With this letter, the parents of children in Alto Katsi, Talamanca, Costa Rica are appealing for your valuable support explained below.

For the past three years our children have been receiving school lessons in our own community.  Before this time, our children had to walk almost two kilometers down the mountain to the closest school in the nearby community of Katsi.  The small building we were using for the school was in very poor repair and no longer safe for children.  It was taken down early in 2009.  As parents, we have been given the task of working to construct our community school since our children no longer have a formal structure to receive classes.  They are currently receiving classes in the home of one of the community members

1.    Lack of cut wood

2.    Acabado de la misma como enderezado y machinerbrodo

3.    Funds to cover the foreman´s salary

This structure has the following measurements à 18 X 7.50 square meters (m2) and consists of 2 classrooms measuring 6 X 9 m2 and a front corridor measuring 1.50 X 18 m2.

Also missing is the cafeteria which measures 14 X 8.40 m2 consists of kitchen, eating area and bathrooms.  For this structure we already have 300 cement blocks, 30 barrilos and 20 bags of cement.  This material was donated to us to make the set of bathrooms.

We wish to finish the school and through this card we are asking for your support and collaboration in our important objective, which is to complete the construction of the school, eating area, kitchen and bathrooms.  In order to finish, we need:

1.    Funds to pay the construction foreman, which will be 2 months at a value of C15,000 per day, for a total of C900,00.

2.    8,000 inches of wood which comes from trees donated by parents.  Por lo ceiol there is a cutting fee, which is C150 per inch, for a total of C1,200,000.  lo ceiol cubrirla el faltante de madera que tiene la escuela y el resto es para la construcción del comedor.

3.    Arreglo de madera como enderezada y madrenbrodo de 8,000 pulgadas, con un costo de la pulgada para un total de C480,000.

4.    Hardware materials and supplies totaling C892,464.

TOTAL BUDGET à C3,472,464.00

As you already know, our annual event is planned for  Chicago, IL, in the US this year and our guest of honor is Danilo Layan Gabb, who some of the past volunteers already know. Danilo is a member of the Bri Bri tribe living in Bambu and is a famous element of Tropical Adventures family.

We have been waiting anxiously to know whether Danilo would be able to come with us to the event or not. To do so, he needed to get a visa from US Embassy, not an easy task for a Costa Rican who has never received any visa to the US before.

This morning, Danilo had an appointment at the US Embassy for his visa interview. Scott went with him and they waited for hours to get the answer, and it was yes. How relieving it was! You can imagine how excited Danilo is now. It is so rewarding for him and it would have been so unfair to see a refusal from the Embassy.

Now, Danilo is definitely going to Chicago and will enjoy his first travel to the US. We are all proud and excited for him. This kind of story gives hope and reason to fight. Never give up and do your best.

Danilo will be in Chicago for the annual event on August the 14^th and the 15^th, what about you?

We really hope you will come and join us in Chicago!

Tropical Adventures

Our Christmas Projects need your help.

Don't waste a beautiful opportunity to share joy this holiday season! Greetings!

There are only 29 days left until our first Christmas project event where we'll be sharing with community members at La Flor. It's a day where we get to really show our appreciation to all the great people we and our volunteers get to work with - children, host families, coordinators and community members at our different projects across Costa Rica.

These are people who work incredibly hard to keep above the bread-line, usually doing hard jobs that involve long hours and low pay. But don't feel sorry for them at all. If you've been a volunteer here, you know how happy these folks are. Our goal with this event is to show our gratitude for letting us work alongside them.

We thank from the bottom of our hearts all the volunteers we have come to make the jobs of these people a little easier, and who have assisted hundreds of children by teaching and mentoring them so that they can be successful in school and enjoy better prospects than the generation before them. We are desperately in need of help (in volunteer support, donations and supplies) to ensure these Christmas projects are a success. Please read on to see how you can help us - we truly appreciate any small gesture that we receive.

