Report from the Field (7/9/2011)

LE HQ received these correspondence this morning:
7.9.2011
"What a view. Sloth and toucans outside the window. Notables include Kate getting voted best rappelling technique. Gwen was fastest rappelled. Findlay is going to do his American accent impresion on the final day because he knows as soon as he does it everyone will "take the Mick out of him."David is trying desperately to squeeze out one dreadlock. James carried Will's backpack down the treacherous muddy hike out of Diamanté. Really helped his ailing comrade. Will is feeling much better and will definetly be rafting with us. Shane is friend of the animals. He has spotted camouflaged toads in the jungle that no one else could see.  A real eagle eye. He found a dog at Villa Maria and it followed us from the beach to the hotel. He named her Debbie. Elie and Will won an intense game of mafia with some very cunning trickery. We said good bye to Juan Carlos this morning, Will was the most saddened as the two of them were "Soul Brothers". Juan Carlos a real good amigo!"

Legends of the Falls

Over the past 31 years, Longacre has traveled to some of the world's most amazing locations. For the past 3 we have returned to Diamante Falls, and each year our well traveled leaders say things like,"This is the most amazing place I have ever seen" or "I am coming back here as soon as I can". Well this morning we got the same reports from Jenny and Brian. The group hiked safely out of Diamante Verde and arrived in the mountain town of Turrialba. The previous days had been unforgettable. Leaving there trusty transporter,Juan Carlos, the group packed up most of their belongings and hiked up the short but challenging mountain ridgeline for about 2 hours before descending into the awe-inspiring, waterfall layden, valley of Diamante Verde. Towering waterfalls, magnificent cliffs and idealic swimming holes surrounded them.

They hiked behind the falls to "Casa de Pierde", there open air cave home if you will, located directly beneath the falls.  If you are wondering, some students did report that the constant sound of water running does make you feel like you have to urinate.  The onsite host family is legendary for their hospitality and generosity and the team was treated to 3 quasi-gourmet meals a day. 

Day 2 was perhaps the most adventurous day yet. The hike to the top of the falls, strapped on their helmets and harness and rappelled over the falls. If you don't believe your child was brave enough please see below. I assure you they each conquer their fears on this glorious day, and all were helmets!!!

They were also able to enjoy some very safe and supervised cliff jumping into pristine gem like pools. They also helped out with a little community service in the organic gardens. It sounded rather hot, buggys and prickly but the kids got the job done and they felt good about giving back. Upone hiking out the reunited with the beloved Juan Carlos and drove over the mountains and went right to dinner. They will be staying in the "way too nice", as one leader put it, Cerro Alto Mountain Lodge. The rafting company picks them up at 9AM. The next time we here from them, they will have tamed the mighty Pacuare River and be preparing to say farewell to one another.

The animal kingdom and surf's up Uvita

The Surf Costa Rica expeditions continues to roll on in epic fashion. I am sad to report that unfortunately there Sea Turtle monitoring, involved a great deal of monitoring but not a singel turtle was sighted. The animal kingdom as usual can be hard to predict. The next morning they departed from the enchanting Monte Alto Reserve and headed South to the beaches of Uvita, Hermosa, and Ventannas.  On there way south they stopped off at the famed Crocodile bridge. While they spotted several crocodiles in the river, the crocs must have been on siesta as the group watched for several minutes before deciding they had seen enough of the motionless crocs. The group made it to the Villas Maria Louis, an off-the-beaten path villa located in the rain forest and a short walk to the beach.  We have stayed here on  7 previous expeditions and absolutely loved it. Once again the animal kingdom struck again, upon entering the girl bungalow, they were surprised to find an opossum making itself at home. The boys bungalow found several gecko eggs, a very common Costa Rican find, and too make a long story short we ended up relocating the group to a nearby hotel for the evening.  We have since resolved the situation at Maria Louis and the group has enjoyed 2 incredible days of surfing. This group is a tightly knit group that just seems to "go with the flow"The conditions have been terrific and leaders continue to be amazed at every single students hard-charging performances. Every day they have surfed the students have surfed almost non-stop for 5-6 hours per day.  Bedtime had been about 9:30 on surf days(please don't reveal this to any of their friends back home, as it is clearly a bedtime they wouldn't want people to know of). One more think I'd like to report is that we have been taking photos along the way and have hundreds of  them. Retrieving them from the field has been made difficult as the camera cable was left behind the IPOD touch we were using has been having some issues. The leaders are working on problem solving, but with them heading into Diamante Verde Falls region it is unlikely we will get many more photos before the trips end. I know it's a bummer but I hope you can understand. The bottom line is that this trip is running great, the kids are having the blast, and the best part is still to come-waterfall rapelling and cave sleeping next up. Below are two of the photos we do have. Enjoy

Monte Alto, Soccer, Surfing and Sea Turtles

The Surf Costa Rica program is off to an incredible start. Each correspondence with our leaders consists of great enthusiasm, and tales of awesome adventures and some serious bonding. When asked how the kids were all getting along, LE Leader replied, "Oh, it is an absolute LoveFest. Everyone gets along great and we are having an awesome time!" By Lovefest we are of course referring to the new friendship being formed of a strictly plutonic nature. LE Leader Brian noted that "Everyone was coming out of their shell and they were really starting to gel."

