Excited about our homestays? You bet! (By James and Ben)

This morning after breakfast we had our first official meeting about meeting and dealing with our host families. We talked for a long time about what to expect and the responsibility of sharing a space with someone else. But after the meeting we were able to head out for the first really exciting event of the day - RIVER RAFTING! Let's just say the rapids of Costa Rica were nothing in the face of well-trained and inspired Daltonians. After the rapids we headed back to town, had lunch, and then packed the bus for our trip to Santa Maria de Dota.



The two and a half hour drive to Santa Maria from the hostel in Orosi was another trek through the scenic and winding mountains of Costa Rica. We were all anxious about meeting our host families at the high school of Santa Maria, where we will also be doing our community service.



We finally met our families and we were introduced to the people in charge of the high schools. All of the students separated into their respective families and introduced themselves. We were driven to our homes and off to officially start our homestays.