On December 14th, 2007 Tropical Adventures celebrated the first of our big four holiday events in the small rural communities of La Flor & El Yaz. We welcomed over 150 children, parents, teachers and local supporters. It was a great success!

To begin with, the weather was absolutely beautiful, which was a great thing since our “main attraction” was a big bouncy castle. We also had table games, painting, soccer, bingo, hot dogs, ice cream, prizes and a really big Frosty the Snowman piñata filled with tons of candy.

It was so great to see all the faces of the children and adults come to celebrate with us together. We’re happy to say that we truly feel like a welcome part of the community. Click here to see more pictures from our La Flor party.

In 2006 Tropical Adventures was only able to celebrate their fantastic year with one holiday party in one of the areas / communities we serve. We hosted a party and donated over 500 gifts to the indigenous children on the Talamanca Indigenous Reservation.

This year we are happy to say – thanks to our phenomenal growth and to the generosity of our many supporters – we are able to host a total of four holiday events!

All of our parties are being held in communities where we work to celebrate the people we work with, the children we teach, the teachers who allow us to work side-by-side with them, the principals who allow us into their schools, the host families who open their doors and their hearts to our volunteers and care for them like their own children while they are here in Costa Rica, our Spanish professors and all the people in general who support us all year long in our efforts to support the community.

All of the parties include food, games, and gifts and are educationally oriented. This year we are hosting the parties in the following communities:

• The rural towns of La Flor and El Yaz in the Central Valley
• The Bambu Retirement Home on the Talamanca Indigenous Reservation)
• Puerto Viejo, Limon
• Bambu Community on the Talamanca Indigenous Reservation

Though we’re a bit exhausted from the first party, we are looking very much forward to the next three – as well as the opportunity to celebrate the holidays with our very extended Tropical Adventures family all around the country.

A great big “Thank You” to everyone who has helped to make all of this a reality. If you could only have the chance to look into the eyes of some of the children who have never received a gift in their lives. There are no words that can describe that feeling.

The parties will run us a cost of approximately $6,000. A couple of volunteer families have worked tirelessly over the last few months doing some fundraising and have raised $4,500. That leaves us short only $1,500. If you, or someone you know, would like to donate a few dollars to help us cover the cost of these events, we would be very grateful. Simply visit our secure website by clicking here, or contact us at 1-800-832-9419 or by email. Thank you for your ongoing support!

It’s funny the kind of assumptions I find myself making in life sometimes. Not consciously, of course. Somehow I’ve found myself buying into subconscious little misconceptions of reality that have later led me to disappointment later in life.

At its core of many of misconceptions I think is, “If I’m a good boy, people are going to like me.” Ha ha ha! Now that’s a seriously messed up statement!

I’ve seen many volunteers make that wrong assumption and try to warn them about it when they arrive here in Costa Rica. For instance, one assumption volunteers make is thinking that just because they work hard to help others, everyone around them will shower them with love, appreciation and thanks.

Often, especially in Costa Rica, that is the case – but not always. And when faced with ungrateful people, it often comes as a shock and a surprise. And it hurts!

I fell into that same trap yesterday thanks to Amanda, otherwise known as “The Grinch” around our office now.

We sent out our end-of-year newsletter yesterday, which we were very excited about. We had an amazing year and wanted to share about all that we accomplished and what we were looking forward to for the next year with our friends, volunteers and supporters.

When we saw our first response come in we were very excited. We mistakenly thought it was going to be a “good for you, congratulations and keep up the great work” kind of response. But much to our surprise, we opened the email and found this:

“I have unsubscribed to your email list. As a professional fundraiser, I find your volunteer program to be totally repugnant. The idea of charging to volunteer and call it a vacation does not sit well with me. Are you a tour business or a non-profit? Figure it out because I really think it's slimy.”

I find it really interesting that people think because we are a non-profit that all our employees should work for free. That our landlord donates the property to us, and the gas station puts gas free into our vehicles. What about the phone company? Should they let us make free phone calls too?

Anyhow, at the same time (after I calmed down for a minute), The Grinch’s email made me thankful for the many wonderful supporters we do have. Without them, we would not be able to provide the wonderful programs and services to our local children, families, communities and wildlife.

