Costa Rica: Osa Peninsula Rainforest Discovery – Student Adventure!

►Where Do We Stay?

• Night 1: B&B in Alajuela
• Night 2: Saledero Glamping
• Night 3: Saledero Glamping
• Night 4: La Leona Eco-Lodge
• Night 5: La Leona Eco-Lodge
• Night 6: B&B in Alajuela
• Night 7: B&B in Alajuela

►Day 1: Welcome to Costa Rica

Groups will arrive from the U.S. at Juan Santamaria International Airport in Costa Rica’s in late afternoon. A 10-minute taxi ride will take us to the neighboring city of Alajuela and to our hotel. After dinner, we have an introductory meeting, and go over the plan.  Dinner at Hotel Brilla Sol.

►Day 2: Poas Volcano Area Highlights

This is a full day exploring a nice mix of places outside of San Jose. The day starts with a visit at a working coffee plantation where you will have a hearty breakfast and drink local coffee after learning about coffee harvesting and production. The next stop is to enter the clouds and see an active volcano. Finally, you will end your day at the waterfall garden.  The waterfall garden has amazing trails that wind through animal exhibits and along huge cascading waterfalls. Lunch is served at the waterfall garden. Dinner at Hotel Brilla Sol.

►Day 3: Piedras Blancas National Park

We will depart from San Jose in the early morning and enjoy a scenic 50-minute flight over mountains blanketed in thick forest to Puerto Jimenez on the Osa Peninsula. We will take taxis to the nearby dock to meet our boat for our water taxi across Gulfo Dulce to Saladero Eco-lodge. Along the way we will likely encounter dolphins and sea turtles.

Upon arrival, we will meet the owners and friendly staff, have lunch in the open-air dining room, and take an orientation tour of the gardens where most of the food for our meals comes from. Later, when it gets a bit cooler, we will begin your introduction to the rainforest on one of the Lodge’s trails adjacent to Las Piedras Blancas National Park. Dinner a Saladero. Evening presentation Saladero Eco-Lodge.

►Day 4: Habitats of Gulfo Dulce

Your alarm clock will be Howler Monkeys at about 3 am. With the monkeys and the birds making all sorts of noises, the stirrings of the rainforest make it easy to start the day early! After a 7 am breakfast, we will begin our activities.

Morning:
The kayaks are pulled up the river into a thick mangrove habitats. Your guide will help you exploring this ecosystems by kayak. Here, huge mangroves are home to brackish water species like crabs, birds, and crocodiles. The trip is timed with an outdoing tide and you ride drift back downstream.

Afternoon:
We will kayak or take a boat down to a neighboring beach to snorkel on the shallow reef. Here we can see hard corals, schooling fish, and other invertebrates.

Evening:
Garden night hike to find amphibians, reptiles, and other creatures of the night.

►Day 5: Wildlife Sanctuary Transfer to Corcovado National Park Area

Morning:
Breakfast at 7am. We will travel by boat to the Fundacion Santuario Silvestre de Osa (Osa Wildlife Sanctuary) for a 1.5-hr tour. Here, we will learn about the efforts to rescue and care for orphaned wildlife or those that have been victims of the animal trade. If we are lucky, we may be visited by one of the free-roaming spider monkeys that call the Sanctuary “home.”

Afternoon:
We leave the Wildlife Sanctuary and enjoy the 45-minute boat ride back to Puerto Jimenez. We will stop in town for a snack and travel 2-hours by taxi through agricultural land, over gravel hills, and traversing rivers. Once we ride as far as the taxi can take us, we will drop our backpacks off with the horse cart that and continue on foot to La Leona Eco Lodge. The hike is 2 miles in distance along the picturesque volcanic black sand beach where the rainforest meets the Pacific Ocean to La Leona Eco Lodge. Dinner at La Leona.

Evening presentation: Garlic Tree Science Projects

►Day 6: Ridge Hike & Garlic Tree Climb

Morning:
After a hearty breakfast, we will explore the ecosystem behind La Leona Lodge which boarders the Corcovado National Park. Be on the lookout for poison dart frogs, bats snoozing in leaves, and any of the four species of monkey who frequent the area. At the top of the ridge, the guides will dress participants for a thrilling adventure in a 130 ft Garlic Tree. Using ropes, pulleys, and harness, students will climb up three platforms to see the rainforest from the treetop, 80 feet up. This tree was first used for scientists to study the nocturnal habits of rainforest animals. A new species of moth and arboreal porcupine were discovered in this tree! 

Evening:
Night hike around the property.

Dinner at La Leona.

►Day 7: Return to San Jose

Morning / Afternoon:
After breakfast, we will enjoy our final hours at La Leona with a hike or group meeting to work on projects. After breakast, we will hike back up the beach to meet our taxis and return to Puerto Jimenez. There will be plenty of stops for wildlife watching along the way. If time allows, we will do some shopping in town, look for caimans in the nearby wetland and then catch our flight back to San Jose.  Dinner and Overnight Hotel Brilla Sol.

►Day 8: Sarchi Visit & Flights from San Jose back to the U.S.A.

The town of Sarchí is most widely recognized for its colorful and decorative oxcarts that have been made here for over a century. Students will learn about the cultural importance of the ox carts and paint a wheel of their own using a traditional pattern. 

There will be time for shopping before heading to the airport. 

Price: $2350 plus airfare.

Installments:  Equal monthly installments. Final payment is due 30 days prior to travel or May 15th whichever comes first.

Spots Available: 14/14

Travel Documents:

A passport valid for 6 months with 1 page for an entry stamp. Notarized permission to travel form.

All payments are non-refundable. In the unlikely event that Green Edventures is unable to fill the trip, a full refund will be given.

Travel insurance is available and recommended.