From June 10th to the 23rd, students will immerse themselves in Costa Rican culture. Starting in San Jose, the nation’s capital, the group will make their way to a town where they will stay with Costa Rican families for one week, during which time students will work on a service project designed to help their village. Finally, the group will travel to Manuel Antonio, where they can take surfing lessons, explore the national park, and relax on the beach before returning to Denver on the 23rd.

This trip was organized and will be chaperoned by Spanish teacher Mark Mallaney. “Costa Rica is a great introduction to Latin America. It’s safe, it’s tourist-friendly, and it’s easy to get around, so it’s an ideal spot to take a group of students on their first Latin American experience.” Working in conjunction with Walking Tree Travel, Mallaney designed a trip that focuses on working on language skills, learning about the Costa Rican culture, and activities that will engage every student. Mallaney has been to Costa Rica before, and says that his past experiences have influenced how he planned this school trip. “The reason we’re taking an overnight flight is so that we don’t have to spend a lot of time in San Jose, Costa Rica… I’ve been there before. It’s a messy, dirty place.” Instead of spending the whole day in San Jose, Mallaney says that the group will get on their bus and leave for Pura Suerte and its jungalows as soon as possible.

Pura Suerte, the first “real” destination of the trip, according to Mallaney, is a sustainable organic farm near Costa Rica’s Pacific coast. While there, Mallaney says that students will learn about organic farming, and will be able to see fruit crops managed. “One of their biggest products is bananas; another is pineapples. We’ll get to see the actual process of how they farm those things.” In addition to crops, Pura Suerte’s location on top of a mountain puts it in prime position to see all different types of wildlife. “Pura Suerte also has jungle observatories. You’ll be able to see different animals: monkeys, iguanas, all the things that live in the forest.” Mallaney says that Pura Suerte is very close to Costa Rica’s tallest waterfall, and that the group will be hiking to the top while they’re there.

The next destination will be the host village. The exact village isn’t known yet, but Mallaney says that the largest population is 400. “We’ll be in a very small, natural, native situation,” states Mallaney. The home stays are like a one-sided foreign exchange. “There will be Costa Rican families with teenage kids that will host each student that goes to Costa Rica with us. Each student will stay in a house, with a family, without any other American,” explains Mallaney. By day, the group will work on their community service project, which could be anything from giving local students tutoring in English to building a new room for the church, and will have the opportunity to see and talk to their classmates. The type of project will be determined on arrival. “We go into the town and they tell us what they need, what they need help with, and then we offer them our time and our effort to help them… One of the things I like about this is, we’re not coming in… and saying ‘This is what you need, and we’re going to do it for you.’ It’s a collaborative process, and they’re identifying what they need and we’re just helping out in any way we can.”

For their final destination, the group will head to the beaches in Manuel Antonio, which is a small national park on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast. After completing their service project in the village, students will be able to relax and have fun on Manuel Antonio’s famous protected beaches, meaning that there aren’t any large developments of hotels or buildings. “We’ll be staying in a hotel by the beach, but it’s a sustainable type of development, it’s not something that’s necessarily made for luxury tourism,” says Mallaney. On the beach, students will have free time to relax, swim, go on walks in the jungle, and take surfing lessons. “Manuel Antonio… is one of the most biologically diverse places in the entire world, so it will give students an opportunity to see a lot of the flora and fauna of the jungle.” After spending a couple of days on the scenic beaches and in the diverse jungle of Manuel Antonio, the group will head back to San Jose and return to the United States.

So far, nine students are set to go on the trip, and they’re enthusiastic about it. Junior Ethan Winger says, “I’m kind of nervous, but it should be fun.” Sophomore Travis Domagala adds, “I’m excited to explore the tropical landscape and learn about the Costa Rican culture,” while Junior Payton Tymn says that she’s very excited to go to the beach. “It seems like a good experience to meet new people and see how other people live,” stated Junior Kaya Law.

Throughout the year, students in the group will be participating in fundraisers like selling coffee and having a taco dinner where they will charge a fee for people to come and eat the tacos that they make. These fundraisers will help each individual student pay for his or her trip: half of the money they make from selling coffee will go toward their trip, and a portion of the money made from the taco dinner will go to each student who participated.

While the group is already mostly formed, it’s not too late to sign up for the trip. Students can sign up until the second week of March, which is when plane tickets will be bought. If any students are interested, they should see Mr. Mallaney in Room 19, and for more information they can see details about the trip here.