A GROUP of intrepid students experienced a true taste of Central America after taking a once-in-a-lifetime school trip.
An eleven-strong group of students from The Queens School, Chester, travelled to Costa Rica recently accompanied by tutor Stéphanie Racapé and expedition leader David Buddell.
The group began their trip in La Flor, a small mountain farming village, where the girls joined a community project to revitalise a local primary school and stayed with a local families.
The girls spent their days painting the canteen and kitchen areas of the school and evenings sampling homemade food, learning to cook Costa Rican dishes and even learning salsa dancing. Before moving on to the second part of their trip, the group experienced exhilarating white water rafting on the powerful Reventazon River.
The group battled with rain and intense humidity when they took part in a five-day trek in the Corcovado National Park that formed part of the girls’ Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Tutor, Stéphanie Racapé, said: “Although the trek was made even tougher because they had to carry all their equipment with them at all times, the girls managed extremely well and enjoyed discovering the stunning wildlife along the way.”
The final stage of the trip took the group to the Caribbean coast where they spent six days observing sea turtles nesting and enjoying boat trips and the fantastic beaches.
Ms Racapé added: “It was a fantastic experience for everyone and the group was delightful. The expedition was a real eye-opener for the girls; they also learned an awful lot about their surroundings and about themselves.”