What do you imagine when someone says adventure? Rappelling down a 200-feet waterfall? Rafting in a wild river? Hiking through a rainforest and being exposed to a pure nature?

And what about combining all these things together and coming to Costa Rica for the Arenal Volcano 4-Day Super Adventure tour?

Tropical Adventures, a voluntour provider, together with Desafío, expert in all kinds of adventures in the region of Arenal, prepared a 4-day tour full of adventure and of course – fun. And if I say expert in adventure I mean it. Last week Desafío was ranked as one of the BEST 10 adventure tours providers in the world by TripAdvisor travelers and editors. At the same time, it is the only place and company from Costa Rica which made it to the Top 10.  
The experience is truly thrilling but don’t worry, it is also totally safe, the staff is absolutely professional and the tours are organized splendidly. To be able to provide an honest review I went to try it on my own.

Standing on the top of 200-feet waterfall I wasn’t feeling very confident at first. But my worries turned out to be unnecessary very soon and I started enjoying it together with other adventurers of all ages. You really don’t have to be a sportsman in his best shape to be able to do it, you just have to find a little bit of courage. 

The full 4-day package includes private transportation, 3 nights in a beautiful hotel with a marvelous view of the Arenal Volcano and 4 great adventure tours. To see the full program have a look here.

And we have one more surprise for you - the price has changed dramatically. There is a very special opportunity because Tropical Adventures now offers this tour for $480 per person (double-occupancy) with a single supplement of $230 which is 45% less than the normal price. Well, if you book by September 1.

 We hope to make this great tour affordable for more people.

(By David Kolesa - Marketing Intern)

Danielle and Terry decided to spend their Honeymoon in Costa Rica. You probably think that there is nothing unusual about it but this couple is not going to stay in one of the luxury all inclusive hotels that guarantee a good time and a perfect relaxation. They chose another kind of experience - they are going to travel and volunteer in the Wildlife Rescue Center taking care of animals in need.

Danielle and Terry first met in 2005 and soon started spending a lot of time together. They both share a passion for traveling so they became also traveling buddies and together they made many road trips within USA. Danielle has visited many other countries such as Japan, Spain or France. For Terry it will be a first trip out of the US.

Besides of many other things they have in common, they both also like to give something back to a community and volunteer. Danielle took part in multiple education programs and helped in children cancer hospitals in Los Angeles, Terry spent his teenage years volunteering with Church Youth group as a group leader.

As Danielle says, they both knew that if they were leaving the country for their Honeymoon they needed to reach others in need. They looked for volunteer opportunities  and chose the Tropical Adventures Foundation because of the flexibility and types of projects as well as a kind and helpful approach.

They are both excited for the unexpected, they can’t wait to explore a new culture and environment and of course to experience it together.

In behalf of the whole team of Tropical Adventures we wish them a great time and we will do our best to make their Honeymoon unforgettable.

(By David Kolesa - Marketing Intern) 

A music school in Hojancha - Guanacaste

is a part of our Music & Art project where our volunteers have a chance to participate, bring their own ideas and also learn many new things. In this group, age is not important, there are children as well as seniors taking part and forming a music group. They get together three times a week - every Thusday, Friday and Saturday for 4 hours to practise and also have fun.

As Elí Salgado Vargas, the music teacher, says the music school was established because of a necessity of some cultural values in the town. Together with a help of municipality which provided the musical instruments, Elí was able to make this school a reality in the year 2009 and it now consists of 36 students and 3 teachers.

"We have been working with a lot of financial limitations since the help of the municipality is just partial." adds Elí. In fact, this is a reason why I decided to visit the group in Hojancha and create this blog post. The most important thing for the group are now uniformes but they cannot afford them so we are looking for somebody who would like to help the group and influence their future. Is it you? 

In addition to the many projects we have in the Hojancha area, we started a basic computing skills course, teaching the basics to interested community members. Tomorrow starts the fourth week of computer classes.

Attendance has been high and the students have been surprisingly enthusiastic. At the beginning of the first week, many students arrived with nervous faces, frantically explaining that they had never even touched a computer before! Already, each student has written a news article, conquered the art of adding borders to pages in Microsoft Word, changing fonts, text sizes, inserting word and clip art, and more! One more advanced group even designed PowerPoint presentations that were shared among the group. Topics included nature, music, animals, best-friends, and family.

Some of our groups have a 50+ years age range; it is very interesting to see how the groups collaborate to help each other out. Next week is an “examen” which will test the skills learned so far in the course.

Opportunities here for volunteers will be directly assisting students navigate menus, directories, and other portions of the computer covered in the lesson. Having someone help the students a few times gives them a huge boost of confidence to later do it themselves!

(by Jason Marschke - Hojancha Volunteer Coordinator)

(This blog entry was contributed by Kelly Wall, a 5th and 6th grade teacher who was able to obtain funding to pay for her volunteer experience with Tropical Adventures. She was kind enough to share with us how she went about it and to give us some ideas of resources for students and educators to do the same. Thanks Kelly!)

A classroom has always been a sacred place to encourage a love of traveling. As a humanities teacher, it’s been my prerogative to instill a sense of wonder about the world and I make it a goal to encourage my students to develop a desire to explore and discover it; seizing any opportunity take a risk, provide a service, and above all work hard to make that opportunity become their reality. In my classroom we often ponder how big and diverse the earth truly is. We often discuss and contemplate what our roles are as global citizens, even if it ends in a heated debate about what it means to be a responsible global citizen.

These are important questions for students, teachers and all to consider. This is after all a huge part of what the 21st century is all about. With the rise of technology, global connections are easier to cultivate any ever before. Within moments, we can skype, chat, email, listen, share and record our thoughts and ideas around the world. This is the kind world that children will grow up in, and for this reason, it’s important that we encourage them to take risks, to become responsible global citizens and above all to take an active role. It’s also important that we model this for them too, and this is where my adventure begins…

I was very fortunate to come across such an accommodating team of staff members at Tropical Adventures. I was taken back with how quickly my needs and many questions were answered. As any traveler knows, the early stages of committing to a trip are the most trying. Tropical Adventures provided all the services necessary to create my dream volunteer trip. They encouraged me to step outside of the box, and plan something that would meet my needs and fulfill me personally and professionally, even if that meant drawing up budget spreadsheets, itineraries and multiple email exchanges; this service was invaluable for me. So, here I am, ready to embark on a new adventure and travel to one of the most lush and biologically diverse areas on the planet.

Costa Rica was appealing for obvious reasons, but I was also drawn to the volunteer service opportunities. For one month, I’ll be dividing my time between two volunteer projects including the Ostional Sea Turtle Project and Hojancha Art and Music Project. I was fortunate to also to secure grant funding through my employer and it was quite a relief to know that these opportunities do exist for those in need. While it can be challenging to secure funding for volunteer service work and travel, it is possible and many individuals and organizations are willing to support motivated advocates. It’s my hope that you can become one too!

Kelly Wall (5th and 6th grade teacher)

I. Resources for Travel Grants and Scholarships:

For Students

• http://journals.worldnomads.com/scholarships/story/72164/Worldwide/Travel-Writing-Scholarship-2011-Our-Winner!
• http://www.statravel.com/cps/rde/xchg/us_division_web_live/hs.xsl/scholarships.htm
• http://www.sytayouthfoundation.org/

For Educators

• http://www.edutopia.org/teacher-travel-grants#fund_for_teachers http://www.fundforteachers.org/ http://www2.ed.gov/programs/iegpssap/index.html