Le Mars Students find positive side of H1N1 in Costa Rica

(Photo contributed) Two members of the traveling group, Brittney Rolling and Megan Dunn, enjoy the view on a lush Costa Rican hillside. [Click to enlarge]

Who would have thought that anything good could come from H1N1?

The influenza outbreak closed one door in front of 11 Le Mars Community High School students and their Spanish teacher, but it opened another.

Those students and teacher Gale Horan were set to visit Mexico with two other travelers for an educational trip in June, but all that changed in mid-May.

Their plans to see Mexico City and other areas of historic interest had to be abandoned when the United States government issued a travel advisory against "any non-essential travel to Mexico."

Education First (EF) Tours travel company contacted Horan and gave the group three options for completing their travel plans.

They could travel at another time, travel to another destination, or receive a partial refund. The group chose to go two days earlier to Costa Rica, Horan explained.

Although somewhat nervous about suddenly going to a country that was different from what had been anticipated and planned for, the group was thrilled that plans were set and the trip had not had to be canceled, according to Horan.

Travelers left June 6th for San José, Costa Rica, and travelled to cities of La Fortuna, Saripiqui and Puerto Viejo before returning to San José.

Students saw an active volcano, swam in a mountain creek and waterfall, rafted in white water, zipped a canopy line, visited a Costa Rican school and distributed school supplies to students, visited a coffee plantation, snorkeled in the Caribbean and toured several areas of Rain Forest study.

The students had many opportunities to practice their skills with each other, the tour guide, the bus driver as well as Costa Rican residents, Horan said.

The students learned much about the foods, daily schedules and customs of "ticos" (people from Costa Rica), as well as about nature, ecology and conservation.

The plant and wildlife seen by students was nearly incredible, Horan said.

Sloths, snakes, iguanas, howler and capuchin monkeys, grasshoppers and caterpillars as big as one's hand, tree frogs, sea otters and crocodiles are only some examples of what students saw not in zoos, but actually in their native rain forest homes.

Toucans and many other exotic birds were ever-present.

Students held butterflies in their hands and fed iguanas.

"They were instructed not only on wildlife, but also about rain forest management and preservation in hopes that they will be able to return home more environmentally conscious as well as more fluent in their Spanish," Horan said

At a time when people world-wide were concerned about health issues, something good came out of the H1N1 influenza, she said.

"For nine days a small group of Le Mars residents was able to see another part of the world, learn about how connected we are to each other and to nature, and sharpen their language skills," Horan said.