Giving people something to smile about this Christmas

We have 51 volunteers attending our Christmas projects so far - including 3 families. We're really looking forward to meeting and working together with each one of them to make every one of these events a special, fun and inspiring day for all who attend. We have been humbled by their generosity, many of whom have asked us what they can do to help us in addition to their volunteer help even after having paid their fees. One of our volunteers, Silvana, will be bringing 120 pairs of flip-flops with her to hand out to children from the Cocles school in Puerto Viejo, as well as bringing a parachute to play with, while others are helping donate supplies for party decorations. Donna Crawford is bringing 200 boxes of crayons.

We have also received several kind emails from past volunteers asking us how they can help. We feel so grateful to everyone who has offered to help even in spite of the economic downturn (something which is greatly affecting people here in Costa Rica too).

Despite all these wonderful and amazing offers of help, we still really need more help. There are hundreds of children and adults who will be attending all the events and to make each day as special as it should be. We are still in great need of more supplies and money to buy all the food.

Our Puerto Viejo Christmas party will take place at the nearby Cocles school and we have invited all 150 school children. This school is a wonderful place set back frJaguar at Monkey Parkom the beach and Caribbean Sea. It sounds idyllic but the reality is that the school is so understaffed that the children can only attend school for around 3 hours each day. Without our volunteers, the children would receive no English tuition at all and when there are no volunteers, lessons simply do not take place. Many of them do not go on to further study after 6th Grade. In Costa Rica, lack of schooling has a very negative impact on the career opportunities and consequent money-earning potential of these children.

What we need to make Christmas special for our communities and children

We want to make each of the events a really special day for hundreds of children and adults. For this reason, each party is very expensive and we still don't have the resources to make each day as special as it could be.

As an example, we will have around 130 people attending the Puerto Viejo Christmas Party. For this we will need to buy:

• * 150 hot dogs and buns
• * Mustard and tomato sauce
• * 15 bottles of soft drinks
• * 2 large containers of ice-cream and 150 large cones
• * 20 small bags of pop-corn
• * A filled pinata, which will cost around $100 ($50 for the pinata and $50 for the candies)
• * Decorations in the form of balloons, crepe paper, party poppers etc
• * Party bags for each child with a few small candies and gifts inside (this is a very Costa-Rican tradition)
• * Prizes for game winners - such as hats (for sun protection), sunglasses, soccer balls, barbies, backpacks, books, stationery sets (in packs)
• * In addition we would like to give each of the 9 children who are graduating from the school a small gift. Something to encourage them in their move to a larger school would be nice such as backpacks, books, stationery etc.
• * We would like to also rent an inflatable slide for the afternoon - this will be $150. This is just what we will be buying for 1 out of the 5 Christmas parties.

In addition to these parties, we also have the Childrens' Summer Camp in Puerto Viejo. For the Childrens' Summer Camp, we will be providing lunch for around 100 children for three days. We will be making hot dogs on the first day, cheese and ham sandwiches on the second day and rice  and chicken (a traditional Costa Rican dish) on the third day.

In addition to feeding the children, we will be doing a number of fun and educational activities with them over the three days including arts and crafts workshops, sports, English and environmental education lessons. For the art workshop on the first day we will need to buy paints, white paper and colored pencils and for the environmental workshop on the second day, we'll need plenty of green, red and black paint as the children will be making masks out of recycled materials.

To provide all these things for the wonderful people who will be attending our events, we need all the support you can possibly give us. We really really really need your help and would appreciate more than you can imagine any small amount of help you give us.

