We finished up around 1 p.m. MT and traveled to Freddo Fresas restaurant for lunch. We were treated to a choice of fish, beef, chicken or pork along with a small salad, beans and rice, squash and plantain. We finished the meal with dos leches cake and then headed back on to the bus for our two-hour trek to Los Suenos Marriott on the Pacific Ocean side of Costa Rica.
On our way to Los Suenos, we stopped at a rest stop where we power shopped for souvenirs before heading a few miles down the road where we unloaded the bus yet again to view a family of large crocodiles in a nearby river. To say they were huge was an understatement!
We finally arrived at the Los Suenos Marriott at around 6 p.m. MT and the team will be meeting again for dinner tonight and then relaxing. We can't believe this trip is coming to a close so quickly but we are going to enjoy every last minute!
Schedule for Friday, August 15 (Mother's Day in Costa Rica)
10 a.m. – breakfast
10:30 a.m. – depart Los Suenos for Jaco Beach for sun, ocean, surf and shopping
6 p.m. – free time
August 13
We spent our Wednesday by the pool as the team was free to enjoy their own activities for the morning and afternoon. It was spent relaxing in a variety of ways but most enjoyed the Intercontinental Hotel's fabulous pools and hot tubs. Some of the girls even helped senior Lashonda Littleton learn how to swim! It was a great team effort.
We began our final international competition with a pre-game meal and then boarded the bus for Ciudad Deportiva Hatillo in San Jose where the Sycamores put on another clinic. When we walked into the gym, we were not expecting the amount of children that showed up! About 75 children took part in the one hour clinic before ISU took on the University de Costa Rica in international action. Lots of fun was had by boys and girls of all ages!
ISU wrapped up international play by sweeping its competition. Senior Racheal Mahan scored 16 points and grabbed nine boards while junior Cierra Ceazer dropped 14 points. Senior Jasmine Grier added seven assists while picking up three steals as well. For the trip, ISU finished 3-0 in international competition.
The team was also able to meet a Terre Haute native, Jessie Oliver, who is currently working as a missonary and living in San Jose, Costa Rica. Jessie, who has lived in Costa Rica for eight years, found out the Sycamores were coming to town from her parents who both live in Terre Haute and graduated from ISU. Jessie was so excited to see us and was the first person to come up to the team after the game to take a picture. Thank you Jessie for coming to see us!
The team then headed to a soda tapia for dinner on Wednesday evening. A soda tapia is very similar to a Steak 'n' Shake back in the US. We enjoyed frescas, steak sandwiches, tamalaes, pappas fritas (French fries) and much more.
August 12
It was another full day for the Sycamores yesterday with the day starting off around 10 a.m. for a tour of downtown San Jose, Costa Rica. I'd like to take a minute to say how awesome our tour guide, Danny, has been throughout our trip. A native Costa Rican, Danny provides us with fun facts, information and laughs. He has been really enjoyable!
Danny took us on a 30-minute bus tour of downtown and after we hopped off and walked the streets to a small market that the team walked through. He then guided us to a open square where hundreds of pigeons gather and are able to sit on your arms and head.
We continued on to a flea market where we were able to shop and buy souvenirs. Everyone enjoyed finding good deals and mementos to remember Costa Rica by.
We then headed back to the hotel to relax a bit and get in a pre-game meal before heading the hour over to Polideportivo de Cartago where the team held a children's clinic for about 20 children. There were some difficulties with the language barrier, but we did have a local interpreter and senior Chelsea Small, who is a double major in criminology and Spanish, helped the rest of the team communicate.
The Sycamores showed the children the proper way to shoot, layups and played a game of knockout with the team participating. All of the children were great listeners and everyone had a blast. Many selfies were taken afterwards as ISU handed out basketballs and t-shirts to each camper.
Tuesday concluded by facing off with the Costa Rican National Team. The Sycamores walked away victorious with a 71-14 win. After a rough first half ending in a 6-4 contest (we are playing quarters in all international competition), ISU opened up the second half on a 17-2 run and never looked back. Senior Racheal Mahan and sophomores Kelsey Dirks and Rhagen Smith all had 10 points while senior Stephanie Wittman had six rebounds.
We headed back to the hotel and had some pizza before many enjoyed the pool for the rest of the evening.
Schedule for Wednesday, August 13, 2014 (All times MT – 2 hours behind Terre Haute)
9:30 a.m. – Breakfast
10 a.m. – 2 p.m – Free to enjoy own activities
2 p.m. – Lunch
3:15 p.m. – Leave hotel for Ciudad Deportivia Hatillo for children's clinic #2
6 p.m. – Game #3 versus University of Costa Rica
8 p.m. – Dinner at Soda Tapia
August 11
Apologies for Monday's post being a tad behind but the Sycamores had a full day yesterday white water rafting on the Pacuare River! But first - let us backtrack to Sunday evening. The Sycamores were escorted to the moutains that overlooked San Jose for a traditional dinner at Tiquicia Resturant. We departed in two seperate vans, as our tour bus would not be able to climb up the mountains. After a windy 30 minute drive, we arrived at Tiquicia for a buffet style meal. It was fantastic!
We were then entertained by local dancers who even got us involved in the action! Check out the Facebook gallery for photos!
