Drawing from literature into the role of international and experiential field courses geography, we provide a critical review of our Nipissing University’s Global Skills Opportunity (GSO) funded field courses to Costa Rica. The field courses were developed in collaboration with the host university, Tecnologico de Costa Rica (TEC). We rely on our observations, students’ fieldnotes and reflections, and host organization feedback from two field courses to Costa Rica as the basis of the critique. We frame our critique by considering the curriculum design and international partnerships, student engagement and educational gains, and the impact on our Indigenous territories. We visited five indigenous territories – Brunka, Guaymi de Abrojo Montezuma, Guaymi de Coto Brus, Ngäbe, and Talamanca Bribri. Using hiking, sensing, talking and archiving as our methods, students explored the complex reciprocal relationships between societies and environments. The success of the field courses is directly related to the existing partnerships between TEC and the Indigenous territories. Students learned that the colonial policies in Costa Rica inhibit Indigenous rights to self-determination and land, and the health issues from pesticides in fruit industry. In many of the Indigenous territories, women organizations are leading the economic initiatives and tourism to provide opportunities for youth and to retain culture, and leading the fight for land. Some of the outcomes of the field courses include enduring friendships, and a strong partnership with our TEC and Indigenous community members. With the end of GSO funding, we are preparing a community-based research grant to facilitate reciprocal exchanges with students, faculty, and Talamanca Bribri members travelling to Canada.