30 June 2011
29 June 2011
28 June 2011
27 June 2011
animals, storms, and pasta (again!)
Hello again! Today was an utterly wonderful day. Even better than yesterday. So today's theme is: animals! What little kid doesn't love animals?
So in our groups last night, I came up with a swell idea. Animal masks. So today we made animal masks. Isn't that cool? My idea was used in our lesson!
So today when we got to the school, some of the kids were getting more excited to see what we had brought for them. So we gave them each a piece of white paper, some markers, some glue, some tissue paper, and some of this colored cellophane that they literally went crazy over.
So I worked with Aryel again today and another little boy named Ulises. He is literally the most adorable kid in the whole world, and so everyone loves him. He's only 3, and he doesn't really like to sit and do anything for a sustained amount of time. So every once in a while he walks out of the room and finds his mom, then his mom brings him back. I helped him with his mask too, which was a horse, and he loved it. He ran around holding it up and making cute little animal noises.
Which was the second part of our lesson. We would make an animal noise and the kids would say it in Spanish. Then we would say what it was in English and they would repeat it. It got easy for them though, so we had to switch up what we were doing. We were having so much fun by the end and unfortunately, we had to end our lesson work on construction outside.
We were ripping up the weeds and dead plants in the school yard so we could make room for a basketball court. We were going to clear the land and other groups that would come later in the summer would work on clearing the rest and laying cement.
And it occurred to me, sitting out in the field, that if they want a construction project to get done, then they would need to get tools and do it themselves.They can't call in a team of workers and get dump trucks and cranes and what not to help them. They have to do it all by hand.
After school, we had lunch and then it started to pour. We were stuck in the tree house for some time, and we waited for the rain to let up. When it did, we went to our rooms and hung out for an hour until we came up for a salsa dance lesson. I sat in my room lying on the bed doing nothing. I didn't fall asleep nor did I do anything. I just sat and listened to the rain for an hour. It was almost like meditation.
Then our Latin dance teacher arrived and showed us how to salsa. It was great fun, seeing all of the awkward Americans trying to dance as suave as our dance teacher did. And at the end, we all got it and we were really quite good. I still remember all of the dance moves actually.
At 2pm, 8 of the kids came up to the kitchen because they were going to cook dinner for us. And rumor has it it was something good.
The rest of us hung out in our rooms and played cards and talked and relaxed. It was fun getting to know the kids we were rooming with and the kids we were going to be living with for our time here. They were all so fun and nice and by the end we all felt closer.
But then a storm came, and the power went out. Including the power in the kitchen. Dinner was going to be delayed for an hour, so we waited and continued to hang out and enjoy each other's company.
At 7, we went upstairs and we found out what was for dinner - PASTA again! - and it was amazing. The sauce was great, so was the sausage and the vegetables. After dinner, I went to the kitchen to help clean up, but there were too many people in there so me and a few others had to leave. But one thing I noticed was that there was one plate filled with food that we got back. One of the girls on the cooking staff for today was shocked and sad. "We spent our free time cooking this meal and someone just wasted the food." she said. And it was right. This is how our real cooks must feel when we waste. They spend so much time cooking for us and we take to much and don't finish it. And then it goes to waste. It showed us all that we have to be careful about how much we take and about how much we actually eat, because in countries like this every grain of rice counts.
After dinner we played some group games and talked about our home visits. Then we retired to bed - after lesson planning - and went to sleep.
Well that's all for now. See you in the morning my friends! Pura vida!
So in our groups last night, I came up with a swell idea. Animal masks. So today we made animal masks. Isn't that cool? My idea was used in our lesson!
So today when we got to the school, some of the kids were getting more excited to see what we had brought for them. So we gave them each a piece of white paper, some markers, some glue, some tissue paper, and some of this colored cellophane that they literally went crazy over.
