My Dream Winter Vacation in the Caribbean

The Situation

You and your best friend  have done well  in school this year.  Both of you made the honor roll!!  Now that December is approaching, your parents are promising you the vacation of a lifetime.  They want you to trade in the books and homework for fun in the sun in the Caribbean.

Now, the deal is this: your parents will take you and your friend on a one week vacation to the Caribbean country of your choice if you stay within the budget. So, you chose to go to a Caribbean country where you have a pen pal because the pen pal and his family will invite all of you to their house for dinner one evening.

Your parents set the budget per person for the week as follows:

• Airfare and hotel - $2,000

• Food for 7 days - $50.00 per day or $350 per week

• Sightseeing tours, entrance fees, museums, fees for other entertainment, and gifts and

  and souvenirs - $50.00 per day

Objectives

1. To think creatively and productively about what it would mean to visit another country--what you need to know before you go, and what to expect after you arrive.

2. To use the Internet and other computer skills to gather information about a Caribbean country.

3. To interact with members of your group to share information.

4. To meet the challenge of staying within a budget.

Final Project

Each person in the group will use the information gathered by other members of the group to write a letter to a friend, describing the country and the trip.  Each person will e-mail the letter to each member of the group and to the designated CyberCamp staff person.  The group will elect one member of the group to read his travel letter to other campers in the classroom.

Include the following items in the letter.  Use the Form for Recording Country Information  and the Notes on My Vacation form on the last pages of this module as a guide.

• A brief history of the country--just the highlights.

• A description of the geography of the country--illustrated with maps and/or  photos as needed.

• A brief description of the people and the culture of the country.

• Cost of the vacation package: airfare and hotel.

• Meals and snacks: what to eat, where to eat.  Describe some of the foods.  Give recipes and illustrations if possible.

• Describe what to see, what to do and the cost.

• Describe the weather and what clothes to take.

• List some things to buy as gifts and souvenirs.

Procedure

1. Use the Internet to gather information about the Caribbean country.

2. Work together as a group by your row.  There are three or four campers in each row.

3.  Choose one of the following countries to research:

• Jamaica

• Trinidad/Tobago

• Barbados

• Aruba

• Puerto Rico

• Haiti

3. Divide the responsibilities along these lines: one person will be responsible for travel arrangements and hotel, another for meals and snacks, another for a description of the people and the culture, and another for entertainment.

4. Alter plans if necessary to stay within the budget.

Activities and Web Sites

Search the Internet to perform the tasks listed below.  These are just suggested Web sites.  You will certainly find others.

• Book It!  Find a travel package that includes airfare from Washington, D.C. and hotel for 7 days in your chosen country. [The airport code  for the Reagan National Airport is  DCA.]

  • Start with Yahoo Travel at  http://travel.yahoo.com/ and click on Vacations to begin.

  • Go to http://www.lycos.com/ and click on Travel to begin.

• Who are these people?  Use these Web sites to find basic information about your chosen country.

  • Start with Country Fact Books at  http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html

  • For basic country information, log onto http://www.ask.com/index.asp  and type in the search box   "visit Jamaica" or the name of the country you want to visit. 

  •  Also try http://archive.nandotimes.com/prof/caribe/caribe.com.html

  • Get a flag of the country at http://www.fotw.ca/flags/

  • See Maps from around the World at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/Map_collection.html

  • Country Profiles - http://cwr.utoronto.ca/cultural/english/index.html  

  • Countries Around the World - http://www.yahooligans.com/Around_the_World/Countries/

  • Yahooligans World Fact Book http://www.yahooligans.com/reference/factbook/

  •  

  • Encyclopaedia Britannica Article on Aruba http://www.britannica.com/search?query=Aruba&ct=fuzzy=N

  • Basic Information on Barbados, Haiti, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago
    http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cxtoc.html

  • Encyclopaedia Britannica Article on Puerto Rico

    http://www.britannica.com/search?query=Puerto%Rico&ct=&fuzzy=N

  • History of Puerto Rico  http://welcome.toooopuertorico.org/history.shtml

  • Encyclopaedia Britannica Article about the West Indies

    • http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=127833

  • Encyclopedic information about various Caribbean countries.

    • http://geocities.yahoo.com/search?p=Caribbean

  •  Information on Martinique

    • http://216.167.33.173/english/Maps.html  Includes maps, geography, facts, music, and recipes

• How's the weather or what to pack for the trip?   Describe the weather conditions and climate in your chosen country. 