Fast forward to Monday, the team received an early wake up call and hit the road at 6 a.m. MT to head to the Pacuare River for white water rafting! The Pacuare is a beautiful river that flows into the Caribean sea and snakes through the Costa Rican rainforest. It was a bit of a drive (2 1/2 hours total) but well worth it! Our tour guide Danny, who has and will be with us the whole trip, arranged for some pastry and pears to eat on our drive but about two hours in we stopped for breakfast. We had eggs, sausage and beans and rice to fill our stomachs before the white water rafting adventure began.
A common term in Costa Rica is "Pura Vida" which translate to English as "awesome or excellent" and was yelled often on the excursion. After completing tough rapids (we experienced between Class one and four rapids), the boat captain would yell "High Five!" and everyone in the boat would raise their paddles and yell "Pura Vida!" as a sign of success completing the rapid.
This was a new experience for most of our student-athletes, and every one walked away with a smile on their face. The experience required a lot of team work and the Sycamores stepped up to the challenge. A few unlucky ones fell out of the boat (including the author of this blog, women's basketball SID Megan Kramper) but there was always a teammate there to help pick you up!
We hopped on the water at about 10 a.m. and didn't arrive to our final destination until about 3 p.m. We stopped for lunch on a river inlet prepared by our wonderful boat captains.
Last night's dinner was at your own descretion, and I know a lot of the team and staff traveling called it an early night. But overall, the experience was a postive one for the Sycamores!
Here's a bit of what the Sycamores schedule looks like for Tuesday, August 12
9 a.m. - breakfast
10 a.m. - 12 p.m. - tour of downtown San Jose, Costa Rica
Lunch
4 p.m. - Kid's Clinic at Polideportivo de Cartago
7 p.m. - Game #2 vs. Costa Rica National Team
AUGUST 10
Hear from associate head coach Joey Wells and senior Traveica Franklin on today's international competition!
The team got in a good nights rest and was able to sleep in a bit before 9 a.m. breakfast in the hotel. We started off the day with a team meeting before hopping on the bus to play our first international game. The Sycamores were victorious, routing Juegos Nacionales de Goicoechea, 57-20 behind eight points and five steals from senior Travecia Franklin and seven points from sophomore Kelsey Dirks. Senior Lashonda Litleton and junior Cierra Ceazer each pulled down a team-high four rebounds. Littleton racked up the numbers with four points, four boards, four assists and three steals. Other noteables were sophomore Rhagen Smith with seven points and senior Natasha Zurek with six points.
Just one of the views from our hotel rooms - not too shabby!
The site of today's game!
We arrived back at the Intercontinental Hotel around 2:20 p.m. MT and everyone ventured on over to the Multiplaza mall across the street. The mall has tons of shops and a huge food court with many options - McDonalds, KFC, Wendys, Quiznos, Subway and many local chains. The trick is to learn a little Spanish before you go :)
Tonight we're headed to the mountains for a nice dinner and a show at Tiquicia Resturant. We're all looking forward to seeing more of the country!
We've seen a few other American teams, Georiga State and Wofford men's teams are both in the midst of foreing tours and also staying at the same hotel. We've seen a few other American teams, Georiga State and Wofford men's teams are both in the midst of foreing tours and also staying at the same hotel.
And we can't forget - today is graduate manager DJ Slifer's 25th birthday! The team sang happy birthday to him after the win and what a better way to spend a birthday, right DJ? Make sure to tweet him a happy birthday @DJSlifer10 on Twitter!
Also - check out some of the tweets from the trip! Don't forget to search the hashtag #ISUWBBCR
Updated 12:29 AM
The team finally made it to Costa Rica around 8:45 p.m. MT (10:30 p.m. ET) after a nearly 14 hour travel day. It was a smooth plane ride and going through customs was a breeze. We were greeted by our travel guide Jorge and Tim from Sport Tours International who helped us organize the trip.
After successfully getting all our bags, we made the 20 minute trek to the Intercontinental Marriott hotel in San Jose for the evening. (Big shoutout to Sport Tours International for providing us with tonight's meal at the hotel - it was AWESOME!). Tomorrow we depart the hotel in the morning to play our first international game against Juegos Nacionales de Goicoechea followed by dinner in the beautiful mountains later that evening. Make sure to stay tuned for more pictures and updates!
AUGUST 9
The trip began yesterday as the team boarded the bus after the 10th and final practice of prep for the foreign trip! We arrived in Chicago around 7:30 p.m. CT and had some wonderful pizzas from Giordanos (Coach Wierzba's favorite) and hung out at the hotel.
We hit a road block as we arrived at O'Hare this morning at 7:30 a.m. when we discovered our connecting flight to Miami was cancelled. However, our whole group was able to get on a later flight, but we will battle a bit of a delay. Estimated arrival time to Costa Rica is 8:30 p.m. MT (or 10:30 p.m. ET). The girls have been in good spirits so far and just excited to get to Central America!
Some of the girls have been keeping busy by playing UNO!
AUGUST 8
Each day junior guard Cierra Ceazer and senior guard Stephanie Wittman will give video updates from Costa Rica. Here's what they had to say in prep for the team's departure...