What you can do to help

• ** Volunteer - Come and help us set up at one or more of the events and participate in the fun. We'll need loads of help decorating the venues, serving food, and organizing games and activities for everyone. Combined with helping at the events, you'll get to do some amazing tours so you can make the most out of your time in Costa Rica. Find out more how you can volunteer here. This is really a unique opportunity - there are no other volunteer organizations doing anything like this in Costa Rica. If you are a Costa Rican resident, please contact us to find out how you can volunteer.
• ** Donations of money - This is so that we can buy all the food, decorations and materials for the activities. If you would like to donate money for something specific (such as the hot dogs or decorations) - please let us know. If you would like to donate money for school supplies or uniform for any children (such as the school graduates at Cocles), please refer to the list and costs of items needed at the very bottom of this newsletter. We will provide you with receipts of the purchases (we go personally to buy all the items ourselves) as well as photos from the events. Since we're a non profit foundation, your donation of money is tax deductible. You can donate online or please contact us to discuss other options for donating - we would love to hear from you.
• ** Donations of supplies - If you live outside of Costa Rica, many items such as party decorations and crafts materials are actually a lot cheaper than they are in Costa Rica. If you are coming to Costa Rica or you know anyone else who is coming to Costa Rica between now and December, we would be so grateful to anyone who is able to bring some of these materials and supplies over with them. We will meet you at the airport to collect them and can supply you with official documentation from Tropical Adventures to ensure a smooth journey for whatever you bring over. Please refer to the list at the very bottom of this newsletter if you are interested in donating any school supplies or uniforms for children. Please also look at our Donation Supply Wish List for detailed information of other items you could donate. If you are a Costa Rican resident, please let us know if there is anything that you are able to donate to us or bring with you to the events.
• ** Hold a small event - such as a garage sale, coffee morning or cake sale to fundraise for our Christmas community events. We'll be more than happy to send you some information materials or handouts for the event.
• ** Past volunteers - If you are a past volunteer, something really special you could do without having to spend money is to write a Christmas letter or card to any community members, kids or project workers who really inspired or helped you whilst you were out here. Maybe you could write to your host family, or Danilo at Bambu or Dominica & Julian at the Camaronal Turtle Project. All these people are incredibly hard working and dedicated to what they do. They would love to hear from you - you have no idea how many times they ask for all of you. You can write to our address - Apartado 8-7100, Paraiso, Cartago, Costa Rica (or you could email your letter - marketing@tropicaladventures.com) and we will be sure to ensure your letter gets to the right person safely.

We truly appreciate any gestures, no matter how small, that will help us to make these events a big success by giving all these lovely hard-working and kind people who do so much to help their own under-resourced communities a day to remember.

Here are some examples of how people continue to help us:

** Silvana Clark and her husband are generously bringing with them 120 pairs of flip-flops to donate to children at the Cocles school when they arrive in December.

• ** Mark Arnowitz wrote to 15 different organizations to ask for them to donate money so that he could afford to come out to Costa Rica. Through his efforts and the kindness of the organizations he wrote to, he was able to come out here. Mark continues to offer us great support and is now raising money to help build proper bathrooms and an outdoor eating area for the children at Cocles School as well as raising money to for our Puerto Viejo Christmas party. Mark is of great help to us not only in his fundraising efforts but spends much of his time helping us out from his home in the USA.
• ** Last year the Stegehuis family donated all the supplies for the children's Summer Camp in Puerto Viejo. This great act of generosity allowed us to give the children there a wonderful three days of fun and educational activities such as arts and crafts, English and environmental education lessons, sports and games.
• ** Briana Schuck talked to fellow students at the University of Santa Monica and had them all busy bringing in donations. About four people arrived at different times, with several extra suitcases full of all kinds of donations for the children. These donations included books, pens, clothes and toiletries. Thanks to their generosity many children received useful gifts that their parents find hard or impossible to afford.
• ** The Snyder family brought a large amount of gifts for children and community members of Bambu and very generously donated us money. Their daughter, Hannah, so kindly raised this as part of her Bat Mitzvah celebrations.
• ** Phyllis and Richard Bergman volunteered with us last Christmas for a second time. Not only did they donate money but they also brought gifts for people at La Flor community.
• ** Lilly Pichardo, a personal friend and local events planner from Costa Rica helped us greatly by using her contacts to gain us discounts on decorations and stationery supplies at local outlets for our Christmas Projects. Lilly volunteered with us and brought lots of food packages for last year's Bambu Christmas party. She was also a great entertainer!!
• ** Costa Rican residents have donated supplies and provided us with equipment and materials for us to borrow for our Christmas events.
• ** Many of our past volunteers have used their connections to help us connect to important institutions (such as university volunteering departments) who offer their support. We have found on many occasions that we wouldn't have been able to meet with certain organizations without previously being recommended by people who are already associated with them - these introductions have been a great help.
• ** On many occasions, people have sent supplies over to Costa Rica with friends who are visiting. We have then been able to go and pick up these donations from the airport.
• ** Countless people have very kindly donated money to us via our online web form.

