Whether you are visiting or live in Costa Rica, most people spend at least some time in the capital city of San Jose in the Central Valley area. Many visit the San Jose downtown sites and are then looking for nearby places to visit for half or full-day trips. Most popularly mentioned ideas based on their relatively close geographic proximity to San Jose can still be several hours in travel time due to Costa Rica's terrain, roads and traffic. Examples: Poás Volcano is 1.5 hours away, Arenal Volcano is 4 hours away, La Paz Waterfall is 1.5 hours, etc., etc. A [View Full Entry]

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When you are a young European, about to leave your country to spend a couple of months in Central America, you feel anxious, overwhelmed and uncomfortable. After spending 3 months here, the feeling which predominates is sadness. Indeed, Costa Rica is a pleasant country where you can easily think about not going back home! There are too many attractive aspects to Costa Rican lifestyle to ignore them, even if you are deeply attached to your native country. To take the bus from a point A to a point B is just like sightseeing. Every landscape you see is just amazing. Every [View Full Entry]

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Hello everyone, this blog will be dedicated to our past volunteers, who we have a great news for! Indeed, Tropical Adventures has decided to offer a special discounts for all of you who came to visit us, at least once. Yes, we miss you so much that we want to see all you again at any price! Thus, we offer a 35% discount for all our regular one week projects, you should jump on it now! People concerned by this discount and interested in coming back just get in touch with our office at info@tropicaladventures.com. Hope to see you very soon! [View Full Entry]

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Today, we all live in a world full of new technologies and everybody is fond of progress. All of us are looking forward to a brand new car that we can’t afford anyway, just to have it. We all think that you could not live without the Internet or even without a computer any more. All of us? Not exactly. If you are looking for a remote place, where 13 years old kids don’t have a cell phone and don’t even care about it, Bambu is the perfect place for you! In Bambu, the only worry will be about what game [View Full Entry]

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Last December and January we had the honor to share with all the communities where we work throughout Costa Rica. In total 4 big Christmas Parties for all of our kids and for the Retirement Home in Bambu. We also hosted a huge Summer Camp for 100 kids in the Puerto Viejo Beach Area for 4 days. This is the best time to visit Costa Rica, not only because is summer time here in this part of the world, but also because these events are the most amazing experience you can ever participate in your life. Just think about it, you're [View Full Entry]

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When anyone goes on vacation and leaves for a special place, there are two goals. The first one is to enjoy time on holidays, get a tan and feel trouble-free during vacation. The second goal is to be able to tell about the amazing time and how beautiful the country was. We all do that. Only problem, all our friends will get bored easily because they have heard it all before. Beaches, palm-trees, waterfalls and sun. Pictures and memories are common and nothing special, unless you want a different holiday this time. That is what “voluntourism” is about. Holidays where you [View Full Entry]

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For almost five years now, Tropical Adventures has been providing help and support to all the communities with which the Foundation has been working. In this sense, we can consider our actions successful but, as you already know, we are too dependent on the context of external decisions (politics e.g.) to keep a budget steady. This is the drawback of being a non-profit, we can’t anticipate market fluctuations. Still, we keep thinking that our projects deserve to be and have a strong meaning. This sharing of knowledge and culture benefits you and us and that’s why we are asking you [View Full Entry]

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Nowadays, something is happening to the world. People start to worry about the place we live and feel more and more concerned about ecological issues. It is a good point, but we have to be careful about the way to do it, and be very vigilant about who to trust in. When you want to travel and to discover a new country, the safe reflex is to get informed about who you are going to travel with and especially if you have chosen to volunteer. Nevertheless, do not think that all ecotourism companies and organizations will provide you the same service [View Full Entry]

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Living in Costa Rica these five years I have learned much about myself, other people and the similarities and differences in cultures. Recently there was a survey posted on CNN announcing Costa Rica as the happiest country in the world. This was based on general contentment, life expectancy and ecological footprint. While there are areas which could use improvement, I generally agree with this. In these years, I have seen people working hard at construction or standing on steep mountain sides picking coffee, all the while singing and sometimes in unison. I have attended a birthday part [View Full Entry]

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I left camp this morning full of happiness and a contented peace. Unfortunately the Miami International Airport, particularly the customs department, took approximately 36.7 seconds to rip any joy from my soul. Just to rub things in, I was forced to pass a banner proclaiming this god-awful place to be the 2008 Best American Aiport, according to the TSA. Good for them. But now, FINALLY, I am in the air and quickly jetting hundreds of kilometers in escape. Let me close my eyes and try to remember back to happier times…. Ahhh yes. I am back at Camp Iztaru in a [View Full Entry]

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