St. John's Prep School 2026 Costa Rica
April 18, 2026
We arrived late at night, after several long hours, ranging from a five hour flight, two hour layover, and two hour flight from El Salvador to Costa Rica. We met our wonderful group leaders, Fab and Rebe who greeted us with a warm welcome and the great saying “Pura Vida”. We learned that this saying is the slogan of Costa Rica, and can be interpreted as several different meanings, depending on the situation. Then, we boarded two busses and traveled to our home for the night; the Honeybee hotel. We hurriedly rushed to bed, knowing we had an early wake up the next day. At around five thirty in the morning, just after the crack of dawn, we woke up. Scrambling to pack our bags, we rushed downstairs, lugging our suitcases and boarded our bus. After a long bus ride, we arrived at the meetup spot to prepare to go rafting. There, we ate breakfast, which consisted of rice, beans, and eggs. After eating breakfast, we headed in small cars to the river. After we arrived at the river, we got our life jackets and helmets on, and got in groups of 6. Then we got on the rafts and began to paddle down the river. The rafting was very fun and the weather was very hot. The level of the rafting was 2 and 3, with short but intense rapids. Midway through the rafting, we made a pitstop at a peaceful small lagoon. Then we continued on for several hours. We had the chance to get in the water while being taken calmly through the current of the rapids. Upon finishing the rafting, we made it to the beautiful villa-like camp right by the river, surrounded by the jungle in the middle of nowhere. We didn’t get to use our phones for the day, as there was no service and it was very remote. For lunch we had tacos and after lunch we had time to relax in the hammocks. After we relaxed we had the decision to go on a hike it took about 15 minutes to get to our destination and once we arrived we saw a beautiful waterfall with a little pool to swim in along with it. After we went swimming as a group we headed back to the campsite. Then we ate dinner – we had chicken and rice with mushroom soup. After dinner we went back to our 2 person tents and tried to get some rest. The night life at our campsite was very wild. There were frogs, snakes, insects, and a happy dog named puma. There was lots of wildlife making noise and all the nocturnal animals came out. Then after a long day, most of us got to sleep quickly but some were paranoid from the animals outside our tents.
By: Rishi, Wyatt, Lucca and Tasso
April 19, 2026
Today we woke up by the river at our beautiful campsite. We had great pancakes, toast, and piña that our guides prepared for us. Then we got ready to go white water rafting. This section of the river was much more intense than yesterday with many three and fours for intesity level. Thankfully our guides were really good and kept us safe the whole time. We really enjoyed working together as a team to help get our raft to the end of the river, and enjoyed coming closer together with friends during our time on the raft. During the rafting, our favorite part was the canyon. We got to swim in the river around beautiful nature and see wildlife that we have never seen before. Also, we were able to do a quick hike up to a waterfall and swim in it which was really fun. After the river, we had lunch and thanked our raft guides for a very fun time. Next, we had a bus ride, then settled into our beautiful hotel at a family owned farm. There, we had amazing prepared dinner that had fish, mashed potatoes, and vegetables. The family that owned the farm was very welcoming and was also willing to let us look at the property for native animals. On our walk, we saw many endemic frogs and other species native to the land. Seeing all of the animals and learning more about them made for a really good experience. Finally, we went to bed and had a good nights sleep.
PURA VIDA!
By: Matt, Danny, Matty, Christain, Grayson
April 20, 2026
Bienvenidos, yo soy Will & Gavin. Today, we had a great time with the Global Works crew. We started our day off at the hotel with eggs, gallo pinto, and salchichas. We left in the vans to go to the zip lining company and we saw incredible views including a volcano on the way. Personally, I was a little nervous before heading on the zip lines, but it was a lot of fun. The staff were super chatty and the zip lines were fast but safe. The longest line we did was half a mile and the view of the surrounding area was amazing. After we finished up, we headed into the town of La Fortuna for lunch. After some great food and great times together, we headed over to Project Asis, the animal rehabilitation center. We learned all about how animals end up in life threatening situations, how they are cured and maybe released, and how we can avoid endangering the animals or ourselves further. We then went to a local convenience store to stock up on some local snacks and drinks. As soon as we returned to the hotel it was time to learn The Salsa, The Bachata, and local Costa Rican dances. We worked up an appetite and finished the day with Bolognese for dinner and then had our nightly meeting to reflect on the day. ¡Hasta luego!
