- Program
- Surf and Service, Costa Rica
- Traveled
- July 2026
- Hometown
- San Antonio, Texas
In this first-person account, Odette Herr of San Antonio, Texas, looks back on Rustic Pathways’ Surf and Service program in Costa Rica in July 2026, with photos from the trip.
Odette describes first surf lessons at Playa Avellanas, repainting beach signs and clearing paths for beach-goers, and the bus games, screen-free meals and nightly debriefs that made the trip special.
Odette’s First Surf Lessons at Playa Avellanas
Hi! I’m Odette, and this summer I did the Surf and Service program in Costa Rica!
We spent our mornings at Playa Avellanas taking surfing lessons and our afternoons doing beach-related service projects. I’d never surfed before, so I didn’t know what to expect from the lessons, but the instructors were so helpful and helped make it comfortable and fun for all of us.
Beach Signs and Cleared Paths: Service on the Costa Rican Coast
As for our service projects, we spent the first few days replenishing and repainting beach signs for local community groups to hang up along the beach and the last service day helping to clear off paths for beach-goers to use when the tide raises. Doing service work so directly related to the beach we spent so much time at really helped me to feel the real impact of our community service work on the local communities.
What Odette Took Home From Surf and Service
Although the surfing and community service work are what I signed up for, it was truly the group activities, car games on the long bus rides, screen-free meals, or even just the nightly debriefs with my roommates that made this trip so special. So grateful for this experience!
If I had to give any tip to future travelers it would be: bring a good water bottle and wear (and reapply) a ton of sunscreen!!
Pura vida!!
Odette describes feeling the real impact of service on the local communities. The memories concern the July 2026 session, and Odette first shared them on the Rustic Pathways Instagram account on July 27, 2026.
The program still runs as Costa Rica: Surf and Service. It runs 8 days for students ages 14–18, with five days of surf lessons in Nosara, Guanacaste, on the Pacific coast and about 12 hours of beach and community service, including projects with the Clean Wave Foundation. See the program page for the current itinerary, dates and activities.
