Deal Costa Rica 2025

Today, our students slowly started their way home, as we travelled from the beach back to San Jose. Along the way was stopped in the town of Esparza to enjoy a cultural exchange and performance with students from the local elementary school. Esparza’s picturesque main square is the perfect place to enjoy music and dancing, and many of our students were eager to join the fun.  After lunch, our students had the opportunity to spend the rest of their Colones at our final souvenir shop. For our last dinner in Costa Rica, we headed for the hills overlooking town. There, we enjoyed traditional Costa Rica folk music and dance. After a while, the DJ switched to more contemporary American tunes and the professional dancers were quickly replaced by a crowd of jumping Deal 8th graders. It was a lovely way to end our time in this special place.  We look forward to a long day of travel tomorrow and seeing our loved ones very soon. Thank you for joining our adventure!

Our trip hit a crescendo today, as we finally made it to the beach! Manuel Antonio National Park is known equally for its abundant wildlife and beautiful beaches, so the promise of monkeys and swimming meant there were no complaints about our early wake up time. That said, we know what wins the battle in the adolescent mind, so our students hardly slowed down for sloths as they sprinted to the crashing waves.  With frequent mandatory sunscreen breaks, we had a blast swimming, playing in the sand, and chasing hermit crabs. Before we knew it (and hopefully before sunburns set in), it was time to hike to lunch in town. The snores on the bus ride home told us it was time to slow down, so our students had a chance to buy snacks and play in the pool for the rest of the afternoon. It was a great day! Tomorrow, we will make our way back to San Jose, enjoying a cultural exchange, souvenir shop, and dinner overlooking the central valley.

Our students left the wind and chill of the cloud forests this morning as we made our way to the beach! Today was another travel day, mixed with the occasional bathroom/snack break and planned adventure. We had the opportunity to take a boat tour of the Tárcoles River, searching for crocodiles and aquatic birds, before heading to a rainforest gondola tour. After yesterday’s downright flattening agenda today’s slower pace was much appreciated. Our students wrapped up the day with smiles on their faces after a couple hours of pool time and a heavy spaghetti dinner.  Tomorrow is all about the beach! We have an early wake up call to make sure we get to Manuel Antonio right as they open. The sunscreen lectures have already started…