Arthur John Brogden Lodge No 1715, which meets at Grange-over-Sands, was approached last year by a young lady called Lily, who was seeking some funding to assist with an international trip with the Guides. The lodge was only too happy to help, and made a donation of £300, 10% of the total cost of the trip.
She also received overwhelming support and kindness from the local community, through donations and engagement with her fundraising events. These included a table top sale, Christmas coffee evening, car boot stall, Christmas crafts stall and even a dance workshop with Santa! Lily had quickly reached her target by the start of the year, in less than six months. Before setting off, she had several briefing meetings online over the year, as well as a weekend at the Region HQ in Preston in February. There, her group prepared their thrifted trip uniform, got to know each other better, tested their challenge packs and, most importantly, planned the schedule of activities for the trip!
They also completed a sponsored litter pick walk around Preston Guild Wheel to Brockholes Nature Reserve, taking 18 bags of polluting rubbish out of the area. To share information about their trip and the work they would complete, all the participants worked together to create a challenge badge with a pack of activities to deliver to other Guiding groups. Lily herself went to Silverdale Brownies in June for a busy evening of crafts and tasks about the rainforest, palm oil, Costa Rica and its rainforest, after leading similar events from the pack with Grange Guides. The girls were amazed by Lily’s plans and she hoped that they were inspired to apply for a trip in a few years also.
In July, she again met the team in Liverpool for the last briefing with final notes about her journey, itinerary and the specialist kit needed, which she was able to supply from some excess fundraising. And then they were off! Lily travelled alongside Ava, another participant from nearby Arnside, to Manchester coach station where they met up with the group. This was the beginning of a very long, tiring and challenging journey to the other side of the Atlantic.
First, the group took a bus to Birmingham at 9.45pm on Saturday 26 July, changing there to another bus for Heathrow. They then departed at 7.15am and arrived in Newark, New Jersey nine hours later. After a six hour layover, in which they stood outside in the USA (it was very warm and loud and the group retreated back into the air-conditioned terminal soon after) had some American food and watched the Lionesses win the Euros, they boarded the plane to San Jose, only for it to be delayed on the runway for two hours. Eventually, they landed in Costa Rica and got to their hostel for the night.
They set off in the morning to travel four hours to ‘Kids Saving the Rainforest’, taking in the beauty of the area for the first time. The group was able to stop to see some wildlife, a river of crocodiles, two scarlet macaws in a tree and visit a fruit market. They also noticed the truly harrowing amount of palm oil plantations that had completely erased vast areas of diverse rainforest, creating organised monocultures, rows of the same thin-trunked, broad-leaved trees as far as the eye can see, for miles across the country, with no animals in sight.
They passed a factory and several trucks near the centre. It brought home the exploitation of the land and the inconceivable damage it continues to wreak across the world as a leading cause of deforestation and loss of biodiversity. Lily and her party arrived at the centre later that Monday and settled into the volunteer house, wrestling with their mosquito nets before the first of many rice and bean meals.
On the Tuesday morning, the group toured the wildlife rescue centre and learnt all about the animals they were looking after and why they were there. A particularly upsetting tale was that of the largest animals there, two spider monkeys. Darwin had been kept caged in a hotel bar for guests’ entertainment: abused, force fed alcohol and had cigarettes put out on him. He would become distressed at the sight of unfamiliar men that resembled his abusers. Nina, more elderly, had been kept in a circus and made to perform dangerous tricks, including jumping through a ring of fire, which caused a limb to have to be amputated. She was much shyer and moved slowly around their space.
Lily and her friends quickly realised how many wild animals still suffered at the hands of humans, even in a modern society and the importance of centres like KSTR. Other animals may have suffered from growth of human settlements near the rainforest, with several sloths paralysed from electrocution on wires. For the rest of the week, the group worked hard to do all that they could to support these animals in their daily duties.
Before breakfast each day, the food was prepared for the animals and their enclosures cleaned. For the rest of the mornings, the guides would complete various jobs around the centre as needed, including clearing fallen greenery, collecting plants for enclosures or cleaning the farm. After lunch, they often created and distributed specialised enrichment activities for the animals to develop the skills that would come naturally in the wild, as well as a second feeding. The one-on-one interaction with the animals was incredible and so surreal.
