GTS in Costa Rica

I guess I will continue with the abroad theme and tell you about the soccer trip to Costa Rica! It was an amazing experience. Both the women’s and men’s teams met at the airport early, EARLY in the morning on August 5th, and we flew to Miami and then to San Jose. San Jose is the capital of Costa Rica and we spent some time there touring the city and playing against local soccer teams. The next place we went to was the Arenal Volcano area and we stayed at a beautiful resort. We were very lucky because the day we got there, there was no cloud cover and we could see the volcano perfectly. We were told that not many people get to see that sight, so we felt very fortunate!  We spent several hours by the pool, played in more soccer games, and we even went ziplining. The ziplining was so crazy! At some points, we were 600 ft. above ground! The views were magnificent. On our way to our final place, we stopped by a river and saw alligators! They were huge! Our last stop was at a small beach town called Dominical. One day, we had an entire beach area to ourselves. It was an awesome day; we played in the water, collected sea shells, and had a little cook-out. We were also able to watch the sunset over the beach, which was incredible. Of course, we played more soccer, including some futsol tournaments. On one of our last days, we went on a rafting trip. We went down a beautiful river and half way through, we stopped a hiked to a waterfall! It started to pour the second half of our raft trip, so we were even more soaked. Costa Rican rain is nice and warm, though, so it actually felt great! As you can see, it was an unforgetable trip. The amount of soccer we were able to play and the number of activities we did was awesome! One of the best parts about the trip, that I have not mentioned yet, was the donations we were able to give. After almost every game, we were able to donate some of our old jerseys, shirts, and personal gear. It made the trip much more special knowing we were able to help out while having fun. I could not have asked for a better trip with better people. I love my team and I believe bonding in Costa Rica was a great start to a successful season!