For the past few years, we have focused the attentions of Journey Weavers and Aventuras Yemaya on programs and tours in Costa Rica. Birding and outdoor adventure opportunities abound in the ecologically diverse natural environment of this small, friendly Central American country. Internships, volunteer opportunities, and individually designed programs tailored to meet your particular interests and dates are also available.

Future plans include biking and art history in the Netherlands, watercoloring in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and a variety of trips in Guatemala. In addition, Journey Weavers, in conjunction with the Spanish Language Institute (SLI) in Cuernavaca, Mexico and The Costa Rica Spanish Institute (COSI) in Costa Rica, offers Spanish language programs for the general public and special summer programs for teenagers. Working with the Cuba AIDS Project, Journey Weavers also provides ways for U.S. citizens to travel legally to Cuba as part of a licensed humanitarian project.

Costa Rica is one of our most popular destinations, and provides an unusual opportunity to experience a wide variety of outdoor activities in a landscape protected in national parks, bioreserves, rainforests, natural forests, beaches, volcanoes, and other environmental treasures of the country.

We are concerned with preserving the ecosystem of the country’s natural beauty and select our lodges and sites accordingly. Select your activities or just relax in beautiful surroundings with good company.

We offer many options and activities to suit your physical level and desires:

• Rafting
• Snorkeling
• Canopy Walks
• Birding
• Horseback Riding
• Boating
• Kayaking
• Water Skiing
• Bicycling
• Hiking and Volcanoes
• Beaches
• Rainforests
• Hot Springs

Sandra Pollack - Journey Weavers: Educational Travel, Ithaca, New York. For many years, Sandy taught English, English to Speakers of Other Languages, Women's Studies, and directed the Study Abroad Program at a community college in upstate New York. As part of her work, she regularly took students and community people to Mexico to study Spanish and traveled to Peru, Venezuela, and Chile to train teachers in methods of teaching English.

Sandy's educational travels also include research trips to Russia investigating the ways in which women combined work and family responsibilities. For two years, she directed the Antioch Women's Studies in Europe program, traveling with a group of twenty students for three months at a time. She is also currently a group leader for Elderhostel, and as such has taken groups to Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

Upon her retirement, Sandy started her own business, Journey Weavers: Educational Travel, as a way to continue doing what she most loves — sharing different learning experiences with others. Her interest in Costa Rica began while she was still teaching and designed a course exploring women's development and environmental projects in the country.

Her connection with Ana Zamora was crucial to the success of that program, and Ana and Sandy decided to continue working on future projects. In 2003, they began with three extremely successful trips — two birding and one women's hiking — and have many new projects planned for the next few years.