[2] The Costa Rica charter combines adventure activities - including hiking, rafting, kayaking, surfing, rappelling, SCUBA diving and tree climbing - with the cultural experience of learning first-hand about the Costa Rican way of life and environment by staying with local families and immersion in wilderness settings.

Outward Bound's founding mission was to give young seamen the ability to survive harsh conditions at sea by teaching confidence and tenacity.

[5] Fifty years later, in September 1991, a Coloradoan named Jim Rowe traveled by land from home - where he had been working as an instructor for Colorado Outward Bound School (COBS) - to Costa Rica.

He founded Save the Rainforest Expeditions School (STRES) to provide an avenue to work with youth applying the same philosophies as he used at COBS.

Outward Bound Costa Rica courses must focus on physical challenge, personal development, and safety amidst rainforests, rivers, and beaches.