whether we were going travelling somewhere else- the things we did and saw and the friends we made, made that more special because no one else will know what it was like for us or know how much fun we had.
I am honestly looking forward to going back one day.