Costa Rica | Science and Language with Chenango Forks High School

Upon arrival at the airport, you will be met and taken to the Costa Rican Language Academy (CRLA). Receive a welcome orientation then learn some dance moves during a Latin dance lesson. This evening, meet the families with whom you'll be staying for the next three nights. Head to your family's home, settle into your room, and have dinner with your homestay family. Leaders that are not participating in the homestays will be transferred to and from Hotel Balmoral each day.

This morning after breakfast, go to the Costa Rican Language Academy. Begin the day with an introduction to the CRLA, then participate in a full day of Spanish language classes. This evening, take part in a cooking class.

Spend the morning participating in a community service project. Return to CRLA for lunch then wrapping up Spanish classes. Spend the last night with your homestay families.

After a final breakfast with your homestay family, transfer to the CRLA and meet your Costa Rican guide and driver. Visit Turrialba canton, including Turrialba Volcano and Guayabo National Monument, the most extensive pre-Columbian archaeological site discovered in Costa Rica to date. Later, arrive in downtown San José, where you'll check into your hotel and have dinner.

After breakfast this morning, check out and head for the south Pacific coast. Stop along the way at Carara National Park for a guided hike. The park is located in the Central Pacific region, one of the most ecologically diverse areas of the country. The intersection of northwestern tropical dry forest with the humid rainforest of the South Pacific region, concentrated in a relatively small area, produces an interesting combination of species from both ecosystems. Have lunch at a local restaurant then continue to Hacienda Barú, a lodge and 815-acre national wildlife refuge. Attend a lecture on biological corridors with Jack Ewing, the lodge's founder and author of "Monkeys Are Made of Chocolate." After dinner, take a night walk with your guide to look for nocturnal wildlife.

Take a guided walk this morning in search of the two species of monkeys found in the area, the white-faced capuchin and the spider monkey, ending up at the beach. Have lunch back at Hacienda Barú and then transfer to El Chontal Ecolodge on the Osa Peninsula. This rustic, family-owned lodge sits on the Golfo Dulce, which is home to important populations of bottlenose dolphins, pantropical spotted dolphins, and humpback whales, as well as other marine life, like sea turtles and sharks. El Chontal is the base camp for the Center for Cetacean Research of Costa Rica, and since 2012 has collected data and hosted research programs to support conservation of the region. After checking in and getting settled, receive an orientation to the lodge, the dolphins, and the conservation project you'll be working on.

This morning before breakfast, set out on a bird walk, where you may see the endemic Mangrove Hummingbird and Yellow-billed Cotinga, plus a variety of parrots, parakeets, tanagers, and shore birds. After breakfast take part in research and dolphin monitoring at Golfo Dulce. Help collect data, including taking photos of dolphins for identification, recording animal behavior, and monitoring climate stations. This afternoon, take a chocolate tour at the nearby Finca Kobo to learn about the cultural history of this important crop and the process for making chocolate from the cacao plant. After dinner, take a night walk around the grounds of the lodge.

Today continue with dolphin research and then process and analyze the data you've collected. In the afternoon visit a local school and participate in a service project and interact with the students. This evening, finish processing and analyzing the data you've collected and wrap up your projects. Present the research after dinner.

Have some free time this morning and then start your journey back to San Jose. Stop along the way at the Vista Los Sueños Canopy for an exhilarating zip line adventure through the forest canopy and have lunch on-site. This evening enjoy your farewell dinner at the hotel with your guide and driver.

Transfer to the airport for your flight home. Check out is at 12 noon.