Soccer Game in the Village in the RAIN!

With our student travel groups that want to get a taste of the culture we always suggest a night or two in our Sitio de Mata Project. The stay is amazing and one of the highlights is the soccer game play with the locals of Sitio de Mata. Take a look at just how fun a soccer game can be in the pouring rain:

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Coco Island Costa Rica

Coco Island is located off the Coast of Costa Rica and is Costa Rica's least visited National Park. It is surely the most difficult to get to as it is an expedition tour and a 36 hour boat ride. This island was declared a park in 1978 and is 2,309ha of land and another 97,235ha of Marine habitat. The park is known for it's marine life which make it one of the most popular diving areas on the planet. It is also very scenic as some of Costa Rica's most beautiful waterfalls fall from the island into the ocean. There are many endemic species on the island including different reptiles, birds, species, and plants. Along with diving there are hiking trails which open up to amazing views. The island is completely protected though and you sleep on the boats during these trips.

Image via Wikipedia 

I wanted to make this blog entry a little different. The Island is plain and simply an incredible spot and if I write about it's natural beauties much more I will just upset myself that I have not been there, yet. I did find some interesting information on the island reading a book on Costa Rican National Parks by INCAFO.

Now we have all heard that Costa Rica means "Rich Coast" because when the Spanish arrived the Indians had lots of gold and then the Spaniards went back to Spain and told the Queen they found the Rich Coast (Costa Rica). Turns out with all the rough terrain, rain, and disease they never found much gold.

Coco Island Treasures

In the book by INCAFO it mentions that the Isla de Coco (Coco Island) might have actually been the inspiration for L. Stevenson's book "Treasure Island". They say Coco Island is famous for three great treasures that are hidden on the island between 1684 and 1821. Most importantly being the treasure of Lima which consist of tons of gold and silver ingots. After more years more and more treasures were said to be hidden on Coco Island and it became known as the island with the most treasures on it.

Because of this many organized search expeditions have been made to the island. Nothing has ever really been found except some "doubloons" (Old Currency from Europe).

Writing this we were thinking maybe our next Costa Rica Family Vacation Package will be a search party to the Coco Island to hunt for some treasure or we can organize a high school summer program and the kids might enjoy a scavenger hunt around the island.

If the Island has gold or not the Coco Island with all it's beauty and bio-diversity is now considered one of Costa Rica's most prized treasures and the world has begun to realize. In 1997 UNESCO designated it part of the World Heritage and I don't think they were thinking about the "doubloons". The island was also voted by Costa Rica as one of the 7 Natural Wonders of Costa Rica.

Want to Plan an Adventure to Costa Rica:
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Related Articles by CRRTravel:

• Pacuare River Rafting Adventure
• Sleep Behind a Waterfall
• Top 5 Adventure Tours of Costa Rica

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How to Rappel

Taking student groups all over Costa Rica and rappeling different waterfalls in the country it is must to do the rappel to perfection. All groups have to be operated at a level of perfection when it comes to rappel but extra special attention when dealing with student travel. The sport of rappel is an adventure sport that should always be extremely safe. It is a sport that has become popular in Costa Rica and walking off the side of a waterfall is not something you can say you do everyday. The training to become a rappel guide has to take you through some courses but the ability to do the rappel as part of a tour is a short class going through the basics. This next blog is going to take you through the steps you need to make your first rappel a perfect one.


First of all you want to have the right gear. This should include adventure sandals, or shoes that will not fall off. You want to wear clothing that will protect you from the harnass and also without a hat because you will be wearing a helmet. When it comes to jewelery and things you dont need anything and the less things that have a chance of getting caught the better. Finally if you have long hair you want to have the hair tied up. This prevents your hair from getting caught in the equipment.

On our student travel to Costa Rica we deal with two types of rappel. The first being just simply walking down the side of the mountain or wall. The second type of rappel is the free rappel. You can see in the pictures the different between the two. The next list is the basic things you need to do when rappeling:

1. Keep feet shoulder width apart.
2. Extend your legs
3. Don not lean forward. Allow equipment to hold your body weight.
4. Feed rope from the back.
5. The hand above the equipment is only used as a guider and do not try and hold your body weight with this hand.
6. Take it slow.

These are the basic steps to getting you down the side of the mountain. The way it works is that your equipment works as friction and your body weight ultimately gets you down the side of the mountain. Our studnet travel trips always have two lines one as a safetey line just incase you decide to not follow one of these steps we are always there to make the ride a little smoother. When visiting Costa Rica the zipline usually gets the most credit but I have to say the rappel is becoming more and more popular and with some simple steps it can be an amazing adventure.