By: Will & Gavin
April 21, 2026
Today we woke up early to homemade empanadas and fresh pineapple. Once our plates were clean, we split into three groups to learn how to make cheese and pack. We had an opportunity to try fresh, homemade cheese and even roll our own balls of mozzarella.
Then we left the Crisley’s hotel and embarked on four hour bus ride to the cloud forest. During the ride we saw stunning views of the largest lake in Costa Rica, Lake Arenal. We could also see the only cone-shaped volcano in the country, Volcán Arenal.
Next, we arrived at a trail head and hiked two miles to a ranger station in the cloud forest. On our hike we spotted a tarantula, a coati (a common animal in Costa Rica that is similar to a possum) and had some awesome views.
Once we arrived, we ate chicken, rice and fresh salad. After, the education coordinator for Children’s Eternal Forest, Mariana, taught us about The Children’s Eternal Forest and their mission. We learned about common forest animals, how the forest protection has evolved over time, and more. Finally we enjoyed some free time before a dinner of spaghetti and meat sauce.
To end the day, we had a Q and A session with the park rangers, where we learned about their lives, their experiences working in the forest, and our plans for tomorrow. The day was capped off with an early bedtime to prepare for the day of service tomorrow.
By: Zack and Liam
April 22, 2026
This morning we woke up to a nice breakfast that consisted of eggs, toast, and beans and rice. After, we began our service at 9 A.M. Our service was digging trenches to protect the trails in the forest. The trenches redirect the water off of the trails as the wet season approaches. The work was hard but we kept a high moral throughout the morning with the help of Rebecca putting on some tunes as we worked. Once we finished the first part of the trails, we stopped in the woods and played the game categories in Spanish. After, we headed back to the house to prepare for lunch and play some card games in the kitchen.
After lunch we all headed to our rooms because of the rain. Luckily, the rain cleared up enough for us to be able to go out for around an hour and a half. The reason we were only out there for an hour and a half instead of the full-time was because it started to downpour, which caused us to go in early sadly. Although we went in early, it wasn’t all bad because we got to play cards for two hours until it was dinner time. Right before dinner there was a beautiful sunset that reflected off the volcano which made for some beautiful photos. For dinner, we had rice, beans, chips, pork, and salsa. After that, we played a fun game of guess the person making the animal sound which was hilarious! We have to wake up at 6:30 am in the morning in order to get back out on the trail by eight so we are going to bed at 9 o’clock. Today was one of the many fun days this trip and we hope to have as much fun tomorrow as we did today!!
By: Jack and Andrew B
April 23, 2026
Hola! Our names are Jake and Lucas. Today was a great day! And our last day in Costa Rica. We began our morning by eating French toast, eggs, and pineapple. After breakfast we packed our bags and stripped our beds of their sheets to help rangers clean up. Then we began our two mile hike up the mountain to the parking lot. This hike was very invigorating and physically demanding, however it was a lot of fun to connect with our peers. Even better, we saw the amazing and rare quetzal! The perfect ending to our trek up the mountain. After the hike we started our bus ride to the restaurant for lunch. We had a buffet style lunch that served chicken, rice, pasta, fish, beef and many kind of salads. Some of us decided to get ice cream after lunch. Then we had the chance to buy souvenirs at a nearby gift shop. Then we went to Mercado de Alajuela to interact with Costa Ricans and immerse ourselves. Finally we went to the Honeybee hotel for our last night. We ate chicken and rice for our dinner made by our host. Finally, we did our final evening reflection, reflecting on the entire trip. The trip was awesome! We showed our gratitude for all of our peers, teachers, and Fab and Rebe. Pura Vida!
By: Lucas and Jake
