Over spring break six Wheeling Park world language students traveled to Costa Rica to fully immerse themselves in the language and the culture. These students visited many different sites, including hot springs, nature reserves, and even got the chance to zipline across treetops and canyons. Over the course of their trip students traveled over 100 miles along the coast, staying in a different hotel almost every night.
While in Costa Rica we plunged into the culture, especially the food. We enjoyed many dishes of classic Costa Rican cuisine. Not only was the food a big hit among everyone, the overall dining was a great experience for all.
On the final night of the trip we enjoyed eating dinner in a building built around an airplane. This airplane was a part of one of the biggest scandals of the Reagan administration. Years after the Fairchild C-123 was retired the restaurant purchased the plane, now it serves the rest of its life as a restaurant, bar, and amazing Cold War relic.
“The food was excellent, but the experience of the fact that it was an actual airplane that had been made into a restaurant was really interesting, and it was historical,” said Susan Martin, a chaperone on the trip.
“The best meal was the ambergheza (hamburger) at the airplane restaurant,” said senior, Brody Davis.
We also got the opportunity to try many different local coffee shops and eat in a few different small local restaurants.
“The smoothie from the coffee shop was my favorite,” said Davis.
Students also got the chance to see many amazing different wildlife, they saw, sloths, iguanas, poison dart frogs, and too many unique bird species to count.
“My favorite experience would be experiencing all the national parks, and seeing all the cool animals,” said sophomore, Chloe McBride. “My favorite animal was the sloth, it was cute.”
Among the amazing wildlife spotting, we also got to witness breathtaking nature views at every turn. We visited a couple of waterfalls as well as taking several hikes deep into the rainforest to see the spectacular beauty of nature inside.
“My favorite thing I saw was the views, they just don’t disappoint,” said McBride.
Students got to experience the culture of a different country as well as enjoy the beautiful views abroad, all while being escorted safely by a tour guide who was an expert in the Costa Rican ways. Pura Vida!!
