Zip Lining Photos & Video

Here are some pictures I took of our Zip Lining adventure. The video is of David zipping down the line!

Arenal Hot Springs Video

Here's a neat video of some fun at the hot springs!

Slide Shows Galore

As the days progress and we upload all of our favorites to the Eco-Club Flickr account, I will post slide shows of the trip. They will be works in progress, and I will probably re-post shows as they're updated. Let's see if we can organize an estimated 8,000 - 10,000 photos into manageable representations of our trip. I think we're up to the challenge...enjoy!







This final slide show is a collection of photos we purchased from one of the rafting guides. He gave us permission to use them as we like, so here we go. Enjoy!

Welcome Back

Even though we had an absolute blast in Costa Rica, it is certainly good to be home and enjoy some of my more usual customs (such as watching the RedSox!). I am elated that the expedition to Costa Rica was such a huge success. The students were wonderful, they stayed focused and behaved spectacularly throughout the trip. Many of the boys even took part in some dinner table etiquette lessons along the way, no easy feat considering the appetites everyone was working up.

Reflecting on the trip, it is hard to pick any particular moment or event as a favorite. Sifting through the hundreds of photographs and videos I took myself, the challenge of coordinating all of our students' media seems insurmountable... it will be a challenge left for the other Eco-Club leaders and me to figure out in the coming days before our first "Post-Costa Rica" meeting this coming Wednesday. Students will definitely want to bring a CD, flash drive, or even their camera containing their photographs to school.

Sorry I had to take the videoblog down that was here earlier. I misunderstood those pesky copyright laws surrounding music and educational use. Next time I will have to remember that if I intend to use or show something on the web, the media has to be free to use by the public! I'm not sure the RCA records would have minded anyway (isn't any press good press?) but it's better not to take that chance.

Resplendent Quetzal photo

Here is the photo I got through the guide's scope of the Quetzal.

Mr. Williams

Home at Last

OK, so we got back yesterday and I already miss it. I didn't post yet (I fell asleep on the bus on Friday when all the people who hadn't posted yet were supposed to) so I'm just writing down the highlights now. We had an amazing time at all of our hotels, and our pen pals were amazing. Our guides were incredible, (Thanks so much, Edgar and Roberto!) and we had the coolest bus driver (Thanks to you, too, Olamar!). I can't believe we're home. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wanted to sleep forever after that trip. I can't believe how much we did in those few days! Each day was jam-packed with stuff, and we got to see so many highlights of the country. We also had incredible luck, since we got to see a sloth, a monkey, lizards, bats, AND a quetzal. I'm still reeling from the experience. Thanks to everyone!
-Amanda

Soccer and Pen Pals in the Clouds

Yesterday, we had the best games of soccer ever! We played on the tennis court, which had two small metal goals, and almost everyone played or watched. I hadn’t played a real game of soccer in over a year, so I wasn’t expecting much. But I surprised myself and did pretty well at offense and defense for someone who hasn’t played in a long time. I even scored three goals for the girls’ team in the smaller game! Today, we met our pen pals at the Cloud Forest School, and learned a little bit about their lives here in Costa Rica. We exchanged emails and facebooks to keep in touch. I can’t believe we’re leaving tomorrow!

- Laura

Zip Lining through Costa Rica

Today we went zip lining in the forest and it was really fun! I think it was really fun to zoom into the air but the harnesses were really uncomfortable. I was really exited up until the time we were about to jump and I got nervous, but I started to really have fun. The most nerve-wracking part was when we were standing on the very small stands high up in the trees waiting to plunge to your “death”. Over all, I really loved to go zip lining.

- Christine

Zip Line and Pen Pals

Today we went zip lining. It was amazing, but also kind of scary… well, for me at least. Over all I really enjoyed it! There were those moments, although, where I wished I was somewhere else. Like when I went straight down using a rope from up pretty high, or the last two cords, (both about 150 feet high, and like 1200 feet long), one of which I went upside down on. Also finally meeting our pen pals was great. My pen pal's name is Douglas. It was so fun to meet him. We talked about soccer and school and other activities that we do. I think that today and the white water rafting day were my favorite days in the whole trip!

- Carolyn

Wild Animal Life

Costa Rica contains 5% of the world’s animal species. It’s amazing how many of these we saw in less than a week. We saw a (dead) fer-de-lance, bats, wild rabbits, and many types of livestock and dogs. The bird life was the most numerous, as we saw many small singing birds, huge flocks of vultures and kites, and several toucans and parrots. But my personal favorite was the quetzal, probably the most secretive bird in the country. Costa Rica is full of wildlife we would have never seen at home.

- Brian

Quetzal Sighting

Wednesday, April 22nd

A highlight for everyone today was seeing a pair of Resplendent Quetzals. During our walk through the Monteverde Cloudforest, we heard a male bird calling. However, we did not see this elusive bird. After the walk, we all got onto the bus, and as we were ready to go, another guide came jogging up the road telling our guide that they had spotted the bird. We all walked silently down the road a bit to where there were a few people gathered around a spotting scope. The guide carefully directed our attention to where the bird was and soon many of our group could spot it with their naked eye or with their binoculars. Three feet away from the male bird was the female. The male Resplendent Quetzal is a stunning bird. The male is about 14” tall with long, green tail-like, feather streamers extending another 25”! It is mostly glittering green with a crimson colored belly. It has a distinctive crest with a small, yellow bill.

The guide then kindly offered us the chance to see this remarkable bird through his scope. One at a time, everyone in our group got a phenomenal look at the Costa Rican national bird. The guide then took several of the students’ cameras and took “digiscope” photos of the bird through the spotting scope.

