Very excited and eager to learn, we welcome the Windham High School group that will accompany us for two weeks at the Flamingo and Monteverde campuses. They will have a few weeks full of adventure and experiences in which they will enjoy our beautiful beaches and natural riches! On this day right after their arrival they had a delicious lunch and later we continued our way to Flamingo where the Costa Rican families are waiting for their arrival.  

Today is the first day of classes for the Windham students! On this day the students got an orientation about Costa Rican families, culture and food, afterwards they headed to their classes for the morning, then a delicious lunch and spent the whole afternoon enjoying the flamingo beach in the rain.  

This day the students will have the opportunity to help the town of Lorena to improve their conditions with the NGO Siempre Amigos, finishing their classes and after lunch at Soda Guanacaste we headed to Lorena where the kids helped to sand and paint the school Pupitres, as well as to improve the conditions of the soccer field, field where the students played soccer with the children of the town. On Thursday we will be back to help with more work!! 

A bright and rainless day to enjoy after a delicious lunch and go enjoy Conchal beach! The students after class headed out to get ready to go to one of the most beautiful beaches in Guanacaste, there they spent the whole day until sunset! Tomorrow will be a hard day of volunteering; they can't wait for tomorrow!   

Last day of volunteering with Siempre Amigos NGO, the students very excited to support the development of a better and beautiful Lorena are going to collaborate with the planting of some palm trees around the soccer field, they also helped preparing the community hall to be painted. 

It's Friday and it's the last day of Windham High School Spanish classes at CPI Flamingo. This day the students enjoyed their afternoon on the catamaran on Flamingo Beach and the guys also had the opportunity to see dolphins. 

On Saturday the students had free time at Tamarindo beach where they had surfing lessons and a wonderful lunch of hamburgers, afterwards they spent some time shopping and sightseeing in Tamarindo. 

This is the last day in Flamingo, with the bags packed and ready to meet Monteverde the students were waiting for their transportation to Monteverde, but before going to Monteverde they first visited Hacienda El Viejo located in Filadelfia. A boat tour on the Tempisque River where they could see crocodiles, monkeys, lizards and discover much more about our natural wealth, then lunch and transportation continued to Monteverde!!

We arrived to Monteverde, one more week of learning and enjoying our cloud forest, this day the students arrive to Monteverde where they are welcomed by CPI Monteverde with a talk followed by meeting their Costa Rican families. See you tomorrow in class!!!

It's the first day of school at CPI Monteverde, very exciting students are heading to their classes, and today is cooking class!!! Besides, the students learned how to cook rice with chicken and make tortillas! 

Today was a day for a walk in the forest! They had the joy of seeing different animals, interesting birds, trees and flowers during their walk through the forest!

It is enjoyable and helpful as well. This day the kids went volunteering where they learned a lot about the coffee that is grown in Monteverde, then they helped in different jobs like removing weeds from the coffee plants, followed by a delicious lunch on site!
Tomorrow will be coffee, chocolate and sugar cane tour day!

On the tour to Trapiche the students learned about the deeper processes and how coffee, chocolate and sugar cane are brought to the people's table to be eaten, it was a day of much learning! 

 It's almost the end of the tour, on Friday the kids went for a walk to the Waterfalls tiger, no doubt a tiring activity but very rewarding and fun, lunch was served on site and it was delicious. 

Saturday was canopy tour day, it was one of the most enjoyed by Windham students.  Tomorrow they leave for La Fortuna, where they will visit the Arenal Volcano and have a relaxing afternoon at the Baldi Hot Springs!!!!  

We say goodbye to the Windham High School group, it was a pleasure to have you in our country, and we hope to have you here again!!

     Sunday May 29, we welcome the group from Arkansas State University ASU 2022, a group that will be with us for 4 weeks, in Heredia and Monteverde campuses, besides Spanish classes, they will do volunteer work and different activities throughout their stay in Costa Rica.  

    On Monday the students arrived from their Costa Rican families with a lot of enthusiasm for their first day of classes at CPI Heredia, then they began their classes!
During the afternoon they took an activity that was Latin cooking class, in order for the group to learn about the delicious Costa Rican cuisine, at the end of their cooking classes the students were taken to Heredia center for a tour and to explore our culture, as well as our colonial architecture.

  Tuesday 31st and Wednesday 1st, the students are adapting more to the environment, culture and family of CPI, getting more confidence and feeling more familiar with the teachers. They are enjoying the classes, are more active and participative in them.

    On Thursday the students began their morning with classes, at noon, they leave the CPI Heredia to the capital of our country for a tour, enjoy a delicious lunch at the restaurant Las Mañanitas, ending with lunch they take a tour of our capital San Jose, know the museum of jade and pre-Columbian culture being this a historical, cultural and archaeological museum located in the central valley.

      On Friday  with their suitcases ready, the students arrived to spend the weekend in Manuel Antonio! During the morning and until noon they received classes, at the end of their study day, they left for Manuel Antonio.  During their trip they made a stop at the restaurant Jardin de Orotina, besides had the opportunity to see crocodiles in the Tárcoles River.  

    Saturday June 4, before leaving, the students enjoyed a delicious and abundant breakfast at the Mimos Hotel, then they headed to Manuel Antonio National Park where they spent all morning and part of the afternoon doing activities such as hiking, sunbathing and swimming, at the end of the day the students enjoyed a delicious dinner at Raphael Terraza!

