Costa Rican Vacation Birthday Party

Hope you enjoyed this blog and remember we plan some of the finest Costa Rica Adventures so if you interested in bringing the family just let us know!

The last night was a combination of birthday bash for Griffin and bringing together all the things the kids learned during the week into one last gathering (including some salsa dancing). It turned out we had the kids up to our family home for the party where we put on a Costa Rican cook out. With Costa Rica student travel trips there is no need for fine dining just good ol locals and a grill will work. If you join us on one of our family vacations then we can step up the cuisine a bit if you would like. We slowly got the kids back in the pace of the US by watching the end of the Duke game. I would have loved to see Duke lose but it still looks like an interesting final four. Griffin was happy to hear his Bday song in two different languages. We had the kids in bed by 9pm and we will pick them up around 9am to transfer them to the airport. I want to thank each and everyone of you for following the blog. The group has convinced me to make a trip to Sherwood and I will keep all of you posted I would love to hand deliver some coffee for each of you. But since that wont happen in the next few weeks I would like to reward all the blog followers what I think is some of the best coffee around. I know your kids are bringing back a number of gifts but this is one bag they couldnt get. If you send me your mailing address to info@crrtravel.com I would love to send you a bag. Also I invite everyone to become a fan of the Costa Rican Resource Facebook Page. Thanks again for following and trusting us to show this beautiful country to your children. Have a great week and stay tuned the video will be arriving in the next couple of weeks!

That is it for now. Please remember that we run student travel trips to Costa Rica throughout the year but we also operate all year on family vacations to Costa Rica.

Costa Rica's Clearest Volcano

We just left the Arenal Volcano and we already miss it. It is funny but during student travel trips to Costa Rica or if it be a family vacation the clients always miss the guides but I also get emails saying how much they miss the volcano like they developed a relationship with it while they were here. We had amazing weather seeing it clear all three days we were there. I hope it is this clear for our Pacuare river rafting adventure We woke up had a nice place of rice and beans, told Griffin Happy Birthday, and then headed to a look-out point to take some group pics with the volcano in the backround. It was a classic setting after dinner. The guys room was filled with guys watching old Rocky movies in Spanish. We have a 3 hour drive to the Central Valley and we have a farewell party planned for this evening. Im sitting in the front of the bus and Im yelling back getting quotes of the day a Spencend here is what Im getting:

Nate: Thank God for mom remembering to pack Immodium (Quiero Mountain Dew)

Hannah: still thinking...

Jana: We'll shop till we drop!

Danny: This place is so great it made me love coffee.

Spencer: ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Lindsey: Nothing can bother me in Costa Rica, not my sunburn or even glass in my toe (she is fine though)

Mackenzie: There are no bad days in Costa Rica!!!

Ashley: Como estas, Soda?

Kelin: I finally found the perfect mask.

Griffin: The weather, check. Extra Money, check. Costa Rica, check. One flipping sweet bday, check!

Ellie: I started a facebook and now I am a fan of Costa Rican Resource.

Jessica: Book a flight, send a wedding dress, Im getting married next week! (they told me to write this but obviously it is a joke, sorry they made me write it)

Megan: What?!!!

For a student travel trip to Costa Rica or a Costa Rica family vacation the Arenal area is a spot that can not be missed! Dont forget we offer some of the best Costa Rica rafting trips.

