With all the flavor of the Caribbean...

We have just been on a visit to the beautiful carribean town of Tortuguero at Pachira Lodge.

Very well received by all the members of Grupo Pachira. Their hotels: Pachira, Aningha and Evergreen are just beautiful.

The food and drinks were the best and I can´t leave aside the attention they gave us, we had "carnaval con Comparsa" everything was the best !!!

Thanks to Grupo Pachira and also to JH mercadeo for organizing this unforgettable trip.

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CRT TEAM AT SKY ADVENTURES

In order to improve our service and doing an even more exciting Canopy Tour we´re including the sky trek and tram into our programs, you should really try it !!!

Here you can find, from left to right, Arturo, Josué, Erick & Ronald, enjoying the adventure, just look at their faces !!

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Our Guide Tony riding a Bull ...

Costa Rica really has it all !!!

This is Tony, one of our guides, enjoying the ride with a group of students from World Strides !

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CRT TEAM SOCIAL WORK

Julie & Wendy, in representation of CRT TEAM, performed a great and very noble colaboration to La Altura School in Arenal helping to build a wall and also doing some painting and cleaning around the school. All the activity was organized by Jacamar Tours and Costa Rica Marketing.

Many people contributed and thanks to all our team that sent school

supplies to help this kids !

Thanks for your hard work !!

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WORLD RAFTING CHAMPIONSHIP CR 2011

Costa Rica 2011

COSTA RICA HOME OF “THE 2011 WORLD RAFTING CHAMPIONSHIP”

More than 35 countries will meet at the world famous Rio Pacuare, where the “World Rafting Championship” will take place from October 05 -10, 2011.

The announcement was made by the International Rafting Federation, last week when our country was chosen above other nations like Italy and Australia.

The Costa Rica Tourism minister mentioned that “This international high profile competition places Costa Rica in a great position showing the rest of the world its beautiful flora and fauna”

The competition will take place in two sections of the Pacuare River near the Turrialba area: a first segment of 12.5 miles from Siquirres to Tres Equis where the river difficulty reaches professional levels and then another segment of about half a mile long near the town of San Joaquin.

The athletes will compete in four disciplines: time trial, head to head, slalom and down river. Each event will be evaluated by 12 international and 8 local judges certified by the IRF.

This is the second time that Costa Rica is chosen as headquarters for this world class competition; the first time that the country was selected was back in 1998 a year after the foundation of the International Rafting Federation and since then the event takes place every 4 years been already hosted by countries like the US back in 2001, Czech Republic in 2003, Ecuador in 2005 South Korea in 2007 and Bosnia in 2009.

According to the ICT (Costa Rican Tourism Board) more than 70% of all the foreign visitors that arrived in 2009, practiced some sort of adventure activity such canopy, rafting, surfing, and diving among others.

The trip to the Pacuare River is a great tour available from several areas in the country as a one day or even and overnight adventure.

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Back to the School

Last Friday, September 23rd, 2011, all CRT’s Operations Department had the opportunity to participate in a course of reptiles which was conducted by the biologist and herpetologist Rodolfo Vargas. The activity took place in the Herpetological Refuge of Costa Rica (San José).

This training was very important for us, not just for the knowledge we acquired but for the chance that we had to share experiences and other skills useful for the development of our roles as professionals. This course developed different topics where we learn more about the distribution, behavior and anatomy of several reptiles such as snakes, crocodiles, turtles, iguanas, lizards and others. The biologist provided the information in a very interactive way, allowing us to express and discuss all our experiences and concerns.

Then we had the opportunity to participate in a guided hike through the Refuge to observe and take pictures of all animals in there. Finally, we would like to thank all the effort made by our company, which gave us the opportunity to participate in this training; which will certainly provide us the skills to improve our performance as leaders of prestige in our future services. 
By Arturo Echeverría / CRT Team.

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$ 2 more to the departure taxes...

Followed the information received from our bank where informing that there is a new tax that is going to be charged for the service of Scan, X rays and inspection of luggage. This $ 2.00 more, are going to be charged with the departure tax for a total amount to pay of $ 28 for every passenger...

Estimados Señores

Emisores Externos de Impuestos de Salida (Coimsa Internet)

Por medio de la presente se les informa que a partir del 01/10/2011 entrará en vigencia el cobro de la tarifa de $2 por concepto de escaneo, rayos X o inspección de equipajes, aplicable a todas aquellas personas que salgan del país por la vía aérea.

