Wednesday, July 28, 2010

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!






















































Friday, July 16, 2010

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.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

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.