True Nature Travels Blog

Day 5 and 6: True Service and Adventure

Day 5
We awoke at Finca Luna Nueva Lodge, a biodynamic farm and ecolodge – quite a different environment than the coastal zone where we had spent our previous days. This is clearly the rainforest. 🙂

After our first morning yoga session of the trip and a great breakfast we were ready to head to the village of Chachagua where we took part in a morning of service. Our project for the day was to give the Chachagua Church a facelift with a new coat of paint.

We were met by Lindsay Padilla and her family. Lindsay is one of True Nature’s Village Representatives, and a wonderful community leader and organizer. We were also met by the pastor of the church. In a very meaningful moment following the project the Pastor and Rabbi Meiri each offered a prayer, one in Spanish and one in English.

Rabbi Meiri shared, “It is with great joy that we offer our service in your house of worship to lift up your services.”
Following our work we headed back to the farm where we had some much-needed downtime, which included time in the hot-tub, a farm tour, and a night hike for some.

Day 6
Today we took part in our Arenal Adventure Day. It was a full day of adventure and excursions including zipliniing, horseback-riding, a volcano hike, and a trip to the hot springs.

We were honored to have Christian Padilla (Lindsay’s brother) as our naturalist guide. “We have had such a great assortment of wildlife on this trip,” shared Peter Oppenheimer, which has included over 45 different birds (counted by Noa Meiri).

Christian’s passion and knowledge illuminated our day as we truly had an opportunity to explore and embrace the beauty and brilliance of the rainforest.

The day ended with pizza in the Luna Nueva cob oven, followed by a beautiful a circle bringing Shabbat to a close. We are beginning to feel the transition that is upon us as our journey is slowly beginning to come to a close. Tomorrow is our last full day together, and we are going to soak up and enjoy every moment. See you tomorrow…

True Nature Travels Blog

Travel Tip Tuesday: Learn Costa Rican Spanish Slang

If you do not know any Spanish, we recommend learning the basic Costa Rican slang prior to your travel ventures. Even if you do know Spanish, it’s important to keep in mind that you may overhear words and sayings that are unfamiliar to Spanish language that you hear in other Spanish-speaking countries. Recall from our earlier Travel Tip blog discussing the reference of the Costa Rican locals as ticos. 

These words and sayings are called idiomatic expressions. They are a useful guide to understanding the humor and character of that culture. They may seem peculiar as they do not translate directly with their meaning, however if you are aware of them before you are immersed in the culture, it will be much easier for non-native speakers to embrace and understand them.

Be sure to keep an open mind when conversing with locals, as they tend to directly address others more so than we do in the English language that may seem blunt or offensive. This is not the case, as it is just the way that the converse with each other, and should be thought of as friendly and light-hearted. For example, it is common that women be referred to as mamita, madre, or mi hijita. Locals also tend to use characteristics as nicknames, such as flaco (“fat”), flaco (“skinny”), negro (“dark-skinned”), chino (“Asian,” if you have slanted eyes, regardless of if you are actually Asian or not), or gato (“blue or green eyes”).

Here is a list of popular words and sayings that you will hear often and will certainly be helpful to know, especially when interacting with the locals.

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