Buenos Dias, todos mi familia y amigos!! I can't get my computer to do the accents, so bear with my Spanish, por favor. I survived Valentine's Day without the love of my life, mi esposo, Richard, but I was so sad that I made Landis take me zip lining in the cloud forests of the Santa Elena Reserve in Monteverde. Well, not really. I DID miss my sweet husband, but Landis wanted to go, too. But before that experience, I'll back up a day or two. Classes are going well at Mesoamerica (our classroom facility). The students are beginning to realize that they are not in the Elon bubble anymore. Some are very happy about this, while others are missing family, friends, and American food. They have, however, discovered the mall and the cheap movies on Wednesdays. They all love their Tico families and talk about their hermanos/as and madres/padres all the time, but it is rough being here away from all the comforts of home. They haven't quite dug their heels in yet or gotten used to having to take Spanish every day as well as 2-3 other classes/practicums. On Thursday, we used my class time to visit the Museo Nacional (national museum of Costa Rica), and some of the students were disappointed because it wasn't as "fine-tuned" or well-presented as our museums back at home. We had an interesting discussion about the expectations we bring with us to a new place and culture. There was a fascinating art exhibit (that I didn't know about in advance)of oil and acrylic paintings of pulperias (the Costa Rican equivalent of our general stores.) These little stores are quaint and can be found across the rural areas of CR, but they are slowly but surely being replaced by the AM/PMs (7-11s) and the supermercados (supermarkets), so this was a very culturally meaningful exhibit. The students, however, didn't understand this until class on Tuesday, so many of them wished they had had this information before they had gone. Me, too. I still don't have pictures of the downtown area because I'm not in the habit of taking my camera downtown. Afterwards, we had lunch at a touristy but good restaurant called Nuestra Tierra. Most of the kids took off that afternoon for the town of Puerto Viejo (apparently where all the old hippies who left the US live), and Landis and I went to get our bus tickets to Monteverde. San Jose has several main bus terminals, and you have to find the one where the buses depart for your particular destination. For the trip to Monteverde, we had to go to Terminal San Carlos, in a fairly sketchy area of the city, past the central market and through neighborhoods where locals came to buy their produce (and probably drugs). In the daylight, it's not so scary, but I wouldn't walk around there at night. Bus tickets were $4.50 one way for a 5 hour bus ride (but only about 120 miles). Bright and early on Friday morning (5:45), Landis and I took a taxi back to the station and met mostly American and European tourists ready to board the bus. During the journey, many local people joined us. We left at 6:30 and arrived at Monteverde around 11:15. The buses are tour-like buses, but usually older vehicles with no air-conditioning--which you really don't need going into the mountains. We traveled mainly on larger highways on this excursion except for the last 24 miles or so; then the road was hard-packed dirt and gravel, winding, hairpin turns, and scary drop-offs, but the driver was obviously very experienced, and everyone drove v-e-r-y slowly (it took nearly 2 hours to go this last bit). The end of this road is the tiny village of Santa Elena (no pics of this either--I'll post some the next time I'm there), which is a small triangle of 3 roads, many hostels and hotels, and several restaurants/bars and information centers. After looking at our map, we decided that we could walk to our hotel--just a few blocks--no problem. What the map didn't show were the two really steep hills we had to navigtate to get there. We were so tired, but proud that we had hoofed it.The Hotel Montana Monteverde is situated on the crest of a ridge in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been (see pics). We had very basic rooms, but the location was amazing. The hotel owns a patch of forest and trails down below where we took several walks and saw coatis (odd-looking anteater/cat-tailed/monkey-looking critters who are so cute and didn't seemed very bothered by us), leaf cutter ants, a mother and baby sloth, and a gorgeous iridescent bluegreen Motmot bird. I've posted a video of the ants, but I have no pics of the others. Maybe another time. On Valentine's Day, the van from Selvatura tours picked us up at the hotel and took us to the Santa Elena Reserve for our canopy tour. This is an amazing place, and I highly recommend it. [A However Note: If you want to see animals other than humans, don't do this kind of thing. They have hummingbird, butterfly, and amphibian exhibits, but you'd be very fortunate to see anything while zipping or walking on the hanging bridges. If you want to see the cloudforest birds or