The Swarthmore College Women’s Soccer team went on a very affordable Spring Break training trip, paid for partly by donors and partly by ourselves, during which we got to play local club sports teams and explore three parts of Costa Rica: the capital city of San José, the rainforest, and the beach! Our trip spanned 8 days, including travel days.
March 9, 2024
The Swarthmore Women’s Soccer Spring Break Costa Rica trip kicked off Friday night (3/8/24) driving to the JFK airport from Swarthmore at 7:30 pm. We then left on our first flight to El Salvador. From this late night trip, we caught our last flight from El Salvador on Saturday morning, arriving in Costa Rica around midmorning. After arriving at the Hilton Garden Inn Santa Ana Hotel, we were greeted by our smiling tour guide, Sophia, and her fellow Costa Rica trip planning colleagues. We were given a fun, and even competitive, presentation regarding the history, culture, and norms, as well as plans for our trip, coupled with a delicious meal, filled with fruits and Costa Rican dishes, such as Gallo Pinto and Turrialba cheese. After this nourishing and much needed meal, we headed off to downtown San José, where we were given a walking tour of the historical and contemporary districts of the capital city by our guide. We saw beautiful architecture, museums, capital and governmental buildings, and were provided with the colonial history of the country. We were also greeted by flowering trees, ones that resembled cherry blossoms, and parrots. From this walking tour, we shopped in a local street vendor market then headed back to the hotel for lunch. At lunch we discovered some of the various, and amazingly different, juices that Costa Rica specializes in (and I got to try papaya for the first time!). After a quick lunch, we headed straight to a field in the middle of a town, with mountains overlooking it, and had our first and only practice of this trip with two Costa Rican local coaches. It was really fun to learn and even play with them at the end! After our practice, we headed to the hotel for a quick shower and nap before heading up a mountain for dinner and a show. At dinner, we had a delicious buffet of rice, beans, squash, potatoes, salad, sweet plantains, and fried potato/cheese balls with a traditional dancing show right in front of us! We definitely had a jam-packed day, full of memories made and naps in random spots! – Katie Kerman, junior
March 10, 2024
After everyone had the best sleep of the century, we woke up to our first full day of activity in Costa Rica. The day started with a delicious buffet breakfast of traditional Costa Rican food (gallo pinto) with eggs, fresh fruit, yogurt, and granola. From here, we continued the adventure with our tour guide Sophia by hopping on the bus for an hour and a half to the La Paz Waterfalls and Wildlife Sanctuary where we got to see dozens of animals and even hike down to a gorgeous waterfall. We discovered that among our team there were quite a few butterfly whisperers, including one toucan whisperer Halle, and we also got to see snakes, monkeys, large cats, and a sloth! After this, we made the trek down 500 steps (which we unfortunately had to go back up afterward) where we got to see a stunning waterfall. We settled in for some lunch, hopped back on the bus, and made a quick stop at a chocolate-covered strawberry store on our way to our first game. As per usual, we blasted music in the locker room before the game, finishing our pre-game hype up with the team song of the ’23 season: “Rather Be.” We then headed to the field for our first game of the trip against Dimas Escazu Primera, one of the top women’s teams in the country. – Charlotte Sims, first-year
March 11, 2024
After spending our second night and breakfast in the Hilton Gardens hotel, we kicked off the day by visiting Finca San Juan elementary school. As we entered the school, we were met with smiles and hugs from the second graders. We split up into four groups and played blob tag, sharks and minos, soccer drills, and relay races. The team had a blast working with the kids. The teachers made us all tortillas filled with potato con picadillo paired with delicious tamarind juice. After, we departed back to the hotel for some free time. Many of us ventured to the supermarket to purchase coffee and snacks for family members, amongst other various items. Others went to get some sun by the hotel pool. After lunch at the hotel, we hopped on the bus to our game against Saprissa. We ended the night with a 2-1 win and a great performance from the team overall. Our first goal came from a cross by Ava Gizzie in the 9th minute to Lauren Lior on the back post. Our second goal was far shot from the right corner by Rebecca Putnam in the 20th minute of the game. – Isabella Specchierla, sophomore