Perfect Day in Costa Rica

They went rappeling on the infamous Lost Canyon. This is a canyon that has 5 different waterfalls all of which they rappeled down. This is a active adventure and a perfect fit for a student travel tour to Costa Rica. Every member of the group said they loved it. They all came back soaked and plenty of pictures to show. The group is really great and they have all pulled together to try and help me get 1,000 fans on Costa Rican Resource Facebook page before the end of the trip. So I should have a couple hundred Sherwood High School students as fan of our pages in the next couple of days. Right now we are in the town of La Fortuna. This is a great little town and we are sitting in the park and the kids are walking around looking at souvenir shops. We are giving them the next hour to eat where they like and by some gifts and then back to the hotel. If anyone has any suggestions for what they want from Costa Rica now is the time to let me know I could give your children some hints as tomorrow will be the big day for souvenir shopping. We clapped it up in the bus because we officially came to the end of the Adventures and Community help activities. Now it is just a day left of traveling with a slamming farewell dinner. Sarah and I were just eating dinner and I asked her how she got the kids for the trip. She told me the story that the kids had to fill out applications. She then asked for other students to get recommendations from other teachers. Sarah said every teacher she talked to about these kids had nothing but good things to say. I feel we have had a great group and everyone has got along great. With student travel groups you see all types but this is honestly a very smooth going trip all in all. It says a lot about Sherwood and if I ever have to move away from Costa Rica I think I might consider Sherwood because 100% of the people Ive met from there are TUANIS (That means AWESOME in Costa Rica)!!! Hope everyone has an amazing night.

Pics are of group at top, Ellie in the middle, and Nate at bottom. Keep in mind that this canyoning tour is also a great fit for a family adventure to Costa Rica.

An insider business move...

BUY STOCK IN ALOE VERA!!!!!!!!!! I told them to wear sunscreen on the river and 2 days later we still have a bus full of lobsters. It seems though that we are getting some sort of shade of tan but all are good. Good Morning to all and we are off to the canyon! So remember if you do plan a Costa Rica Adventure with us please listen to our guides and do not forget your sunscreen!!!

Costa Rica's Most Popular Zipline

Congrats to all, you are now relatives of children that have zipped across the rainforest canopy at a height of 700ft. Now if you want your children to be relatives of parents who have done this zipline then you can start working on planning a Costa Rica Adventure trip with us today! They did a great job and everyone loved it. It started to rain lightly and then stopped so all was good. We then went into the town of La Fortuna where we had a meal and now we are back at the hotel. Everyone at dinner had a lot of evergy. After doing something that you sort of ask yourself for the last couple of months: "Geez, I wonder what the heck the zipline is going to be like?" and then you finally finish it it is a reason to feel good and celebrate. This is a great activity for a student trip or even a family vacation assuming the kids are old enough. The age limit is around 8 yrs old. I think everyone was excited about what they did and they should be. It will be a short lived celebration because we are back on the adrenaline train first thing in the morning. We will be going canyoning down a beautiful canyon rappeling 5 different waterfalls. I hope everyone has a great weekend and thanks so much for following.

A Good Reason for a Costa Rican Vacation

The next event will be one of the kids favorite. We highly suggest this one if you design a Costa Rica Adventure tour with us. Basically what it consist of is hanging from a cable 700ft high above the rainforest canopy. It looks like it will be a clear evening which is a plus. Doing the zipline in the rain is like an automatic beebee gun to the face. This is one of the favorite activities and is one reason Costa Rica has become famous for family vacations. Sorry for not posting the sloth picture before Jon but it was well worth reading your comment. After the long day of work I can officially say that none of your children are sloths. I did threaten them with not being able to go ziplining if they didnt paint which seemed to work pretty well. I told Kelin that she has some work to do at the house when she gets home and she asked about changing her flight. Here are some more pics of the volcano and the sloth (the one that lives in the trees). I will send some pics after the zipline. I happen to think this is a perfect event for any student travel trip to Costa Rica. By the way I do know it is Griffin's birthday Sunday (atleast I think or else they are just trying to get a free cake off of me) and we plan on doing a little surprise birthday party for him. This is a picture of
Douglas (The Driver: retired Nascar Champion) and the active Volcano of Arenal.

