GLA Costa Rica: Summer Programs for Teens

Hello, my daughter went on the Costa Rica beach side service adventure trip. Initially, my wife and I were really worried sending her to a foreign country alone. I can honestly say I was very pleased with the way GLA handled everything. I needed to get in contact with her on the trip and they quickly got her to a phone. I felt very confident in the GLA staff and program. I am so excited for her to be going on her next trip this Spring to the Dominican Republic. Thank you GLA!!

The global leadership adventures is a beyond extraordinary program. I am 17 years old in high school and I wanted to go out and do something new I came upon the program as a basic ad lurking on social medias. I spent hours roaming their website from looking to videos, blogs, and pictures. I decided to enroll into the beachside service program in Costa Rica, Global leadership adventures helped step by step they even had checklist for me ! This team made my experience breath taking, I met people from all over the world, learned to be more independent, and I even keep in contact with my mentor. If anyone is looking to travel abroad I would highly recommend global leadership adventures. The trip impacted my life in so many ways I see the world differently I interact with people differently even myself I learned to be more open and willing in many situations. On GLA trips they make you feel like your at home!

Over the summer I traveled with Global Leadership Adventures to Costa Rica where we stayed for 10 days and did so many fun activities and meaningful service. We were located in Parrita and we worked at a local school and built a playground out of painted tires. Seeing the children happily playing was so life-changing and I am so lucky I was able to help. In Costa Rica I made so many wonderful friends that I still am close with today. Despite being nervous traveling alone to a foreign country, everyone made me feel so comfortable and all my nerves disappeared. The staff at GLA were so helpful and always answered any questions we had. The activities we did were so incredibly fun and thrilling, from zip lining to horse back riding to white water rafting we did such cool adventures. My choice to travel to Costa Rica with GLA was the best decision of my life and my trip was unforgettable.

This past summer, I went to Costa Rica with Global Leadership Adventures. My program was called Beachside Service Adventure and consisted of 10 days in Parrita. There were about 60 people in my group (mostly girls only like 10 boys) and we were split up into mentor groups of like 8-10 ish.

M y group worked with a startup plant nursery which was amazing. We worked with two locals, Nicholas and Mau who's nursery it was, and spent our service time basically hardcore gardening in the rainforest. One day we were clearing the land for the nursery and we got to be super cool with machetes and hack through the jungle brush which was awesome. Other groups did stuff like paint a mural at a school, build a tire playground, plant trees at a farm, build a garden at a school, etc.

One of my favorite parts was our nightly mentor group talks. Since gla does focus a lot on leadership we did discussion groups about leadership in our lives and how we can be a leader in our community and we talked about globalization and the relationship between developed/developing countries and some economics so it was really cool to get kinda a crash course foreign policy and how it applies to us kinda thing. And we totally had to open our minds to new ideas which was cool

Honestly the best part was just being immersed in the culture like eating rice and beans and drinking pineapple juice we ate SO MUCH fruit it was amazing

I thought the GLA people were really cool like every program has to have a native who works as an advisor so we actually had two: one woman who has just finished up in the peace corps and one woman who was from Parrita. They were really organized like being at the airport was stressful at first but once you find the GLA people they take care of you the whole time which was great and my parents weren't stressed at all

I would recommend on program length so I did a 10 day but I would recommend the 14 day ones just cause I really started to form close bonds right as we left and didn't really get the chance to develop those friendships. If you have any interest in the peace corps or mission work it's so great cause a lot of the staff did the peace corps or at least extensive volunteering so you get tons of cool people to ask lots of questions.

If you're nervous about doing GLA I'd definitely recommend the programs in Latin America/Caribbean. I know my parents were a lot happier knowing I was in the same time zone and it was easy to call me and my flight wasn't too bad. Plus it's less of a culture shock than, say, Thailand. I would definitely say whatever program you do, find someone who did that one before because there were a lot of confusing things just cause they can only fit so much in a brochure.

One of the lasting effects of GLA on my life is I feel a lot more down to earth and focused on nature and being in the present and I worry way less about social media or texting or television now which is nice.

-Miranda Wilson, GLA Ambassador

This past summer I had the privilege to travel to Costa Rica on the "Beachside Service Adventure" program with Global Leadership Adventures. From the moment I stepped on my plane in Miami to when I stepped back onto American soil, the experience was truly incredible. The adventures were so much fun: zip-lining over the jungle was awesome- so was kayaking through the Atlantic, and there was always opportunity for adventure living steps from the beach and with monkeys (literally) in our back yard. However, the best part of my trip were the relationships I established: I became incredibly close with several other teens on the trip and developed touching relationships with several Costa Ricans involved in our service activity. The ten days I spent in Costa Rica were some of the best ten days of my life and not only would I recommend a Global Leadership Adventures program to another student, I hope to go on another one myself!

My experience in Costa Rica was absolutely amazing. I have changed so much as a person in that I am more open minded and open to trying new things. My experience was made phenomenal because I connected with so many wonderful people. Since GLA I have been more 'go with the flow' (Pura Vida) and certainly have a new perspective on the world around me. I understand that living simply can still yield happiness. My favorite memory was at a bread making class in which it started down pouring as it typically does in the rainforest. Instead of running for cover, Costa Rican children came outside and splashed around with us in the mud to Latin music. This moment was truly eye opening to what is truly important.

It was a big step for us to let our daughter go on her first big foreign trip on her own. However, we were re-assured by the extensive and well planned communication from GLA. We also noticed our daughter being very responsible in all her actions and in preparing for the trip. She really developed and grew as a result of the experience and came back clearly having had the best of times having met so many wonderful friends. She just can't stop talking about her experience abroad. It positively transformed her and I can highly recommend the experience to others. Despite my initial hesitations she had such an amazing time that she's going back this summer to Thailand.

This summer I spent 10 days in Parrita Costa Rica with Global Leadership Adventures on the Beachside Service Adventure and the experience was beyond words. I definitely left a piece of my heart in the community of Parrita in Costa Rica and they have taught me so much more than I could have ever imagined. Being able to challenge myself and gain skills through service, activities like ziplining and horseriding, the leadership curriculum and putting myself out of my comfort zone has been unforgettable and truly life changing as it has helped me grow as a person. For my service project I worked on painting a mural at a school called Sardinal Sur and sometimes it was challenging because we had to paint in the rain and a lot of our hard work got ruined however we all banded together to fix it and make it the best it could be. Originally it was mentioned that we may not be able to finish in 10 days however we outdid ourselves and got so much done, seeing the children's faces looking at our mural on the last day of service was so rewarding and made everything worth it. I would highly recommend this trip if you are considering going on it or any other GLA trip because the company is great and I never felt unsafe so dont be worried.