We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. ___________________________________________________________

Thank you so much for your continued support of our work throughout Costa Rica. Please contact us if you have any questions at all about our Christmas Projects or any of our other projects or how you can help us.

We realise that not everbody has the means to actively help us and we thank you for your interest in Tropical Adventures and what we do. We hope that one day we will see you out here in Costa Rica and don't forget to tell your friends about us.

Please take a look at our video of all our wonderful projects, friends and volunteers.

Sincerly,

Isaac, Scott and the Tropical Adventures Team.

For anyone interested in supporting a child by buying or paying for some school supplies, here is an example of what a child needs to go to school for one year in Costa Rica:

Mandatory School Supplies USD

• 5 100 page notebooks $10.00
• 9 80 page notebooks $13.50
• 1 Notebook lined for Handwriting $1.00
• 2 100 Sheet Packs-printer paper $3.40
• 2 100 Sheet Packs-lined paper $3.20
• 1 Pack of Construction Paper $2.40
• 12 Letter sized folders $1.44
• 5 Black pens $2.50
• 5 Blue Pens $2.50
• 5 Red Pens $2.50
• 1 Box Color penciles (12) $2.60
• 1 Box penciles--black lead pencil $2.20
• 1 Plastic pencil sharpener $0.60
• 1 An Eraser $0.20
• 1 White glue (size 120 grams) $1.30
• 1 Geometry set $1.00
• 1 Compass $1.00
• 1 Scissors $1.00
• 1 Map of Costa Rica $0.30
• 1 Spanish Dictionary $5.00
• 1 Backpack $14.00

Total for Supplies $71.64

Uniforms:

• 2 Blouses/Shirts $4.00
• 2 Socks $2.00
• 1 Pants $10.00
• 1 Shoes $14.00

Total for uniforms: $30.00 SUPPLIES & UNIFORM: $101.64

Please also look at our Donation Supply Wish List for detailed information of other items you can donate.

As crazy as it sounds, we’re already preparing for our Tropical Adventures’ Christmas Projects. This is happening for two reasons: For starters, we have a big demand on people interested in participating in the big Christmas parties that we provide for our communities, and second, because it’s time-consuming organizing these events. We really need to start now to have everything in order by December.

Although it is a lot of work for a small foundation such as Tropical Adventures, last year we created four big beautiful events. The first one was our La Flor Christmas Party. For those of you who have been in La Flor, you know what a beautiful town this is. The fresh air, the spectacular view of the charming Orosi Valley, the endless vegetables gardens, the humbleness and sweetness of the people, the innocent vibe of this place is just indescribable. All of our volunteers have left this project with tears in their eyes.

What we did last year here was amazing. The place where we hosted the party was beautiful and big enough for all the guests. The day couldn’t have been more perfect; they sun was brighter than ever and the endless mountains were witnesses to this fun party. We hired a big inflatable bouncy slide to entertain 185 people (kids, host families, teachers, volunteers and friends.)  We also had ice cream, hot dogs, drinks, pop corn, lots of games, gifts, music, nutritional evaluations for the kids and their parents, and at the end, a big piñata (Frosty, the snowman) full of candies. It really was a glorious day.

See pictures here: http://www.tropicaladventures.com/gallery.php?g2_itemId=2389.

Two days later we were in the Puerto Viejo Area. This is where Tropical Adventures started. Our very first project was here (teaching English in the Hone Creek and the Puerto Viejo elementary schools.) This is where we have been for three years already; our heart is in this area. Beautiful host families have supported us with loving care for our volunteers. Puerto Viejo has been our dream as a foundation and it has been the place where we’ve seen the biggest change as an organization.

For this party, we asked one of our dear friends if we could use his hotel to host the party, Kaya’s Place. The place was perfect. We decorated the entire place with balloons, lots of games for the kids, great snacks, drinks, excellent support from the hotel staff. It was a party on the Caribbean Coast. The ocean was in front of us and the tropical breeze was refreshing. We didn’t have a piñata for this party, but we had live music and an excellent fire show.

All of our Puerto Viejo friends were present that day. Good times.