  •  Try World's Weather at http://www.usatoday.com/weather/basemaps/wworld1.htm

• What's a dollar worth here? List the value of the following U.S. currencies in the currency of the Caribbean country that you have chosen:  $.50, $1.00, and $20.00.

  • Currency Conversion  http://www.turq.com/facts/curconv.html

• Hot Spots. Where do you go to hang out?  Are there activities in this Caribbean country that people go there just to participate in these activities?

  • Log on to http://www.lycos.com/  and type in the search box:  "visit Aruba" or the name of your chosen country.

  • Also,  do the same search at http://www.ask.com/index.asp

• Historical Spots.  Search the Web to find historical sites in your chosen country.  Choose famous buildings, famous battle sites, or anything you can find. 

  • Log on to http://www.lycos.com/  and type in the search box:  "visit Aruba" or the name of your chosen country.

  • Also,  do the same search at http://www.ask.com/index.asp

• Art and museum stuff.  Search the Internet to find a museum in your country.

  • Try http://www.ask.com/index.asp

   

• Jammin' - Find the history and examples of various types of  music  from your chosen country.

  • Caribbean Music
    http://www.doitcaribbean.com/music/index.html.en-GB

  • Log onto Yahoo.com at  http://dir.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Music/Genres/Caribbean/

  • Caribbean Party Music  http://shop.store.yahoo.com/caribmart/carparcarmus.html

  • Caribbean Music and Carnivals  http://www.travelintelligence.net/wsd/articles/art_676.html

  • Caribbean Music Online http://directory.google.com/Top/Regional/Caribbean/Arts_and_Entertainment/Music/

• What's for dinner?  Provide background about the history of Caribbean foods, describing  how other countries, tradition, and available resources influence food choices.  Find a famous restaurant in your country and tell what is served there that makes the restaurant famous.  Select a  well-known dish from the chosen country that includes hot peppers, coconut or coconut cream, pineapple, plantains, curry, dried salt cod, or conch.  Print the recipe to share with others.

  • Barbados Food and Drink http://www.caribzones.com/barbadosfood.html 

  • What is Caribbean Cuisine? http://www.palmbeachreggaeclub.com/kitchen.html 

  • The Caribbean: Our Heritage in Food http://www.gracefoods.com/Blackhistory/history.asp 

  • Cuisine of the Caribbean

    •  http://www.globalgourmet.com/destinations/caribbean/

    •  http://directory.google.com/Top/Home/Cooking/World_Cuisines/Caribbean/

  • Caribbean Cookbook

    • http://www.nando.net/prof/caribe/caribe.com.html

  • Caribbean Cuisine by Maggie Shi—includes recipes and descriptions of ingredients http://berncity.tripod.com/carib.html

  • Puerto Rican Culture: Food and Drinks

    • http://welcome.topuertorico.org/culture/foodrink.shtml

    • http://users.aol.com/np4cc/food.htm

    • http://netdial.caribe.net/~orinoco/ricebeans.html

  • Traditional island cuisine

    • http://www.globalgourmet.com/destinations/caribbean/cariback.html

  •  Caribbean Recipes

    • http://archive.nandotimes.com/prof/caribe/caribe.com.html

    • http://www.allrecipes.com/directory/912.asp  

  • Jamaican Foods

    • http://www.pilotguides.com/destination_guide/central_america_and_caribbean/jamaica/index.php

  •   Jamaican Cooking

    • http://www.africana.com/Utilities/Content.html?&../cgi-bin/banner.pl?banner=Homefront%20&../Articles/tt_174.htm

  •   More Caribbean Recipes

    • http://www.caribcon.com/caribkit.html  

    • http://guycampbell.co.uk/

  • All About Curry Powder

    • http://www.apinchof.com/article1008.html

  •   History of Dried Salt Cod

    • http://www.guyanaca.com/features/cod_fish.html

  •   A Guide to Hot Peppers

    • http://users.visi.net/~mandy/pepguide.html

  • History of the Coconut

    • http://tiger.towson.edu/users/pjones6/coconut.htm

  • History of the Pineapple

    • http://www.levins.com/pineapple.html

    • http://riri.essortment.com/pineapplehistor_rmfj.htm

  •   History of the Plantain

    • http://www.ladex.com/mayaplantains/htm/historyanddistributionofplantains.htm

Forms

Use the following forms to record information as you do your research.

Form for Recording Country Information

Notes on My Vacation in the Caribbean