animals, head to one of the smaller ecological sanctuaries or to the Monteverde Reserve and hire a guide.] We, however, had our priorities straight. Our goal for the day was to hang on large wires and careen through the cloud canopy. I've posted some pics of us in costume and a couple of videos of Landis and others on the Tarzan swing and zipping. Suffice it to say that it was very scary (I nearly backed out on the third platform), but exhilarating and so much fun!! If you get too scared, one of the guides will serve as your "taxi," and you don't have to do anything but hold on. This is not for people with vertigo, but once you learn to relax, sit, lean back, and work your free hand properly to brake and keep you from spinning around, this is a thrill of a lifetime. Landis met three French guys and decided to stay at the reserve and do the hanging bridges with them, but I went back to the hotel to read and enjoy the view. What an amazing day! On Sunday, we walked down into town after breakfast and toured the Serpentarium (you all know how much I love snakes :))and got to hold a beautiful Oriole snake. We had lunch and hung around downtown until the bus arrived at 2:30 (there are only 2 buses--one at 6:30 am and one at 2:30, so you don't want to miss yours), then back to the city. This time the ride took 6 hours because of "last weekend of the summer" traffic into San Jose and the fact that our bus driver agreed to drop the Tico riders off wherever they wanted--the airport, random corners, other bus stations . . . . We got back to the apartment around 8:30, in time to see the last half of The Amazing Race--which we sort felt like we had been on all weekend. Today (Wednesday), Landis is spending the day at El Volcan Arenal, hoping to see the mountain let off some steam and lava and then soak in the nearby hot springs (An interesting fact: all volcanoes in Spanish are male). I, on the other hand, had to go to Spanish class and meet with students (and update this blog). Our group gets to go there in April, though, so no worries. I have discovered Skype, so if anyone wants to try it, I'm usually on in the evenings here (Central Standard Time). Well, enough for today. We're heading to Tortuguero on Friday on an overnight tour, so I hope to have some good pictures of the land of the tortugas (turtles) next week. It's not turtle nesting or hatching season, but I hope we'll see lots of cool things. Adios from San Jose. Kathy
Wednesday, 18 February 2009
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, 31 January 2009
The students have arrived!
All of the students arrived on Thursday (and one on Friday) with all of their luggage--thank goodness! They met their Tica moms and seemed to have a good first experience with food and families. Of course, their first priority was to get "plugged in" and say hi to friends and families.
Yesterday we began with an orientation of San Jose and the program, took placement tests (written and oral) in Spanish, had lunch at a local restaurant, and had a downtown walking tour of San Jose. The restaurants are typically very small, but meals are great. I got the casado (means married), which is the "blue plate special" in CR. You get rice and black beans, salad (usually some sort of pickled cabbage and carrots), fried plantains, choice of fish, chicken, beef, or pork, and then an interesting mix of some sort of soft yellow fruit (don't know its name yet) and ground beef. All for 1700 colones--or about $3.00. Wonderful food on a budget!
I didn't take pics of downtown San Jose. We were a large group of gringos--so obvious that one student heard someone call out "field trip" when we were walking. Public displays of cameras might target us as easy marks. I'll try to post some later. The buildings in downtown SJ are sandwiched on either side of a 6-block pedestrian mall of shops, and large beautiful parks are everywhere. The streets were crowded since the children are not back in school yet, but our hosts told us that SJ is like this everyday. Not the most picturesque city I've ever been in, but there are some beautiful old buildings, and the people are fascinating.
After our walkabout, we returned to Mesoamerica to have a birthday party for the young man who was delayed by the storms in New Jersey and who had arrived while we were out. I've posted some pics of his birthday party and some of our students enjoying the large lounge at Meso. The Tico families came to walk or drive the students back home, and the kids were making plans for grocery shopping and nightly activities as I left for home.
Today, I'm meeting some for lunch at the mall, and we'll decide what to do afterwards--maybe take in a Saturday market or take in the local "culture" at the Hiper Mas (a Walmart, basically). Tomorrow we take a day trip to Cartago, Orosi, and Volcan Irazu (just like the coffee shop in Burlington, which is owned by a Costa Rican family). Small world.
I've put up a picture of the front of my apartment, and will post pictures of our real field trip when we get back.
Chao!