So I worked with Aryel again today and another little boy named Ulises. He is literally the most adorable kid in the whole world, and so everyone loves him. He's only 3, and he doesn't really like to sit and do anything for a sustained amount of time. So every once in a while he walks out of the room and finds his mom, then his mom brings him back. I helped him with his mask too, which was a horse, and he loved it. He ran around holding it up and making cute little animal noises.
Which was the second part of our lesson. We would make an animal noise and the kids would say it in Spanish. Then we would say what it was in English and they would repeat it. It got easy for them though, so we had to switch up what we were doing. We were having so much fun by the end and unfortunately, we had to end our lesson work on construction outside.
We were ripping up the weeds and dead plants in the school yard so we could make room for a basketball court. We were going to clear the land and other groups that would come later in the summer would work on clearing the rest and laying cement.
And it occurred to me, sitting out in the field, that if they want a construction project to get done, then they would need to get tools and do it themselves.They can't call in a team of workers and get dump trucks and cranes and what not to help them. They have to do it all by hand.
After school, we had lunch and then it started to pour. We were stuck in the tree house for some time, and we waited for the rain to let up. When it did, we went to our rooms and hung out for an hour until we came up for a salsa dance lesson. I sat in my room lying on the bed doing nothing. I didn't fall asleep nor did I do anything. I just sat and listened to the rain for an hour. It was almost like meditation.
Then our Latin dance teacher arrived and showed us how to salsa. It was great fun, seeing all of the awkward Americans trying to dance as suave as our dance teacher did. And at the end, we all got it and we were really quite good. I still remember all of the dance moves actually.
At 2pm, 8 of the kids came up to the kitchen because they were going to cook dinner for us. And rumor has it it was something good.
The rest of us hung out in our rooms and played cards and talked and relaxed. It was fun getting to know the kids we were rooming with and the kids we were going to be living with for our time here. They were all so fun and nice and by the end we all felt closer.
But then a storm came, and the power went out. Including the power in the kitchen. Dinner was going to be delayed for an hour, so we waited and continued to hang out and enjoy each other's company.
At 7, we went upstairs and we found out what was for dinner - PASTA again! - and it was amazing. The sauce was great, so was the sausage and the vegetables. After dinner, I went to the kitchen to help clean up, but there were too many people in there so me and a few others had to leave. But one thing I noticed was that there was one plate filled with food that we got back. One of the girls on the cooking staff for today was shocked and sad. "We spent our free time cooking this meal and someone just wasted the food." she said. And it was right. This is how our real cooks must feel when we waste. They spend so much time cooking for us and we take to much and don't finish it. And then it goes to waste. It showed us all that we have to be careful about how much we take and about how much we actually eat, because in countries like this every grain of rice counts.
After dinner we played some group games and talked about our home visits. Then we retired to bed - after lesson planning - and went to sleep.
Well that's all for now. See you in the morning my friends! Pura vida!
26 June 2011
families and the beach
Last night, after we came home from the mountain, we got into our groups and started to plan lessons for the school. I had completely forgotten about the school - everyone was on an adrenaline rush from the mountain and now it was starting to wane.
Our group got to work with the little kids, around ages 3 to 6 - the best age group in my opinion. And everyday we were planning to have a certain theme. Today's theme was family, which made sense because we were going to walk to the families' houses after school. So we divided into further groups: English and art. I was part of the English group last night, and we came up with family flash cards and a skit - something simple, but still something engaging. The art group came up with using Popsicle sticks to make houses, and then having the kids draw their families inside of them.
So this morning, we woke up later at 7am for breakfast before we went to the school at 8. The sun rises here a little before 5am, so I sat up in my bed for an hour waiting for 6am to come. Then I started to get ready.
After breakfast, we got in the bus and went to the school. We were all a little bit apprehensive because it was our first day and we didn't want it to go badly.
We got into our groups and walked quietly to the classroom that we were assigned to. We saw a bunch of little kids in there with excited smiles on their faces. A muffled hola was all we could really say. They didn't respond.