Costa Rica's Astonishing People

After breakfast we made our way out to visit another rural school. We take the main road and then the last mile is on a rocky road up hill. I told the kids that the bus could not make it up the hill and that we had to walk. I dont think there was anything wrong with having the kids walk a bit on there vacation in Costa Rica? By the time we all made it to the top everyone was sweating on this hot sunny day. Yesterday I gave each kid a water bottle and told them to bring it along for the hike. Minutes after arriving all the bottles were empty. I then called the bus driver and told him to go ahead and drive up the hill. When we arrived here at the school Jheudy started asking some of the kids how long they have to walk to get to school. The girl that had the longest trip was 2 hours and she must have been around 8 years old. We had the kids walk the hill to just try and get an idea of what these kids do everyday just to get a half day of education in two small little classrooms. This is also a school that has never had visitors which means it is the first time a lot of these kids have been around people from another country. The visit is going well and one of the little kids just challenged me to race him on the soccer field. I will let you know who won but I have a feeling this kid will smoke me. I have hiking boots on and he has been running barefoot up mountains since the day he was born. Enjoy the pics and thanks to everyone for the comments. They have made for some great laughs in the bus when I read them. The picture of the sloth is from yesterday on Griffin's camera taken through Jheudy's telescope.

The school visits have to be one of the most important stops during a student travel trip to Costa Rica. We can even include them in a family vacation during your stay. If you want to plan a Costa Rica adventure trip with us we can include visits like this if your interested?

Seeing Lava in Costa Rica

We had dinner last night at the hotel. I must say nobody is complaining about the hotel. After staying two nights in a village with no hot water it is always nice to treat the kids to a nice place for a few days. This is one of hotels we use during our family vacation packages. We arrived and the volcano was extremely clear with great views from the rooms. I knew everybody was tired but we made the group decision to drive around the volcano around 9pm to try and see some lava. Yes, I kept them out a little late last night but I promise it was worth it. We get to the other side of the volcano and we watched lava pour down the side of the volcano for about an hour. It was amazing and we made it back to the hotel around 10:30pm and all crashed. It was an amazing day of rafting one of the top 5 rivers in the world and then seeing the lava of one of the most active volcanos on the planet. Got to run we are off to visit a school and paint a bit. Will post later. During a student travel trip to Costa Rica if you see the lava it is a huge plus. Also if you are on a family vacation to Costa Rica we do everything possible to give you a chance to see the lava!

Want to see some lava? Start planning your Costa Rica Adventure tour with us today!!!!!!!!

Where to Raft in Costa Rica?

National Geographic has the whitewater rafting trip to Pacuare listed as one of the top 5 commerically rafted rivers on the planet. In our opinion this is a must do for a Costa Rica Family Adventure Package or student travel. The Sherwood crew can now add it to the list of adventures they have done this week. They did a great job on a beautiful sunny day. It was a three hour run on an 18 mile stretch filled with canyons and waterfalls surrounded by virgin rainforest from start to finish. Right now we are in the bus heading to the Arenal Volcano and we called ahead and they said it is clear. With some luck it will stay clear and I will be sending pictures of lava tonight. The bus is really bumpy and Jheudy is looking for a sloth in the trees to show the kids so enjoy the pics and I will post in the evening.

Jheudy just found the sloth. We are setting

up the telescope and stopping the bus. Must go

Sorry for the pic on it's side.

I would suggest this tour to all of the student travel groups that visit Costa Rica. We also operate family vacations to Costa Rica and operate this tour privately. You can visit us at www.crrtravel.com

Staying in a Village in Costa Rica

We had an amazing farewell last night at the village. With a student travel tour to Costa Rica this village is a must. We now also offer the village visit for a few hours or even a few nights for our Costa Rica Adventure package tours or anyone interested during their Costa Rica Vacation. For the students visiting Costa Rica it is very educational and we can even operate this type of activitiy for a family vacation when traveling with us. They did the local dance with a group of young kids, we ate local food, watched a show on two 10 year old cowboys and a little freestyle rope show, listened to Marimba, and took a ton of pictures. Whoever taught Spencer the moonwalk, we all thank you. It was because of Spencer and Ashely that the Sherwood crew did some performances for the locals. Huge Hit!!! We planned on leaving this morning at 7:30am but after all the good-byes we were oficially on Latin Time leaving at 8am. I dont know if you everyone saw it on Sportcenter but we had the US vs. Costa Rica soccer game yesterday. The US would have won but Hanah broke a nail and Mackenzie a twisted ankle (they are both fine and will both be renewing their contracts with Team USA). Just for the record on the last blog the picture at the school the painting was done by Ellie.

