Above the Clouds: What Costa Rica Taught Me About Language, Life, and Letting Go

It started with a college requirement.
I needed an immersive experience to complete my Spanish minor, and I could’ve picked anywhere. But I didn’t just want a trip — I wanted something real.

That’s how I found myself in the mountains outside of Cartago, Costa Rica, living in an orphanage, sleeping in a room with two children who had seen more life than I could imagine, and slowly learning to dream in Spanish.

Rice, Beans, and the Bridge That Held Us

Days were simple.
We ate rice, beans, and plantains — a diet that grounded me, even when my body craved variety (and eventually led me to a tiny internet café for a Coca-Cola and a Snickers on more than one occasion).

We walked everywhere — through coffee farms, along dusty roads, and across a suspended bridge that warned: only three people at a time. I remember the slight sway of it beneath my feet, the jungle stretching out below, the clouds sometimes curling around us like we were floating.

We played soccer with the kids. We laughed in half-understood phrases. We lived above the clouds — literally — and yet somehow, I felt more grounded than ever.

Dreaming in Spanish

Immersion is a powerful thing.
One day, I realized I was no longer translating in my head — I was thinking in Spanish, even dreaming in it. There’s something transformative about that — about realizing that you can live in another language, even if it’s just for a little while.

But the biggest lesson wasn’t about fluency. It was about empathy.

Living in the orphanage, I saw how deeply these kids needed — and how deeply they were loved. They weren’t forgotten. They were held, nurtured, protected. Still, the weight of how many children lived there stuck with me.

I felt small. Helpless. But not hopeless.
We brought supplies. We brought presence. We played. We listened. And sometimes, that was enough.

More Than a Requirement

Costa Rica wasn’t just a box to check on a college form.
It was a place that showed me the beauty and the ache of being human — how joy and sorrow can live side by side. How even in hard places, there is love. Laughter. Language that connects more than it divides.

I went to fulfill a requirement.
I left with a piece of myself forever changed.

And I still think of that suspended bridge. The kids I slept beside. The way the clouds rolled through the mountains like they belonged there.

Travel isn’t always about escape. Sometimes, it’s about witnessing.
About choosing to step into someone else’s world — and letting it shift the way you see your own.

—
GRL On the Go
Grounded in gratitude. Fluent in feeling. Always learning.