We moved their desks to the walls so we had room to sit in a circle and introduce ourselves. Our group leader, who was fluent in Spanish, explained to the kids what we were doing. They slowly came into a sloppy circle and we started.
"Hello, my name is Megan."
"Can you say your name?"
Again in Spanish. No answer. Some mumbled their names and we couldn't make out what they said. Some shook their heads when we asked them to say their names. It was going to be harder than we expected.
But we gave each of the kids a sheet of paper while our leader told them we were going to focus on family today.
They held the blank paper and carefully looked at it, unsure of what to make of it. Some of us got up and gave the kids 4 Popsicle sticks and they became more confused. We each sat down with one of the kids and helped them out.
I worked with a boy named Aryel. He wouldn't tell me his name, but I got him to write it. Most of these kids don't know how to read or write yet, and some don't know how to write their names. But luckily he did. It's hard to make conversation with a kid who is 11 years younger than you, and who does not speak your language. And you don't speak his. But I found out that he was 5 years old and through his picture he told me he had a mom, a dad, and no sisters but 3 brothers. He also had a dog, 2 cats, and some cows. Somehow they all fit in his Popsicle stick house.
When we finished, we hung them up on the wall, and I put my hand out to give him a high five. At first he was confused, but he got it.
Then we got up and showed them our drawings of mom, dad, sister, brother, and grandparents. They caught on a lot faster than I thought, and they thought our little skit was hysterical. They started to warm up to us and talk a lot more. After we exhausted the flash cards, we asked them to explain their pictures and who was in their families. And some of them even said "mother", "father", and "brother" and "sister". I was impressed.
After that, we did another art project. We traced the kids hands and used crumpled up bits of tissue paper to fill it in. They got really excited about it, especially all the colors of paper we had. And they were going to give them to their parents at the end of class.
When they showed them to their moms, they were so excited and started rambling in Spanish.
Then school was over, and we headed out with our families. I went with 3 other girls from the group and a little boy named Kevin's family. He was in our school group. He had 3 brothers too, and they lived about 30 minutes away from the school.
Here's a quick science lesson. Sometimes, dirt roads are great at trapping and radiating heat. And luckily today, that's exactly what it did. We walked on the road, kicking up dirt into our shoes. We followed the mother as she walked up ahead, making sure her boys didn't wander.
I literally have not been hotter in my life. Sunlight burning your skin, heat rising from the ground, no shade and no wind. It was really bad. But then I thought that these families have to walk to school and home everyday. I'm doing it once.
When we finally arrived at their house, it was relatively large compared to others in the area. It was actually more like a large plot of land with some shacks on it. There was a big shack at the front for storage, shacks all up the sides and the back for the stables. They had chickens, geese, ducks, dogs, and a parrot. And next to their stables was a large ceramic bread oven. The mother explained that this is how they make their own bread and don't have to buy it. Near the place where the chickens stayed was the kitchen, which was a very small shack with some appliances. Outside was the small table where they ate.
We walked further down the property and saw the bedrooms Where the boys slept. The blue tarps over their beds were mosquito nets. There were a few toys strewn on the dirt of their property, and a few emaciated dogs wandering around in the shade.
Then the mother mumbled something and we all went to the beach. It was private property, in fact, and so the mother got down on all fours and climbed under the fence. We thought she was unlocking it from the inside, but instead she motioned for us to come under. So we threw our backpacks over and climbed under the fence. And then we went down to the beach, stopped, snapped a few pictures of some pigs fighting, and then continued on.
We walked to this deserted beach that was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. The most beautiful things are the ones that people never see.
We met up with some other families and kids from our group and we all hung out at the beach for a while. But it started getting hot and so some of the kids ran in the water and started playing volleyball. Soon the moms were getting in the water and splashing around with their kids and I snapped that picture that won that contest.
They were all in the clothes, but they were all having so much fun. It was something beautiful and real, something I had never seen before.
Soon it was noon and we had to walk back to the school to have lunch at our house. We said goodbye to our families and headed back.