Interesting Facts:

Nate - I think his back might hurt he gave a piggy bag right to every kid in the village. Nate was playing goalie in the US vs CR game and Nate instead of trying to cover the whole goal by himself he lifted up 6 little kids to hang on the top bar. This made the goal look almost half full. By the time he got the 6th kid up the first one couldnt hold on anymore. But it was a good thought.
Hannah & Mackenzie - the toe nail & ankle but they are fine
Danny - after a long night of salsa music Danny came up with the quote of the evening "Hey Tom, atleast you dont need rythm to be in a mosh-pit" (made for some laughs explaining to the locals what a mosh pit was)
Ellie - won the toughest tourist of the day and we gave her the prize of a painting from the local village. Enjoy your trip in Washington Mom!!!
Ashely & Spencer - performers at last nights activities
Kelin and Jessica - both have two of the best looking new wallets I have ever seen.
Griffin - has to get a legal permit to play soccer in this country. His foot is a weapon.
Megan - is giving up cheerleading to pursue her career in Salsa Dancing.
Jana - there was a huge spider on the wall and Jana went to take a picture and Nate screamed behind her and Jana screamed so loud that every spider in Costa Rica headed north to Nicaragua.
Lindsey - thought I lived in a supermarket.

Thats all for now. MUST RAFT!!!!

Costa Rica Community Service

The kids are all eating and they deserve a good meal. We finished the recycle bins and got all the school kids excited about doing their part to help. We worked hard for 3 hours and got them painted just before lunch time. After giving a short talk to the kids of the local school about the purpose of their new recycle bins they made their way back to the homestays to get some lunch. I officially got the whole school to scream SHERWOOD (it has a Spanish accent twist to it but it was good enough)! Will send more pics later but here is a great one of the group. Sherwood left their mark on a small rural school in Costa Rica named Sitio de Mata!

If you are thinking of a student travel tour to Costa Rica take a look at the difference you kids could make for the many different locals in the communities. We also can include this on any family vacation to Costa Rica.

A Costa Rican Project

The kids are now sweating. With a student travel trip to Costa Rica we must make the kids work for a bit. It is a sunny day and they are outside nailing away. They all have a job and it should take around 3 hours with painting and everything to finish their projects. Here are some pictures of how its going. I also got all the kids of the school they are at together and taught them how to say "Sher-what?!!!!" and the little local kids responded "SHERWOOD!!!!!!!!". It took a few times to get it right but I will keep working on it till we have this whole village shouting SHERWOOD!!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy the pics and the pics and will post later.

Dont worry if it was a family vacation we would not put you to work. If you are interested in a family vacation or student travel package to Costa Rica please visit our site at www.crrtravel.com

Good Morning!!!

