Summer High School Programs in Costa Rica with Rustic Pathways

I recently had the incredible opportunity to participate in this pura vita trip, and it was truly a life-changing experience. The organization was well-structured, ensuring that every aspect of the trip was meaningful. From the moment I arrived they tried to make you feel comfortable. Also the people I met I will never forget. I felt safe the whole time and the events were really fun. I went alone but i quickly made a ton of friends so by the end of it I did not feel alone like I came into the trip.

I had a lot of fun in the time that I was at the pura vida service and I loved helping out with the local community. It was fun to make friends both with the locals and with the other students who came on this trip. We went on a lot of adventures, such as zip lining and white water rafting. I made a lot of memories while I was here and I definitely will try to bring back what I learned to my hometown. I loved trying the local food, I also loved being able to make some of my food. I would definitely come back.

All the students were very inclusive and made me experience a joy! I enjoyed learning about the Costa Rican culture, language, and food. The community service has not only impacted the community here but has changed my mindset on how I view the opportunities I have back at home. In addition, the activities were a blast. It was my first time white water rafting and I felt so safe. The views and environment here is so clean and beautiful. I love how the program leaders are easily approachable and enjoy playing games and making jokes with the students.

i had a lot of fun and i felt very taken care of by my program leaders. they truly were the highlight of my trip! i got to try a lot of new foods and experience activities like ziplining and rafting that i never would have done otherwise. i also got to experience a new culture and felt immersed because of the people who helped our group. i would definitely suggest someone in high school to go with a friend and have a fun trip! even just a week is awesome and you will never forget it. as someone who travels a lot but never alone, i got to experience something new and i loved it

it was extremely refreshing to be here and even though i came alone i met the most amazing people and i’m going to miss them all a lot. a bunch of me and the friends i made will be visiting each other after this trip and i had a great time with the activities, sight seeing, the service project, and my friends! even when it was hot and tough the time we spent together and what we were doing was 100% worth it. 10/10 recommend i hope you all go on one of these trips and have an amazing time like we did

I had a great experience on this program. Halfway through me and a lot of the others were sick, I think because of the food. I think that more options could have been given to us when this happened, we kept eating at the base house which ended up being fine but it would have been nice to have other options. I also felt like the packing list wasn’t totally helpful. I think it should have mentioned that we should bring pants we are able to do service in. Also it had us bring tank tops but we were not able to wear them for doing service. I think that it should have mentioned somewhere that there will be a lot of downtime so to bring chill clothes for that because I mostly just brought ones for service. Also maybe 2 towels instead of one and mention that they are for swimming and rafting, and that the base house will provide bath ones because that was confusing when packing. Finally the swimsuits, I didn’t realize how much we would be swimming so I only brought 1 but it was wet all the time. Lastly, last summer I went to Thailand and the rustic ties were actual friendship bracelets where as the ones here were just a piece of ribbon and some of them were too small. When we were sick, there wasn’t any medication like Pepto Bismol, the program leaders had to go buy some which we had to give them our money for. Overall I had a super fun experience on this trip, and I really enjoyed the memories I made + people I met.

The leaders really made the trip so fun and i hope i get to meet them all again. They made it so easy to do everything and even during hard times they made it a lot of fun. Also the lead it really well and guided us to be better people. They were also serious when then need to be which made me feel safe and like they know what they were doing. Also they made fun activities and switched up things when weather did not comply. Overall i would love to see the leaders again. And i think they did a great job.

My Rustic Pathways trip showed me a new way to look at the world. As the trip progressed, each day I started to put more and more into the tasks at hand. I realized how satisfying my hard work can be. Through the trip, I learned that even a little work on a project is a start in making a large difference. Although my trip was only 10 days, my perspective of volunteering changed. I was pleasantly surprised by the other teens’ commitment to our work helping the environment. My Rustic Pathways experience changed the way I view my carbon footprint and it has pushed me to make myself a better person and citizen of the world.