El cobro de la tarifa se sustenta en lo indicado en la Ley 7664 Protección Fitosanitaria, Decreto N°36341-MAG, artículo 3. Con la finalidad de que todas aquellas personas que salgan del país por la vía aérea realicen un único trámite de cancelación, de ambos tributos, el cobro se efectuará por medio del mismo sistema COIMSA de Bancrédito que emite el formulario correspondiente al impuesto de salida .

El detalle del cobro se ha incorporado dentro del formulario del impuesto de salida. De esta forma el cliente cumplirá, en un solo trámite, con la obligación legal de cancelar.: el tributo de $26 por concepto de impuesto de salida la tarifa de $2 por concepto del servicio de escaneo, rayos X o inspección de equipajes.

El monto total a cancelar por parte de todas aquellas personas que salgan del país por la vía aérea será de $28 a partir del 01/10/2011.

Cordialmente

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Green Sea Turtles hatchling makes its way to the ocean.

A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to observe one of the most incredible nature events: the birth and release into the sea of dozens of green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas). It was extremely gratifying to witness this phenomenon. Sea turtles are an ancient group of animals, they were adapted to live at the sea like around 100 million years ago. Incredibly, it seems that their shape and characteristics of life have changed very little since then, becoming true memories from the time of the dinosaurs. This activity took place at Cahuita National Park, in the Caribbean side of Costa Rica and its part of one of the many conservation and research projects of WIDECAST (Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network).
By Arturo Echeverría / CRT Team.

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An special thank you Card to Erick from Activities Abroad last group !!

Hello Everybody !!!

I just wanted to share with you a very special Card made to Erick, one of our guides, by our last group of ACTIVITIES ABROAD, one of our england accounts.

Buddy, we´re proud of you !!

Here are some of their comments:

To Erick:

Thank you for all the things you have tought us about Costa Rica ! from Jake.

Thanks for everything, without you we would be lost ! John.

Thanks for guiding us, you were awesome. Muchas gracias. David

Dear Erick, Hola ! Muchos Gracias, tu eres muy buen. Hasta Luego ! Jonathan

You´re so funny, thanks for everything ! Meow. Becky

Thank you for a fantastic trip. Thanks too for your patience ans humour ! Pura vida and best wishes. Helen & Richard

Dear Erick, I hope your next " cliente" will be on time. Thanks for finding me a slot. Vicky & Mark.

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Excelentes Fam Trips con Profimercadeo !

CRT DE FAM TRIP EN EL ESTABLO Y SI COMO NO!!!

Como podré narrarles por experiencia propia, el fam pasado al hotel El Establo fué de lo mejor.
El hotel, diría que es de lo mejor de Costa Rica! Las habitaciones son increibles, la vista impresionante y mejor aún es la atención que brinda todo su personal y hasta gerencia; Arnoldo, demasiado amable !
Pudimos disfrutar de sus increibles instalaciones: Canchas de Tenis, futbol 5, basketball, piscinas temperadas, spa, Canopy, 2 increibles restaurantes, que por cierto, mis felicitaciones a los chefs...

Mi compañero Karim fué a Si como no, Todos sabemos la belleza de Manuel Antonio, pero este hotel es increible. La amabilidad del personal y todas las atenciones fueron fabulosas!

Mil Gracias a Profimercadeo, Don Daniel estas propiedades son de lo mejor, con gran seguridad seguiremos usando El Establo aún más. Estoy ahora super convencida de que todos los chicos de mi cuenta World Strides al estar por ella, van a disfrutar muchísimo ! y Sí como Nó, un lugar increible, sin palabras...

Se los recomiendo...

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Turrialba se acerca a vos 2011

Very interesting activity, and all the touristic product of the area is just amazing...
It was all brought to San José, there were people from all the hotels, tour operators and other commerce of Turrialba, all willing to show us all the beauty that can be found in that unexplored area of our country.
The National Monument Guayabo; main archeologycal site of Costa Rica, Catie and our famous Pacuare River; place where the next World Rafting Championship will take place, are some of the main attractions of Turrialba.
All the event was very organized and the plus of giving free entrance to the exposition " Da Vinci" the genious, was a great success.
Congratulations to all people in charge ...

