A week later!

I have been busy! The students and I spent three days of orientation, learning to ride buses around San Jose, figuring out how to order food in the local cafes (sodas), and getting to know each other. On Sunday, Feb. 1 we took a bus to Volcan Irazu; the old capital of CR, Cartago, to see the very famous Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles, a very famous and popular pilgrimage place to Catholics in CR; and to the old city of Orosi. The countryside was beautiful, but the only pictures I got of it were from the bus--not so flattering in blur. I have posted some pics of the volcano and the church. Later that night at Mesoamerica, we all watched the Superbowl and ate pizza.

Groundhog's Day brought with it classes, mine included (homework was a composicion on Groundhog's Day since my teacher thought that was a funny thing to celebrate), and the reality that we were all really here to study and learn--not just play. Landis arrived on Wednesday, Thursday the entire group went on a walkabout through the University of Costa Rica and the San Pedro area, and early on Friday, we all climbed aboard our small bus for the 5 hour ride to Manuel Antonio National Park (with a couple of stops included to see crocodilos and have some lunch in Quepos).

The scenery was some of the most beautiful I've seen, full of steep, winding roads and very diverse vegetation--some parts like northern CA, other parts like East TN. MA is only about 100 miles from San Jose (the distance to Charlotte from my house), yet it takes so long because of the conditions of the roads and the traffic. But it is worth the wait. I've posted some pics of our hotel (much posher than I had expected), the park, and the beach (at sunset and otherwise). On Saturday we arrived at the park for a guided hike (very hot and humid), where we saw Squirrel and Howler monkeys, lizards, a bat, two sloths (a 2-toed and a 3-toed)--all very cool, but also touristy in some ways. The park limits the number of people in the park, so that's good. We also could opt to stay in the park all day to explore the areas we didn't go to--as long as we stayed on the trails and out of the reach of the snakes (just a few kinds of vipers and constrictors). No problem!

We had nothing planned for Sunday, so most of the kids slept in. I spent most of the early morning watching Capuchin monkeys playing in the trees next to our outdoor breakfast area. They were harassing the resident sloth and trying to drop coconuts on the tourists taking pictures. I relaxed at the beach in the shade, read, and swam a bit. We all practiced our Spanish, ate some fine food, and met far too many English-speaking tourists--but it was a nice weekend away from the hustle and bustle of San Jose. Yesterday it was back to work. On Friday, Landis and I are heading out to the cloud forests of Monteverde for a little ziplining and nature walks. I'll update next week. Hasta Luego.