Good Bye FHS!!!

Another amazing trip with FHS. Don't forget we organize Costa Rica adventure trips for families also. From what I gathered everyone had a great time. I know we had a blast and it was great seeing FHS back for round 2. This group had a lot of character and they made all of us laugh quite a bit. I actually think my abs hurt from laughing so much. We had a great farewell dinner and everyone was at the bus on time at 5am. We got to the airport on time and I gave Kadeem a t-shirt that he won for question of the day. We took the kids out to a Mexican place for dinner and Kristina and Mark each had some words to say. Mark gave some amazing stats that I think made all the kids proud about beating the odds. James got a lot of claps for getting his whole advisor to go on the trip and all the teachers that could not make it got a monstor clap at the end. WE MISSED YOU CRYSTAL (Mark Sported #5 FHS shirt for the farewell dinner). It was great at the end I had Kyle talking and got him to admit that he loved Costa Rica for the pankakes. Terrance and I had somethings in common because we both had names that started with "T" so that made for a number of nicknames for Terrence and I. The Divas lost their key at 5am but not bad losing one room key all week. When we arrived to the airport we put on a Jay-Z song about New York and everyone started clapping it up. It was an amazing success and keep me posted on when the movie party is... Thanks so much to everyone for making this second trip possible. There is nothing like doing a trip for FHS and its amazing to see and hear how far each kid has come since their freshman year. Thanks for doing what you do all of you are amazing and a huge thanks to Gillian, Crystal, Kristina, Mark, Jesse, Courtney, & James PURA VIDA!!!!!!!!

Day of Surfing

When you think of New York City one of the last things that comes to mind is surfing. This is why I like they anual tradition of Kristina Wylie teaching the FHS kids to surf. Everything about Kristina is exactly what you think about when you think of a girl that all she needs is a board and a wave. She is the easiest going roll with the flow and get up an any hour to catch a wave or just sit in the water and enjoy the peacefulness of the ocean. Ive seen over the last two years why Kristina wants to share this experience with the kids. Just to be out in the ocean with just the sound of the waves and the horizon in site is truley an experience that everyone should take part in when they get the chance. After visiting New York City last year (which I think is an amazing City) I see that being in the ocean is about the most extreme opposite from walking the streets of NYC. I still ask myself how this surfer girl (Kristina) survives in the City. Getting the chance to surf is a great lesson for these kids in showing them that in life you keep falling but you have to get back up. Also it teaches them that between the ups and the downs to just relax and enjoy every minute of it wether you are in tropical paradise or walking the streets in NYC. It was an amazing day of surfing and a big thanks to Kristina Wylie Surf School!!! I love the picture of the 3 guys all telling eachother what to do. It is pretty much what they did the whole week.

If your like seeing the surf classes on the blog just think of taking a Costa Rica adventure trip with us. You can start planning your Costa Rica trip today just visit us at www.crrtravel.com!

Great day at the Plantation

We had an amazing day visiting the plantation. This is an activity that we take most student groups on but if you are interested we can make this a part of your Costa Rica Family Adventure also. It was extremely hot and we took a walk through the plantation to get a feel for what the workers do everday just for a couple bucks a week. We also learned the history of the United Fruit Company. When we arrived the local kids played music for us. They put on quite the show and after they were done playing the FHS band took action. I did not even know these kids new how to beat the drum but between Antawan doing the Robot and Kadeem beatin the heck out of the drum they put on quite the show for the locals. I have only heard Terrence talk a few times during the week but he actually got in on the robot fun and put on a show of his own. It was a morning filled with laughs but none probably quite as funny as Courtney playing on the swing set with the kids and falling off and ripping his pants off down to his boxers. It was one of the more funny things Ive seen on tour and the local kids will be talking about it for years. Courtney played it off really well and just laughed it off and even posed for some pictures. After we heard the band play and we allowed the kids to interact for awhile we made our way to the plantation wehre we visited the packing house. After visiting the packing house we visited the famous spheres. While we were making the walk through the plantation we must have had over 50 of the local kids following us as we hiked over skinny bridges, high grass, and HOT HOT SUN. When we arrived to the spheres we got the short story about them and then headed back to the bus which took us to the center of their local town where we had lunch. The town is called Finca 6 and is one of 12 towns that were formerly owned by the United Fruit Company. Ever since the United Fruit Company left in 1984 it has stuggled to make ends meet. It is a very interesting story and any of the kids should be able to tell you about it. Lunch was great as most of the boys went back for second and thirds. We then said our good-byes passed out some candy and made our way back to the hotel. The kids now have the afternoon to relax (I suggested to study for their final exams coming up) and enjoy the beach. Hope everyone is doing well in NYC!!!