March 12, 2024
Today was an early morning as the team woke up at 5am for our first adventure of the day: white-water rafting! The hotel kindly gave us breakfast to-go, and we had a two hour drive to the white-water rafting center in the rainforest. The team split up into groups of four or five and hit the rapids! It was an amazing experience on the river as we saw wildlife (including my personal favorite: toucans!), swam in the river, admired the views, and even stopped to cut up some fresh watermelon and pineapple (sandía y piña). We almost made it without anyone falling out, but Lila, Gizz, and Maddie had to be rescued. Our guides were so much fun and this was definitely a trip highlight so far! After rafting, we paused for lunch (where we spotted a sloth!) and took the bus to the Magic Mountain Hotel. We explored the hotel and rested for a few hours before taking off to the Baldi Hot Springs Resort and Spa. We swam in hot springs of different temperatures all heated by the nearby volcano and cruised down four different water slides. Watching our teammates shoot out of the “extreme level” slide and skid across the water was so much fun! We fueled up at the Baldi restaurant for dinner and headed back to the hotel to call it a night. It was a packed day, but one full of smiles and laughter! – Liesel Blau, first-year
March 13, 2024
We woke up bright and early again this morning for breakfast at the Magic Mountain Hotel. We had another extremely busy day. We first headed to the canopy zip line. We hiked down to La Fortuna Waterfall. We climbed over rocks to see a lot of water falling and swam in the pool and river below. From there, we hiked back up exactly 400 stairs (we counted) to get suited up for zip lining. We got helmets and harnesses, and climbed to the top of the first tower. We got to see the waterfall from above on the zip line! I personally enjoyed that quite a bit. From there, we made a quick visit to downtown La Fortuna at the foot of the Arenal volcano. Some went straight for empanadas, others went for traditional copos: shaved ice and syrup with condensed milk and buttermilk, the perfect pre-game meal. We did some souvenir shopping as well. We ate lunch at the hotel before leaving for our final game against San Carlos FF. We finished the night with a 6-1 victory. We then headed by to relax in the hotel after dinner, as we prepared ourselves for Margaritaville at the beach side of Costa Rica. – Lila Travers, sophomore
March 14, 2024
Today started off with a VERY long bus ride, complemented by a broken air conditioner, as well as a travel time of exactly 6 hours of twists and turns that led us to Margaritaville! Shoutout to Jose, our bus driver, for his amazing driving skills, as he drove stick shift along twists and turns for hours. Another shoutout to our tour guide, Sophia, for buying us ice cream and coconut water along the way. Upon arrival at Margaritaville, we were greeted warmly and immediately went to the beach. We played beach volleyball together and swam in the pool until sunset. We went back to the beach to watch the gorgeous sunset over the Pacific and to take pictures. We enjoyed an outdoor dinner, followed by team bonding and lawn games. Another awesome day in Costa Rica! – Anna Cairone, junior
March 15, 2024
Today, we woke up and had breakfast at Margaritaville’s buffet. Some of us woke up even earlier, 5:30AM, to see the sunrise. After breakfast, the team hung out by the pool, played volleyball and cornhole, and even participated in the hotel’s competition of pool ping-pong.
We had a quick lunch back at the buffet before heading to the catamaran tour. It was a 45-minute bus journey filled with scenic views of downtown Tamarindo, one of Costa Rica’s most beloved beach towns and the heart of the nation’s surf culture.
Upon arriving at the beach, we boarded a small dingy boat, which took us out to the much larger catamaran. Joined by forty other tourists, we enjoyed lounging on the deck, taking pictures of the water, snorkeling by the shore, and even venturing onto the beach when the boat was anchored. Several of us took much-needed naps after a busy week. The crew provided a lunch of barbecue chicken, pico de gallo, refried beans, and rice. The tour ended with the sun setting over the Pacific, and we were grateful to end our vacation on such a beautiful note. It was the perfect day to end our adventure. – Sophia Vesely, junior
Conclusion
This trip was an amazing experience to play soccer, bond with coaches and players in a non-sports or school-related manner, and envelope ourselves in another culture and language. The members of the women’s soccer team enjoyed every minute of our 8-day Spring Break trip and we are all grateful to Swarthmore for providing this opportunity to our team.
