27. March 2016

During the trip we encouraged students to use the #sierratravel on all of their Instagram posts, and told them we would have a little prize for the best photo that used the hashtag. The plan was to announce the winner during our layover in Dallas, but we did not have enough time. It was a tough decision, but the winners are Fiona and Orion. Their photos do a great job of capturing the two different parts of the trip - Urban and Jungle. An honorable mention goes to Melia for her photo of Managua...

25. March 2016

All of us students and chaperones are sad to see the trip come to an end. It has been an amazing trip. Today was one of my favorite days of the trip. We visited a Poás volcano and also got to taste freshly grown strawberries that were grown locally on the side of the volcano. I love strawberries! At home I even have my own little strawberry garden. We had the opportunity to purchase a cup of strawberries with either chocolate or sweetened condensed milk poured on top. At lunch we were treated...

24. March 2016

In the shadow of Volcan Arenal, shrouded with a crown of mist and rain, we contemplate the end of our journey to Central America. Looking back from whence we have come, we reflect not only on the differences in culture and opportunity between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, but also between who we were just a short six days ago and who we have become. We have most certainly grown from the unforgettable experiences, as well as the grace and wisdom of wonderful guides. We have become better persons...

23. March 2016

Excitement and fun may be the words of the day. We traveled to the Arenal region of Costa Rica. The landscape changed dramatically from dry grasses to lush jungle as the day went on. Students were excited for the activities of the day. We had the opportunity to take a zip line tour and then visit some amazing hot springs. We purchased the photos from the zip line tour for us all to have. They gave us a few today to post and will share the others with us via Dropbox in a week or so. To see the...

22. March 2016

It is hard to believe we are more than halfway through our trip. It sure has gone by quickly. Day 5 was a lot of fun for students even though the stomach bug continues to affect some of us on the trip. The good news is students are bouncing back quickly. In the morning students traveled to Rincon de la Vieja National Park to see a cloud forest high up in the mountains. There were monkeys and some really cool steam vents from the volcano. Since I did not make the trip Lindesy was kind enough to...

22. March 2016

¡Bienvenidos a Costa Rica! Today we said goodbye to the city of Granada and goodbye to the country of Nicaragua. The group boarded the bus by 7:30 this morning and headed south. We drove for a few hours passing along side Lake Nicaragua and saw a few volcanoes as we made our journey to Costa Rica. Unfortunately, we did have a few students and chaperones get sick and that made the drive a little difficult. Most of them are doing much better now and a few chaperones are working through it and...

20. March 2016

Today we had a very busy day. Since I have to be up in less than 5 hours I am going to leave you tonight with two guest blogs from students. I will say that we went to a volcano, a market, and ended the day with a photo stop. The photo I uploaded to the iPad was not the one with all the students looking....oops. I do have a better one on the camera. Tomorrow is a travel day to Costa Rica. We've been told it could take up to two hours to clear customs. Yikes! Enjoy, Adam Natalie's Experience:...

19. March 2016

Mrs. Lechuga's words - Today 39 trepedacious teens took to the day starting with a wonderful breakfast provided by Mansion de Chocolate. We knew the day was going to be spent boating, and none of us knew what to expect. Our bus slithered through the Granada streets and brought us to the Lake Nicaragua where 4 small motor boats and 39 life jackets met our crew. Our trip was filled with fresh water aquatic life, islands of pirates, princes and paupers, lessons of life and monkeys. The chaperones...

18. March 2016

We made it to Nicaragua, all of us, safe and sound! We are all in good spirits with a little bit of travel fatigue. They day started early for all of us as we woke up to a snow storm in Colorado. Our world would sure look different by the end of the day with temperatures in the 90's with lots of humidity. We had a short delay departing Denver, but we had plenty of time in Dallas to make our connection and grab a bight to eat before our flight to Managua. After landing in Managua we were treated...

05. March 2016

We are now under two weeks to go for our trip to Nicaragua and Costa Rica and the excitement is growing. Students have count downs and love to tell us teachers how many days are left before we depart. Many students have even started packing for their trip!