California State University Northridge Athletics
Matadors in Costa Rica Blog - Entry #4
6/14/2018 9:38:00 AM | General
On Friday, June 8, 14 CSUN student-athletes arrived in Costa Rica for a two-week service trip. A diverse group of student-athletes representing different teams and class years will spend 14 days volunteering, learning about Costa Rica's economy, culture and environment and growing their camaraderie as Matadors. Â
During its journey, the group will visit a cloud forest, volunteer with a community water association, spend time at a tropical research station, learn about reforestation and much more. Student-athletes will be blogging about the trip for GoMatadors.com.
This post shares perspectives from women's volleyball student-athlete Erin Indermill and Andrew Rizeq of the CSUN men's soccer team.
We are only five days into our trip and have already learned so much about the Costa Rican culture and wildlife. Our day started the same as every other. Rice and beans. We are all convinced that rice and beans are going to become a staple in our lives back in Northridge.Â
Today we traveled up and down a river in the Caño Negro Wildlife Reserve learning about the various animals inhabiting the local environment. There are four native species of monkeys in Costa Rica and we were lucky enough to see three of them on our tour. We saw howler monkeys, white face monkeys and a spider monkey.
The spider monkey swung through the treetops utilizing its prehensile tail. These monkeys only have four fingers that act as hooks which allow them to swing from branch to branch more efficiently. Our trip concluded by continuing up the river to the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. After our tour we experienced traditional rice with chicken which is similar to fried rice.Â
Part of our trip involves donating a plethora of CSUN Athletics clothing and sports equipment to local schools and community organizations. As we drove back to La Fortuna we stopped to give some cleats and old jerseys to kids playing soccer at a local field.Â
Another major part of this trip is experiencing the culture. We had some free time to walk around downtown Fortuna and visit a family owned bakery, chocolateria, and ice cream shop. All of us have become more comfortable trying out our limited Spanish and are able to have conversations with our guide Eduardo and driver Olman. The conversations may be very elementary but they are considerably more extensive than the first day.Â
The most memorable experiences so far have come from the blooming friendships. All of us realized that we are all going through the same stressful college experience and now each of us have 13 more friends. Coming into this trip all of us were acquainted but the relationships were based on judgements. After late night bonding we have become close friends with people that we would have never spoken to on campus.Â
We are only halfway through this trip and it has already been life changing. We've made friendships that otherwise would never come to be. We've given back to the local communities and seen how much a simple gesture can brighten someone's day. We've also learned endless amounts about life in Costa Rica which has given us perspective about how blessed we are to have the lives we do.
#GoMatadors
