Coffee in Costa Rica: January 2020 Travel Course

Sign up now! Applications are due Sept 27

BSU Study Abroad

Program cost $3,275 includes airfare from Boston,
tuition, meals, guides, lodging, transportation
-- and a lot of coffee!

Please join me for Geography of Coffee, a travel course in Costa Rica, January 3-14, 2020. This Bridgewater State University course is open to all; our credits transfer easily. This will be our first travel course in Costa Rica, building on more than a decade of experience in neighboring Nicaragua.

Costa Rica originated the concept of ecotourism -- the idea of using sustainable tourism both as an effective form of environmental education and an economic alternative to deforestation. Our ecotourism will focus on the coffeelands and the people who sustain and are sustained by coffee. We will also visit volcanoes and learn about their connection to coffee. Part of our visit will be hosted by the Bribri indigenous community.

This course is offered mainly for undergraduate credit, but I will work with graduate students in any discipline to develop extra learning activities for graduate credit. Credits transfer easily from BSU to other institutions, and I have nearly always had at least one student from another university in this course.

Also note that BSU undergraduates can take this for credit even if they have already completed GEOG 295 in Nicaragua. Much of the content will be similar, but each country in coffeelands is unique!

Applications are due September 27, 2018. Applications, syllabus, and other details are at
 BSU Study Abroad.

Back Story:

Those who know me know that the coffeelands of Nicaragua have become a second home since I first visited in 2006. Over 100 students have made the journey with me, and since 2009 all of those trips have been led by Matagalpa Tours, . All of the MT guides share my passion for experiential learning through the medium of coffee, and they will be bringing that same expertise to this journey.
Sadly -- for reasons I detail under the #sosnicaragua tag on my main blog and social media -- we cannot go to Nicaragua for the foreseeable future, but ecotourism and coffee in Costa Rica are legendary, so this will be an equally rewarding experience.