The program left the Arenal region and headed south to Monte Alto Reserve for some community service and cultural enrichment. The group participated in a refurbishing a local schools bathroom and entry way. They finished the project early and then joined the elementary school kids and helped the kids practice their English, while the kiddos taught the LE crew how to work on their Spanish. The experience culminated with an epic game of soccer. The locals, who were much younger, took an early lead but Team Longacre regrouped and really came together for the second half storming back to a 6-6 tie. Apparently, as a whole Team Longacre is a rather competitive bunch and not afraid of a challenge.

Next the trip shifted to beautiful beaches of Corazalito. The group had time for their first surf last night and everyone stood up on their boards at least once. This morning they also put in a long 4 1/2 hour session with Shayne and James paddling out into the "Lineup". All of the girls gave it there all and the leaders were especially impressed by their determination.There were also a few jelly fish stings today, but everyone is doing well. Last night, the group was hit by a "wild and crazy" electrical storm, and they were forced to leave there tents and slept in a nearby emergency shelter. Sounds a little scary, but will only add to the stories upon returning home. When we last spoke, they were meeting with the Sea Turtle Conservation organization Pretoma and are planning to do some sea turle monitoring this evening. The kids will be taking shifts, and should be rather sleeping in the morning. They will be able to rest on the drive to Uvita tomorrow, the longest ride of the trip!

We should also mention that the group has grown very fond Findlay's bedtime stories, and it has become a new tradition. We think it might be a combination of his British accent and super-cool life experiences. There has also been quite a bit of music in the evenings. Most of the guys play guitar, Brian plays the Madolin, and Shayne brought a Ocariner. Apparantly, "Smoke on the Water" is this new super groups go to song, but they are working on some other tunes as we speak. The group has also really enjoyed getting to know their private driver, Juan Carlos. They have been speaking to him in Spanish along the way, and Will has grown particularly fond of him.

The leaders will make an effort to get us some photos in the next 2 days and we will be sure to share them as soon as possible.

Report from the Field-Do not try this at Home!

Report from the Field- LE Leader Jenny O


After our brief stint and Spanish refresher in San Jose, we headed out to the beautiful town of La Fortuna, right at the base of the mighty Volcan Arenal.  Here we made like vikings, plunging from relaxing hot springs into cold water and back again at the beautiful Hotel Kokoro.  Shayne got an impromptu Ocarina lesson from a peddler that came through during dinner, and now can be heard far and wide playing Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple on the Ocarina.  

Today was an epic day!  We began the morning with a hike to a pristine 180-ft. waterfall where we went swimming, followed up by a delicious lunch at a cafe on the hillside.  We faced any fear of heights we could possibly have head-on by zipping high above the canopy of the forest at a ridiculously high speed.  We all agree - there is nothing quite like feeling the breeze on your face as you fly above the trees with a view of a volcano and the largest lake in Costa Rica -it is something we´ll remember for a long time.  After our zipline adventure, we headed out to the EcoZoo, where we learned about the snakes, butterflies, and spiders of Costa Rica.  We let Spaghetti Snakes crawl up and down our arms (some of us more calmly than others) and watched in horror/excitement/awe as a Golden Orb Weaver Spider (the ones whose webs are used to make Kevlar bulletproof vests) caught and ate a cricket.  Finally we headed to the EcoTermales Hot Springs to soak and relax before finally coming back to the hotel to eat Casados (a Costa Rican dish), have our first Group, and hit the hay.

Surf Costa Rica begins...

Jason Eckman here at Longacre Expeditions. Hope you are all doing well. I heard from our leaders Brian and Jenny last night and everyone is doing well. Despite the long travel day everything ran rather smoothly, the reached Costa Rica Backpacker last night around 9:30 and feasted on costa rican dinner, apples, and a most delicious chocolate cake. They will be heading to the beautiful volcanic region of Arenal this evening after brushing on up their Spanish this morning. I am the Director for this expedition and will be your main point of contact this summer. I wanted to remind you about our Summer Phone Line: 800-433-0127. I am at extension 100 or 0! if you have any questions or need a more personal update! You can also feel free to email me at this address:  Longacre@LongacreExpeditions.com.