On the second day in Costa Rica, we went hiking to see a beautiful waterfall and later went to visit an indigenous group in Costa Rica called Maleku, where we had lunch and watched them perform a cultural dance featuring all types of instruments and their own unique language. This day was filled with all sorts of experiences, from the frustration of hiking to the new knowledge learned directly from the small indigenous group, not from a textbook or online.
For our first activity of the day, our group started off by going on a very long hike in a volcano national park called Parque Nacional Volcán Tenorio. The volcano is not active, but it made me so excited to know that I was on a trail between two mountains, or rather volcanoes. It was very tiring to go on the hike, and honestly, it was hard to get through, but we persevered and made it the whole way. The long and exhausting hike was entirely worth it because we got to see a beautiful waterfall! The colour of the water was so bright and turquoise. It was absolutely stunning! It was so pretty to see, but it makes you wonder what makes the water that colour! We then went to another stop on the hike. It didn’t seem like a long way, but it was an intense trek, as we had to go through steep stairs and thin paths, but we made it to the river and our guides told us why the water was that colour.
What I learned from the hike was that perseverance can lead to beautiful things.
For the second activity, we went to a small indigenous group’s community. I think this made the whole experience 10x more enjoyable because we got to experience it in real life, leaving a lasting impact. If we read about the struggles faced by these small indigenous communities, we would most likely forget about it next period, however, seeing the amazing performance and talk/introduction directly from the group made me fully understand the severity of the issues they were talking about and how they directly impact groups like theirs. Not only did I understand it better, but I also gained a new perspective as before I always had the mindset of “as long as it doesn’t affect me, I don’t care” but now I know that everyone as a whole should be aware and care about this issue because nothing is going to change if only one person puts in the effort. Now, after experiencing this firsthand, I want to try to make a difference, although it may be small or go unnoticed.
Overall, the experience of visiting the indigenous groups was extremely rewarding and helped me realize things that I never would have understood in a traditional classroom.