In the afternoon, we all went to another beach and swam in the beautiful Pacific Ocean. I am now adding to my bucket list "swim in all of the oceans". So far I have Atlantic and Pacific. I wonder how the Arctic Ocean is going to go over. .
But the beach was amazing and by far the best I have ever been to. The waves were high enough, the water was warm, and the sand was soft like liquid silk. We stayed at the beach until sunset, then came back home and had dinner.
Tomorrow we're heading back to the school, but I can't tell you what we have planned. You'll just have to wait. Until then, pura vida!
Our group got to work with the little kids, around ages 3 to 6 - the best age group in my opinion. And everyday we were planning to have a certain theme. Today's theme was family, which made sense because we were going to walk to the families' houses after school. So we divided into further groups: English and art. I was part of the English group last night, and we came up with family flash cards and a skit - something simple, but still something engaging. The art group came up with using Popsicle sticks to make houses, and then having the kids draw their families inside of them.
So this morning, we woke up later at 7am for breakfast before we went to the school at 8. The sun rises here a little before 5am, so I sat up in my bed for an hour waiting for 6am to come. Then I started to get ready.
After breakfast, we got in the bus and went to the school. We were all a little bit apprehensive because it was our first day and we didn't want it to go badly.
We got into our groups and walked quietly to the classroom that we were assigned to. We saw a bunch of little kids in there with excited smiles on their faces. A muffled hola was all we could really say. They didn't respond.
We moved their desks to the walls so we had room to sit in a circle and introduce ourselves. Our group leader, who was fluent in Spanish, explained to the kids what we were doing. They slowly came into a sloppy circle and we started.
"Hello, my name is Megan."
"Can you say your name?"
Again in Spanish. No answer. Some mumbled their names and we couldn't make out what they said. Some shook their heads when we asked them to say their names. It was going to be harder than we expected.
But we gave each of the kids a sheet of paper while our leader told them we were going to focus on family today.
They held the blank paper and carefully looked at it, unsure of what to make of it. Some of us got up and gave the kids 4 Popsicle sticks and they became more confused. We each sat down with one of the kids and helped them out.
I worked with a boy named Aryel. He wouldn't tell me his name, but I got him to write it. Most of these kids don't know how to read or write yet, and some don't know how to write their names. But luckily he did. It's hard to make conversation with a kid who is 11 years younger than you, and who does not speak your language. And you don't speak his. But I found out that he was 5 years old and through his picture he told me he had a mom, a dad, and no sisters but 3 brothers. He also had a dog, 2 cats, and some cows. Somehow they all fit in his Popsicle stick house.
When we finished, we hung them up on the wall, and I put my hand out to give him a high five. At first he was confused, but he got it.
Then we got up and showed them our drawings of mom, dad, sister, brother, and grandparents. They caught on a lot faster than I thought, and they thought our little skit was hysterical. They started to warm up to us and talk a lot more. After we exhausted the flash cards, we asked them to explain their pictures and who was in their families. And some of them even said "mother", "father", and "brother" and "sister". I was impressed.
After that, we did another art project. We traced the kids hands and used crumpled up bits of tissue paper to fill it in. They got really excited about it, especially all the colors of paper we had. And they were going to give them to their parents at the end of class.
When they showed them to their moms, they were so excited and started rambling in Spanish.
Then school was over, and we headed out with our families. I went with 3 other girls from the group and a little boy named Kevin's family. He was in our school group. He had 3 brothers too, and they lived about 30 minutes away from the school.
Here's a quick science lesson. Sometimes, dirt roads are great at trapping and radiating heat. And luckily today, that's exactly what it did. We walked on the road, kicking up dirt into our shoes. We followed the mother as she walked up ahead, making sure her boys didn't wander.
I literally have not been hotter in my life. Sunlight burning your skin, heat rising from the ground, no shade and no wind. It was really bad. But then I thought that these families have to walk to school and home everyday. I'm doing it once.