The truth is, not everyone is going to like us or appreciate us. That’s okay. We don’t do what we do to impress people. We do what we do because we believe in it. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that in the face of hatred and nastiness.

To all you Grinches out there: A very Happy Holiday Season to you. We hope you find Peace and Joy somewhere deep in your hearts. And that if you yourselves find you are in need someday, there will be someone to help you without judging you.

Warm holiday greetings to you and your loved ones from all of us in Costa Rica at Tropical Adventures!

As we prepare for our year-end holiday activities and begin to implement our exciting new 2008 projects, I thought it only fitting to look back and share with you our accomplishments and learnings from the last couple of years and thank you for your generous support.

Since its inception in 2005, our organization has grown at lightning speed. In just this year alone along with our over 220 volunteers from around the world, our small foundation made quite a mark as we:

• Raised funds to replace the roof for the Hone Creek Elementary School
• Began a project to grow organic food to feed the poor in Puerto Viejo de Limon
• Taught English and tutored hundreds of children throughout the country
• Saved thousands of sea turtle eggs from being poached
• Saved hundreds of iguanas from being eaten or killed
• Painted a high school in Guanacaste
• Taught environmental education to hundreds of school children
• Planted over 6,000 trees and medicinal plants
• Cleaned countless of miles of beaches
• Painted a retirement home on the Talamanca Indigenous Reservation
• Hosted an international corporate “green retreat” with 125 participants

More amazing to me, however, are the personal stories from our host families and children in our schools. Watching them prosper financially, educationally and emotionally over the last couple of years has been the most rewarding part of my job.

Sometimes it’s as simple as watching a family earn the funds to be able to buy a front door where there were none before, or be able to buy themselves a stove for cooking. Other times I see children developing stronger skills in school or stronger self-esteem. I see these positive changes as a direct effect of the presence of our amazing volunteers and our ongoing projects in our communities. It truly makes me proud to be part of this organization.

In 2008, in addition to our ongoing projects we plan to open a Spanish language school, expand our work with sea turtles underneath the water, begin working with a dolphin research program and a monkey refuge center, run a Summer Camp for families, lead eight free medical and dental clinics throughout Central America and expand our educational programs in our elementary schools. By 2009, we are working towards implementing a program to help drug addicts and creating a rehabilitation program. There are currently only a shocking total of 8 beds available in Costa Rica in their social medical program for those needing rehabilitation assistance, with a waiting list of thousands.

As you know, the cost of these projects is great and does not get covered by just the price of our volunteer packages.

As is true for many non-profits, we are running at a deficit. Right now we are about $40,000 in debt. However, we’re happy to say we have a solid, 2-year plan in place, which we believe will enable us to be fully self-supportive. In the meantime, we are hoping to find a way to pull ourselves out of the current debt that we have.

In the event that you may be planning any year-end giving, we’d love for you to consider Tropical Adventures. Any amount would help. Even if you only have $1 to spare, we’ll gladly accept your generous gift. We accept credit cards, PayPal and checks.

To make a donation by credit card or PayPal, simply click here to visit our secure website or call our toll-free number at 1-800-832-9419. Checks may be made out to the “Tropical Adventures Foundation” and may be sent to our US address:

Tropical Adventures Foundation
1775 E Palm Canyon Dr.
Suite H-341
Palm Springs CA 92264

We’re also offering a wide variety of Tropical Adventures apparel and gift items available at our Online Marketplace, such as t-shirts, hats, mugs, calendars, etc. Proceeds go directly to support our programs.

We can’t thank you enough for all your generous and loving support from this year. Please know you have our best wishes for a safe and wonderful holiday season. And we hope to hear from you soon!

Scott Pralinsky
Executive Director

Tropical Adventures had the amazing privilege of hosting 125 volunteers last week from the world’s leader in Sensory Innovation, Givaudan Fine Fragrances.

Three long months went into planning a special trip for Givaudan Fine Fragrance employees who attended a global team building and corporate bonding event here in Costa Rica for a four-day period.

Billed as “Givaudan Growing Together 2007,” participants arrived from France, New York and South America to “grow together” as a company, as well as to do their part to help the environment.

