Adventures and Learning in Costa Rica

Have you dreamed of exploring tropical rain forests? Spending the night in a village with an indigenous community?  Swimming in warm tropical waters? 

Have you always wished you could experience first-hand the central role culture plays in all forms by exploring the music, dance, food, art, sport and language of a different country? 

 Nope – you do not have to live an Indiana Jones-like life to have such adventures.  You might consider enrolling in CCV’s fall study abroad course Intercultural Communication with travel to Costa Rica.

This course offers students the unique opportunity to travel to Costa Rica to experience first-hand the central role that culture plays in all forms of communication. During the first half of our trip, students will center themselves in the mountain community of San Luis, a small community located right next to Monteverde, near the “Tico” village of Santa Elana, and adjacent to one of the world’s most famous tropical cloud forest reserves that sits high along the continental divide. The second half of the trip will begin with an overnight in the tiny indigenous Bribri community of Yorkin, where CCV students will travel up river in a motorized canoe and spend time with a women’s artisan group. The rest of the trip will be spent in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, a tiny and lively beach village on the Southern Caribbean coast that is home to many distinct cultures, including Indigenous as well as Afro-Caribbean and Latin peoples, and residents from some 40 different nations. In both locations, CCV students will immerse themselves in Costa Rican culture by engaging in a wide variety of educational and nature-based activities. 

•  Experience the music, dance, food, art, sport, and language of three distinct Costa Rican communities.
• Contribute to the development of a socially responsible ecological tourism movement by staying at two beautiful and modern eco-lodges: one is nestled in the breathtaking mountains and the other in a stunning tropical coastal paradise. 
•  Improve your cultural literacy skills by visiting an Indigenous reserve; interviewing community leaders; eating meals at local folks’ houses; touring an organic coffee farm; helping local farmers milk their cows; listening to live calypso music, participating in a fiesta; and taking dance, cooking, and craft lessons.  
• Engage in some of the following once-in-a-lifetime optional activities: do a zip line canopy tour; take surf lessons; take a guided bike ride or horseback ride along the coast; relax at the beach; learn traditional fishing techniques; visit a botanical garden, hummingbird garden, and/or butterfly garden; take a night or sunrise hike; or participate in a community service activity with young children at an Iguana captive breeding center. 
•  Visit one of Costa Rica’s largest and most diverse traditional craft villages and purchase locally made souvenirs for your family and friends.                                                         
   

Visit http://www.ccv.edu/study_abroad to learn all of the details about this course, the trip, and the application and enrollment process.  You can also ask your advisor for more details. There are only a few remaining seats, so please submit the application as soon as possible.

Buenos dias!