Posted by Amanda Today is the end of our voyage. We arrived in the harbor at Miami around 7:30am. Noah and I went up to the deck to watch. As our terminal got closer, we could see parents with signs waving. Students were on their cell phones trying to find their parents in the crowd. They played "They're Coming to America" on the ship speakers, which most of the students didn't know. I got a bit teary-eyed at that. It was exciting but also quite...

Posted by Amanda Not to much to write about today. For most of the day we went through the Panama Canal. Having been through locks before (I can't remember where exactly, but I've done it before) I knew it would be a long and somehwat boring process. What surprised me was how many people didn't understand how locks work. Even Noah was hazy on it. I think I explained it to about three students while I was standing out on the deck. There are web cams along t...

Posted by Amanda Not to much to write about today. For most of the day we went through the Panama Canal. Having been through locks before (I can't remember where exactly, but I've done it before) I knew it would be a long and somehwat boring process. What surprised me was how many people didn't understand how locks work. Even Noah was hazy on it. I think I explained it to about three students while I was standing out on the deck. There are web cams along t...

Posted by Amanda Today was our last SAS trip and trip and bus leadership. We both were going to a zip line place. It turned out that Noah's bus went to a different place than mine did. It is sort of the field office's last chance to break us up. Zip-lining was great. Costa Rica is famous for this. I liked it much better than skydiving. Once you get over your fear on the first few lines, you still have other lines to have fun. Apparently I'm good at zip-l...

Posted by Amanda Costa Rica has a great customs and immigration process. Basically we didn't have to do anything. We were cleared early even with a Holland American ship arriving right before us. I was trip leader for our Cloud Forest and Poas Volcano trip. Our group was small at 18 with mostly faculty, staff, and some good kids who decided to learn a bit in Costa Rica rather than get a hotel at a beach for an end of the semester party. Our guide spoke pe...