Three Toes and a Long Walk: February 15th, 2019

Good evening parents,
It's David and Christian here. Today was our first chance to blog and let me tell you, it has been a long, hot and humid two days. Yesterday, we started the day off bright and early, waking up at 5:30 am and eating breakfast at Hotel Brilla Sol. We had different kinds of cereal, fruits, juice and eggs. Before you know it, we were in a van, on our way to Juan Santa Maria airport to ride our little prop planes to Puerto Jimenez boat port. After a short while, we were coasting a long the Golfo Dulce on our way to the Eco Lodge named Saladero. Straight away we got into two groups and split off onto our kayak adventure and garden hike. Christian and I were part of the group that went kayaking. We took a boat about 20 minutes down the coast to a mangrove estuary where Christian and I were already professionals. We got on the kayaks and started to burn instantly. We raced everyone else around us and played bumper cars with them. But during our bumper car game, we learned many things about the mangroves and how to kayak safely. After that, we took our boat back to camp and ate lunch immediately. We were served sausage quesadillas with a side of green salad, which all came from the sustainable environment around us. After lunch, Christian and I took a nice long nap. We woke up and got ready for our afternoon hike. Pepe, our guide, took us on a hike through the forest on the puma trail. On our expedition we sighted many exotic animals. The most interesting ones were the Howler Monkey, Spider Monkey and Three-toed Sloth. There was also a sketchy moment when a baby venomous snake named Fer-de-lance slithered between Noah's legs. After our hike, we came back to camp and ate dinner. We finished our day off with a relaxing presentation given by Harvey, the land owner and went off to bed. Peace out big homies, hope you're enjoying the snow :) 

Painting in Sarchi

Our final day in Costa Rica began with breakfast at Brilla Sol.  Our tour guides for the day, Louis and Percy led us on a tour of the town of Sarchi and neighboring areas.  Percy pointed out interesting facts about the area as well as helped us practice our Spanish.  Sarchi is known for elaborately painted ox carts.  The ox cart workshop is completely powered by a water wheel connected to a main drive shaft.  All machines in the shop are connected to the main drive!  No electricity is used in the production of these carts.  Ox carts are used to haul coffee and sugar cane to markets on the coast.  The painters apprentice for over 6 months!  Many of the artists have been at the workshop for over 10 years!  The unique style of painting is a symbol of Sarchi and can be seen throughout the town on signs and bridges.  After seeing the workshop, we then had a painting lesson led by William, one of the town's most famous painters.  We all tried our hand at re-creating the unique designs seen on the ox carts of Sarchi.  The main lesson we learned.....its not that easy to do!  William and Percy not only taught us how to paint, but also treated us to a comedy show and dance lessons.  In the end, Mrs. Brosnick, Miss Palmer and Rebecca were awarded prizes for their Sarchi designs.

Last Day in the Rainforest

Hello!  It's Noah and Tony here doing the blog today.  We started off the day by packing all our stuff at  La Leona Lodge and bringing it down to breakfast at around 7 o'clock am.  We then had our last meal at La Leona, which consisted of eggs, fruit, and rice.  We then enjoyed the coast side view before we left for the hike back to base camp.  We saw many interesting things which included toucans, spiders, and we even ate termites for the first time.  After a long hike, we then stopped at the Beach before Base Camp.  There we got fresh coconuts from the people working there.  A few of us went down to the beach, taking in the water to try to cool off.  We then ate a lunch of sandwiches, Coke, juice, and crackers.  Then, our taxis arrived to take us to the Puerto Jimenez airport.  After a quick stop at base camp to pick up our luggage, we then began the 2 hour journey back the city.  This ride known as "Pepe's Last Stand", due to the numerous times we stopped to see cool and interesting animals which we had not seen before.  This included a black and white owl, sloths, a crocodile, and the last species of monkeys we have not seen, squirrel monkeys.  We then made a quick stop, in which we witnessed two wild iguanas fighting. 

Hello everyone, it is Nick and Cody reporting from Costa Rica. Today we took our adventure from the ground floor, to the tops of the trees. We got to take an hour hike straight up a 200 meter hill to a gigantic garlic tree. This tree is used for scientific research with bats and butterflies. After a little bit of instruction and getting ourselves prepared, we started our ascent up the 140 foot tree! After the first 40 feet, everyone's nerves started to calm down. Everyone was super excited to finish climbing the tree and were super fast at doing it. Once we got to the top of the tree, the view was amazing and no words can explain it. The last task that took a lot of courage was being able to throw ourselves off the top platform and hang there waiting to repel down. This challenge was no match for our group that conquered it with ease.
After our adventures in the trees we had an amazing barbecue chicken with a side of rice, mashed potatoes, fried plantains, and assorted vegetables. Our group then had down-time after the exhausting tree climb and hike so the majority of us decided to relax on the coast in the hammocks and chairs until our river hike with Pepe later in the day. We began our river hike in the water keeping our eyes open for anything that we could possibly find. During our river hike, we saw a variety of crabs, some frogs, fish, and even a wasp nest that we had to avoid. We soon came upon what appeared to be little ponds built to attract frogs that were hidden away in the paths of the rain forest. We made it back to Le Leona right before dark and had a small amount of free time with the rest of the group while dinner was being prepared. We were then served a fantastic fish filet with mashed potatoes, a dinner roll and a salad. Each student attending the trip then presented their chapter summary that they read, and gave a brief, thorough explanation. They then presented their scavenger hunt question and asked if anyone was able to solve it or had already experienced it in the wild. After these activities, there was a bit more down time before a group of students went on the optional night hike with Pepe. During our night hike, we saw a very large scorpion, a couple golden orb weavers, and a friendly black cat that decided to follow us around for the remainder of the trip. The cat then followed us back to our lodges and decided to sleep on the porch before finding it's way into the other cabin and sleeping with Christian.

