Supply the Love: Costa Rica

In 2017 we launched Supply the Love! We supply the camera and film and you supply the love.  We would love to have you be an ambassador of Print the Love! If you are traveling to an under-resourced community anywhere on the globe in the next year and would like to participate in spreading random photo kindness to the local people, lets chat! Together we can make a difference! Application is online.

The Supply the Love program is 100% supported by donors. If you are not travelling, you can still donate funds towards the camera and film for those who are.

As part of the program, we ask that ambassadors write a short description of their experience. All the words are their own.

Check out other self-trekking ambassadors’ experiences on our blog! Like Katie in El Salvador, Sharon in Haiti, Laura in Israel, Nathan in Puerto Rico, Allison in Kenya, Kelsey in Guatemala, Anne in Tanzania, Dan in Malawi, Krystal in Argentina, Cindy in Haiti, Lea in Cambodia and more!

Ceallaigh in Costa Rica

Hi! I haven’t popped on here in awhile so I thought it was time to say hello to readers old and new!

I am Ceallaigh, pronounced Kelly (it is just the Gaelic spelling), the Founder and Executive Director of Print the Love. Thank you so much for coming along this journey with us! If you want to know more about how Print the Love started you can check out the story here. Also, feel free to email me anytime at ceallaigh@printthelove.org.

I just recently returned from Costa Rica with my family! Pura Vida! If you are headed there (or any of the other Print the Love trip locations), I am always happy to share any travel tips. I love that every country has an unique set of doing things. I highly recommend a visit to Costa Rica! There is so much to do and see. We stayed on the Caribbean side near Puerto Viejo and Punta Uva beach and rented a fabulous house through Airbnb.

While we were there, it was my birthday! So of course I wanted to give away photos! I get a lot of questions about how to do that if you are on vacation. I always recommend you hire (please pay them well) a local translator (not a guide). We got our translator's name from the owner of the house we were staying at. Even if you can speak the language, it is best practice to work with someone who knows the unique culture of each region and people group. Giving away photos should be handled with sensitivity especially with children.

It is always an adventure with Print the Love work! As our family of 4 and translator, Mario, drove quite a ways into the jungle to a rural village we found ourselves on the wrong road (yay for 4 wheel drive!). Most roads in developing countries roads don't have street signs, and although we found a small school, it happened to be closed that day. This happens all the time! But thankfully another school was open and after getting permission from the director and teachers, the children were so excited to get their photos! My kids loved it! It was also a great chance for them to get away from just the touristy area and see what it would be like to go to school there. 

And just because, here is a photo my husband took of an incredibly cute baby sloth in the sloth nursery at the Jaguar Rescue Center we visited. This little ones mom was electrocuted by an electricity poll. Local sloths are also injured by cars as they try to cross the road. The Jaguar Rescue Center rehabilitates them and places them back into the wild. They are also funding all the electricity polls in the area to be padded so the sloths do not continue to get electrocuted. What an incredible place doing amazing work for the wildlife in Costa Rica!