Final Thoughts

As I sit in my living room after being back for two days, I can’t help but watch as students post their pictures and memories of our trip to all of their social media accounts. Every group that I’ve traveled with has their own special chemistry, and this group was no exception. They lived every moment, used their Spanish skills, tried new foods and were just ready for anything.

As a teacher, I love traveling with students. It’s a TON of work, but it’s all worth it. No one really sees all of the behind the scenes, but when you see how students respond to what they are experiencing, all of the little issues that came up don’t mean anything. It’s so special to know that these kids will keep the memory of this trip alive for years to come. I hope that this has given them inspiration to travel abroad on their own, whether it’s for a university experience or just for exploration.

I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end my time at CHS, and this has been a year for the books. I truly appreciate all that my students have done for me over the years as I’ve tried new approaches and new topics. They inspire me to continue to be better, and I can’t wait to do that with a new group of kids next year at a new school. While I’m sad to say goodbye to CHS and my students, I know that we will always stay in touch. From the inside jokes to the nicknames, we have become like family. When you have shared experiences with people, you always carry a part of them in your heart. I keep a part of Costa Rica and every other country I’ve visited in my heart. I hope that one day I’ll be able to reunite with the people and the places that have made an impact on my life.

To the students who I won’t see every day next year, remember that this is not a good-bye, but rather a see you soon. ❤

Forever living Pura Vida

A post by Savannah Ott

Tuesday we started our day with a delicious breakfast at the restaurant Curu, starting at 7. We then headed to some of our last activities in Costa Rica, beginning with touring a coffee plantation in Heredia. We arrived at the coffee plantation at 9 to meet our tour guides for the plantation, who entertained us through the whole tour. Although I’m not a coffee drinker personally, it was a fun experience to learn how the coffee goes from plant to cup. We were able to see coffee plants from seed to full grown plants! Along our tour, various different blends of coffee and strengths were offered to us to try. Our tour guides were some of the best we’ve had throughout this trip, and they kept us laughing while informing us about coffee and how important it is to Costa Rican culture. After our tour was over, we had some hang time before lunch at a restaurant in the plantation. Most of us spent time in the gift shop buying all the fresh coffee there were to offer, and I was even able to find a coffee blend that I liked! Once we had finished our shopping it was time for lunch, which was served buffet style.

Then it was back to San Jose. We went downtown to visit historical buildings and museums which had many beautiful mosaics and artwork and were all amazing to see. We first went to a cathedral, which had many different mosaics, statues and paintings to see. After walking through the cathedral, we took a short walk to the national theater, el Teatro Nacional. Aong the way we stopped to see many different statues that were throughout downtown. Once we got to the theater we were able to see the beautiful art all along the walls and even on the ceiling of the building. After leaving the theater we went to the Gold Museum. In the museum we were able to see many things from indigenous tribes of Costa Rica. We were able to learn a lot of interesting things about the indigenous tribes who were in Costa Rica and ones who are still here today. This part of the day was the most interesting to me, as Costa Rica still has 8 indigenous tribes in their country. Learning some of their traditions, cultures, and religions was so fascinating to me.

After touring the museum, we had some free time to walk around and shop a little. Most of us went to an ice cream shop called POPS, which was really good. Then we headed back to the bus to go to our hotel for our last dinner in Costa Rica and to get some dance lessons before dinner. We had a couple of hours before our dance lessons at 6:30 to get ready.

After we were all dressed up it was time to dance! Traditional dancers came and showed us a couple of dances and then we joined them! Although some of us were not very good, we all had a fun time! We learned some dances, and then the dancers showed us more traditional dances. We then ate our last dinner as a group in Costa Rica, and it was delicious! Once we had finished dinner we all gave our wonder tour guide and driver some presents for the amazing job they had done. We were all a little sad to give them our gifts because this was our last good bye to them. Some of us got a little teary eyed, especially me. After the gifts were opened we headed to the movies, where we all had a good time together as our last thing we all did on the trip. Then it was back to the hotel for our last night.

This trip has been one of the most amazing experiences in my life. I’m so grateful to have been able to come to this beautiful country. We not only got to see a beautiful country but also got to experience an amazing culture and amazing people. You could tell how much these people loved their country and sharing with us their culture. Costa Rica will forever have a place in my heart and I hope to come back one day.

Return to San José

We had a leisurely travel day today. We were able to sleep in past 8, which I know the students truly appreciated, and then we were on our way back to the capital. Along the way we stopped at the crocodile bridge! It was great to have an unexpected stop that I knew the students would appreciate.

We had dinner at an Argentine restaurant tonight! Most everyone got the churrasco (steak) and we had a delicious crepe and ice cream for dessert!