One morning Lily was sweeping the floor under a sleeping sloth, another girl was feeding an enclosure of squawking parrots. However, on the Friday, the group were able to have a day off while another group visited the centre, so they visited the nearby Manuel Antonio National Park and a magnificent beach. They followed a trail to a waterfall, taking in the breathtaking surroundings and noticing some of the wildlife they’d been looking after at KSTR, like a family of wild capuchins and some sloths, as well as some unexpected ones – many snakes!
The group were also able to visit the market to experience a different aspect of the culture. The following Monday, travelling up the coast to Jaco, visiting another beach, with much stronger waves and sun! There Lily’s group met up with a very energetic and welcoming scout group at some pickle-ball courts, sharing songs games and traditions as well as some very competitive pickle-ball matches (nobody really understood the rules, but Lily thinks they won at least one bit) It was so heart-warming to see the common love of guiding and scouting alike transcend the language barrier to form connections and have a great evening of international celebration of the organization.
Another memory was created that evening, getting caught in the daily thunderstorm on the dark walk back to the hostel and remedying it (having forgotten to bring coats due to the warm afternoon) with half an hour of shouted campfire songs through the outskirts of Jaco. On the followingTuesday it took four hours to travel to La Fortuna (survived by much minibus karaoke) and arrived at the accommodation with time to put up the mosquito nets again and head out on a night tour of the rainforest, seeing and hearing tree-frogs, toads, disturbing some sleeping butterflies, insects, snakes, birds and even some fireflies.
The tour guide was able to point out lots of different animals and habitats on the way too, which was fascinating. A quiet night at the house followed, preparing baggage for the return flights and making their own dinner. Thursday was another packed day with a white-water rafting tour down the river, allowing views of the rainforest from a different perspective, as well as an adrenaline rush and arm workout. In the evening the guides attended a surprise cooking class, where they grew and farmed everything on site, so they toured the grounds, learning about the different crops.
A brief introduction to some traditional music and salsa dancing followed. The final day of adventure started with a walk into the town for some souvenir shopping. Then a change of pace with a tour of 12 zip-lines through and above the rainforest, on one of the longer lines they flew next to a huge waterfall. This certainly pushed the guides to their limits, but it was all so enjoyable and the views were truly wonderful. Lily thinks it was a testament to how much she’d grown from all the experiences of the trip, as well as the selection and fundraising beforehand.
As a reward for all the hard work, effort and collaboration, there was a final surprise trip to the nearby hot springs spa, marvelling at the power of plate tectonics in some very relaxing pools. On Saturday morning they travelled back to the capital, starting off the day trip with a meal at a diner that somehow including dancing to traditional music with maracas and flags, then doing the ‘macarena’ dance.
They visited the National Museum and butterfly house, learning much about the history and wider culture of the country. Next, a bustling market with a huge range of shops and food stalls, before heading back to the hostel. Finally, a meal at a roof top restaurant with gorgeous views of the city at night. Sunday saw an early start to begin the journey home, flying via Houston with a five hour, then nine hour flight. Everyone slept considerably more than on the outbound trip. Arriving back in the UK at Heathrow airport early Monday morning, they made their way to the bus station. There, the guides ran into some participants on another international trip, with Girl Guiding Midlands. They all exchanged stories and found out that they were on their way back from Tanzania, where they had completed some work at a rural school. A very fitting end to the trip, giving another example of the vast guiding community, as well as its strong international links.
Arriving back at Manchester, after two coach journeys, they met up with parents and said some very tearful goodbyes to each other. The leaders surprised each guide with a gift from the Scouts in Jaco too, one of their beautiful neckerchiefs. And that was it, the two weeks of international travel and conservation that had been counted down to, fundraised for and prepared for over a year ago, as well as applying a further six months previously, was over. Lily rates it as the best experience of her life, by far. She was constantly learning, challenging herself, building relationships and having the most fun, all the while contributing to vital wildlife conservation in the most vulnerable ecosystem.
Lily is wholeheartedly grateful for all the support everyone have shown to her and the lodge’s generosity, which allowed her to participate in this fantastic trip. She hopes to be able to travel more in the future and thinks about the opportunity for a longer-term volunteer placement in another corner of the world. She would love to advocate more for the protection of rainforest environment and the reduction of harmful palm oil industry.
Personally, she wishes to continue challenging herself in various ways, having seen how much she has grown from this incredible experience. Lily wants to deliver some presentations about her time in Costa Rica around the local community, to share what she learned and raise awareness of similar opportunities, as well as the impact of supporting them. If you, or anyone you know, would be interested in this, please do get in touch with David Jopling, Secretary of Arthur John Brogden Lodge, who will contact Lily on your behalf.
