The Final Night...

We tried our best to compete with the village and I have to say I think we did alright. I give the best party though still to the village. I wanted to mention if your interested in having a Costa Rica Adventure with your family we can organize an itinerary very similar to what the kids experienced. I said more than a few words to the kids telling them how much our team and I enjoyed having them. The trip was special for a few different reasons. The trip got off to a great start by how much time and effort I saw was put into the visit to the orphanage before and plans for even after. The girls at the orphanage mean a lot to us and to see them get treated the way they did was awesome. Another reason for this trip being special was the homestays. I have taken many groups to the homestays and some for a week or even two weeks. Ridgefield only stayed one night and they bonded better than most groups bond in a week. All of the kids were natural when it came to the homestays and loved hearing that homestay was listed at or near the top of everyones list.

The farewell party was about as first class as it gets. We were in The Springs Resort which is a 10-Star place on a scale of 1 - 5 Stars. We had our own section where we did pizza and a little bit more of salsa music. We started the night with salad and for as fancy as this place is they forgot to put forks in the room we rented. So we started the party by all eating salad with spoons. Nobody seemed to mind and then we jumped into the pizza and the party began. We had Mrs. Roth in tears for the second time this trip and the girls got up and said some very nice things and cracked some jokes on myself and the team. It was a perfect night to end a perfect trip.

A huge thanks to you the family and parents of an awesome group of kids. We can not thank you enough for allowing your kids to take part in a dream of ours in helping others help one another and having lots of fun doing it. Ridgefield students are an amazing example of how little things can go a long long way. I feel good because I think we are sending these kids back to the San Jose airport with plenty of memories. The students will be remembered from all parts of their trip with the memories they left with the girls at the orphanage to the salsa dancing at the homestays. MUCHAS GRACIAS & PURA VIDA!!! Stay tuned there are still a few more blogs tomorrow...