Tomorrow we tour a coffee plantation, the National Theater, and the Gold Museum. It’ll be a day packed full of great activities for our last full day in Costa Rica!

Iguanas and the Beach

A post by Easton True

Taking showers at night, so I can sleep in a bit longer may have been karma this morning. I slept until 7:00, but I woke up to a scorpion in my bed. Luckily I had Bradley Griffin in my room, and he used some finger nail clippers to get it out. This was very challenging for him and postponed our breakfast for just about 5-10 minuets for us. After finally getting to breakfast, we ate a delicious meal served by the people at our hotel. After I was done eating I asked Mrs. Lopez if I could go to my room to grab my charger. On my way back I saw a pretty big iguana. I was taking a couple pictures and it started to creep towards me. Then BANG! It was mad. It chased me for a while then jumped in a little pond of water. After all this excitement, I was ready to leave the hotel. We headed out around 8:00

After leaving the hotel, we drove for about an hour to start our day with a nice hike. On this hike we saw an historical house called, La Hacienda. It is mainly known for being a site of the battle of Santa Rosa. General Jose Joaquin Mora Porras led the Costa Rican troops to this site to fight the foreign troops. During this battle they caught the house on fire, so 90% of the house is not the original. Continuing on this hike we saw many more iguanas and lizards.

After our hike, we got on the bus for another hour drive to the restaurant for lunch at La Choza. They gave us many more choices. After lunch, we went to a different beach. This beach was very wavy. We were there for about two hours to leave for the hotel, Papagayo Golden Palms. When we got to the hotel, we all got dressed up and went down to the beach to take pictures.

After pictures we left the hotel for dinner at Bocelli’s. On our way to dinner and back, we listened to different varieties of music. (Some of the songs the girls would say “it had them in their feelings.”)

Tomorrow we leave to go back to San José for 2 days. It will be a long 3 hour drive to the Sheraton Hotel, but I don’t think anyone will mind because “the shower is the best.”

From the mountains to the sea

Before we left the cloud forest in Monteverde today, we got a unique look at some of the smallest creatures at the Butterfly Garden. I want to use the word smallest with a grain of salt in that some of these creatures were not small at all. We got up close and personal with a scorpion, walking sticks, Hercules beetles (huge), tarantula, and a gigantic cockroach named Timmy. Our guide Roberto was so entertaining to listen to as he went through all of the various insects that can be found in cloud forest. Some of the students were all about checking these critters out. The others…not so much! We then made our way into the butterfly garden, where we saw some of he most beautiful and ugly butterflies that Costa Rica has to offer. We tried to get some of them to land on us, but not many of us had much luck.

We made a quick stop before leaving the heights of the forest for a quick photo op. The view was spectacular so the stop was totally worth it!

After about an hour and a half drive toward our next destination, we stopped for lunch, which was a restaurant next to a small river. It was a great location to get off the bus and get another great view! We then drove a little over an hour for us to get to our hotel at Papagayo Golden Palms. Since we got in a little early, we were able to relax and visit the gulf. While we were swimming a school a fish flew out of the water! It was a really cool sight and even better that we were so close!

We had a great meal tonight at the hotel and tomorrow we will be visiting the national park in Santa Rosa. After lunch, we’ll be heading to another beach for the afternoon! This a complete change of environment from the cloud forest we were in for the last couple of days. There we experienced from low 60s to upper 60s and rain. Now we are in the heat and humidity of the Pacific coast! We’ll definitely be slathering on the sunscreen and bug spray!

Swinging through the Trees

A post by Paige Milburn

After being late to yesterday’s breakfast, I decided to turn it around this morning by waking up at approximately 45 minutes before breakfast time today, and arrived about fifteen minutes early (this was a big obviously a big step for me). After eating our amazing buffet style breakfast served by our hotel, we loaded the bus to start our adventures around 8:00.

We then drove to the local zip lining place called “Selvatura,” in the small town of Monteverde. We all had so much fun zip lining through the mountains. However, I had to swallow my fears in order to get the courage. Other than the normal zip lines, we had the chance to drop from a platform, swinging back and forth over the mountains, named the “Tarzan Swing.” Most of us who participated in this really had to overcome our fears. There was also an option to zip line Superman style, which was too risky for me, but other people enjoyed it and said it was their favorite part of the entire trip!

After zip lining, we came back to the hotel to chill for a little bit. A few of us took that time to swim at the hotel pool, or sit by the pool to rest up for lunch and our next hike. Lunch was also served buffet style at our hotel, with numerous different choices for a salad, main course, and desert. Following lunch, we went on an hour hike through the rain forest where we saw a beautiful waterfall, and amazing wildlife! Lastly, we went to the Ecological Sanctuary to take a informative cooking class, and cooked our own food. We even got lucky enough to see a white-faced monkey before we started cooking! We ended our night with a tortilla cooking competition, and eating the delicious food that we all prepared for ourselves! Our meal consisted of rice with chicken mixed with various vegetables and for dessert we had crunchy prestiños, which are a fried dough with a sugary syrup on top. It was so good!

