Topics: teen tours | outdoor education | teen travel | teen summer camps

White Water Rafting Overnight

Pura Vida! Welcome to Costa Rica! We start our 3 week adventure off with a bang by rafting Class III and IV rapids on the world famous Pacuare River. This scenic river plunges through mountain gorges and drop beautiful waterfalls right alongside our rafts. We spend the night at a beautiful riverside camp, complete with shower and bathroom facilities, where we enjoy the cooking of our expert raft guides/gourmet chefs. More rapids await us the following day. At the end of the river trip, we head to Tres Equis, a rural town where we will being living with our local host families.

Spanish Family Homestays - 6 days

The Caribbean Coast is significantly less "touristy" than most of the rest of Costa Rica, and the small Caribbean town of Puerto Viejo de Talamanca still has a strong local feel. The road to the Caribbean Coast was just "paved" in the year 2000, and tourism has been slowly increasing ever since. Our guest house is right on the beach, just outside town of Puerto Viejo. The town itself has some small local shops selling hammocks, post cards, etc., and artists' booths with handmade jewelry and crafts. We use Puerto Viejo as our jumping off point to Punta Mona Center for Sustainable Living and Education, and to visit the Kekoldi Indigenous Reserve. One of our nights in Puerto Viejo, we take a (well-deserved) trip into town to eat at a local restaurant, and visit some of the shops and artists' booths.

Punta Mona is our private, beachfront organic farm and sustainable living center in the middle of the rainforest. To arrive there, we spend the morning hiking through the Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge, the only path into Punta Mona (our luggage goes by boat.) Tino, our local guide from the neighboring village of Manzanillo, guides us on this hike through his "backyard". As we hike along the beach and through the jungle, Tino teaches us about the medicinal, culinary and other uses of many of the trees, fruits and plants that we see, helps us find monkeys, frogs, crabs, and snakes, and opens coconuts with his machete for us to drink from.

At Punta Mona, we spend our days kayaking, swimming, swinging in hammocks, touring the grounds, and learning about the art of sustainable living. Most of the food we eat is harvested from the extensive organic gardens with more than 150 varieties of fruit trees. Our energy comes from solar panels and the buildings are built with wood hand-hauled from the surrounding jungle's fallen trees. We spend one evening on a turtle walk in hopes of finding leatherback sea turtles laying their eggs at the neighboring turtle reserve, and another evening making homemade organic chocolate from locally grown cacao beans.

Lucas, our local guide at the Kekoldi Indigenous Reserve, teaches us about the culture and customs of the Bribri people, one of the few remaining indigenous groups in Costa Rica. We visit the iguana farm, and learn about Lucas and his family's efforts to protect the endangered green iguana. We take a short hike through primary and secondary rainforest (which Lucas often calls his "grocery store" and "pharmacy"), and learn about many of the medicinal properties of the plants. Our delicious lunch is served traditionally - wrapped in a banana leaf.
On our way to Arenal, we visit the small typical Costa Rican town of Sarapaqui, practicing our Spanish at the local fruit and vegetable market, visiting a banana plantation and packing plant, and getting a feel for life in this small town. Upon arrival in Arenal, we will take a short hike to a stunning waterfall and swim in the pools at its base. That evening, we bathe in soothing hot springs while witnessing (from a safe distance!) red-hot lava flowing down the sides of the mighty Arenal Volcano.

Week 3: Monteverde Cloud Forest and the Pacific Coast

We travel up to the misty cloud forest of Monteverde passing by Lake Arenal with a fantastic view of the volcano. Along the way, we'll see the windmills that supply an alternative source of electric power to the hydroelectric dam which created the lake.

Activities

Afternoon activities are varied and include: a guided natural history walk in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve; a visit to the Butterfly Gardens; visits to local artisan studios; a night hike; a visit to traditional villages in the area; and sampling the famous local ice cream!

Sky Trek

Of all our afternoon activities in Monteverde, the Sky Trek is a trip highlight for many participants. We zip through the trees on a series of 11 ziplines, beginning with a bird's eye perspective while traversing the Sky Walk, a series of bridges through the cloud forest canopy. Orchids, bromeliads and ferns share this aerial existence with an abundance of wildlife. If we're lucky, we may catch a glimpse of the resplendent quetzal, a bird sacred to the ancient Maya. We then move on to the Sky Trek, sailing through the clouds and the treetops of the forest canopy via zipline. Expert guides assist us in this exciting journey through the different layers of the unique cloud forests.

Pacific Coast - 3 days

Manual Antonio

We're once again back on the beach! This time, we're on the Pacific Coast, at Costa Rica's most famous and popular National Park-Manual Antonio, which is teeming with wildlife, including 3 of the 4 monkey species in the country. We visit the park, then have a chance to shop for souvenirs and gifts at more local artists' booths. We once again enjoy the beautiful sand beaches, hearing the sounds of the rolling surf, and this time watching the sun set into the ocean.

San Jose

On our last day in Costa Rica, we spend the day touring the city of San Jose, shopping, and visiting museums. At night we'll go out with a bang! We'll have a big celebratory dinner, then head back to the hotel for an night of packing, sharing favorite trip memories, and wrapping up our experience as a group with our final circle. We board our group flight home with amazing new friends, and lifelong memories or our Costa Rican Adventure!!