Learning
AIS Global Intensive: Costa Rica
During the travel part of the AIS Global Intensive Costa Rica: Culture of Conservation course, students explore the country’s remarkable biodiversity and conservation efforts while learning alongside local communities and organizations. Through hands-on experiences, reflection, and time immersed in Costa Rican culture, students deepen their understanding of the relationship between people and the natural world. This post will be updated with highlights, photographs, and student reflections from this incredible journey.
October 6, 2026
Student Authors: Megan, Macy and Aspen
During our visit to Jaime’s garden, he taught us about all the different plants that he has and how he can use them medically to help people. This changed all of our perspectives and showed us how natural resources can be used to benefit our lives in better ways than typical over-the-counter medication. This goes on to show how some people’s first instinct would be to go to the store to get the easiest available medicine, not realizing that their home is surrounded by natural resources that can be used as medicine.
The perspectives that were available to us were Jaime’s, our classmates’, and our teachers’, but we were missing the other side of the medicine, which would be doctors who make the same medicine with many more ingredients than what Jaime is using and that might change the side effects and normal effects of what we were given today to eat. It was really interesting how today we were given a leaf that, when you folded it up, smelled it, put it on your forehead, and repeated it, would help to stop your headache. If we were to get the perspective of how to solve a headache from someone like a doctor, it would be like taking Advil, etc. This presents us with the simple ways that local people are able to use homegrown methods with a much deeper understanding and meaning than just a label and a barcode.
Another great experience that changed our perspectives based on identity was going to the homestay with the local families in town. Even though most of us had a hard time understanding and speaking Spanish, we were still able to communicate with them. At the beginning of the visit, we were uncomfortable and nervous to try to speak Spanish with the family. But by the end, we were able to connect through the shared experiences of family, culture, and land. Going to someone’s home in a new country taught us so much about the different values and ways of living. It showed us the way that everyone in this town is family, and they carry so much history throughout their generations and lifestyles, connecting everyone’s experiences in different ways. When hearing about everyone’s homestay, we were able to notice that everyone’s experience was much different than each other. This shows how someone else’s physical, cultural, and environmental identity can impact the experiences we all shared today
October 5, 2026
Student Author: Elsa
While touring the organic farm today, Aaron, our tour guide, was explaining to us about pineapple plants. One plant can grow 3-4 pineapples until they are no longer good to eat. The first pineapple is the biggest and the most visually appealing. These pineapples are the ones shipped to the US. The second pineapple is smaller and less vibrant, and those are shipped to Europe. The last pineapples are kept in Costa Rica and are the smallest. The thing that stuck with me was that the taste had no impact whether it was first, second, or third choice. This made me think: why do Americans get the biggest pineapple even though the flavor is no different than a small pineapple? U.S. consumers have an ideal look that they think of when imagining fresh produce. The ideal version of a pineapple is large, a bright yellow body, bright green leaves, and a perfect oval shape. If the pineapple is slightly green or misshapen, it can affect whether the pineapple sells or not. Over 50% of the pineapples sold in the world come from Costa Rica; this makes me think about how pineapples are marketed to us and how we have such low tolerance for anything that isn’t perfectly yellow and perfectly shaped. This encourages me to be more flexible with what I buy, as now I know that often the look of a pineapple doesn’t affect the taste at all.
Student Author: Sarah
This afternoon our class split in two. Half went to lunch at community members’ homes, and the other half went to an Eco-Farm. After eating a delicious lunch of rice, beans, chicken, fried yucca, and plantains, we set out on a tour of the farm. Our tour guide, Aaron, told us about his family’s history with farming and how each one of us came from farmers, whether we knew it or not. We walked through the property, stopping briefly at a variety of crops and listening to Aaron’s stories. After a few stops, we stood before a tall bush bearing hundreds of small, circular green kernels. They were spicy and left a burning sensation on my tongue, but that was not the most significant thing I took away from the plant. While listening to Aaron’s recounting of the steps needed to process the kernels into pepper, I looked down below me, where I saw a long, stretching line of leaf-cutter ants carrying leaves ten times their size. The sheer quantity of them was shocking, but it was what Aaron told us next that stuck with me the longest. He told us that in recent years, they have seen more evidence of damage done by leaf-cutters on the crops than ever before. His family hypothesized that the ants were more active than usual because even they could sense an approaching ecological emergency, and they had been stocking up on materials to prepare. This moment passed by quickly, but I continued thinking of this message as we finished our hike.
Coming from suburban New England, my connection with land is very different from the agricultural society of Costa Rica. I have always heard of communities that predict storms and climate disasters based on the changing behavior of animals, but to see firsthand how creatures as small as ants are impacted by global shifts in climate was eye-opening. It is so easy to say that climate change is a hoax and to overlook the impacts on animals until you see how even the smallest parts of the ecosystem are affected by changes. As I continue in my time in Costa Rica and back home in Connecticut, I hope to be able to strengthen my connection with the land and make it impossible to overlook changes happening around me.