Tomorrow we are on our way to the Pacific Coast to Guanacaste, so it’s a travel day for us! We’re excited to see what this new location will bring!

Day 3: From the classroom to the Cloud Forest

A post by Graci White

Today we began our journey in La Fortuna which is home to the Arenal Volcano, the endpoint of yesterday’s adventures. We were given the opportunity to participate in a yoga class at 6:30 a.m.. However, some of us are just not early risers (99.9% of us). Breakfast began at 7:15 and we were on the road by 8:00, which again may or may not be pretty rough for us. We then stopped at an area downtown to stock up some snacks to prepare us for the 3 hour bus ride to Monteverde. Surrounding us downtown was a beautiful park, a variety of stores, and an extraordinary church. One of the best things about Costa Rica is the nature that surrounds you. Their ways of conserving nature and keeping their environment natural and clean is very impressive.

After our quick stop downtown, we arrived at a local school with around 500 students ranging from pre-school to middle school. Our first stop was in the pre-school classroom where we were able to sing and dance with these amazing, outgoing children. They were just as nervous and eager to interact with us as we were with them. They welcomed us in the best way possible, and it was definitely a memorable experience. Then came the first graders, and boy did they keep us entertained. Overall, they were just such a joy to be around.

Next we had the three hour long bus ride arriving at a restaurant called Amy’s Cuisine where most of us did not expand out of our comfort zone and stuck to eating good ole pepperoni pizza. However, it was all delicious, especially the chicken quesadillas and of course the ice cream! After lunch we checked into our hotel rooms which continue to impress us every where we go, especially the amazing employees who are always extremely welcoming.

At 5:20 we headed out for a late night hiking adventure lead by guides whose families have resided in Monteverde for the past generations. Sadly, it was raining, so it was not a good time to see a ton of amazing animals, but we did get to see multiple frogs and even a tarantula! Also we got to witness that two people can in fact fit into one poncho thanks to John and Bradley.

It was so heartwarming to actually feel the true love these people have for their country and its nature. Protecting these areas is so important to them and it has been a major learning experience for us all. We ended the day with dinner at the restaurant that is a part of our hotel which was packed with other students experiencing the same life-changing trip as us. But due to the abundance of people we have to wake up even earlier for breakfast tomorrow so we will not have to wait five years to sit down at a table, therefore I feel like it would be a good time to sign out and say good night (nothing against those people though, pura vida and buenas noches).

Learning How to Paint from the Professionals

A post by Grace Blanchard

After getting to “sleep in” until 8:30, we ate breakfast at Curu, a restaurant located on the first story of our hotel. Curu offered various foods from fresh fruits to assortments of pastries. The food was served buffet style, and we were all able to try new foods that we have learned about in Spanish class. The students then had time to hang out until check out at 10:00.

After checkout we had an hour long bus ride to one of the biggest artisan towns in the country, Sarchi. When we got there we were greeted by William Valverde Arias and his two assistants who told us about the history of ox cart paintings. We each were given a small ox wheel to paint for a competition. There was a time limit of 45 minutes and the top three who had the closest painting to the original were given CDs. After our fun competition we visited the largest ox cart. We then went and ate a true Costa Rican lunch and shopped in the gift shop.

Our next adventure started with a three hour bus ride. During the bus ride, our tour guide spotted a two toed sloth. It was crazy that he was able to spot the sloth given that we were driving 40 mph and the sloth was in a thick tree. Seeing the sloth was just a bonus on the ride to our hotel. The main attraction we wanted to see was the Arenal volcano, one of only seven active volcanoes in La Fortuna, our next stop. Our guide did not think that we would be able to see the volcano fully, but thankfully we were able to see the full volcano.

After the long, but scenic drive, we finally arrived to our hotel, the Arenal Springs. Here we are able to swim in the hot springs. Many of us swam either before or after dinner. For dinner we ate at the hotel restaurant and were challenged to speak some Spanish to the waiters. Tomorrow we will do our school visit and distribute the school supplies we brought, and then go to Monteverde.

It has been a very eventful and tiring first full day for us. This week allows us to get closer to one another while learning more about the culture together. Day one has been awesome, and I hope it continues to stay this way!