See pictures here: http://www.tropicaladventures.com/gallery.php?g2_itemId=2773

Our third Christmas party was on the Bribri Indigenous Reservation in the town of Bambu. It was a sunny December morning in Costa Rica. We arrived there around 10 in the morning full of gifts, food, great enthusiasm and party decorations. When we arrived, Sister Blanca was finishing the daily morning exercises with the residents in the activity room. We were trying not to disturb the residents with our presence when we got there (we wanted to be respectful of their space), but Sister Blanca encouraged us to play music and start the party immediately, so we did. The residents were extremely playful that day. We all started to join in and play with them. We danced, played with bubbles, balloons and typical Costarican games. We provided a lot of food (fruit cocktails, drinks, lunch, ice cream, pastries, coffee, tea and shakes). We gave away gifts at the end, thanks to all the donations we received through the year from all of our supporters. It was a fun, satisfying and beautiful day. This party was different;  it was more about sharing with the residents and just “being there,” if you know what we mean.

See pictures here: http://www.tropicaladventures.com/gallery.php?g2_itemId=2391

Our last party was hosted in the big Cultural Center of Bambu, also on the Bribri Indigenous Reservation. It was a rainy day and we seriously didn’t know if we were going to make it all the way to Bambu. The small rivers on the way there were transformed into big rivers. Two of our cars were damaged that day trying to cross the rivers, but we made it in one piece! When we got there, everyone in the community was waiting for us. So, they all helped us out with the decorations.

In total, we had seventeen folks volunteer with us for this party. It was quite the scene! If you can imagine, we had the majestic cultural center surrounded by the rain forest and lots of kids everywhere waiting for the action. For this party, we invited all 75 of the students from the Bratsi School, host families, teachers, retirement home staff, neighbors and friends in general. All of our guests had a great time; it really was one of those unique experiences in life. Just getting there was a lot of work, but it was so worthwhile. The most fun games ever, great surprises for the winners, ice cream, candies, hot dogs, drinks, cakes, great gifts for all the kids donated by the Schneider family, toothbrushes for everyone, great food packages for the host families donated by the company Magui, and the big finale, the Piñata, which was devoured by the kids. It was the best time ever.

Just a few days after this party, the Segehuis family visited Costa Rica from Canada to volunteer with us. They brought more than a hundred backpacks, with all the necessary supplies for the school year for each one of the kids on the Indigenous Reservation.

See pictures here: http://www.tropicaladventures.com/gallery.php?g2_itemId=2871&g2_navId=x013d6dd9

This year we’re going to be adding a Christmas party in Guanacaste (Camaronal, Hojancha, Monte Alto, Barra Honda and the Monkey Park Animal Refuge.) This has been our first year working in the Guanacaste Province, and it has been a tremendous start for us in this area.

Last year when we did these types of events for the first time, we were kind rolling with the punches and going with the flow. We were receiving endless calls from individuals and families who kept asking for our plans for the holidays as an organization, so we came up with the Christmas Parties and the Summer Camp in Puerto Viejo. We received a lot of support from friends and volunteers with lots of donations and gifts. Past volunteers such as Phyllis and her husband came for the second time to volunteer with us. Almost all of our past volunteers sent Christmas presents for their host families, and we already have people in Puerto Viejo asking us for the Summer Camp in December.

This year, it is our decision to continue with this legacy of beautiful work. We’re planning on hosting five big Christmas parties. This is how we want to spend our holidays, bringing joy where is needed and doing something great for these communities. They deserve it. If you are a past volunteer, and you’re reading this, you know what we’re talking about.

There are no words to describe how wonderful it is to celebrate with these fantastic and loving people. If you feel you are called to share your time with us and others this holiday season, know we’d love to have you join us!

Happy Holidays in advanced to all of you!

Tropical Adventures Family.

Self Discovery Through Exploration

Our Summer Adventure program is working out wonderfully. I have no words to describe the amazing legacy our volunteers are leaving whatever they are, in Tropical Adventures we feel very honored to host this beautiful people. Right now, our volunteers are working in the Sea Turtle project in Camaronal, where they're helping out the three coordinators there to preserve the turtles. They've already been in Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean Coast working with iguanas and on the Talamanca Indigenous Reservation working with a retirement home and teaching English at an elementary school and cultural center.

