Day 9: Arrival at Rancho Mastatal - Nate

     After another early start at 5:45, both the boys and girls had a quick breakfast snack at the airbnb, piled into the bus, and hit the road. Today's bus ride was filled with the normal antics of the bus such as card games, music and enjoying the sights. The bus ride took us away from the pacific coast at Ojochal to more inland in the Cordillera Volcanic Central mountain range of Costa Rica. I enjoyed seeing the scenery change from flatlands to steep mountains with sheer cliffs on either sides of the road. Unfortunately, we had the unforeseen trouble of the bus ride being about one more hour than expected to arrive to the ranch.     But, eventually we arrived just in time for brunch.

    Brunch today was rice, beans, eggs, and fresh fruit that was all grown on the farm, or locally sourced. We then met Tim who was the owner of the ranch that gave us the lay of the land and told us about the story of the ranch and his story. The ranch served as a sustainability education center where students like us could come and learn how to be self sustainable and eco friendly, as well as a home for over 20 long term residents. After that meeting, we were shown to our rooms; then, we went on a hike that showed us around the property and eventually ended up at the waterfall. The waterfall was one of my favorite activities of the day. It was super cool because hidden between two cliff walls there was a beautiful pool and fall. The coolest thing about the water fall was the ability to scale the cliff on the side then jump off into the pool which many of us did and enjoyed. 

    After the waterfall, we were given free time with the opportunity to head down to the local soccer field and play. I, with a group of students, went down to the field and had a great game playing with the locals. I thought it was really cool how even in such a small community (around 250 people) they were still able to organize daily soccer games so that the people of the town could play. This was definitely my favorite part of the day and I am very eager to go back to the field soon. 

    After all this activity it was finally time to settle down, we had some shower/clean up time, then headed to dinner. I really appreciate the dinner here because everyone at the ranch all comes together before we eat and says things that they are thankful for. After a good dinner that was also naturally sourced, we ended the day with a quick community meeting and time for students to come together and play card games. 

    We had a great day and am very exited to see what tomorrow will bring


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