When we finally arrived at their house, it was relatively large compared to others in the area. It was actually more like a large plot of land with some shacks on it. There was a big shack at the front for storage, shacks all up the sides and the back for the stables. They had chickens, geese, ducks, dogs, and a parrot. And next to their stables was a large ceramic bread oven. The mother explained that this is how they make their own bread and don't have to buy it. Near the place where the chickens stayed was the kitchen, which was a very small shack with some appliances. Outside was the small table where they ate.
We walked further down the property and saw the bedrooms Where the boys slept. The blue tarps over their beds were mosquito nets. There were a few toys strewn on the dirt of their property, and a few emaciated dogs wandering around in the shade.
Then the mother mumbled something and we all went to the beach. It was private property, in fact, and so the mother got down on all fours and climbed under the fence. We thought she was unlocking it from the inside, but instead she motioned for us to come under. So we threw our backpacks over and climbed under the fence. And then we went down to the beach, stopped, snapped a few pictures of some pigs fighting, and then continued on.
We walked to this deserted beach that was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. The most beautiful things are the ones that people never see.
We met up with some other families and kids from our group and we all hung out at the beach for a while. But it started getting hot and so some of the kids ran in the water and started playing volleyball. Soon the moms were getting in the water and splashing around with their kids and I snapped that picture that won that contest.
They were all in the clothes, but they were all having so much fun. It was something beautiful and real, something I had never seen before.
Soon it was noon and we had to walk back to the school to have lunch at our house. We said goodbye to our families and headed back.
In the afternoon, we all went to another beach and swam in the beautiful Pacific Ocean. I am now adding to my bucket list "swim in all of the oceans". So far I have Atlantic and Pacific. I wonder how the Arctic Ocean is going to go over. .
But the beach was amazing and by far the best I have ever been to. The waves were high enough, the water was warm, and the sand was soft like liquid silk. We stayed at the beach until sunset, then came back home and had dinner.
Tomorrow we're heading back to the school, but I can't tell you what we have planned. You'll just have to wait. Until then, pura vida!
25 June 2011
cliff-jumping and inner tubes
Today was probably the best day ever. The best collective day I have ever had. We woke up really early again - 5:30 - and went back to the mountain. It took some time, so everyone fell asleep until we got there. When we got out of the van at the place, the people told us to change into our jeans - we were going horseback riding! So we went to the bathrooms that didn't have lights and we went to the stables and got on our little horses!
These Costa Rican stablemen who didn't know any English got us up on our horses. But I knew how to mount horses, which was good because it was hot and they needed to get those horses a-movin'. So we got on and waited a while (some of the horses thought it was an appropriate time to pee) and then we rode off on the low part of the mountain through the Guanacaste countryside. And the mud.
My horse was actually rather docile and good to me; some people's horses had their own ideas of what to do and which mud piles to go through. Eventually the horses all stopped when we reached a stopping point, and we got off and saw this beautiful waterfall.
And the one of our mentor people said "who's going in?"
A couple people had swim suits on, but I didn't put mine on. So we all stood there. And then he said "well I'm jumping in". And we all looked at him like he was nuts. There was a big 15 foot drop from this cliff to get into the water. No way. Especially in jeans.
But we all stand corrected - even by ourselves - and we all ended up jumping off the cliff and trying to get out of the water with wet jeans. But at what other time in my life will I look back and say "I regret jumping off that cliff". I would regret it much more if I hadn't done it.
That's the cool part about life. We do silly things and we enjoy them. They make life better.
Then we changed out of our wet clothes and got into harnesses for ziplining. This guy who worked at the mountain gave us a little tutorial about ziplining and then he told us things we had to do so we wouldn't die. Very comforting. Then we ascended and started on the first line. It was incredible. Like flying, but better. Then we unhooked from line to line, and we went through 3 lines before stopping at this big gap in the mountain. It was a 100 foot drop. To the bottom of this little creek thing, which was near 50 feet below the 100 foot drop. And we were being dropped.
