Monday - Cow Farm Tour and Poas Volcano

Here are just a few pictures from today - we are pretty tired after a full day so this is just a sampling.

Tomorrow we visit the local school, which the students are very excited about. Much more to come later (including some student reflections)...

Sunday night's dinner at Tiquicia

Well we just came back from a fabulous dinner at an incredible restaurant in the mountains above San Jose! The view of the city was beautiful and we were even treated to some live dancing (with a bit of audience participation - you'll see) after the meal. I think these pictures speak for themselves:

Photos from Sunday

Today we woke up early and drove 2.5 hours to the Sarapiqui River for our white water rafting adventure. It has been a fantastic day - the kids had loads of fun on the rafts and everyone is in high spirits. Or as they say here in Costa Rica, everything is "Pura Vida!"

Here are some photos from the bus ride. It rained all morning - apparently Costa Rica has been getting some unusually wet weather this year. Our guide was blaming the wet weather on the after effects of all the storms we have been getting up north... Despite the rain the scenery was still beautiful:

We stopped at a little stand at the side of the road where our guide bought us some fresh palm fruits called "pejibajes" - nearly all the students tried this unique tropical food and many ended up liking it quite a bit:

Next came the rafting trip, which was great fun for everyone. Unfortunately I don't have any photos since my camera isn't waterproof. You'll just have to wait until we return to hear the details...

Here are some photos from the lunch we had after the rafting. It was a typical Costa Rican meal of rice, beans, meat, vegetables, and plantains. A number of our students liked it so much they went up for seconds!

Here we are looking at the photos taken by the rafting company. We decided not to buy them because they were too expensive but we still enjoyed them briefly:

Back on the bus, everyone is Pura Vida!

Next up we will be having dinner at a lovely restaurant up in the mountains followed by a folklore show. Our guide encouraged the group to dress up a bit for the evening:

That's all for now! Tomorrow we visit a dairy farm in the morning and then hike to a volcano in the afternoon before driving off to the Arenal region for the next leg of our journey. This has been a truly fantastic trip so far!

More Photos from Saturday in San Jose

At the Museum of Contemporary Art:

Soaking up some rays:

Buying school supplies (plus a few toys) to donate to the local school we will be visiting later this week:

Happy Valentines Day and Happy Friendship Day from Costa Rica!

Ready to explore San Jose

Safe Arrival

Hola from Costa Rica!
We all arrived safely in San Jose last night, or rather very early this morning, after a smooth and uneventful flight down from Boston. The students have been great so far. It is warm and sunny this morning and there is not a trace of snow anywhere in sight! We will be having breakfast soon before heading out to see some of the sights here in the capital city of San Jose.

Pictures and more will be coming later today. For now we wanted everyone to know that we are all safe and well. Hasta luego!

About to board in Houston

Flight still on time!

Ready to Board!

Our plane is on time and getting ready to board!

Leaving the snow behind

Here is our group right before leaving Parker this morning. We are excited to be leaving all that snow behind!  Right now we are at the terminal waiting for our flight, which is thankfully on schedule. Costa Rica here we come!

Tomorrow's the day!

Hard to believe the day has finally come - tomorrow we will be flying to Costa Rica! It looks like the weather will be clear for our flight out of Boston tomorrow night but I'm keeping my fingers crossed until we are actually in the air...

This year I am excited that we were able to add a night walk in Monteverde to our itinerary. The Monteverde Cloud Forest is famous for its biodiversity and wildlife, much of which only comes out at night. If we are lucky we might even see a Kinkajou...



 D'Orbigny, A. (1849, January 1). Kinkajou.jpg. Retrieved February 12, 2015, from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Kinkajou.jpg 

Less than 1 week away...

The 2015 edition of Parker's Eco Club trip to Costa Rica is fast approaching! This year we have 20 eighth grade students and 4 teacher chaperones making the trip. The itinerary includes white-water rafting, farm visits, a hike to a volcano, a visit to a local school, swimming in hot springs and at the beach, hikes looking for rain forest wildlife, zip-lining, and more. It promises to be a very exciting and educational trip! We are just keeping our fingers crossed that all of the snow were are getting in Boston right now does not interfere with our flight this Friday...