Interesante actividad, super rico todo el producto turístico de la zona y fué traido todo hasta San José. Tuvieron representantes de todos los hoteles, operadores de tours y demás comercio del lugar, todos deseosos de hacernos saber toda la belleza que se encuentra en esta zona poco explorada de nuestro país.
El Monumento Nacional Guayabo, principal sitio arqueológico de Costa Rica, Catie y el famoso Pacuare, sede del próximo Campeonato Mundial de Rafting, son algunas de las principales atracciones de Turrialba.
Muy bien organizado todo y el plus de la entrada a la exposición de Da Vinci El Genio fué todo un éxito, mis felicitaciones a los organizadores.

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Amber Willis of WorldStrides To Joe and Abelardo our guides..

Joel and Abelardo,

I am forwarding you the email that I sent to Amy, Jim, and Jennifer yesterday. I am also copying Arturo and Marcos. I’m sure they are already aware of how incredible the two of you are, but it never hurts to hear it again!

J Thanks for everything. You made CRT shine. You made WorldStrides shine!

Warm wishes,

Amber Willis

Educational Travel Specialist, WorldStrides

Amy,

I just want to let you know that my trip to Costa Ricawas absolutely fabulous and that CRT did an amazing job. The students AND the chaperones were incredibly impressed by the quality, the safety, and the educational components of the trip, and our guides Lalo and Joel, made WorldStrides shine and went above and beyond my own expectations. Witnessing the two of them implementing our program, taking advantage of every Ah-ha moment, reiterating our commitment to safety, and sharing their passion for and knowledge of science and nature with students who admitted to me privately that they had no interest in science before this experience made me proud to work for WorldStrides.

They were incredible, as were the accommodations, the meals, the motorcoach, the activities, and the overall delivery.

Both program leaders who were traveling with groups had not decided to rebook before the trip. Their experience and their students’ insistence led them both to the decision to offer the Coastal Conservation trip next year. They also want the same course leaders (as does my teacher who is taking a group next summer). This is a testament to the tremendous job that Joel and Lalo did. They were an impressive team, as Joel provided the “Papa Bear”- structure, safety, schedule so that everyone felt confident that they were in capable hands…and Lalo instantly bonded with the students through humor and high energy, and an uncanny ability to find a bird, mammal, or insect in the trees at a moment’s notice, animals so hidden that once he found them, he would have to set up the telescope to share them with everyone else. Both were a wealth of information, constantly on alert to the opportunities given to them by students and chaperones to share knowledge and experience.

I could go on for days. I was that impressed with the two of them. Then, there is an even longer description of the program itself and various sites which I will be happy to provide if you would find it in any way useful.

The only site with negative feedback was the frog pond, but only because it was pitch black, there were ants crawling up everyone’s legs, and the groups were too big to gather around one flashlight to see the frog or to hear what the guide was saying.

I would make the suggestion to always give the teachers the option to include the stop at the coffee plantation and dairy farm on the way to the Cloud forest from the lake. My group really enjoyed learning about how they harvest the coffee, the interpretive dance of the children, and as silly as it sounds…there was a long line to sit on the bull. It cut the cloud forest hike a little short, but they preferred it.

Everyone speaks highly of you, by the way and sends their regards. Arturo has sent a gift for you, which I will be mailing. Mr. Crespo sent his card and greetings to both you and Jim.

Thanks for all you have done to make this experience possible. It was amazing!

Warm wishes,

Amber Willis

Educational Travel Specialist, WorldStrides

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What is Gallo Pinto ?

While traveling in Costa Rica you will come across ¨Gallo Pinto¨, wherever you go. Translated literally it would be ¨Painted Rooster¨ - well to everybody´s surprise it is Costa Rica´s typical breakfast, made from rice and black beans.

To make Gallo Pinto for 4 people you need:

- 4 cups of cooked rice (prepared the day before)

- 2 cups of black beans in its own sauce

- cilantro

- 1 onion

- 1 red pepper

Put the diced onion in a large pan and let it fry until it is glazed , add diced red pepper and cilantro. Put in black beans and rice - add salt- cook for 5 minutes - READY

Buen provecho !!!!

Traditional Costa Rican breakfast. Gallo pinto made with rice, beans, fried egg, cheese, and corn tortilla. Taken at a restaurant in Zarcero, Alajuela, Costa Rica.

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