Welcome to Chilamate

Welcome to Chilamate!

The Bridge to the Future crew has been thoroughly enjoying their time at the Chilamate Rainforest Ecological Retreat. Each experience-rich day begins as we wake to the cries of the nearby howler monkeys.

Every day brings new adventures for all of the students, and our time together is filled with learning as well as exploring, bonding, and hands- on fun.

In just a few days, we’ve whitewater rafted on the Sarapiqi river, painted with fruit from the indigo plant, learned to cook three different kinds of delicious empanadas, eaten native medicinal plants, and explored Costa Rica’s immense biodiversity (including sloths, poison dart frogs, and toucans!) all while leading nightly discussions on environmental leadership.

In the next few days, we look forward to learning from local researchers and scientists, and celebrating the Fourth of July!

~Mimi

Yesterday we had an epic rafting adventure and reflected on what types of risks leaders take. Later we went to a local woman’s house for a cooking class where we also tried their home grown and homemade chocolate! After cooking everyone played tag and soccer in her yard.

Today we saw howler monkeys, a sloth, lots of frogs, a toucan, sleeping bats and some of the worlds biggest ants. We saw latex come out of a tree and tried different medicinal herbs as well as having coconut water straight out of a coconut. We are getting ready to go on a guided night hike and see what comes out in the jungle after dark!

~Kiska