Yesterday we began with an orientation of San Jose and the program, took placement tests (written and oral) in Spanish, had lunch at a local restaurant, and had a downtown walking tour of San Jose. The restaurants are typically very small, but meals are great. I got the casado (means married), which is the "blue plate special" in CR. You get rice and black beans, salad (usually some sort of pickled cabbage and carrots), fried plantains, choice of fish, chicken, beef, or pork, and then an interesting mix of some sort of soft yellow fruit (don't know its name yet) and ground beef. All for 1700 colones--or about $3.00. Wonderful food on a budget!
I didn't take pics of downtown San Jose. We were a large group of gringos--so obvious that one student heard someone call out "field trip" when we were walking. Public displays of cameras might target us as easy marks. I'll try to post some later. The buildings in downtown SJ are sandwiched on either side of a 6-block pedestrian mall of shops, and large beautiful parks are everywhere. The streets were crowded since the children are not back in school yet, but our hosts told us that SJ is like this everyday. Not the most picturesque city I've ever been in, but there are some beautiful old buildings, and the people are fascinating.
After our walkabout, we returned to Mesoamerica to have a birthday party for the young man who was delayed by the storms in New Jersey and who had arrived while we were out. I've posted some pics of his birthday party and some of our students enjoying the large lounge at Meso. The Tico families came to walk or drive the students back home, and the kids were making plans for grocery shopping and nightly activities as I left for home.
Today, I'm meeting some for lunch at the mall, and we'll decide what to do afterwards--maybe take in a Saturday market or take in the local "culture" at the Hiper Mas (a Walmart, basically). Tomorrow we take a day trip to Cartago, Orosi, and Volcan Irazu (just like the coffee shop in Burlington, which is owned by a Costa Rican family). Small world.
I've put up a picture of the front of my apartment, and will post pictures of our real field trip when we get back.
Chao!
Thursday, 29 January 2009
Hola desde Costa Rica! Although we have a class blog (http://eloncostaricaspring2009.blogspot.com), I wanted to do an individual one for my friends and family. This is the easiest way for me to communicate what an exciting experience this has been so far (and I'm sure will continue to be)without doing individual e-mails that ask, "How are you doing?" So, welcome to my Tica blog!
I arrived in San Jose a week ago, and while I've not had any problems with food, I was really tired for the several days, even though we're only one hour behind EST. I think it's a combination of the excitement of travel, being away from the comforts of home and family (I miss you guys!!), and the altitude. I have much more energy now and have been doing quite a bit of exploring and random riding of buses, which I've found to be the cheapest way of getting around (35 cents a ride around the city). I got on the wrong bus yesterday and ended up in a surburb, miles away from where I wanted to be, so I just got off, got on another bus, and made it to my destination, and it was fun to note the differences in the neighborhoods and see and listen to the people.
The apartment I am living in is in a lovely part of Los Yoses (a suburb of SJ) and is huge, so I find myself wandering around in a lot of quiet space. At least until the evenings, when my neighbors' kids kick into high gear. There's a lovely fountain in the back courtyard where I usually have my morning coffee with Scottie, the puppy who lives behind my apt. He is a rascal and loves to play. He doesn't quite make up for Ms. Kitana, my sheltie at home, but it's company. When I first arrived, I was a little unnerved by the gates on the houses--all the locks and bolts. Apparently crime is not rampant (you do have to be very careful in certain parts of the city and after dark), but muggings are on the increase--the economy and all--so I think it must be a combination of prevention and a competition to see who has the most impressive ironwork. The flowers are very tropical and beautiful, and the birds sing all day.
I very much miss my family and friends, but will see Landis in February and Rich and Roth in March, as well as friends who are promising to visit. The weather has been a bit cooler than is seasonal here, but usually the skies are Carolina (Costa Rican?)blue, w/soft to medium breezes, and around 70-80 degrees. San Jose is in the Central Vally region, so it's not very humid here, and can get very chilly at night. Sorry, I know it's been nasty at home. The other things I miss (for those of you who know me well) are my television shows. Non US residents can't view episodes of any shows online, so when Lost airs and the Amazing race starts in a couple of weeks, I'll be sad. I think I'll be downloading a lot this summer! I do get CNN, HGTV, HBO and CineMax, Travel Channel--and several others. Many of the others are either Spanish shows or are dubbed in Spanish though, and mine is not good enough to get the gist yet. The most fascinating ones to watch are those in English with Spanish subtitles--a good way to learn how things are translated.