We all worked together to:

• Plant 1,000 trees at an animal refuge
• Plant 5,000 medicinal plants at a technical high school
• Paint a high school
• Lead environmental education workshops for 400 elementary school kids

Tropical Adventures Executive Director, Scott Pralinsky, facilitated the corporate bonding and team building exercises and helped Givaudan participants determine what personal values their employees bring to their work. After looking at the relationship between their personal values and Givaudan corporate values, participants worked together in teams to develop new corporate initiatives and goals for the future of the company.

Though we had a very tight schedule and worked incredibly hard, we still found plenty of time for fun and enjoyed several banquets and parties. We even squeezed in a canopy / zip-line tour. On Monday night we had a beach party at the Paradisus Playa Conchal where we all stayed during the event. Tuesday we had an amazing beach party at Lola’s on Playa Avellanas.

Wednesday night we celebrated with a grand finale party in the middle of the jungle and enjoyed an evening full of entertainment. The surprise event started when the group was driven by bus into the “middle of nowhere” and was met by a live calypso band. We were then led through a long, jungle labyrinth by a group of mystical creatures.

The other end of the labyrinth was like another world altogether. It was pretty incredible, to say the least. There was an amazing DJ, Ciro, who kept us on the jungle dance floor all night. Tepee chill out lounges were set up and brilliantly lit.

There was a large screen showing clips of photos from the week, as well as the names of the values that the participants had identified from the work they did in their team building breakout sessions. We had amazing decorations, lounge chairs and sofas, an open bar, as well as food. We enjoyed entertainment by fire spinners, phosphorescent performers, a Cirque du Soleil-style segment, a Cuban comparsa celebration, face painting, and fireworks.

Our Tropical Adventures team did an amazing job. It was a lot of work, for sure. But at the same time, it was a lot of fun. We thank Givaudan Fine Fragrances for giving us this opportunity to host them and we hope that we have the opportunity to see them again soon!

Photos can be viewed on our online photo gallery. We got some amazing shots. If your company or group has an interest in planning an event in Costa Rica, Tropical Adventures would be happy to help.

We specialize in creating unique experiences for groups of all sizes. Please contact us for more information.

We're very excited to announce that we have our new online store up and ready in time for your holiday shopping! For a couple of years now our volunteers have asked us about buying t-shirts and other products with our Tropical Adventures logo that they could bring home to share with their family and to help support us as a non-profit foundation.

Well, we finally have many products available, including t-shirts, mugs, jackets, sweatshirts, clocks, hats, calendars, magnets, posters, prints and much more!

Not only will you love the quality of the products, but you'll feel great knowing all the proceeds go directly to support our non-profit foundation and the communities we serve here in Costa Rica!

Please visit our new online store today by clicking here! Shop early and spent $75 and you can receive free sipping in the US! See our store for more details.

From time-to-time we veer off the subject of volunteering to announce something special. Today I wanted to announce to you some great news. One of our special friends, long-time supporters and consultants to Tropical Adventures has just published his first book, Triple A’s for the Soul - Your Pathway to Personal Freedom.

Trent Blanchard, of Palm Springs, California assists people in removing the obstacles that get in the way of living a life of fulfillment, joy and peace. He does this through individual Life Coaching, writing, workshop facilitation and public speaking engagements.

Trent's new book, Triple A’s for the Soul - Your Pathway to Personal Freedom, practically assists the reader in removing the obstacles in his/her life that prohibit them from having a joyful experience. Trent shares the stories of his own life with the intention of assisting the reader in healing theirs The book is broken down into twelve chapters, each containing an Article, an Affirmation and Action steps. Trent suggests if you follow this path, you will surely find freedom from self-imposed limitations.

Trent received his undergraduate degree in Human Resource Management and spent over a decade in New York City in various Human Resource functions for major corporations. Trent holds a Masters degree in Spiritual Psychology and is a certified addiction specialist. He is also an ordained Interfaith Minister.

In his private practice, Trent works with clients mainly in Palm Springs and Los Angeles. However, as a result of his popular workshops, Trent works with individuals all over the country and regularly with at-risk youth.

You can visit Trent's website by clicking here and read more about Trent's new book by clicking here. Congratulations Trent from all of us here at Tropical Adventures!