Description

Our first of two trips offered in Costa Rica is a perfect mix of adventure, sun, and community service. Spend 13 action packed days traveling through gorgeous green rainforests, swimming in waterfalls, snorkeling in the Caribbean, zip-lining over jungle canopy, and meeting locals while making an impact on their community with 5 separate community service projects. Come experience the pristine natural wonder and the uncanny warmth of Costa Rica and its people; come learn the meaning of Pura Vida!

DAYS 1 -3: SAN JOSE, VOLCAN POAS NATIONAL PARK
Our journey begins with a direct flight into San Jose and a sound sleep in our luxurious hotel. As an introduction to what makes Costa Rica so unique, our first full day we'll head to nearby Volcan Poas National Park for a firsthand look at the country's extraordinary biodiversity; see pumas, monkeys, toucans (and many other birds), sloths, frogs, butterflies, and countless tropical creatures surround you. Five huge waterfalls and a cloud forest are there, too!

DAYS 3 -5: PACUARE RIVER
From San Jose we'll take a private bus to the Pacuare River and raft to our next destination: a beautiful, comfortable lodge in the heart of the rainforest. Swim in waterfalls and soak in pools, hike through the jungle, relax in hammocks, zipline over canopy and participate in our first community service project of tree planting.

DAYS 5 -8: PUERTO VIEJO DE LIMON
We'll head south to our hotel on the beach near the town of Puerto Viejo de Limon. Spend a day canoeing down the Yorkin river with our local BriBri guide who will teach you about the surrounding nature and, after a swim in the cool water, take us through organic cocoa and banana plantations. We then visit the indigenous Yorkin village and participate in a lesson on making chocolate and learn how the BriBri people weave the thatched roofs of their houses. The following morning we'll start our next community service project of cleaning the nearby beach before heading to Cahuita for an afternoon of snorkeling in the clear Caribbean water.

DAYS 8 -10: TORTUGUERO
We then say Pura Vida! to Puerto Viejo and head north along the coast to the Pacuare Reserve in the Tortuguero Rainforest. Here we'll have the chance to team up with biologists who've been working on a turtle conservation project in this region for over twenty years. Spend time with conservationists patrolling for the endangered leatherback turtle. One of our mornings will be spent cleaning the beach, the most vital part of the turtles' habitat.

DAYS 10 -12: TURRIALBA
Our next and final stop is Turrialba National Park. Part of our time here we'll spend a morning volunteering at a local school, play games with the kids, and help out with whatever needs to be done at the time (painting a wall, light handiwork, etc). We'll also go on an all-encompassing mountain bike tour in the countryside, riding up scenic hills and through various different plantations where everything from coffee to mangos is grown.

DAYS 12 -13: SAN JOSE
After our final night in San Jose and a trip to the airport, you'll spend the flight home wondering how you saw and did so many things in so little time... Pura Vida!

Highlights

- Help out at a local school, plant trees, and participate in a leatherback turtle conservation project (20 hrs community service credit)
- See monkeys, giant turtles, iguanas, brightly colored frogs, birds and tons of other spectacular wildlife
- Snorkel in the clear blue Caribbean water of Cauhuita, near Puerto Viejo de Limon
- Take a raft into the Jungle Reserve for cool hikes and a canopy (ziplining) tour!
- Visit an organic cocoa and banana plantation near a small indigenous town on the Yorkin river and meet the locals (the natural border of Panama and Costa Rica)
- Take a Latin dance class

Type of Programs

• Adventure Travel
• Community Service / Volunteerism
• Cultural Exploration
• Language Immersion
• Student Tours

Languages

• Spanish

Cost in US$:

USD 2,985 plus airfare

Experience Required

no

Volunteer Types

• Social Services, Social Work

This Program is open to

American, Asian, Australian, Canadian, European and Worldwide Participants.

Application Process Involves

• Online Application plus Application Assessment
• Physical Exam/Health Records

Typically The Application Process Time is

1 week

Travel For Teens's Mission Statement

Travel for Teens believes that teen travel should be both fun and enriching. Our programs feature choice in what you do, see, and experience, a dynamic that sets us apart from superficial tours that herd large groups from one site to another. We visit the best of the mainstream attractions while offering the opportunity to explore the culture from a less touristy perspective. We interact with our host cultures, taking cooking and dance lessons, performing valuable service work to help local communities, and conversing with the people who have spent their lives living in the places we journey to. We have crafted our unique programs to engender love for travel, hunger for learning, curiosity about differences, appreciation of similarities across cultures, and an understanding of what it means to be a global citizen.

Year Founded

2003