Here are a few pics from the change over, our studnets with their new host siblings! Everyone is settling in this week, and starting the process of adaptation all over again!

el norte

It was an adventure filled week as Sarah and I traveled north to visit Alan, Maddy, JoAnna, Rachel, and Davita. We missed Jamie who was out and about with her host family, but enjoyed unexpected time with Carlie who was visiting Guyabo from San Jose.

We had a beautiful drive through the Rincon de la Vieja national park with Alan, Maddy, and Carlie, and then took a horseback ride to some waterfalls. We swam in the falls, saw butterflies, including a Morpho, and Maddy and Alan found the biggest spider yet! Later we spent the evening swimming and cavorting with the host siblings in the hot spring pools of a near by hotel. A great day in all!

We dropped down to Venecia in the the San Carlos province where we celebrated the birthdays of JoAnna and her host sister with a lunch party and a trip to the caves at Venado. We were kitted out with rubber boots, hard hats, and flashlights before entering the narrow, wet, twisty darkness of the cave. There were all kinds of ave dwellers, bats, spiders, and huge strange crickets, but we all survived unscathed. It was pretty great to hear the happy birthday song reverberating through the cavern.

San Jose

We visited with Kayla, Keziah, Carlie, Ben and Nick who all live in and around San Jose. We met at the Plaza de la Cultura and did as the Tico's do and fed the pigeons. We later went to the Gold Museum and admired the pre-columbian art and learned about the history of money in Costa Rica; fun and educational!

Volcan Poas

Sarah and I traveled to Palmares to vist with the students there: Amelia, Andrei, Alyssa, and Kai. We decided that an outing to one of Costa Rica's active volcanoes would be interesting, and so we set off on an extravaganza of public transportation. We spent the first hour standing up on the bus, but managed to arrive in good spirits. We were lucky, aparently, to get a clear day and we were able to see the crater.

Alive and Well

The technology is finally working with me! Here are most of the travelers with their host families , a few managed to evade my camera or leave before I remembered that I had it!

Our first night lodging, at a training center for one of the countries cooperatives

Shanice and "Tosty"

Keziah and Eilin

Maddy and Carlie and families.

Serena and Fabiola

Andrei and Brandon

Amelia and Fiorella

Carlie and Juliane

Kayla and Mauricio

Alyssa and Maria Susana

Kai and Gabriel

Jamie and Sofia

Rachel and Maria Nela

JoAnna and Natalia

Davita and Derlin

I spent some time on the phone yesterday and found that everyone is settling in well and enjoying school. The Costa Ricans are in their finals right now, and I found that a lot of the travelers were helping them study, biology seemed to be the topic of chocie yesterday. I also was able to visit with Rachel and Jamie. Rachel lives high in the hills above the town of Venecia, and there are incredible views of the plains of San Carlos on her daily bus ride to school. Jamie I found playing cards with her young siblings on the porch and watching an amazing lighting storm roll through the valley while listening to toe song of the toads in the background. They sound like owls here, much more musical than in Oregon!

Arrival in Costa Rica

Everything went as smoothly as can be imagined for our flight down and first night in Costa Rica! Although it was a long two days of traveling for some, everyone is settled in with their families tonight. I am having a bit of trouble uploading the photos that I took of the students with their families, but hope that I can get my technology settled in soon. Meanwhile, here a snippet of video from the plane at touch down.

Verano en Costa Rica

Hello All!

I am very excited to be traveling to Costa Rica this summer as one of two chaperones for the Partners of the America's Oregon-Costa Rica exchange program. Sarah and I are traveling with twenty-two amazing students, and I am establishing this blog to share information, updates, and photographs of our adventures.

We will be traveling south on June 19th, flying from Portland to Houston, and then on to San Jose, where we are scheduled to arrive at Juan Santamaria International Airport at 8:40pm. We will be transferring to a hotel for the night, and meeting our host families the next day. I hope to be able to update this site with our arrival information and any news on the 20th!

Sarah Jean