     Sunday June 5th, right after breakfast the students went to Manuel Antonio beach to enjoy their last hours there, at noon the students headed to Heredia, where their Tico families are waiting for their arrival! 

     Monday June 6th, the students are back in class! A little tired and burned out from their weekend at the beach, but very excited to continue their learning at CPI Heredia. They enjoy their afternoon playing basketball! 

     On Tuesday, the students arrived as usual to their classes, however that day they had a volunteer tour in charge of the organization Somos Picnic, the students helped to beautify the Institution and they also had a moment to share experiences and interesting facts about their country with the children of the school Licenciado Daniel Oduber Quiroz in Pavas, San José. 

     Wednesday, June 8, students headed to campus for their classes and at the end of classes the students got the afternoon off so some of them stay on campus to do their homework..  

     Thursday June 9th, that day was full of energetic activities for the students, after their classes the students were invited to a soccer game organized by the CPI Heredia, also the ASU students had the Latin dance class at the CPI which they enjoyed and learned some Latin steps!

     Friday June 10th last classes and last day with their Costa Rican families in Heredia, ASU students are getting ready to enjoy their weekend in La Fortuna. They are very excited for their last weeks in Monteverde!!

     Saturday June 11 the Costa Rican families transfer the students to their meeting point where they will leave for their free weekend in Arenal, the students during their route tasted a delicious lunch and when they arrived to La Fortuna they made a stop in the artisan village of Sarchi. Also, they had the opportunity to paint in that place, finally, the students went to relax and have fun in the hot springs of Baldi!

     Sunday, June 12th
After a long day of activities and travel, the students finally arrive at their destination, Monteverde. With thick clouds and rain, Monteverde welcomes the students.
CPI Monteverde awaits them tomorrow for two more weeks of classes and activities!

     Monday, June 13th
It's the first day of school in Monteverde!
The students are heading to their classes very excited to get to know and continue learning in Monteverde while enjoying its beautiful and extravagant nature.
On this day the students had cooking classes where they had the opportunity to cook their lunch themselves.

     Tuesday June 14th
On this day ASU students had the activity trapiche tour, where they learned about the different processes of sugar cane, coffee and chocolate that is produced in the area!

Bienvenidos al grupo Muskingum University, unos chicos llenos de energía y con muchas ganas de aprender. 
Este día hicimos la caminata por San José, los chicos conocieron un poco de la cultura e historia por medio de visitas a los museos, murales, parques, entre otros. Luego Visitamos la Fábrica de carretas Eloy Alfaro, y disfrutamos de un delicioso almuerzo en El Jardín, nos trasladamos luego al CPI Monteverde en dónde se dio la charla de orientación y los chicos conocieron a sus familias ticas de la zona.

El día Lunes los chicos tuvieron clase de cocina, tomaron turnos e hicieron arroz con pollo y tortillas; almorzaron lo que cocinaron y les gustó mucho. Luego conocieron un poco de los bailes latinos en su clase de baile-- todos bailaron, sudaron y se divirtieron mucho con la profesora! Para finalizar el día caminamos hacia el centro de Monteverde para que los chicos hicieran una búsqueda del tesoro por el pueblo, les fué muy bien y como siempre muy enérgicos realizaron la actividad. 

On Tuesday the group started off the day with their spanish classes until mid-day, afterwards we had lunch at a local eatery where the food was delicious! We then went to the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve; we saw a lot of beautiful and interesting nature: tarantulas, a variety of birds & insects, among other wonders found in the cloud forest! It was a very fun day, everyone enjoyed the experience a lot!! 

Wednesday was a really fun and learning day, we went to a take a tour to learn about coffee, cocoa, and sugar cane at El Trapiche, everyone was enjoying a lot learning about how they process each of them. They even got to make their own Sugar! 

 Today Thursday was a rainy day at the hanging bridges, it was really fun and beautiful, lots of nature around! It was a really great experience, the group enjoyed a lot the hike! Afterwards we went to the Hummingbird gallery, it was absolutely amazing.

Friday was poetry day! We had a poetry event at the CPI in Monteverde, they invited national poets and neighbors from town to enjoy the art of poetry reading!! If you would like to listen some additional works, please link here for the bilingual anthology: https://open.spotify.com/episode/23cpSoufnpII3FOlxeRVGp?si=pkbb-ILmS-2cbOLbDPJKdg&utm_source=copy-link 

 On Saturday some students enjoyed a free day and some did the canopy zipline through the tree tops of the cloud forest!! Great choice for a free day, full of adventure. 

New campus, new host families! Today Muskingum University transferred from CPI Monteverde, en route stopping at El Llano de Cortez waterfalls and lunching in Liberia. They are super excited for a week of beachside adventure and more spanish!

This day Muskingum group had a free day so they decided to take a walk and get to know Tamarindo town & beach!! They've been enjoying a lot the beachside. Next stop tomorrow is Siempre Amigos volunteer project!! 

Today was for Siempre Amigos volunteering project, it was kind of cloudy, perfect for a hard working day! The group had lots of fun helping with this project, they were full of energy and dedicated to the volunteer work, afterwards it started the rain and the group enjoyed a little snack that consisted in tortillas, queso, yuca, café y agua dulce. Tomorrow waits another hard working day!