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Volcanoes, parrots and monkeys — Linden
students visit Costa Rica
By David Veenhuis
Linden — Looking down into the smoking
crater of an active volcano, zip lining
through the trees and protecting their
belongings from pick-pocketing monkeys.
Those were just some of the highlights of a
recent trip to Costa Rica taken by students
and faculty at Linden High School (LHS).
Spanish teacher Matt Schartow has been
taking these sorts of trips that are guided
by Education First (EF) Tours, who see to
the safety of students and faculty, since
2003. His classes have traveled to Spain,
Portugal, France, Italy, Peru, Scotland and
England. April 4 marked Schartow's second
trip to the Central American nation with
students.
“The students are forced to learn a lot,
whether they like it or not,” he said. “You
show up in a new place and the tour guide is
giving you all this information and it
disguises an educational experience because
it's a blast and we have fun.”
Schartow talked about his return visit to
the Poás Volcano, an active volcano in
central Costa Rica that was the epicenter of
an earthquake in January, according to the
U.S. Geological Survey, and a visit to the
Arenal Volcano, another active volcano that
heats a series of hot springs in the
surrounding area.
“For me, (the Poás Volcano) was the really
cool one,” Schartow said. “The first time we
climbed up there, we were standing in a
cloud and could not see a thing, so it took
me two times going to Costa Rica to actually
see that.”
Five students and fellow Spanish teacher
Stephanie Hall accompanied Schartow. He
displayed a slideshow of photos that
chronicled the trip. He showed pictures of
crocodiles taken from an overhead bridge, of
the beaches at Manuel Antonio National Park,
of the group zip lining from tree canopy to
tree canopy and of the group dancing the
“Macarena” with some local children.
"Costa Rica was the ultimate experience for
anyone who wishes to get away,” student
Chris Ward said. “I will never forget the
zip line through the jungle or the climb to
the top of an active volcano (the Poás
Volcano). A year ago, I would have said that
going to Costa Rica was a dream. Now, I can
call it a memory."
Schartow mentioned that theft from the
natives was one drawback of their visit to
Manuel Antonio National Park. He said that
the local white-faced monkeys would rifle
through their bags looking for food and even
carry them off, if they did not stay
vigilant.
“The monkeys aren't afraid of you — they're
used to tourists by now,” Schartow said.
“They're so not afraid of you that you have
to guard your stuff at all times.”
Schartow said that anyone interested in
traveling can contact him at
www.lindenspanishclub.org. The Web site
contains photo galleries from each of their
past trips. It also mentions a possible
future trip to Australia, New Zealand,
Hawaii and Fiji.
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