Travel to Costa Rica is an excellent opportunity for high school or college students to learn more about the world around them. Being immersed in a Spanish culture is an invaluable lesson in language, watching lava pour down a volcano’s slopes is an unforgettable geology lesson, and hiking in a tropical rainforest is the ultimate class in natural history. Meeting Costa Ricans and sampling local foods will enhance one’s understanding of other cultures. Add to this an adventure like a zip-line canopy tour or a surfing lesson and students will get a truly enjoyable education in becoming world citizens!
To help you begin planning your tour, here are some sample highlights of what Costa Rica has to offer:
- Try a homestay with a Costa Rican family rather than a hotel. You’ll learn more about the people and their culture-and hopefully, make new friends!
- Join in a friendly soccer game with Costa Ricans of your own age.
- Visit a school. If the students are younger than you, bring small gifts they can use such as books, colorful marking pens, crayons, watercolor paints or a “souvenir” of your hometown.
- Swim in rainforest pool beneath a waterfall near Arenal Volcano
- Enjoy soaking in warm thermal springs heated by volcanic sources!
- Join a tour planting trees and help protect our planet.
- Take a rainforest hike to see and learn about tropical animals and rainforest plants
- Take surf lessons at the beach.