Many bird watchers travel thousands of miles and spend mucho dinero in an attempt to see this fantastic bird. Many are unsuccessful. We got lucky and, due to the generous spirit of that local guide, we all saw a very special “life” bird! Pura vida!

Yoga in Paradise

One of the most wonderful parts of this trip for me has been teaching yoga to students in such a beautiful setting. We will post a few more photos of this soon, but do know that some of your daughters (sorry, no sons!) will come home teaching you a little about downward dog, tree pose, and the famous mountain pose. It was a joy to spend time sharing this wonderful way to start the day with your kids.

Monteverde Pictures

Pura Vida

It is an amazing trip for me, at the biggining because everybody just met on the firts two days, I felt so shy, but them when I had the opportunity to have a close contact with the kids and the teachers, and I knew this was going to be a wonderful and unforgetable experience in my life. Is so impressive how a simple football soccer game, united all the group as a great and unique group of friends, no one was worried about to win, it was just laughs and everybody sweting happiness.
It´s been a great experience, sharing with this friends of Walter Parker middle school, they taugh me that simple things in life, are the most valuable in life.
In our lifes, there are some memories that you keep in your mind, but eventually as the time pass by, days, months, years, they dessapear, however there are special memories that you keep and lock in your heart and it doesn´t matter that years or centuries pass, they will remain forever.
You are one of those special memories and you we´ll be in my heart, thank you so much for the greatest gift you gave to me, FRIENDSHIP, God bless all of you.
Roberto Aguilar Torres.

Fellow Travelers Have Taken Notice...

It has been such a fantastic week traveling Costa Rica with our Eco-Club adventurers. Many people have traveling the country with us have taken notice of the excellent behavior exhibited by the students. Numerous travelers have been following similar paths through the Costa Rican countryside have approached the students and chaperones, asking us where we are from and commenting on how well behaved our young explorers have been. It has been great to hear and an excellent segue to explaining what we do and where they can find this blog. I hope our fellow world travelers have been watching!!!

We return to La Condessa this evening. We should have time then to post some of the wonderful photos and movies our students have been taking!

A Day in the Clouds

Today we went to the Monteverde Cloudforest National Park. We saw millipedes, frog eggs, a great waterfall, a white-nosed coati, and the best of all, we saw a resplendent quetzal.

We also went to the Hummingbird Gallery and saw a lot of hummingbirds in their natural habitat face to face and heard the noise they make when they fly right past your ear.

The final stop we made was the frog pond where we got up close to frogs that were in replicas of their natural habitats.

Now I am on my way to play soccer with our tour guides...Adios!

- Billy

Cultural Adventures

Yesterday we did many exciting things. In the morning, everyone got up at 5:30 to go on a bird hike through the rainforest. We went on a hanging bridge, which was fun, but also very scary. Then we came back and checked our traps that were up overnight for bat guano. We gathered the seeds and brought them back to the lab to identify them. At 2:00, everyone went white-water rafting. We went on many different types of rapids. It was very fun. We took a break and had a huge splash fight. It started as a little joke, then it became girls verses boys, and then it became an every-man-for-himself fight. Everyone got soaked. Then at night, we had a culture night. We learned to cook and dance the salsa. We had so much fun dancing.

Pura Vida!
~Monica, Geena, Emily

Quotes from the Kids

Ray – We had a lot of fun when we stopped in the river and played in the water (during the rafting.) It was really refreshing!

Jack – I LOVED the whitewater rafting, it was exciting.

Sam – I loved the pineapple.

Amanda – The water fights where we were using the helmets to dump water on each other’s heads.

Will – The white-water rafting was a blast ☺

Billy – I loved the white water rafting, but I still can’t wait to go on the zipline!

Laura – Our team totally won the water fight.

Christine – It was fun to learn how to cook and dance at the community center.

Connor – I liked dancing the salsa.

David - I loved the dancing.

Rafting, Dancing and Cooking, Oh My!

Yesterday we all went on a cultural night where we learned how to dance the Salsa and the Marengue. We also learned how to cook special dough-like balls that were full of cheese and drowned in grease from the deep fryer. Mr. Musselman and Ray found out the greasy part the messy way!

Another activity that we participated in yesterday was white-water rafting. There were 5 groups, each on different boats with 4 kids, 1 teacher and 1 rafting instructor. We got to experience the Sarapiqui River up close and the rapids within them. The earthquake that happened a few months ago, however, and the normally bluish water had turned a sediment brownish color. Also, many trees and boulders were pushed down into the river and riverbank as a result of the quake, and the water level was affected as well. But that did not take away from the fun experience as we paddled through the rapids. Everyone had fun and lots of great memories were made on the river.

Jack

(More rafting images to come on Flickr soon!)

Water, water everywhere...is it safe to drink?

Yesterday in the afternoon we got to go down to the river, which I don’t know how to spell. First, we did some physical tests on the water. After observing it we said it looked good. During this process we were distracted by a lot of frogs including one poison dart frog.

Second, we did some chemical tests on the river to see if it was safe to go rafting in. We tested the temperature, pH, Nitrate, Carbon Dioxide, Oxygen, and Hydrogen Sulfides. After testing these six things our data concluded that the water was safe to swim in chemically.

Finally, we did a biological test by catching bugs. When we caught as many bugs as we could we used a scientific equation to calculate if the river was good biologically. It fell into the category saying the river was good but not great. Time for white-water rafting!

Connor