The Joy of Coming Back
Some of the most beautiful moments in the life of a project are when someone comes back.
Sarah Dean first came to Las Casas de la Selva in 2014, aged 14, with Chris Corrigan and the San Francisco Day School team. She stayed in a bunkhouse, pulled weeds, and helped with drainage and erosion control...getting to know the rainforest through the practical work of caring for it.
In February 2019, at 19, she returned to volunteer at a project still reeling from Hurricane Maria. We had a beautiful time together, sharing the daily work of tending a forest, a homestead, and a place still recovering.
Now, in October 2026, she is back at 27, with more life lived and much to catch up on.
Later, we shared a beautiful dinner with Monique and Jaguey, carrying the conversations from the forest to the table. Long-lived projects hold something precious: the opportunity to return.
People travel, work elsewhere, encounter different ways of living, and come back with more to share, and with different eyes.
A place once experienced as a teenager can reveal new layers in adulthood.
Work that seemed like a small task on an early visit becomes part of a much longer story.
At Las Casas, that story includes tending young trees, maintaining paths and drainage, rebuilding after storms, and caring for the people who make the work possible.
Much of it happens quietly, day after day. Returning visitors get to see what those years of care have made possible, what has survived, and what still needs doing. Those of us who stay get the pleasure of discovering who our young visitors have become.
Sarah’s visits now connect twelve years of her life with twelve years of this forest’s history. The place has changed. She has changed. Familiar paths lead to new conversations, and there is more to understand together.
So lovely to have you here again, Sarah. You are part of this place’s history, and it is a joy to keep adding to it.
Photos by 3t Vakil, Oct 2026
