It’s officially summertime here at Outward Bound Costa Rica! To hear all about our student happenings here in Costa Rica and Panama, tune into our blog on Tuesdays for updates on our Summer Adventures and Fridays for updates on our Girl Scout destinations program.

Rainforest Exploration Challenge #3

The students on our Rainforest Exploration Course arrived at Manuel Antonio today and will be spending time boogie boarding and exploring the National Park near this famed beach. Prior to arriving here, the students spent a week in Piedras Blances, fully immersing themselves in the Costa Rican culture. The students had the opportunity to make “Trapiche,” a candy made from sugarcane, and also participated in a sacred chicken kill ceremony. During the chicken ceremony, the students learned to appreciate where their meat comes from. The ceremony is a central part of the Outward Bound experience, and as such, is taken very seriously. In addition to the cultural aspects, the students have been waterfall rappelling and testing their physical strength throughout their time in Piedras Blancas. We can’t wait to see all the pictures the students bring back from their REC course, but until then check out some of the photos from previous REC courses this summer!

Caribbean Watersport Adventure

The students on Caribbean Watersport Adventure have been quite busy the past few days with service projects among their other adventures. This group’s particular favorite activity has been wakeboarding, and whenever they have some spare time they can be found wakeboarding or kneeboarding the Caribbean shores. Each individual has continued to excel in his/her skills and push individual limits. Whether they are striving for ultimate speed like Adam, or working on getting air in wake to wake 180’s like Evan, all are setting new goals and working to accomplish them throughout course.

Students also had a dolphin tour in the morning and ventured to Red Frog beach on Monday, where they saw poisonous dart frogs. Today students are sea kayaking, and circumnavigating Isla Solarte, where they will be doing a sailboat charter later this week. Aside from their activities, students have been making a huge difference in the local community. They have been working with locals in the community to help build a new room for the local school, and also cut the grass the local way- with machetes. After working with the community, the students built a new water catchment system for the family they are staying with on the Isla Solarte. They had the opportunity to see their hard work pay off when it rained later that night!