What's a Colibrí Adventure?

Colibrí Adventures is a recreational, adventurous and educational program that aims to improve participants' skills, create an awareness of health and environmental issues and provide a sense of the importance and complexities of international and cross-cultural cooperation to promote the well-being of our environment. We offer groups of 10-20 participants a two-week, three-week and four-week program; or a tailor-made program to suit your needs through our educational institute.

Two-Week Program

Groups typically arrive Sunday evening or Monday morning, are met at the airport and transferred to Finca Colibrí in Carít de Puriscal - a little less than an hour from the Juan Santamaría International Airport in San José. Monday the group will receive an orientation, a Spanish overview, and participate in a discussion about the group's expectations. Monday through Friday night each participant will stay in a homestay with a local family.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings the group will split into smaller work-groups and work on projects, such as trail building and maintenance, care of tree nursery and reforestation projects, building projects, etc. In the afternoons we will go on river walks and hike in the local vicinity. Breakfast and dinner are provided by the homestay families and lunches are prepared by the group at Finca Colibrí.

Friday mornings we often visit one of the local high-schools and spend the afternoon in town - Santiago de Puriscal. That evening we will participate in a dance or other cultural activity. Saturday morning the group will bring their belongings back to Finca Colibrí and we will prepare for the next phase. Saturday afternoon we may travel into San Jose to check out the capital, returning to Finca Colibrí that evening.

Sunday we will travel to Buena Vista de Guanacaste, bordering the Rincón de la Vieja National Park. The group may either camp at the Rancho Beija Flor or stay at the hostel at Buena Vista Lodge. This is a five-hour trip and we will stay at this location the following four nights. We will continue with our environmental restoration projects and work primarily on trails that lead to beautiful rivers and waterfalls. In the afternoons we will hike, swim in the rivers, take natural mud and steam baths, horseback ride, travel through the forest on zip lines and a 400 meter water slide, and other exciting adventures we dream up.

Thursday morning we will pack up and head off to the beach at Playa Grande. Thursday and Friday we'll spend on the Pacific Coast, where we'll swim, collect shells, seek out leatherback turtles, and possibly kayak, surf and partake of other adventures. After sunset on Friday we will head back to Finca Colibrí, from where the group will depart Saturday morning.

Both prior to departure for Costa Rica and while the group is in-country, we will work together to plan activities that are of special interest and we will seek to meet everyone's expectations.

Three and Four Week Programs

Arrive Monday and travel to Finca Colibrí in Puriscal (Santiago on a map), where group will spend first night. Tuesday through following Saturday lodging will be a homestay with a local family. Activities the first week include an orientation - including culture, Spanish, "watersheds 101" - service projects, meeting with local students, hiking, river walks and other adventures; visit to San José; etc. Service projects will take up half of each day and focus on trail building.

The second week we will travel to Guanacaste in the northwest of Costa Rica where we will explore and participate in service projects in the vicinity of Rincón de la Vieja National Park, buffer zone and Tempisque Watershed. Our focus is the conservation and restoration of the Tempisque Watershed and learning about nature's wonders-such as steam vents, hot mud baths, thermal springs, incredible waterfalls and great swimming holes. We will identify wildlife, especially wonderful birds like the toucan, as well as monkeys and other small critters. The weekend we will camp in Barra Honda National Park and explore limestone caves - spelunking.

Participants will spend Monday through Friday of the third week at a hostel on Pacific Coast at Playa Grande, near Las Baulas National Park where leatherback turtles - largest of the sea turtles - lay their eggs. Kayaking, surfing, snorkeling, swimming and other aquatic activities are available. We also enjoy an estuary tour - searching for caimans (small crocodiles) - that borders the beach. Friday we return to the Finca Colibrí and participants in three-week trip will depart Sunday.

Monday is white-water-rafting on the Pacuare River as we head towards the Caribbean!!! Arrive in Puerto Viejo early evening to spend next few days on the Atlantic Coast. Besides aquatic sports and further progress on the suntan, we'll continue working on trails and exploring the rainforest. Friday we head back to San José, where we visit more attractions in the capital city, then participants will depart Saturday or Sunday.

Both prior to departure for Costa Rica and while the group is in-country, we will work together to plan activities that are of special interest and we will seek to meet everyone's expectations.