Another Tour in the Land of Pura Vida

I didn’t think this tour would ever happen, but here we are on night one in San José, Costa Rica. Let’s backtrack just a little to the 2017-2018 school year. I had just come off of a student tour to Spain, and a month later, I learned that my grandpa had been diagnosed with lung cancer. I had spent every year from the start of working at CHS doing fundraisers while prepping kids for a tour abroad. First, it was Mexico in 2013, Costa Rica in 2015, and then finally Spain in 2017. I was getting worn out, and with everything happening back home, my mind was elsewhere all school year. I knew that I need a year free from fundraising and free from tour planning to focus on my family.

On December 31, 2017 my grandpa lost his fight, and man, was he a warrior. He loved seeing my pictures and hearing of my adventure, and I loved sharing those moments with him. I knew I needed to travel again. It has become so much a part of me that I knew I couldn’t let a group go without giving them the opportunity to experience something amazing. Early last May, I decided to hit the ground running. I hadn’t planned a trip in a year…usually, I had two year to prep, so this tour was unique in that way. Costa Rica had been such a fun adventure before, and I knew that the students would love it. We had also read a novel in level 2 that was all about Costa Rica, so their interest was already piqued!

For the past 10 months, we’ve fundraised, held meetings, built up anxiety and excitement, and it all led up to this moment. We arrived at the school mid-morning, ready for our 2 p.m. flight out of St. Louis. I knew that some of the students hadn’t slept…some of them had never even flown before! I love being able to take kids to experience their “firsts”! It’s such a privilege to be able to share that memory together!

After our trip through immigration and customs, we met our awesome tour director Maikol. He’s been great with the students! We checked into our hotel and ate a buffet style dinner. I’m so proud that they all tried the food, and they loved it!

Tomorrow we are off to Arenal, and on the way, we’ll get to stop at one of the biggest artisan towns in the country. We will also get to paint our own ox cart as a souvenir and see the biggest ox cart in the world!

This trip is a bittersweet one for me. After 8 years, 4 student tours and hundreds of students that have been in my classroom (a second home for me), I received an opportunity to teach in Carbondale next year. I am so sad to leave my students and my amazing co-workers, but I am so excited about what this next chapter will hold. I told the students tonight as well, I told them to not be sad, but to make this the best trip yet. I think we are going to do just that.

It’s still me….just not the same me.

It’s been 5 days since I’ve gotten back from Nicaragua.  During those five days, I have had a lot of…well, for lack of a better word…stuff to think through.  The last year has probably been the most stressful for me.  Between school, immigration paperwork, planning trips, attending conferences, etc., it’s been a whirlwind.

For some of you the thoughts that I have in this post won’t sound new.  For the rest of you, it might come as a complete shock.  This year I really struggled to find balance.  With everything I listed in the first paragraph, you can probably guess why.  I was out of the country for 23 out of the last 37 days.  It changed my perspective on everything.  I traveled to Mexico, Spain and Nicaragua and saw some of the most beautiful sites that I have ever seen in my life.  But it wasn’t the things that I saw….it was the people that I experienced it with.

I’ve been the type of person that is usually pretty content with staying in my apartment and not much of one to seek out a lot of socialization.  Any other time that I’ve come home from being away for more than a few days, I was always happy to be able to be in my bubble for a little while.  This time was different.  I found myself legitimately not wanting to be home.  In fact, I called my husband and asked him where he saw us living in the next couple of years.

When I got ready to get dressed that first morning, I went into my closet full of clothes and didn’t find anything that I felt like wearing.  I ended up grabbing an outfit from my suitcase, which I still have left to unpack.  I think that this speaks volumes in terms of the amount of stuff I’ve accumulated over the years.  I was content in finding something in my suitcase, which only had enough clothes for a little over a week.

For those of you who have made it this far in the post, I’m not up and quitting my job.  So please don’t start sending me the frantic messages asking if I’m leaving.  I couldn’t stop teaching as it’s the only thing that I have ever thought of doing with my life.  But, I do want to do more.  I want to have real connections to the themes that I teach in my class, and I want to be able to grow those relationships that have existed as a result of my travels.

I think that when you travel somewhere more than once, you stop experiencing things for the first time and start loving on those people that you connected with.  I’m still looking to experience new things, but that’s not at the top of my priority list.  I want to make a list of the people that I want to see.

It’s hard to explain exactly what this feeling is, but for those of you who have traveled somewhere, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.  I don’t know when the next trip will be for me, but I know that I want it to be one where people are the primary reason that I travel.  I’m not saying that I won’t ever go to a brand new place, but I will seek out new people in those places that will be able to give me an insight into their lives.  It’s one thing to be able to say that you’ve been to places, but it’s a completely different thing to say that you’ve met amazing people in those places.  Everyone has a story to tell.  I want to know that story.

Hasta el próximo viaje…