I started to freak out a little bit, but then I was at the bottom platform and I walked over to a small cove (in my harness of course) and we waited to swing over to the other side. Where I had to face something most terrible - rock climbing.
I am afraid of heights, and strangely I found this out in a dream when I was on a high building. I had never come face-to-face with this fear, so I didn't know if it was real.
It was real.
I started climbing up the mountain, but it started to rain and it got slippery so I just hung onto the rope and the Costa Rican men who worked there pulled me to the top. And in that moment they were my ultimate heroes. I almost died. But luckily the next was a regular line, and then 2 others after that. I was back in the air.
But then we had another climbing segment and this was literally 200 feet above the ground. Sure, I was in a harness, but I was still freaking out. Luckily I got to the next line, did another round of climbing, then finished the last 2 lines and planted my feet safely on the ground. I was completely safe, and I did it.
So I discovered that I am afraid of heights and rock climbing, but that I still had a fun time ziplining.
So after that, we had a buffet at the mountain and you wouldn't believe what they had - rice and beans. But...they also had PASTA! With marinara sauce and everything! And by now everyone knows that pasta is gold for me, and so they all laughed at my utter delight in pasta.
After pasta, well lunch, we were all sort of tired and we weren't really in the mood to go tubing, even though we had wanted to go. But we went down to the river and got into life jackets and good shoes. And by now, it was sort of cold, and we were all ready to get back to the house. But we lugged our 10 pound inner tubes 1/4 of a mile down to the river. It was a cold river, too.
But the guys who worked there just pushed us in, and we started down the river. The rocks and the rapids pushed s through and it was really fun. But then I fell out of my tube - something they said should never happen - and I got in again by myself, but on the wrong side. So I had to redo it. But then we continued on, and it was the funnest thing I have ever done. It was a 5km river path we went on, but it seemed like only a .5km because we were having so much fun! I fell out again, and then again, and finally we had finished and we thought we were halfway there. But it was over, and we were all willing to go again. It was utterly wonderful.
Then we started on our bus ride home, and everyone fell asleep.
Today was jam-packed with things I never would have done if I wasn't here, or with a group. Because even though they were fun, I never would have prompted myself to do it. Here's to going outside of your comfort zone, and loving it. Pura vida!
These Costa Rican stablemen who didn't know any English got us up on our horses. But I knew how to mount horses, which was good because it was hot and they needed to get those horses a-movin'. So we got on and waited a while (some of the horses thought it was an appropriate time to pee) and then we rode off on the low part of the mountain through the Guanacaste countryside. And the mud.
My horse was actually rather docile and good to me; some people's horses had their own ideas of what to do and which mud piles to go through. Eventually the horses all stopped when we reached a stopping point, and we got off and saw this beautiful waterfall.
And the one of our mentor people said "who's going in?"
A couple people had swim suits on, but I didn't put mine on. So we all stood there. And then he said "well I'm jumping in". And we all looked at him like he was nuts. There was a big 15 foot drop from this cliff to get into the water. No way. Especially in jeans.
But we all stand corrected - even by ourselves - and we all ended up jumping off the cliff and trying to get out of the water with wet jeans. But at what other time in my life will I look back and say "I regret jumping off that cliff". I would regret it much more if I hadn't done it.
That's the cool part about life. We do silly things and we enjoy them. They make life better.
Then we changed out of our wet clothes and got into harnesses for ziplining. This guy who worked at the mountain gave us a little tutorial about ziplining and then he told us things we had to do so we wouldn't die. Very comforting. Then we ascended and started on the first line. It was incredible. Like flying, but better. Then we unhooked from line to line, and we went through 3 lines before stopping at this big gap in the mountain. It was a 100 foot drop. To the bottom of this little creek thing, which was near 50 feet below the 100 foot drop. And we were being dropped.
I started to freak out a little bit, but then I was at the bottom platform and I walked over to a small cove (in my harness of course) and we waited to swing over to the other side. Where I had to face something most terrible - rock climbing.