Day of Travel to the Beach

We left the Arenal volcano around 8am and spent the day driving. It was a half day of driving but we made some stops along the way. If you decide to plan a Costa Rica Adventure trip with us we also have the option of flying around the country? We stopped at a shopping center that had a Subway in it. So the kids got a taste of home. When we arrived to the beach we checked into the beach hotel and eveyone was able to walk in the sand for the afternoon. We met at dinner for 7 pm and I think everyone was in bed by 9pm. So for all to know the kids are behaving very well. Today we are heading south to do some community service at a banana plantation. This is one of my favorite spots. It gives the kids the look at just how rough life can be on the plantation. We plan on being at the plantation for half a day and the community has some activities set up for us. We are getting ready for breakfast so I will get back with some pics from the plantation. All is well this morning or should I say PURA VIDA!!!

Everybody was working Hard

We had a great morning. We took the kids to the same school last years class painted. This was great because it showed off the good work that the kids did a year ago. The Costa Rican kids are on break but one of the teachers from the school still had kids show up to the school. About 50 kids showed up and were waiting for us when we arrived. When we first arrived we split up into 4 groups and each group went with a group of the local kids to play games. The games were a huge hit. I love how the guys can turn everything in to a competition which made the games fun to watch. We had a soccer game going on also. After about 30 minutes of playing with the kids we were ready for work. We had all the things ready and the FHS Construction Team got their hammers and started building. I was not impressed by the hammer skills at first but by the end of the day they were doing excellent. It was a huge success finishing the project right on time and even having Patrick draw "Donated by FHS" on the recycle bins made for the great group picture. This was the first group that had visited this group since last years FHS class and they were thrilled to have the visitors. Just being in the company of these kids is a great memory for them to take with them for a long time. The locals will surely be talking about the group from New York for awhile. One little girl asked me where the girls that do Step were? After the project we headed to the Organic Farm and had an amazing lunch. We then made our way to the Farm where we took a tour and Don Juan showed us around on a very educational walk.

These projects work best for student groups but if your interested in making this part of a Costa Rica family adventure then we can make it happen.

Zipline, Lunch, Snacks, more snacks, and Rappel

You will see that today is one of the best adventures the country can offer. We can make this part of a Costa Rica Adventure package if you want to design one with us?


These kids can EAT!!! Atleast the guys are doing great on the food and I think these tours will need to start having 5 meals a day. After lunch we headed to the rappel tour. We started a game in the bus that whoever can get a clap started gets a point but if you try to get a clap started and you dont you lose a point. I was at negative 4 and then I said "I just checked on the internet and the Knicks signed Lebron James" everyone started to clap so I got 3 points. We walked around town after lunch and the kids got back on their normal schedule showing up to the meeting place 7 minutes late. Mark was do for a good lecturing so it gave him a good excuse to have at it. The rain has stopped and it looks as if it will be a good night. We have everything set for the morning where we will be visiting a school and even though the kids are not in school they will be showing up to play around with everyone. We will also be building some recycle bins. I will send pics they turn out great and the kids enjoy buidling them. I told the bus that Crystal said hi and thanked Mark and Kristina for taking care of the kiddos and the whole bus sayed: AHHHH!. Well I hope all are well and stay tuned more to come.