It is 7:15am and wcll and we have the village coffee brewing. It is a beautiful sunny day around 70 degrees. I feel for a student travel trip to Costa Rica everything is running perfect. The plan for today is to do some community service work in the area. From what I have seen is that the most productive community service work is done when the American kids can influence the local kids in someway. When the local kids see the American kids they react as I did if I were 10 and seeing Michael Jordan. So the plan we have is that we want the American kids to be a positive influence on the kids. We will be building two separate recycle containers at the school. It is like a puzzle piece and we will have all the puzzle together before lunch time. We will then do a small talk to the students telling them that it is "COOL!" to recycle. We have a few demonstrations of ways the American kids have been doing it during their trip. All the American kids have been using the same water bottle and we have be filling it up from a larger container. We have also recycled bags made out of old coffee bags that the kids have used for going into stores allowing that we have not needed to use a plastic bag all week during our trip. The bags that were made out of old coffee bags were made by a group of ladies in the village we are staying at. I have to say they have all done a great job and I plan on rewarded them all for their hardwork in this. So we will be spending a morning at the school with the kids and then it will be an afternoon of local activities planned of music, food, & dances the village will be putting on for us. The pictures this morning are from breakfast at the ranchito and also Spencer at the orphanage. He had 8 girls wanting to get their picture with him so I thought this was surely worthy of posting!! Have a great day everyone and will post later. Also wanted to let everyone know along with educational tours to Costa Rica that we can plan your family vacation to Costa Rica. You can visit our site at www.crrtravel.com.

Hola!!!!

Hola Everybody. Sorry for the late response on today but it has been a full day of fun. With student travel trips to Costa Rica we have to keep these kids active. We started the day with a city tour of San Jose and then made our way to the homestays. Nate was thrilled to have finally find a can of Mountain Dew, Spencer has stayed up all day so no elbows were needed in the bus (Spencer is dancing Salsa at this present moment). Sarah and I talking yesterday that the kids might be a little nervous about the homestays mostly because of the language barrier. It is funny Ive seen it a bunch. You find tourist that dont speak Spanish and for some reason if they get really close face to face and scream English it all of a suddon becomes understandable to the locals. I was happy to see this crew not take that approach. We arrived and everyone was amazing. I have to say the people in this village treats you like family from the minute you arrive. They are some of the simpliest and kindest people you can imagine. When we arrived we had some cooking classes and then played the ultimate soccer game with the locals. After the soccer game we got a round of powerades and headed to their homes for dinner. I dont know what they put in the water but all the locals have said "These kids can EAT!!!". Im writing this blog from the dinner table of of one of the homes while all the kids are getting an intro to salsa dancing. All the neighbors have joined in and things are going great. Just some more notes on today:

Griffin kicked the soccer ball almost to the moon.
Megan is an amazing goalie.
Nate loves Mountain Dew.
Hanah and Jana can beat anybody in basketball (they own all Costa Rican pickup games)
I have to give Danny credit for trying to read a book in the bus but the longest straight stretch of a road here is like 10 ft so he didnt get too far.
Mackenzie could easily become a profesional salsa dancer.
Lindsey got soaked in a puddle during the soccer game but still made the save!!!
Ellie was a star on the camera today because her topic is food and we did some cooking
Kelin was the biggest fan of Patacones I have ever seen. I plan to send her home with a few bags of Patacones.
Jessica is everybodies newbestfriend because of her Spanish.
Sarah decided to take a taxi to the beach (just kidding of course).

Have a great night everybody and thanks so much for the comments!
Spencer did not sleep today. Please see picture coming of Spencer it is priceless!
Ashley and I had the sweetest play of the day on the bball court. Tune into Sportcenter 11pm. Also you can plan a Costa Rica family vacation or another student travel package with us if you if you visit www.crrtravel.com

Good Morning!!!!

Well today we will start the tour and everyone should have some rest. We will load up the luggage and pass through the Capital City of San Jose around 9am. We will be making our way Southeast to the town of Turrialba. When we arrive to the homestays we will be staying with some amazing families and they are all very excited to have Sherwood visiting for the next couple of days. I know Jessica will be doing a lot of translating but I also think some of the kids have picked up some Spanish. So far during the trip Griffin has be extremely excited that you can find powder Tang everywhere. While Nate is struggling to find Mountain Dew. I also plan on introducing the famous icecream sandwich today "Trits". Hope everyone has a great day and I know we will and will post in the afternoon. PURA VIDA!!! Hey if anyone is reading this dont be afraid to post a comment. Would love to hear some thoughts and send some messages on to the kids.

Great Evening!!!