Costa Rican food is delicious, and I've been cooking a lot--and hope to work it off with all the walking I've been doing. The pastries are especially yummy! Many of you know that I had toe surgery 6 weeks ago, so my toe speaks to me loudly in the late afternoons, and I've trying to limit walking and keep off of it when I can, but it improves every day. The students arrive this afternoon, so my life gets kicked up a notch now. I've really enjoyed getting to know the people Elon works with down here, Linda and Cliff Holland and their staff at Mesoamerica. They've been so nice and patient with me--when I lost a set of keys my first two days here, retelling me directions and bus information, and encouraging me to use my Spanish (a word here--if you think your high school/college--or even El Centro Spanish will work easily down here, think again. It's a whole new world when you have to listen and respond to those not using your language. This has been the biggest challenge so far.)
Feel free to comment on the blog. I'll post pictures of the apartment, Mesoamerica, and places we visit, and I've put a few up now from a day trip I took with a former Greensboro College student, Ana Solano, who took me around her hometown of Heredia on Sunday, as well as to a biodiversity park.
Hola a todos! Hasta luego.
Kathy
I arrived in San Jose a week ago, and while I've not had any problems with food, I was really tired for the several days, even though we're only one hour behind EST. I think it's a combination of the excitement of travel, being away from the comforts of home and family (I miss you guys!!), and the altitude. I have much more energy now and have been doing quite a bit of exploring and random riding of buses, which I've found to be the cheapest way of getting around (35 cents a ride around the city). I got on the wrong bus yesterday and ended up in a surburb, miles away from where I wanted to be, so I just got off, got on another bus, and made it to my destination, and it was fun to note the differences in the neighborhoods and see and listen to the people.
The apartment I am living in is in a lovely part of Los Yoses (a suburb of SJ) and is huge, so I find myself wandering around in a lot of quiet space. At least until the evenings, when my neighbors' kids kick into high gear. There's a lovely fountain in the back courtyard where I usually have my morning coffee with Scottie, the puppy who lives behind my apt. He is a rascal and loves to play. He doesn't quite make up for Ms. Kitana, my sheltie at home, but it's company. When I first arrived, I was a little unnerved by the gates on the houses--all the locks and bolts. Apparently crime is not rampant (you do have to be very careful in certain parts of the city and after dark), but muggings are on the increase--the economy and all--so I think it must be a combination of prevention and a competition to see who has the most impressive ironwork. The flowers are very tropical and beautiful, and the birds sing all day.
I very much miss my family and friends, but will see Landis in February and Rich and Roth in March, as well as friends who are promising to visit. The weather has been a bit cooler than is seasonal here, but usually the skies are Carolina (Costa Rican?)blue, w/soft to medium breezes, and around 70-80 degrees. San Jose is in the Central Vally region, so it's not very humid here, and can get very chilly at night. Sorry, I know it's been nasty at home. The other things I miss (for those of you who know me well) are my television shows. Non US residents can't view episodes of any shows online, so when Lost airs and the Amazing race starts in a couple of weeks, I'll be sad. I think I'll be downloading a lot this summer! I do get CNN, HGTV, HBO and CineMax, Travel Channel--and several others. Many of the others are either Spanish shows or are dubbed in Spanish though, and mine is not good enough to get the gist yet. The most fascinating ones to watch are those in English with Spanish subtitles--a good way to learn how things are translated.
Costa Rican food is delicious, and I've been cooking a lot--and hope to work it off with all the walking I've been doing. The pastries are especially yummy! Many of you know that I had toe surgery 6 weeks ago, so my toe speaks to me loudly in the late afternoons, and I've trying to limit walking and keep off of it when I can, but it improves every day. The students arrive this afternoon, so my life gets kicked up a notch now. I've really enjoyed getting to know the people Elon works with down here, Linda and Cliff Holland and their staff at Mesoamerica. They've been so nice and patient with me--when I lost a set of keys my first two days here, retelling me directions and bus information, and encouraging me to use my Spanish (a word here--if you think your high school/college--or even El Centro Spanish will work easily down here, think again. It's a whole new world when you have to listen and respond to those not using your language. This has been the biggest challenge so far.)
Feel free to comment on the blog. I'll post pictures of the apartment, Mesoamerica, and places we visit, and I've put a few up now from a day trip I took with a former Greensboro College student, Ana Solano, who took me around her hometown of Heredia on Sunday, as well as to a biodiversity park.
Hola a todos! Hasta luego.
Kathy
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