Holbrook Travel's very own Bernadette Bernard traveled to beautiful Costa Rica with Road Scholar in 2012.  Here is a day by day account of her journey:

The early nature walk, which started at 5:45 a.m., was quite a popular activity.  A light, fresh breakfast was served before the walk.  Lots of birds and insects could be found on the walk which was on uneven terrain but doable.  Upon return to the lodge, a buffet breakfast was served including rice and beans, scrambled eggs, cereals and lots of fresh fruits.

We then drove from the lodge to the Sarapiquí River for the famous boat ride.  The river is considered one of the important resources in the community and contains a large amount of fish, including freshwater bass and tilapia.  The boat ride took about two hours over the river, and the curiosity to see as much wildlife as possible made it very enjoyable.  The boat was quite comfortable, and life jackets were provided.  Binoculars came in handy to spot wildlife among the greeneries.

Our next stop was at a pineapple plantation, which was about a 20-minute drive from the river.  The lecturer there was Michael, who is also a biologist at the pineapple plantation.  He was quite informative, pleasant, and very funny too.  This pineapple plant services the famous Dole brand.  We were able to see how the pineapples are picked, graded and packaged for onward shipping all over the world including the United States.  We had the opportunity to taste pineapples in different forms such as a freshly made non-alcoholic piña colada and baked pineapple upside down cake.

[caption id="attachment_4956" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Photo by Bernadette Bernard[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5012" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Photo by: Bernadette Bernard[/caption]

Our last activity for the day was a lecture at the Sarapiquí Learning Center.  The center offers literacy and English classes, as well as many other outreach projects for the local community.  The lecture was presented by Hazel Malerio, who only speaks Spanish, but it was translated in English by Yasmine, who went to school in Texas.  Hazel’s lecture mainly focused on the history of her community, El Roble.  She also gave a demonstration of how to make cheese the traditional way, which we had the pleasure to taste.  She also talked about the growing and harvesting of pepper corns, both black and white.  This is also another supplemental support to the community.

After dinner it was a fun-filled evening that ended with a Latin dance lesson, where most of the participants took part in doing the various dances taught by two expert native dancers.  This was a break from the usual routine as this activity provided great interaction with the locals and was all about having fun.

[caption id="attachment_5013" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Photo by: Bernadette Bernard[/caption]

Road Scholar program #8577

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Part 1