We just made a stop at the Barva town square which is a little mountain town in the Central Valley near the hotel. It was great. We had a serious basketball game going on with the locals and all the kids made some friends. Hanah was the leading scorer and Nate was actually referred to as Michael Jordan. We got back in the bus and had some laughs and headed back to the hotel. I will bet that Spencer is the first to fall asleep this evening because he was up a 4:30am and took a swim in the hotel pool. Here is the quotes I did not get to earlier:

"Just give him a really hard hip bump (this was said during the bball game)" - Hannah Yordy

"Costa Rica is beautiful and diverse we all love it" - Kelin

"I guess Im coming back again...maybe the third time's the charm for the Poas Volcano!"- Sarah

"I would love to come back here next year" -Ellie

Just for the record, todays winners of questions of the day were:

Mackenzie, Ellie, Ashley, and Hanah

Have a great night and we will be leaving at 9am our time (we are giving them some time to sleep and we dont want to hit the Capital City rush hour traffic) to head to the Homestays!!!

Quotes of the Day!!!

Today we had a great day. We got a little wet at the volcano crater but I guess we learned why e this country is so green. We visit the abandoned orphan girls and we had an amazing time. We learned to make empanadas, we played leap frog, and we had a chance to listen to the girls sing. We also had the chance to listen to Ashley from our group sing an amazing song. I had each student write down a quote and here is what was on their mind:

"Dont be the chicken be the pig" - Nate

"Im only 17 and I already know Im going to retire here" - Danny

"Im officially declaring that spring break is a month long" - Griffin

"I never thought a hammer could be a kitchen utensil. Thats my kind of kitchen." -Spencer

" Dont be suprised if I accidentally miss my flight home" -Mackenzie

"Panza llena, corazon contenta" -Jessica

"mom I will definatly be tanner than you when I get back" - Love Jana

"Spencer sleeping photo album - ago!" -Lindsey

--------------- More to come Im about to lose internet signal (the picture at the top is the group with all the girls from the orphanage.

Oregonians are all sleeping

Well we have come to the end of Day 1. I must say it was a great success and although everyone could have fallen asleep standing up they all got to bed around 9pm after doing presentations. We ended the night with going out to dinner and doing presentations from 8:30 - 9. It was amazing to see how much research the kids have done on each topic they have. I know Jheudy is excited to share much more info with the kids but we have to say from our end that we are very impressed and that Mrs. Coburn has done an amazing job preparing these kids for their trip. We will be leaving the hotel at 7am on our way to the orphanage where we will learn how to make some local cuisine. In the afternoon we will visit the active volcano of Poas where Jheudy plans on doing a hike in and around the cloudforest. We will be at an elevation of almost 9,000ft so Jheudy wants to make sure the kids get a good understanding of the cloudforest since that will be the only time we are at that high of an elevation during this trip. For the kids that did their presentations this evening who was Kelin, Hannah, Jessica, and Danny we thought you all did great. The picture I have posted here is from the coffee plantation. We are sitting inside where they store the coffee. The main client of this plantation is Starbucks!!!

Day 1 Arrival of Sherwood Group

Well the trip has begun. Knowing that the group was traveling all night we decided there is only one place to take them. We took them on a suprise trip to a Costa Rica's best coffee plantation. I figured maybe the smell of coffee would help wake them up after the long hours of driving. We are all very happy with the group. I know this will be a great week and we had the chance to talk about each students topics and see and do a lot on day one. Take a look at the things we did today:

1.) Jana fell down during the coffee tour and then spilled coffee on her shirt. She also interviewed Costa Ricans during a parade because her topic is rural culture.
2.) Nate ate 2 plates of rice and beans.
3.) Jessica impressed everyone with her Spanish!!!
4.) Spencer told me he was in a play at school which made our videographer happy to see he had an actor in the group.
5.) I learned Ashley's name very fast because she had a bracelet with her name on it.
6.) Griffin really enjoyed the coffee.
7.) Megan purposely tried to hide her name on the name tag so I couldnt learn her name (the deal was if we didnt know everyones name by Monday morning I had to buy IceCream sandwiches for everyone)
8.) We love Kelin's name!!! Not too many people in Costa Rica with that name.
9.) Ellie gave an explanation of coffee for the video. We all loved her Hello Kitty shirt also.
10.) Hanah would not talk to me until I said her name.
11.) Danny racked coffee beans on the ground for a demonstration for the tour.
12.) Lindsey sits behind Jheudy (El Guia) so she must be one of the best students also.
13.) Mackenzie was the grand introduction to the video.
14.) Sarah is doing an excellent job of taking care of the group.

Thanks for tuning in and we will keep you posted and some pictures will follow soon. A monkey ate my USB cord and I can't upload the pictures to the compu.

Morning of Arrival Day 1

Today is a big day as we get ready for the Sherwood group to arrive. They will be landing in the San Jose airport which is in the Central Valley. The elevation of the Central Valley is around 3000ft and surrounded by mountains and volcanos. When I woke up this morning at 5am I was happy to see a beautiful day in the Central Valley. One thing for certain in the tropics is that the climate is uncertain. But today it looks like a sunny day and around 75 degrees so I hope they left their snow jackets in Oregon. This is a picture of the Central Valley that I took this morning. As you can see there are mountains on the other side. The picture was taken from the side of the volcanos at an elevation of around 5,000ft. The Valley down below is where the airport is. Well I better get ready we have to go take good care of the Sherwood group and show them this beautiful country. Have a great day and stay tuned to find out how the arrival and rest of the day goes...

The Turrialba Volcano

To all the Sherwood students it seems that the Turrialba Volcano which has been doing nothing for the last 150 years has begun some activity since just before the New Year. No need to worry we will be far away from it but we will have great views of the volcano and its smoking top. When we are in our homestays we will have the best views as the Turrialba Volcano will be located across a valley. This is one of Costa Rica's largest volcanos and before it started its activity you could take hikes up to the top and enjoy the views and look into the crater. Now the top is closed off. So for the tourist passing by the Turrialba area which you are you get a special treat of seeing one of Costa Rica's largest volcanos during an active period. Scientist are studying the volcano to see if it possible to see lava flow. Right now there is no lava flow but they think it might be possible in the future which would make the views of the volcano even more spectacular at night. Although we in the tourism industry get excited for the possibility of seeing lava and a smoking volcano we do have to remember that this plays a negative roll on people that live very near the volcano. There were a number of farms that had to shut down do to the volcano and can no longer operate. This plays a negative economic roll on the nearby communities and has been a part of Costa Rican History in the past. The way it works out is that the Volcanic soil is often very fertile so many farmers look to the volcano for growing crops. It turns out though that the risk they take is putting their farm on the side of a volcano which in the case of the Turrialba and other volcanos in the past means farmers have to get up and move when the volcano says its time to move. Its unfortunate that the farmers who work the hardest might have a hard economic times because of the volcano but other small companies might flourish in areas such as tourism in the Turrialba area for everyone wanting to come see the volcano. This is why we feel it is very important to include rural tourism into our trips where visiting the locals doing our share to give everyone a piece of the pie. Well its only a few days and off to Costa Rica. Dont forget your toothbrush!

Top 10 List for Sherwood Trip Costa Rica

We almost forgot there is one more. That in the top 10 list we should have included that we also plan Costa Rica vacations for families and groups of all sizes!

With a country filled with so many top 10's we are going to use your itinerary to find the top 10 you will experience during your stay.

10. Bombas - these are short rhymes said by Costa Ricans whenever. They are often said at the start of a party or event. They are a short rhyme with a joke often at the end. They are very traditional Costa Rican and we plan on doing some in English (As will you).

9. The Second to Last Cable on Zipline - Not only is it the longest but you zip through a tunnel of trees so you really get to see how fast you are going.

