Felicidades, New Instructors!

Costa Rica Rainforest Outward Bound School would like to officially welcome our four new instructors, all hand-selected from the Spring 2009 Leadership Semester course! Right now they are all working diligently with students on course:

Zach Allen
Age: 18
Hometown: Portsmouth, RI
Current Course: 15-Day Multi Element
Fact: Zach has an incredibly thick Rhode Island accent, resembling that of Peter Griffin from Family Guy.


Olivia Brockmeier
Age: 18
Hometown: Pensacola, FL
Current Course: Girl Scouts Service Challenge
Fact: Olivia is a CRROBS expert! She and her brother both went on different CRROBS courses in 2008.



Shannon Gallant
Age: 22
Hometown: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Current Course: Girl Scouts Service Challenge
Fact: Shannon has a dangerous addiction to chocolate: she LOVES it, but she's allergic to it.




Alex Cook
Age: 18
Hometown: Mt. Pleasant, SC
Current Course: 15-Day Multi Element
Fact: Alex assimilated well to the Tico culture when he allowed Scott, our office intern, to give him a Faux-Hawk.

Course Updates- 23 de Junio

It is high season here at CRROBS and our students are all over the country experiencing the best of what Costa Rica has to offer.

Where are they?

Girl Scouts Service Challenge is hiking in Naranjo Abajo, by the Naranjo river in the San Jose highlands.

Summer Semester and Spanish Emphasis are starting their cross country trek from the Pacific to the Caribbean coast!

Multi Element and Reef & Rainforest left the coast and will be arriving at our San Jose base today. They'll need to get their rest, because they have a full day rafting the Pacuare River tomorrow.

Girl Scouts Catching Waves participants are all arriving today. They'll head over to the Manuel Antonio base camp early tomorrow to get in the water and start their surf lessons.

Course Updates - 22 de Junio

Pay attention, because we have siete courses coming, going, or on their way...

Multi Element and Reef & Rainforest are down at our Manuel Antonio beach base on the southern Pacific coast learning to surf. In between catching waves, they'll get some pics of sloths, monkeys, iguanas, and ctenosaurs due to the nearby, well-preserved National Park.

Girl Scouts Service Challenge spent the weekend rock climbing and working with the local scouts here in Costa Rica, and today they headed to the Rio Picuare for an exciting day of rafting in one of the best rafting locations in the world.

Youth Business Initiative headed to the airport this morning after a busy day in San Jose city yesterday. This group of mature young adults will start the next school year as mentors for younger inner-city teens. Congrats on your accomplishments, YBI.

Summer Semester and Spanish Emphasis arrived yesterday! The first day of their long course began today with CPR training. Tomorrow they start their grueling cross-country trek.

Girl Scouts Catching Waves flies into San Jose tomorrow! They'll head to the beach on Wednesday to begin their surf training and become beach babes!

Grigri? Handog? Gumby? Chock? Huh?

If you don't know what these are, ask a Girl Scout. They're at the climbing wall today learning terms such as these, before helping other Costa Rican Girl Scouts this weekend. After today's long training session, they would tell you:

grigri (n.) - A belay device designed to be easy to use and safer for beginners because it is self-locking under load.
handog (n.) - While lead climbing or on top rope, to hang on the rope or a piece of protection for a rest.
gumby (n.) - An inexperienced (or unsafe) climber.
chock (n.) - A mechanical device, or a wedge, used as anchors in cracks.

I can't take credit for knowing all of these terms, either. Because even while working at CRROBS, it can be difficult learning the technicalities of every outdoor sport we have. If you want to brush up on your terms and win a game of "Are You Smarter Than a Girl Scouter", try Wikipedia.

Celebrities Invade Costa Rica

There has been an invasion of epic proportions (or at least drama-filled proportions) reported in Costa Rica. A troupe of famous personalities arrived in Costa Rica two weeks ago and was transported to the dense jungle in Sarapiqui for Hollywood’s latest reality show, “I’m a Celebrity, Get me Out of Here!” The contestants include a list of “celebrities” who are competing against one another to stay in the jungle till the end without getting voted out by the American audience. The original cast includes Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag (from MTV’s The Hills), the comic duo Frangela, retired basketball player John Salley, Janice Dickinson (from The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency), Lou Diamon Phelps (actor), Patti Blagojevich (wife of the former Illinois governor), retired pro wrestler Torri Wilson, Sanjaya (American Idol finalist) and Stephen Baldwin (actor). After Spencer and Heidi (referred to collectively as “Speidi”) left the show (for the 3rd time), they were replaced by Stephen’s brother, Daniel Baldwin and Heidi’s sister, Holly Montag.


The first things I, as an avid (or not so much) viewer of the show and employee of Costa Rica Outward Bound, noticed was the likeness between the celebrities’ experiences and those of students who come on Costa Rica Outward Bound courses. Apart from the obvious camping-in-the-wilderness factor there are many other similarities that come up. There are challenges and fears that the participants must face and overcome. There’s a “lost chamber” where participants did a solo-like activity. The celebrities’ diet primarily consists of the basic beans and rice that anyone who has been to Costa Rica knows as common fair. Other resemblances between the show and OB courses include the open space time for group discussions (which resulted in tears for several of the celebrities), the interviews (in which the celebrities talk about their “highs and lows”) and their roles (there’s a set “camp leader” or “cacique” and a different individual who is responsible for cooking and cleaning everyday or, in Costa Rica Outward Bound language, “concinero” and “trapo”).

Most striking however are the parallels of interpersonal relationships and leadership. Put ten very different people together in a situation in which they have to live and work together as a team for an extended period of time and you’re bound to have conflicts. On course, said conflict may arise from a student who doesn’t want to be here or doesn’t want to do his/her share of the work. On “I’m a Celeb” the conflict is very similar, most often manifest in the personality of Janice Dickinson, who conveniently falls ill anytime there’s a group activity or work to be done.

Each of the celebrities also represents individual personalities that can be seen on course. Sanjaya is the savage warrior who finds himself in his true element in the jungle. Speidi are the ones who thrive on attention and drama. Lou is the leader who strives to keep peace and positive moral among the others. Patti is the one who has come to separate herself from the problems she’s dealing with at home. The Baldwin brothers are the ones who are here because they had nothing better to do for the summer. John, Torrie and Holly are the ones who are here to get the most out of their experience and refuse to be brought down by the others.

The redemptive factor of the show is that money will be donated in the name of the winning celebrity to the charity of his or her choice.

It will be interesting to see the other developments and resemblances that come forth in the upcoming weeks of the show. And who knows, maybe we can work out a deal with NBC for next season! “Celebrities vs. Students” anyone? Maybe “Celebrities vs. Lopezes”?