I am afraid of heights, and strangely I found this out in a dream when I was on a high building. I had never come face-to-face with this fear, so I didn't know if it was real.
It was real.
I started climbing up the mountain, but it started to rain and it got slippery so I just hung onto the rope and the Costa Rican men who worked there pulled me to the top. And in that moment they were my ultimate heroes. I almost died. But luckily the next was a regular line, and then 2 others after that. I was back in the air.
But then we had another climbing segment and this was literally 200 feet above the ground. Sure, I was in a harness, but I was still freaking out. Luckily I got to the next line, did another round of climbing, then finished the last 2 lines and planted my feet safely on the ground. I was completely safe, and I did it.
So I discovered that I am afraid of heights and rock climbing, but that I still had a fun time ziplining.
So after that, we had a buffet at the mountain and you wouldn't believe what they had - rice and beans. But...they also had PASTA! With marinara sauce and everything! And by now everyone knows that pasta is gold for me, and so they all laughed at my utter delight in pasta.
After pasta, well lunch, we were all sort of tired and we weren't really in the mood to go tubing, even though we had wanted to go. But we went down to the river and got into life jackets and good shoes. And by now, it was sort of cold, and we were all ready to get back to the house. But we lugged our 10 pound inner tubes 1/4 of a mile down to the river. It was a cold river, too.
But the guys who worked there just pushed us in, and we started down the river. The rocks and the rapids pushed s through and it was really fun. But then I fell out of my tube - something they said should never happen - and I got in again by myself, but on the wrong side. So I had to redo it. But then we continued on, and it was the funnest thing I have ever done. It was a 5km river path we went on, but it seemed like only a .5km because we were having so much fun! I fell out again, and then again, and finally we had finished and we thought we were halfway there. But it was over, and we were all willing to go again. It was utterly wonderful.
Then we started on our bus ride home, and everyone fell asleep.
Today was jam-packed with things I never would have done if I wasn't here, or with a group. Because even though they were fun, I never would have prompted myself to do it. Here's to going outside of your comfort zone, and loving it. Pura vida!
24 June 2011
slushy streets and sulfur springs
Hello folks! Hope you are having a wonderful day because we did! Today our group got up a little early - 5:30 - so we could leave for Rincon de la Vieja, a mountain in Guanacaste. And in case you thought rice and beans were only reserved for lunch and dinner, they're not - rice and beans for breakfast too!
So we started off on our trip, which is about two hours, and we just barely made it out of Playa Copal when the van stopped and a bunch of kids said "woah!" Another bus, about 100 feet in front of us, was completely stuck and almost cemented in the mud. It rained really heavily the night before, and in Costa Rica, like Georgia, when it rains it pours. The dirt road was now a mud road, and it was barely able to be used. So I sat in the van, waiting for someone to come and pull the bus out. But we waited, and we waited. No one came. And then our bus driver, Arnaldo, told us to get out. It would be a while.
So we were standing outside in the middle of nowhere, going nowhere, at 7 in the morning. But we started to play some group games to pass the time.
After about a half an hour, the bus was still stuck and some of the locals flocked to see what was going on. Probably since there was a slew of tourist-like beings in their quaint town. So they told us that help was coming, but that we couldn't move the bus that was stuck, and there was no way around the bus. So we had to walk a mile to get to our new bus, which meant walking in the mud and quicksand-like goo to get to the new bus. Needless to say I was going to need some new shoes.
So we walked to the spot past the bus where we were supposed to wait for a new bus. By now it was about 8:30, and we were all tired - and the hike hadn't even begun! It was hot and sticky, and everyone was annoyed. But it just made me think about something. When we have a problem with traffic in America, we just call the tow truck and they are there in less than 10 minutes. We later found out that the bus was removed several hours later. They have little ways of getting that kind of help, and it happens to them a lot more often - and more severely - than it does to us.
When our replacement bus came, everyone erupted in cheerful joy. And then we were off to Rincon de la Vieja.
