Day Camp for Primary-Grade Kids Promises Fun and Learning

For years, teenagers from Costa Rica and the United States have spent exciting school vacations with Mélida Barbee’s Adventures Under the Sun surf camps, sea kayaking and backpacking excursions and other multi-day camps.

Now, their younger brothers and sisters have a chance to join the fun in a U.S.-style day camp in the Central Valley in January. Adventure Kids Day Camp, a new division of Adventures Under the Sun, is set for Jan. 7-11, 2008, for boys and girls ages 6 to 12.

Held on the grounds of the University for Peace (UPEACE) in Ciudad Colón, southwest of San José, the camp includes sports, nature hikes, arts and crafts, skits and games. Campers meet each morning at 9 a.m. at the Adventures Under the Sun offices in the western San José suburb of Escazú and travel by bus to UPEACE, returning at 3 p.m. Field trips to a swimming pool and horseback riding in Ciudad Colón and to BarvaVolcanoNational Park are included.

The camp staff includes directors Carol Weir (a former Tico Times staffer) and Carlos Chacón, a Costa Rican biologist and nature guide, assisted by high school students from CountryDay School, AmericanInternationalSchool, BlueValleySchool and other local high schools.

The day camp will be run bilingually.

“We try to promote bilingual abilities as well as bicultural backgrounds and experiences,” Barbee said. “As the world becomes one, it’s more and more important for kids to be at ease with people of different backgrounds.”

The camp costs $95 for the week (Monday to Friday) and the inscription period closes Dec. 10. Enrollment is limited to 40 campers.

For more info, visit www.adventuresunderthesun.com/adventurekids, e-mail advkids@gmail.com or call 289-0404.