Global Works School Group Travel

In April of 2023, I went to Costa Rica with a bunch of kids from my school. There was about 60 kids in total and we were often divided into groups of 30 for days. When we flew in, we were warmly greeted and immediately taken to our first place where we began and ended the trip. The next morning we were divided in two groups each of which went to separate places for multiple days. My group got in a bus for 3ish hours heading for a preserved wildlife forest. We stopped to eat lunch where we were served amazing food and had the opportunity to shop at our pitstop. After this, we got to the top of the forest where we had to hike downhill for 3+ miles to reach our lodge which was only accessible by foot. The lodge was beautiful with the most of amazing sunrise (don't miss out!) and we were served traditional foods (the fruit was amazing) on all the days. During those few days in the secluded lodge we were split into groups and we helped build stairs in the forest and we went on night hikes and looked for cool animals. At the lodge there was no hot water but this was not a con because you have to expect things like this in a place so secluded. On the morning we were going to hike back uphill the way we came, I threw up from the water I had drank but this was my fault because I think I accidentally drank a bit of water not specifically given by them. We then traveled to a very nice place where we stayed for the rets of the trip until the last day. The other 30 kids that weren't in my group apparently cleaned a river and other activities but we never did what they did or vice versa. When we were reuinited we spent our days volunteering at a school (painting chairs, helping out in classrooms, and so on). The place we stayed at was amazing and there was a pool, soccer fields, amazing food and we had a lot of freedom. We were also given the chance to shop at a cute town and go to an animal rescue center. In general, this was an amazing trip adn we got over 24 hours of community service!

I went to Global Works' first trip to Cuba with nine other high schoolers from around the U. S. I had an incredible time and learned so much about Cuba. We had a chaperone from Global Works and a tour guide from Cuba - along with a very nice air conditioned bus to get around the island. We visited Havana, Viñales, Bay of Pigs, and Trinidad and did things like ziplining, snorkeling, and working in urban gardens. The houses we stayed in were called "palidars" which are essentially people's houses that they rent to tourists and cook breakfast and dinner there. Everyone we met was kind and accommodating. I feel so lucky to have visited a place that very few Americans have had the opportunity to see in the past. Getting a first hand account of the state of Cuba from real Cubans was really enlightening, and it showed me popular opinions in America can be very far from the truth. I highly recommend going to Cuba with Global Works because you get a real view of what Cuba is while also having an incredible, once in a lifetime trip. Also - many of the tourists in Cuba are on the older side, so finding a tour group of young people is VERY important if you want to have a good time.