TRAVEL ABROAD

Peru was amazing! We tasted chicha, cuy, natural salt, and chifa! We csaw ruin, salt ponds, terraced crops and the most beautiful landscapes. Students even created a Kaiku from their most memorable part of the trip.

Sloths, raccoons, iguanas, toucans, an agouti, and even a family of monkeys were frequenly spotted on our travels along ocean-side cliffs bordering the jungle. Other highlights include swimming on Manzanillo beach, boating on the Yorkin River, cultivating cacao alongside the locals, and a side trip to Panama!

We met ex-pats that teach in Nicaragua, serve in the Peace Corp, and a retiree Special Ed teacher from Boston that builds apparatuses for disabled children to play independently. The varied landscapes we saw from volcanoes to lakes, highland forest to towns and beach gave us a very diverse glimpse of the country in one week's time.

A group of 19 students traveled to Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula - considered one of the most biologically intense places on earth! (National Geographic) Highlights of the trip included hiking in Corcovado National Park, snorkeling the waters off Caño Island and spotting the resplendent quetzal in the Dota region. Seeing coatis and scarlet macaws became the norm each day! Students practiced their Spanish, learned about the abundant wildlife from tiny orchids to monkeys, and discovered what la Pura Vida is all about!

In February, Woodlawn Middle School students traveled to Costa Rica for seven days over their winter break. Profesora Laine Amortegui led a group of 22 from San José to the Arenal Volcano region and then to the Pacific Coast before heading back to the capital. Students explored Poás Volcano, experienced natural hot springs, and went nature sightseeing through a tropical forest & river. The group also went zip lining & sea kayaking, and visited a small coffee farm and an artisan’s wood workshop in Sarchí. Apart from seeing crocodiles, Scarlet Macaws, Morpho Butterflies, & coatis in their natural habitat; the highlight for many was the organic farm experience in La Fortuna. Students stayed in cabins on the farm and learned how the farm works through chores, experiments, and geometry lessons using the land itself! After spending a morning working on the farm, students used some of the things they dug up to prepare their own lunch. It was delicious and a truly from farm to table meal!

Woodlawn School’s tenth international trip took place last week as students traveled coast to coast in Costa Rica with teachers Laine Amortegui and Jordon Burton. The nine-day excursion included stops in seven different cities. The Woodlawn group arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica on Viernes Santo (Holy Friday) and was able to witness an elaborate holy procession through the main streets of town. Day two started early as the group ventured to Tortuguero. Traveling on a covered boat, students toured the rainforest and scoured the vegetation in search of birds, monkeys, lizards and other wildlife. They even spotted a caiman sunbathing, a butu owl and the Jesus Christ lizard before arriving at the hotel. The hotel was right in the midst of the rainforest so it was common to see monkeys playing in the trees while walking from the rooms to the dining area. The group did plenty of hiking, kayaking and rafting throughout the week and had an amazing zip lining experience in Sarapiqui. Students explored waterfalls, volcanoes, craters, rivers and tropical forests. The group was able to visit the Del Monte banana plantation and also took a trip to an organic, self-sustainable farm in Arenal. Everyone milked the cows and also experienced the cycle of the farm — planting/harvesting, eating food in the on-site restaurant, recycling compost materials by turning it into feed for the animals and finally using the animals to produce fertilization for the crops. The time in Arenal included a swim in the natural hot springs as well. On the final day, the group trekked to Liberia and took a visit to a national park called Rincon de la Vieja (Old Woman’s Corner) to witness some active volcanoes. As the trip concluded, students noted several things about Costa Rica, including: rice and beans are for breakfast, seeing iguanas and monkeys are like seeing squirrels at home, why “bad weather” means sunny and “good weather” means cloudy and what it means to live la Pura Vida.

A group of middle and upper school students traveled to the Dominican Republic in February of 2012, accompanied by Mrs. Lysne and Profesora Laine. Their journey started in the capital city of Santo Domingo. After a day of sightseeing there, they ventured into the countryside, where they kayaked, ziplined, and helped out some local citizens at a compound that included a school, church, and residence for the elderly.

A group of middle and upper school students traveled to Ecuador in April of 2012, accompanied by Mrs. Lysne and Profesora Laine. Their journey started in the capital city of Quito, where they viewed one of the largest Good Friday processionals in Latin America. They headed out to the islands, where they saw penguins, many blue-footed boobies, sea lions, brown pelicans, pink flamingos and marine iguanas. They snorkeled in very clear water near underwater volcanic rock alongside colorful fish, turtles, sea lions, and penguins. Near the end of the trip, they drove 2 hours south of Quito on the Panamerican highway to Cotopaxi, the world's highest active volcano at 20,000 feet. When they got there they enjoyed a hot cup of coca tea, which helped them to adjust to the elevation before hiking to an outlook at 12,458 feet. The top of the volcano was in the clouds at that time but the snow covered top was visible on their drive to the site.

16 middle and upper school students traversed the Atlantic to spend 4 days in Paris and 4 days on the Cote d'Azur. Highlights of the trip included traditional Paris activities like shopping on the Champs d'Elysee, boating on the Seine, and climbing the Eiffel Tower. The weather cooperated - with sunny skies every day in both the French capital and the southern coast.

Students flew to Athens and enjoyed 8 days of amazing sights - the Parthenon, Greek islands off the Aegean coast, as well as several museums and historic landmarks in the Greek capital.

18 middle and upper school students headed south for an adventure in Argentina during this year's Spring Break. Coordinated by Mrs. Lysne and Profesora Laine, the trip included a ferry ride across the river to Uruguay, as well as an immersion in the art, history, and culture of Buenos Aires, the Paris of South America.

While some students may have hit the slopes or headed to the beach over the long President's Day weekend in February 2008, 12 middle school students headed south to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico for an unforgettable adventure. In addition to spending time at the Mayan temples at Chichen Itza, the group also mixed in a bit of service by visiting an orphanage in Merida.

16 middle and upper school students crossed the pond for an adventure in Portugal and Spain during this year's Spring Break. Coordinated by Mrs. Lysne and Profesora Laine, the trip included 3 days in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, an overnight train ride to Madrid, the capital of Spain, and 3 days in and around Madrid.

18 middle school students crossed the Atlantic over the 2007 Spring Break for an 8-day tour of Italy. The students visited the cities of Milan, Venice, Florence, and Rome, and were treated to amazing sights each day including: a huge cathedral that took 5 centuries to build, an entire city built on top of the water, the sculpture that defined the Renaissance, and buildings that have stood for 19 centuries. Additionally, all of the students became experts in the finer aspects of gelato...

Under the direction of Spanish teacher Laine Dedmon, 22 Woodlawn students spent their spring break exploring the cities, rainforests, beaches, and volcanoes of Costa Rica. Our journey started in the capital city of San Jose, where we explored a local marketplace and sampled some local cuisine. We drove to the top of the nearby Poas volcano and were amazed at the amount of steam rising from the crater at the summit. Later that afternoon, we discovered that the volcano had erupted just hours after we left - it was closed for several weeks. The rest of the trip was filled with epic adventures - kayaking on Lake Arenal, ziplining through the mountain forest, enjoying the Pacific beaches, and hiking the trails in the Manuel Antonio rainforest.