Student Author: Avery
After having lunch with the homestay families, half of the group went to an ethnobotanist named Jaime, where we explored the physical impact of plants and their healing powers in comparison to typical medicine. We were introduced to various types of plants and fruits, their origin, and how they affect the human body. Together as a class, we were able to taste the different plants given to us and observe how they made us feel. Some made our mouths go numb, others cleared our sinuses, and Jaime overall explained how those plants are the simplest way to healing. I thought this experiment was truly eye-opening because in the lives of most people, we turn to medicine for every small inconvenience we experience. We rely so heavily on lab-made products that we take for granted what Mother Earth has offered us already. This concept further connects to the question we were studying today – what have we learned about conservation in the local communities? At home, we find plants, fruits, and other resources everywhere we turn, but do we do much with them? We may use them for small tasks, but we aren’t taking enough time to research their importance and use them to their full potential. Here in Costa Rica, Jaime and other researchers find a use in every organism they encounter. Whether it be using it for medicine or simply diving deeper into its background, every resource is isolated and used to its potential. I believe that this is a form of conservation that is not explored enough and is something that we need to incorporate more into our everyday lives at home.
Something that stuck with me earlier this trip was a phrase that Randall, our World Leadership School partner, said to us: “Everything you need is right in front of you”. “If you don’t see it in front of you, you don’t truly need it”. Why would we waste valuable resources when they are easily accessible for us to use? This exploration of conservation truly stuck with me today, and it now motivates me to become more appreciative of the resources I am given by Mother Nature, for we have what we need.
October 4, 2026
Student Author: Audrey
October 4 was our first full day in Costa Rica. Early in the morning, we split into groups and did a rainforest walk to spot and engage with the wildlife. Our tour guide had a telescope that allowed us to see animals and insects from very far distances.
During the tour, we got to interact and ask questions of our guide, who helped us get through muddy areas and identify species that we thought were cool. Through the telescope, we saw various animals including spider monkeys, lizards, frogs, and many more.
During the tour, all of my group members and I quickly took notice of how easily all the guides were able to identify lots of different species that were camouflaged within the forest. After this observation, we asked the guide how long he had been working here. His reply was, “17 years.” After learning that, I recognized that most of the people in Costa Rica who have jobs involving teaching people about the community and life here have done this work for years and are passionate about their home.
After just spending one day here, I’ve discovered that the way people live in Costa Rica is very different from what you’d normally see in Farmington, Connecticut. Everyone is so passionate about the climate and environment here, being very eco-friendly and involved with the community. After speaking to some of my peers, I learnt that a lot of people don’t interact with their neighbors or community, for example, by volunteering or just having conversations with the people you live near.
In Chilamate, all the locals were so welcoming and knew so many people, and were very passionate about their culture and what makes their household special. When walking around the neighborhood in Chilamate to interact with the community members, they made life look so simple. Before this trip, I had never milked a cow or consistently picked fruits and vegetables to make food on a weekly basis. I learnt that the way things go in this community is very different from what a lot of the people I know and I are used to, and that if you take the time to try and learn and gain experience involving the outdoors and your environment, you get to see truly how special the land is around you and what you can make of it.
STUDENT AUTHOR: CLEO
In the short time that we have stayed in Costa Rica so far, I have already learned more about conservation than I ever could in Ford library. Our hotel, Chilamate, is an outdoor resort in which every square foot is either a room, path, or part of the jungle. Thinking back to suburban Connecticut, I wonder why everywhere isn’t like this. There is so much empty space where trees, bushes, or natural grasses could be growing. The locals and the natural environment here coexist, whereas at home we design neighborhoods and natural areas separately. We take down more trees and resources than needed, whereas here they take only what is needed.
Along the same line of thinking, one of the leaders of WLS mentioned how the individuals of the jungle don’t compete, but instead mutually grow and share resources for the good of the ecosystem. While I haven’t spent enough time in Costa Rica to fully understand how their lifestyles reflect this, I know enough about the American Dream to know it is the exact opposite. American values are based on using the system to uplift yourself, rather than the entire community. There is no reciprocity, such as in the rainforest. Similarly, one of the greatest feats of American capitalism is the culture of consumerism, which is entirely visible in our own group’s experience here so far. Many of us brought and walk around with anything we could possibly use to make us comfortable–loads of bug spray, sunscreen, or 100% polyester clothing for the humidity.
The same leader of WLS also told us that the extent of your needs is defined by what is in front of you. His example was that if your room doesn’t have hot water, you don’t need hot water. While I don’t think this idea holds up under much scrutiny, it does in our immediate context. In Chilamate, there are no clocks or TVs in the rooms, no walls around many of the common areas, and of course no phones. Somehow, these things which may seem like needs in the United States don’t seem necessary anymore. Today I’ve felt more fulfilled than I’ve ever had in my life, and I have only a backpack full of things to my name. The idea is that conservation happens with connection through locals and the environment, and acceptance of what you have in front of you rather than taking more resources than are needed.
Student Author: Lena
Today, our activity after lunch was called the “Adventure Race,” where we split up into teams of 6 and completed 5 unique challenges, each involving the local community. One thing we were told coming into the race was that some families may not speak English, meaning your group would have to speak to them fully in Spanish. At first, I was very intimidated by this because I knew that, in order to succeed in the race, we had to understand the instructions given. However, what really changed my perspective on the full household visits happened at the third station, where we were greeted by two elementary school children. Although they also spoke no English at all, we bonded over our shared love of pop culture. When we first walked up to them they both did the classic Cristiano Ronaldo celebration, and as we were leaving, we all did a “seis siete”. This showed me that even though there can be challenges when communicating across languages, there are still ways to communicate with each other even if it isn’t necessary through words. Going forward, I hope to use this newfound knowledge to better communicate with other locals I encounter throughout my time in Costa Rica in order to best connect with the culture.
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