July 5th ----------- Arrive to San Jose Costa Rica (Sanchiri Hotel)
Today we will meet you at the airport. From the airport we will be making our way to the San Jose area where Community School's Costa Rica connections will be taking you to a surprise visit. We can only guess what the event might be but just to give you a hint most Costa Rican events turn out to be an amazing time with amazing people so we here at CRR would bet that its going to be a blast. After the event we will make our way to Rincon del Valle hotel which is located in the San Jose are as compared to the Sanchiri which was farther out. Although if the event does not go late into the evening then Sanchiri would be a nice place to stay. (Meals: Dinner)
July 6th ----------- Visit CATIE & Travel to Sitio de Mata Village Turrialba (Homestays)
Tropical Fruits in Homestays
Today we'll drive to the Sitio de Mata Village where we will meet our homestays. Before we leave for the drive we will have a morning meeting to get everyone ready for the homestays. We'll also give an introduction to the environmental issues of the tropics. We will go over our plans for the week and set some goals for what we hope to accomplish during our visit to the village.
Map of the Village Sitio de Mata
We will be arriving at the village around lunch time. Before we arrive we'll visit one of the most advanced centers for the study of sustainability and tropical agriculture in all of the Americas. This is the CATIE which has beautiful gardens and home to some of the present and future lead conservationists and environmentalists from all over the globe. It is a brief stop but it will show the kids the gardens and give them a sense of environmentalism on a very professional and studious level. After CATIE we will make our way to Sitio de Mata, one of the most picturesque mountain settings in all of Costa Rica. We have views of the mountains and the smoking Turrialba Volcano from everywhere in the village. When we arrive we will be welcomed at a local meeting area where everyone's homestay family will be waiting for them. Our first meal we will eat as a group as we break the ice and get everyone introduced to their new families for the week. The afternoon will be spent with your families and we will take a walking tour of the village in the afternoon so everyone gets their bearings for the week to come. The homes are split up into two sections, Section #1 & Section #2. Both sections are within easy walking distance, only seperated by a soccer field. During our walking tour we will point out the homestays so you'll know where everyone is staying. In the evening it is back to your homestays for dinner and then we will be meeting up as a group to do some debreifing and get some feedback from the kids about their first impressions. We strongly encourage 15 minutes of journaling here and even make questions for the kids to get them going on different topics. This helps them express the initial impact of the homestay environment. (Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner)
July 7th ----------- Visit Fruit Market in town of Turrialba & play Fruit BINGO!!! (Homestays)
Today we will wake up and make our way to the local market. Because everyone is so close together we like to give the kids a chance to take the 15 minute ride in the village bus to the fruit market. We all ride as a group and it is a great experience. When we arrive to the fruit market everyone will have their bingo sheet and a list of things they have to buy for their homestay (homestays will supply the money for the fruits). The group will be split up into teams and they and they must fill their bingo sheet of fruits. The winner will get ice-cream sandwiches! The best Ice-cream sandwiches you have ever tasted.
In the evening it is back to your homestays for dinner and then we will meet up for the evening briefing where we plan to get the kids talking about the experience so far along with 20 minutes of journal time and then some salsa and merengue classes! (Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner)
July 8th --------------------- Continue Work on Environmental Project (Homestays)
Today we will begin the work on the project we have in mind. We might be continuing on the green house we have in mind along with many compost bins for the schools in the nearby village. This will be a full day of work and we might be doing lunch on site so your homestay mom will give you a lunch pail just as if you were going to school. The project we do will be done within walking distance of all the homestays.
The evening activities will be meeting, journaling, and some more dance practice. Sometimes we are asked to organize a skit, dance, or song for the fiesta on the last night so we might be using some of the evening activities to do a trial run of Community School's Got Talent! (Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner)
July 9th ---------------------- Continue Work on Environmental Project (Homestays)
Today we will continue with the project. This will be another full day of work. In the evening we will have some activities planned along with the normal briefing, journaling, and we should be experts by now in journaling. (Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner)
July 10th ---------------------- Continue Work on Environmental Project (Homestays)
Today we will plan on finishing the project in the morning. After work in the morning we will make a visit to the school. If we were building compost bins for the schools we will deliver them now with a short introduction on the importance of composting, soil, and yummy food. The afternoon will be scheduled for the soccer game. Even if Community School isn't big on soccer the locals are, and it's one of the more fun events of the entire trip. The mom's, babies, and dogs are all out on the field making it a frenzy of fun and laughter not to mention a bomber view of an active volcano smoking from it's crater. After the soccer game you can shower up and head to the "Ranchito" which is where we will have the Farewell Fiesta. This is when the locals come out in full costume of traditional song, dance, and food. If we have prepared something to perform then we will be doing our skit or dancing during this time. The locals perform like six different shows so the competition is pretty tough but just an average moon-walk from one of the Community School kids usually gets the crowd going. We give the night off on journaling also, so the kids have no excuse not to try their new salsa skills! (Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner)
July 11th ----------------- Enter Pacuare River (Pacuare River Tent-Lodge)
Nature Hike
Today we will be leaving the village after breakfast, saying good-bye to the friends you have made or a "see you next time" always feels better. The best part about the village is the people and the scenery and the second best part is it's location to the Pacuare River. The Pacuare River is rated as one of the top five scenic rivers on the planet by National Geographic and we will be just 20 minutes from the put-in of this amazing rafting adventure through the rainforest. Today we will raft for around 2 1/2 hours. It is a great day of fun and adventure getting soaked, taking hikes, and enjoying lunch on the river. We'll get to the camp-site around mid-afternoon where we will have everything ready for you. This is camping but not roughing it by any means. All tents are above ground, surrounded by beautiful lush tropical rainforest. There are bathrooms and showers made of bamboo and all meals are prepared for you. This allows time for different activities in the natural setting. We use our time on the river in the overnight setting to do some back-to-nature activities with the students. These are fun hands-on activities that allow everyone to experience through games and searches the explosiveness of the biodiversity we will be surrounded by in the tropical rainforest. (Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner)
July 12th ------------------ Raft & Camp (River Camp-Site)
Camping in the Jungle
Everyone will get the chance to sleep in today, although most rise with the sun. We will take some hikes in the morning, do some swimming, eat some breakfast, and squeeze in some journal time. There's no better place to give a talk on the world's fresh water supply than sitting along side one of the most beautiful rivers on Earth. Then we will make our back into the rafts, go over some pretty neat rapids and end up at a large waterfall. Here we will hike to the waterfall where everyone can swim in its pools. After cooling off in the waterfall, we will have lunch prepared for you along side the river and then head to the second camp-site. This is another beautiful area where we can do more nature related activities. When it comes to environmental projects and conservation we feel that the importance of nature awareness should be at the forefront of teaching kids about the environment and although it is great to blow their senses on the exhuberant life of the tropics, we also encourage nature awareness on their own hometown level. It not only allows them to compare to things from home to what they see in the tropics but it allows them to gain respect on a local level which is often the most important. We get kids that can name five different types of rainforest animals and 1000 different brand names but can not even name one species of tree native to their local area.
July 13th ------------ Leave River (Airport Hotel)
Choco-holic!
Today we'll raft down the beautiful Pacuare Canyon where you will see sheer wall of rock as we float down one of the most scenic areas in all of Costa Rica. The rafting today also has some nice little rapids that will keep the adventure exciting. After taking-out we'll drive back to the San Jose area where we will be at a hotel near the airport for the flight home on the 14th. (Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner)
July 14th -------------- Fly Home!
Today we will say our good-byes after an adventurous, educational, and service-giving week!
(Meals: Breakfast)
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