When Canterbury School – of Fort Myers, FL – signed up to come to Costa Rica (for the sixth time!) to improve their Spanish, they got what they asked for. There’s not one gringo leading their course this week; and the Ticos that are leading it might just be stubborn enough not to use their English.

Meet these three Costa Rican natives who are helping the 17 Canterbury participants improve their Spanish while hiking, camping, waterfall rappelling, surfing, and cooking.

Orlando Zamora, Lead Instructor

Hometown: Piedras Blancas, Costa Rica
About: Orlando is arguably the strongest instructor we have at Outward Bound Costa Rica (and possibly in the entire country). He not only built his house for his wife and five kids, but he carried their cast iron stove 15 km to his house on mountainous rainforest terrain. More recently, he carried the large cistern (water tank) 12 km to the small village of Valle Escondido when University of Alabama did a water supply service project there last month.

Emma Zamora, Land Instructor

Hometown: Piedras Blancas, Costa Rica
About: When Emma, Orlando’s oldest daughter, is not on course, she is living and working back on our base as the chef. Known to pass the time in between meals watching telenovelas and puppet shows, she also loves to get dressed up for special occasions.

Diego Chinchilla, Land Instructor
Hometown: Cartago, Costa Rica
About: Diego may be quiet at first, but his lovable and good-humored personality quickly draws positive attention from all of his students and compañeros. He’s a Tico who has farmed the majority of his adult life when not working as a Outward Bound Costa Rica instructor. These two jobs have not taken away from his dancing skills. While he may be hesitant at first, the man can dance. His favorite type of Latin music for this is Cumbia.