Surf, Scuba, Raft & Hike in Costa Rica & Panama (Ages 14-18)

Outward Bound Costa will without a doubt be one of the most challenging things you will ever do but you will meet the most amazing people and achieve things that felt unachievable. My favourite thing about OBCR was the people I met, not only did I make some great friends in my group but also the local people we met along the way who made it so special. It could be laughing with Kenneth an instructor, listening to Santiago tell you about the man who fought off a Puma, Swimming with Jefferey the Kayaker, Holding Goat Man Ricks new baby goat, talking to the hosts at the home-stays or making burritos with Samuel the chef, there are always people with something to teach you or tell you. I went on the trek course and there is no denying that it is challenging, I would advise being in reasonable shape because it will make it easier but whatever your fitness level you will complete it. It's one of those things you wish you had a choice about in the moment but afterwards your glad you didn't because you know you would have backed out. As hard as the mornings of hiking were the afternoons in the tarp are some of my funniest memories. When I refer to the tarp I mean the two massive pieces of tarpaulin that form a group tent during the trek. Sleeping packed in like sardines is a great ice-breaker and I learnt more new card games than I thought existed. I think you should go on outward bound just to experience the feeling of joy you get when a comfort that you haven't had in a long time comes back. I have never had a shower as good as the one I took at the first homestay, the water was freezing and I had limited toiletries but it felt amazing. Even walking without the weight of a backpack is a joy on trek. I cannot explain to you the excitement and anticipation about getting our suitcases back when we got back to base which had our clean clothes in. The weirdest experience from trek was definitely the third day. It started off great, the views were spectacular, there was a lot less uphill than yesterday, it was all looking good. Then the rain came. I cannot put into words how wet we all were, jogging down paths that had turned to rivers, wading through mud, giving up on rain jackets (they made no difference by that point), hoping desperately to reach the promised campsite. When we'd eventually set up camp (the rain was still going) we call crawled into the tarp, stripped off our wet clothes and just sat there for about half an hour. No one new what to do, everything was soaked, but I remember just laughing hysterically with some others from the group just trying to process the absurdity of the situation. After that we could all confidently say, it doesn't get any worse. While this may sound like a negative thing outward bound will push you to breaking point, but after that you will feel like you can literally do anything and that is the best feeling in the world. (Don't worry we also had relaxing beach days and fun activities like zip-lining it's not all pain.) Highly recommend!

I did a summer course at OBCR (tropical trek) and it was a culturally enriching experience. I was able to practice my Spanish speaking skills with my instructors and have a blast with my coursemates. The hikes were physically grueling and I would advise being physically able to handle uphills and downhills with a heavy pack. The course itinerary was great and had a healthy mix of cool activities with educational ones. I recommend!!

Traveling to Costa Rica was the first time I had been abroad since the pandemic began. The combination of physically challenging days punctuated by the thrills of activities, the joy of acquiring new knowledge and the entertainment of building a close knit community of people along the way was the perfect set of experiences to get me into interacting with the wider world and new people.