Venturing to La Leona

Hola! Kim, Tomasina, and Becky here. Today our group spent our last morning at Saladero. After eating breakfast, we left to start our day by visiting a animal sanctuary. There we were able to learn and observe all different types of animals that are native to Costa Rica. Upon arriving at the sanctuary, we were greeted by a spider monkey named Sweetie. We got to pet and scratch her, truly a magical experience. Once finished with our tour at the animal sanctuary, we started our adventure to La Leona. Here we started on a short, calming boat ride back to land, where we then took a taxi for about 2 hours. In the middle we went to a grocery store to buy things we intended to grab, and after we grabbed our belongings we took the 2 hour ride down to La Leona. Here we took a long hour and a half hike to go up to the lodge of La Leona being on a cool breezed beach and to our cabins.
Our cabins are super cool because they have a bed for all three of us, zipped up sides, and a connected bathroom and shower. Our porch overlooks the ocean and is surrounded by palm trees creating the most beautiful view. Since we had such a long day, we took the rest of the day to relax and hangout around the beach.

Night Eyes

The day started early with a bird walk with Pepe where we encountered multiple species of neo tropical

birds including scarlet macaws. After the walk, we had banana pancakes and multiple fruits grown in the

the gardens at Saladero for breakfast. We then left Saladero to snorkel a bay with a small coral reef

during which we saw six foot moray eels, trigger fish and jelly fish.  After the snorkel, our group

(Team Three Toes) went on a garden walk with Pepe where we learned all about the native and exotic

plants and their importance to the environment. Next, we had lunch where we ate tuna macaroni salad.

Our next adventure was a hike through the rain forest where we saw more species of birds and a

howler monkey in very poor shape. We think he fell from a tree.  We then returned to the beach house

for a delicious chicken and rice entree with a side of squash; dessert was a great coconut, vanilla and

cinnamon ice cream. While we had a little break, James and David enjoyed some nice cold Coca Colas.

Our final activity for the night was our personal favorite, a night hike. Within our first few steps,

Pepe challenged us to find a lizard. After a few minutes, nobody could find anything. Pepe then

pointed out two juvenile brown basilisks in a tree only 10 feet from us. The highlights of the hike

were finding a baby Fer de Lance which is a snake in Costa Rica and a very rare spider called the

web casting spider which shoots its net onto its prey (basically the real version of spider-man) . All in

all its was another amazing day in the Costa Rican wilderness.   

Day 2 in Atlanta

After breakfast at the waffle house, we went into downtown Atlanta.  We saw one of the largest escalators in the US in the MARTA peachtree station.  Then we went to the aquarium, also one of the largest in the US!  the have a 6.3 million gallon tank that holds four whale sharks and several large manta rays.  Some of the group was able to get a behind the scenes tour!  After a brief visit to Centennial  Olympic Park, we visited CNN headquarters for a bite to eat and an attempt at recreating the bear stack.  (The security guard was not too thrilled with us!)  The back on the subway to the airport for another interesting airport experience.  How three hours can not be enough to check us in and go through TSA is beyond even the heartiest of travelers.  The plane ride was  a little bumpy, but they served us a nice turkey sandwich, fruit and snack.  A quick car ride and we arrived at our hotel for the night.

Making the Most of Atlanta

Congratulations to Rebecca for bowling high game, 182!  Congratulations to Tony, Kim and Christian for keeping the ball in their lane!

Travel Insurance

Good Morning!

For the parents that have travel insurance, please call the travel insurance company 1-855-205-6054 and open a claim.  You will need the confirmation number for your travel insurance, the email address you used to purchase it and you will need to confirm your child's name and birthday.    Tell them that the travel interruption was due to the wing of the plane being hit and then needing to be repaired. (mechanical) The company reimburses for losses with receipts.  So we gave each student an envelope to keep their receipts for anything they buy and where we could not use a voucher from delta. We even told them to save receipts if they buy a tshirt while we are out today!  Our travel agent was writing a letter so that we MAY be able to get some of our money back for trip costs because we missed the two days in costa rica.  'll keep you posted as I know more!

Itinerary Update

Hello Friends and Family!

To say today has been a long day is an understatement.  Here's an update on the days events and where we stand right now.
First:  All of your children are safe, fed and generally in a good mood!

Now for the details:
This morning, after boarding the plane, a de-icing machine hit the wing of our plane.  Of course, in the interest of safety, all had to deplane while they inspected the wing.  Delta officials tried their best to reschedule everyone with connecting flights.  Unfortunately, because of the size of our group, the only flight they could book all of us on is a flight out of Atlanta tomorrow (2-14) at 5:56 pm.  So, we are in Atlanta.  It took us a while, but Delta finally gave us both hotel vouchers and meal vouchers.  All is good!   Julie and I are going to take the kids to a couple of tourist sites in Atlanta like the World of Coca Cola.  Our travel agent is also working to get us travel vouchers and perhaps some refunds.  Hopefully, we will be enjoying the fun and sun of Costa Rica tomorrow! 

Please check the blog for updates!

Flight Information

The flight numbers have changed.  Our return flights home also changed times by about 30 minutes.  We will update all flight times as they change.  Please check the blog on flight days for updates.