Hola from the Zipline

It turned out to be a good night with dinner at the hotel. I think everyone was on bed on time. This morning it is a little rainy but it sure does not seem to bother anyone. We are at the zipline and Kristina just gave her talk that everyone has to do it. We are a team and we support eachother (gotta love the pre-zip rally). We have a full day of adventure and I really do promise to get more pics to you it turns out I left my cord in a bag that I wont have until later today. Sorry. I passed around a notepad in the bus and I had each student write down a quote for the day and this is what is on their minds:

Joseph: It's very GREEN!
Christopher: Fun experience having an amazing time.
Terrence: An experience I will never forget.
Kyle: Still alive!
Kadeem aka King Deem: "life is a mountain but the view is beautiful"
Andrew: The people are friendly.
Domonique: awesome awesome = awesomness!!!!
Antawan: great place to get coffee
Nick: Pura Vida!
Cristina: AWESOME!
Llandon: Words can't explain this once and a lifetime experience.
Carolyn: Very happy that I am here, going to make the best out of it!
Patrick: Try something new and you'll find out that your going to love it.
Letty: you cant change the past, but you can change the future. Take advantage of every opportunity you get! PURA VIDA! Costa Rica is beautiful!

Will get cord and pictures posted later. I hope everyone is doing well in NYC and thanks so much for the comments! Just for the record Mark took a cab to the beach and he said he will meet up with us on the last day at the airport (Im just kidding of course. The teachers are doing an amazing job along with the kids).

Day 2 Rafting!!!

Today all the kids showed up on time. It was 5:30am and we were loading luggage. I am very impressed they are off to a great start. Dinner was in the hotel last night and Kristina said everyone got to bed at a reasonable hour. Although everyone was sleeping in the bus on the way to the river. Breakfast was at Bocaditos del Cielo which serves some of the best rice and beans dishes you can imagine. The river run will be around 3 hours and I promise to post pictures this evening. We will be arriving to the Arenal Volcano around 6pm and they say the volcano is clear today so that is a huge plus. Thanks for the comments it is great to see all the followers. I will be taking quotes from each student which will be posted on the future blogs. Each student will give a quote every couple days and we will be posting them.

If you decide to design a Costa Rica family adventure trip with us we have to say that we highly suggest doing a day of rafting.

Day 1 Arrival and Coffee Tour

Take a look at this tour. We like to keep the students educated on Costa Rica and if you want to plan a Costa Rica Eco Adventure with us we can still include some of these types of tours also.

Well everyone made it here and all is great. It looks like a great group and I told them they have a tough act to follow because as we all know last years Facing History Seniors made for an awesome trip. I would like to give a huge HOLA to all who were on the trip last year and just let you know how much we miss you and we will do everything possible to represent the best we can. It was a good start to the trip. I have not learned the names yet although I would say I have about 5 and only 19 to go. After we made it out of the airport we made our way to a coffee tour. The coffee tour was very educational and when they asked for volunteers I think we had about 10 guys jump up out of their seats to get picked. Sure enough two members from our group were picked to be the volunteers and they won coffee pickin hats which I would assume they will wear the night we go out dancing. We dropped them off at the hotel around 5:30pm and gave them the news that we will be getting up at 5:30am to leave to go rafting. Will post more in the morning and hope everyone has a great night. Please post comments we would love to hear from you and I will be happy to relay any messages on to the kids if you like. PURA VIDA!!!

Welcome Facing History to Costa Rica

Today we begin our second annual Facing History Graduation class. I must say I really enjoy this trip because if I had to pick a place that is least like Costa Rica I think it would be New York City. It is amazing to see the kids reaction to so many of the natural beauties in Costa Rica. I know this years class will enjoy it and we have a lot of fun activities planned for them. We also plan on putting the kids to work as usually doing their part to give back to the local communities here in Costa Rica. It is a great balance of fun and work. We will again be making the video for all the kids to have as a souvenir and also posting on this blog everyday so the kids will have it as a memory of their trip when they get home. I invite everyone to follow the blog daily and keep up on the fun activities that this years FHS class is experiencing in Costa Rica. Thanks for following and please comment we would love to hear from you. The picture is the Arenal Volcano we will be visiting after rafting tomorrow.