8. Marimba - This is a traditional instrument that has a catchy rythm. We will hear it throughout your trip and by the last day I would guess you will all be taking a Marimba as carry-on and starting the "Oregon Marimba-State Band".

7. Jheudy "The Guide" - it is not every trip that you get a talking encyclopedia as your guide. Feel lucky because you have a small group which is great and a ridiculously knowledgable guide. Ask lots of questions while you are here because Jheudy has to stay here with us.

6. Lizanos Salse - This is the not so spicy salse that makes every plate of rice and beans taste good. If you are looking for a small gift to bring home this would be it.

5. The second waterfall on Canyoning Rappel - the first waterfall is basically a waterfall that you can almost walk down and everyone is looking at me saying "My grandma can do this..." Then the next waterfall is not of such. The second waterfall is about 20 times larger than the first.

4. Rooms at Manoa - this is your hotel at the Arenal Volcano and they have amazing views of the volcano and they are very nice rooms.

3. People of Costa Rica - if we are in our homestays, visiting a school, or doing community service you will surely see smiles all around. The people of Costa Rica are some of the most PURA VIDA people you will meet.

2. Jheudy's Laser pointer - We will have to find some hidden wildlife but it is rather entertaining to see your guide pull out a laser pointer to show you where the sloth is.

1. Trits Ice Cream Sandwich - yes, your number one is an icecream sandwich. They are called Trits and they are absolutely amazing. Dont worry we will be working enough to burn them off. Ive tried bringing them back to the States and it doesnt work just so you know.

Sherwoods visit to Hogar Siembra Next Monday

Hola Sherwood Students. I hope you are having a good week and packing up for your trip to Costa Rica. The weather here now is about 75 degrees and I have the window open to the office wearing a T-shirt and shorts. There is an expected cold front coming in Thursday for a couple of days but that basically means it will drop about 5 degrees nothing compared to what your probably use to. Keep an eye out on the weather in Oregon before you come because it is often related to the weather down here which we will explain more when you get here. As you know your first full day we will be seeing a volcano, coffee, and visiting Hogar Siembra which is a home of many orphan kids, kids who have been victim of abusive situations, kids who might have parents in jail or drug problems ect. This is a great chance to involve yourself in some community service and really give back. Having you visit is a great chance for the girls to experience something different and out of their routine life of living at the Home. We do our part as a travel company to try and give back to the girls of the home in educating them in what we know best and that is the many different natural beauties of Costa Rica. We hope to spend around 3 hours in the home with the girls and spend time with them and have some fun activities planned while we are there. Right now at the home there are 23 girls which is a high number and they are all very excited for your visit. Here is a picture of the group of girls on their last trip they took with us to the National Park Manuel Antonio which you will not be visiting but Im sure the girls will be happy to tell you all about it. Looking forward to meeting everyone and have a great day!!!

Sherwood High School Costa Rica 2010

This is a blog to keep family members at home caught up with the adventures of this years Sherwood High School trip to Costa Rica. We have a great itinerary planned and a lot of fun activities and most important, spending time with the locals and giving back to this beautiful country. The Sherwood group will be with one of the top guides in the country, Jheudy. Paolo, the vidiographer will be with us making the video for all of you to see. Tom (The Blogger) will be along for the ride and of coursewe have our excellent driver Douglas. We will be four staff members plus Sarah Coburn who I'm sure you all know by now. We plan to take excellent care of your family members and send them back with plenty of memories and hopefully some warm weather, as I can imagine Oregon has been a bit chilly these days. We plan on posting daily to this blog but please bear with us as we might be rafting in the middle of the rainforest or ziplining on the side of a volcano and may not have internet access. So if you have comments or questions about this amazing trip please comment on the blog. If you want to ask questions to individual students have at it and I will get the answer for you through the course of the day!!! Dont forget if you need to reach the group for anything call 352-694-3462 which is the CRR office Vonage number. Thanks for reading and we will see everyone in a week!!!