Once there, we embarked on our 3-hour hike through the mountains. And we stopped at different natural hot springs throughout. The mountain was a volcano that stopped erupting in the 1990s and we got to see the sulfuric springs that were there. Some of them reached temperatures of 248 degrees F - enough to sufficiently burn yourself - and they smelled nasty. But I got some amazing pictures of the interesting trees, the wildlife - iguanas, monkeys, the works - and later we got to go to some hot springs of our own.
We drove a few minutes down the mountain to get to the other hot springs where people can go in. It is made of natural water from the real springs, but filtered into the man-manipulated nature (it's not really man-made). There were three pools - one was hot tub temperature, the other was hotter than a hot tub, and the man made river was ice cold. Which was nice when you wanted a break from the heat. So we got to relax in the beautiful hot springs and enjoy the quaint beauty of a place that tourists don't really get to see. Untouched nature.
After that, we went home and the Wifi stopped working at the tree house. So I was going to call home, but my SIM card died and there was no way to fix it. So I'm phoneless and Wifi-less. It's going to be an even more interesting time.
But tomorrow morning we have another before-the-sun-comes-up wake-up time, so I better go. And if you thought today was crazy, wait until tomorrow. Pura vida!
So we started off on our trip, which is about two hours, and we just barely made it out of Playa Copal when the van stopped and a bunch of kids said "woah!" Another bus, about 100 feet in front of us, was completely stuck and almost cemented in the mud. It rained really heavily the night before, and in Costa Rica, like Georgia, when it rains it pours. The dirt road was now a mud road, and it was barely able to be used. So I sat in the van, waiting for someone to come and pull the bus out. But we waited, and we waited. No one came. And then our bus driver, Arnaldo, told us to get out. It would be a while.
So we were standing outside in the middle of nowhere, going nowhere, at 7 in the morning. But we started to play some group games to pass the time.
After about a half an hour, the bus was still stuck and some of the locals flocked to see what was going on. Probably since there was a slew of tourist-like beings in their quaint town. So they told us that help was coming, but that we couldn't move the bus that was stuck, and there was no way around the bus. So we had to walk a mile to get to our new bus, which meant walking in the mud and quicksand-like goo to get to the new bus. Needless to say I was going to need some new shoes.
So we walked to the spot past the bus where we were supposed to wait for a new bus. By now it was about 8:30, and we were all tired - and the hike hadn't even begun! It was hot and sticky, and everyone was annoyed. But it just made me think about something. When we have a problem with traffic in America, we just call the tow truck and they are there in less than 10 minutes. We later found out that the bus was removed several hours later. They have little ways of getting that kind of help, and it happens to them a lot more often - and more severely - than it does to us.
When our replacement bus came, everyone erupted in cheerful joy. And then we were off to Rincon de la Vieja.
Once there, we embarked on our 3-hour hike through the mountains. And we stopped at different natural hot springs throughout. The mountain was a volcano that stopped erupting in the 1990s and we got to see the sulfuric springs that were there. Some of them reached temperatures of 248 degrees F - enough to sufficiently burn yourself - and they smelled nasty. But I got some amazing pictures of the interesting trees, the wildlife - iguanas, monkeys, the works - and later we got to go to some hot springs of our own.
We drove a few minutes down the mountain to get to the other hot springs where people can go in. It is made of natural water from the real springs, but filtered into the man-manipulated nature (it's not really man-made). There were three pools - one was hot tub temperature, the other was hotter than a hot tub, and the man made river was ice cold. Which was nice when you wanted a break from the heat. So we got to relax in the beautiful hot springs and enjoy the quaint beauty of a place that tourists don't really get to see. Untouched nature.
After that, we went home and the Wifi stopped working at the tree house. So I was going to call home, but my SIM card died and there was no way to fix it. So I'm phoneless and Wifi-less. It's going to be an even more interesting time.
But tomorrow morning we have another before-the-sun-comes-up wake-up time, so I better go. And if you thought today was crazy, wait until tomorrow. Pura vida!
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