Next week, we're going to be in the Monte Alto project. There, we're going to be helping out Miguel and Alcides in creating trails, general maintenance of the orquid garden and two wildlife management workshops. Our volunteers have been taking excellent tours at the same time, such as white water rafting, canopy (zip-line), visiting some Panama waterfalls, fishing, hot springs, volcanoes, kayaking, organic farms and many more to come. It has been a great summer adventure for them and for all of us at Tropical Adventures.

At the same time, we're receiving new volunteers almost every day in all of our projects. Three families are coming next week to do what we call Voluntouring, which is a combo of volunteering and touring around Costa Rica. These are customized programs we put together for families, groups or individuals to support our projects and take some tours around the country. This way of traveling is becoming more and more popular every day. It's a vacation with a purpose.

At Tropical Adventures we take care of our volunteers. We want them to have a great time in their projects, their tours, with their host families or hotels, we provide them with an excellent personalized attention while they're in Costa Rica, good medical insurance, cell phone rental, orientation / training, 24-hour emergency support, transportation, great food and most important...we make them feel like they're family. It's not just volunteering, it's a Tropical Adventure!

One of our friends and supporters has a property for sale, so we thought we'd give her a hand and post some information about it. It's an absolutely beautiful, large lot in the mountains near Playa Coyote in Guanacaste. The price has just been reduced to under $8,000 per acre!

Here is the link to more information and pictures. If you have any interest in seeing the property, please contact Scott for more information.

Tropical Adventures is happy to announce some new projects in the Guanacaste Province:

• Camaronal Sea Turtle Project
• Barra Honda National Park
• Hojancha Community Project

The National Wildlife Reserve of Camaronal was founded in 1994 as part of the System of National Conservation Areas, and specifically of the Tempisque Conservation Area (ACT), which includes the Nicoya Peninsula. Tropical Adventures partnered with ACT in 2007 to support their many projects in the Tempisque area. As you can see, it's taken us a while to get this info on the website!

Our main purpose is to protect the our species of marine turtles nesting in this beach, which are: Olive Ridley, Hawksbill, Leatherback and Black turtles. This is a great project for families, as it's .

 Our Camaronal Sea Turtle Project is different from our other sea turtle projects as it receives much less funding and support -- and is in much greater need of help. Some other advantages of this project are the facts that volunteers can spend some of their time helping in a nearby elementary school (with only 5 students) as well as in environmental education and the fact that it's our only sea turtle project that allows children under the age of 17. For these reasons, this project is especially great for families.

Barra Honda National Park is located in the Province of Guanacaste about 15 miles northeast of the city of Nicoya. As a volunteer at Barra Honda National Park you'll assist with trail maintenance, tourists assistance, fire control, sign creation and maintenance, environmental education, meal preparation, building maintenance and construction or general cleaning and maintenance.

Barra Honda is a very unique park in Costa Rica where you'll find deep, subterranean caverns. Though there are other parks in Costa Rica where you'll find caverns, Barra Honda is unique because of the types of formations found here. Barra Honda is also famous for having the best views in the whole Province of Guanacaste. It's a very unique project to work at and is especially fun if you enjoy being outdoors and experiencing the natural beauty of your surroundings.

Hojancha is a small town located in the Province of Guanacaste. Because Hojancha is a small town, it's easy to start meeting people and to make new friends. Our volunteers are welcome in town and are taken care of very well by our host families and community members. We're currently focusing our work in Hojancha at two elementary schools and a daycare center. Because Hojancha is higher in elevation than most towns in Guanacaste, the weather is very agreeable at an average of about 79 degrees F year-round.

Hojancha is another great family destination and is a wonderful place to experience a "typical" Costa Rican town and culture.

What a great name for a travel blog, eh? Even better than the sexy name is the content. One could get lost for hours on this informative and well-designed site.

GoGirlfriend Managing Editor, Julia Rosien, recently interviewed Scott Pralinsky, Executive Director of the Tropical Adventures Foundation.

This interview appeared in three different posts. Because Julia's questions were very similar to the questions we get everyday from potential volunteers and voluntour travelers, we thought we'd share Scott's answers with you.
 

• Costa Rica Volunteer Vacations for Families - Part I
  
  
• Costa Rica Volunteerism for Families - Part II
  
  
• Health Related Issues for Volunteer Travelers