Imagine the nervous excitement that fills the air while thirty-two sixteen year olds board school busses that are going to transport them up the Cordillera de Tilarán into the town of La Fortuna, Costa Rica, for the next ten days. The simple facts that the students had read from the trip pamphlet informed the group that La Fortuna was home to El Volcano Arenal (“El Burio”) but other than that, the group was relatively uninformed about the culture. The author’s organization of the photo essay, the natural beauty constantly demonstrated, and the facial expressions of each individual all contribute to the overall relationships between man and nature constantly existing in our world. 

The author of this photo essay, Megan Stepanian organized her essay with the broadest, most commonly known aspect of La Fortuna as the first picture. “El Burio” acts as the highest and most popular feature of La Fortuna. Every Tico has tremendous pride in this volcano and its hierarchy over the town. To conclude the photo essay, Megan Stepanian used a photo to show the reflection of the trip. The three girls staring into La Catarata represent many themes that have developed throughout the previous ten days. Most specifically, this image captures the positive relationship and love of nature that developed between the thirty-two students on this trip. 

The natural beauty that is so clearly demonstrated in each picture, whether it is meant to or not, shows that La Fortuna is a part of the magnificent rainforest. In the rainforest, the lush vegetation is shown to capture the reader’s eye of the constantly surrounding environment. In America, although natural beauty is always present, it is often taken for granted. The people of La Fortuna take immense pride in every aspect of their town, and do not take any part of nature, regardless of its size for granted.

 The normalcy of all of the pictures featured in this photo essay show the vast personalities and character traits of each person that the author encountered. Ranging from 6-year-old Maria to 45-year-old Maximus, each person the reader encountered had a different story. In the group picture, the reader can see all of the children, each with a different facial expression. This image captures the unique expressions of the children ranging from goofy to serious to elated with joy.  Despite the different circumstances that each person endured, their facial expressions outside represented how they all loved where they lived and were thrilled to welcome the American students into their home. 

The close up picture of Little Maria and myself shows the reader just how special the relationships that were formed are. Service trips sometimes receive a bad reputation from the public because of the view that priviledged Americans go to foreign countries to use countries that are less fortunate to go on a trip.  However, this is obviously not the case with this trip. Many Ticos welcomed thirty-two Americans into their beloved town for ten days and embraced them with open arms. The students were embraced with a different type of nature, the love and pride of their nature that is evident through the Ticos, and an overall respect for themselves and their country. Despite having so little, these people never took for granted anything and always made the most of their situation at hand. 
