Days 11 & 12: Family stays. Profes rest.

Hola!

Today was the first full day of family stays for the students on our trip.  It was also the first day we all got to sleep in.  Phew!  We profes awoke unusually early out of habit (and because of the sun shining brightly and the birds chirping loudly) but took our time in getting ready for the day.

The first day, we took a bus in to the downtown area of San Jose and *tried* to navigate our way around.  This was made difficult by the fact that only a handful of streets actually have signs.  Trying to find the Jade Museum was incredibly difficult, especially given the fact that it's on the first floor of an insurance company's office building.  Hmmm.  The museum itself was great, though, once we finally found it.

Our next stop: Quiznos (don't judge).  Because when you need a sandwich, you need a sandwich.  I believe that even more than our craving for some American food, it was fate that led us to that Quiznos.  Reason #1: they sold French fries with their sandwiches at this location, which we took full advantage of.  Reason #2: we ran into a Costa Rican man with a Green Bay Packers t-shirt on.  For those of you who are keeping track, that would be the second Packers connection down here in Costa Rica so far.  We of course talked to this man, who was extremely nice and said that he's been a long time Packer Backer.  He and Profe Olson exchanged info and hope to reunite in Green Bay one day for a game.

After a nice, long siesta (it was HOT out!), we grabbed some dinner at a place called Jazz Cafe.  Lesson #1 about a place called "Jazz Cafe" in Costa Rica: don't expect actual jazz music.  The band that opened, though admittedly not at all in any way jazzy, was great and kept us entertained.  The second act was a solo performer from Spain who played guitar and sang. 

Today, Sunday, we woke up bright and early to help our tour guide, Jeff (who was with us for two days most recently, after Ricky) plant trees.  I wish I loved anything as much as Jeff loves trees.  It's really hard not to get excited when Jeff talks about trees, because he just loves them so darn much.  It's contagious.  We took a bus out to Tres Rios, a nearby community in which Jeff lives, to meet him and his crew.  After introductions (and meeting a 75 year-old man who is as strong as an ox and has a crushing handshake), we loaded up Jeff's SUV and headed up to the mountains to get our plant on.

The mountainside was just that: the side of a mountain.  Steep, overgrown with brush, weeds, and ferns, and wet and slippery from that morning's dew and the slight drizzle that continued for most of our time there.  Jeff handed us each a shovel and a machete (no joke) and we began hauling young trees from the shed out to the hillside.  The next step was to clear the land of overgrowth so that the trees wouldn't have to compete so much for water and space.  This was both my and Erik's first time with a machete, and we were surprised by the lack of wrist strap to prevent the machete from flying out of our hand if it were to slip.  If Wii controllers, cameras, and racquetball racquets all have wrist straps, one would think that machetes would, but this is actually not the case.  Needless to say, we kept a safe distance from anyone wielding a machete and held on to ours for dear life.  This was exceptionally fun work for us, being the machete rookies that we were, and we got really into it.

The second step was to dig a hole and plant the trees.  While not as exciting as swinging a machete back and forth and watching foliage fly, it was important work.  I have to say, though, that the concept of planting all 100 trees with just the 8 of us was overwhelming.  Then, we saw them marching like ants up the road below: kids- a lot of them.  Maybe 30 of them, all Boy and Girl Scouts in blue uniforms, plus at least 10 parent volunteers and troop leaders.  We gratefully handed our machetes over to them...wait...no, that didn't happen.  Jeff gave them a big welcome speech, talked about the importance of reforestation, and gave them a lesson in tree planting.  Then, they got to work.  They were enthusiastic and hard-working and had the place reforested in no time.

After saying our good-byes to the helpful Scouts, Jeff drove us to a potential client's house for a "business lunch" provided by them.  The place turned out to be a mansion/museum-like place in probably the most affluent part of San Jose.  We had to make it past the guards at the gate of this community, and had a security guard escort us to our final destination.  We showed up to this pristine house with original artwork and not a speck of dust or dirt to be found after having spent 4 hours planting trees in the jungle.  After apologizing profusely for our dirtiness, we tiptoed our way through the house to the patio out back and were treated to a nice lunch.  Jeff and John talked quite a bit about trees, where and what kinds to plant, while Erik and I chatted with Maria.  After lunch, Jose from next door came over.  It turns out that he owns a coffee plantation that sells to Starbucks.  You can imagine how wide my eyes got upon learning this.  I did a terrible job of masking my enthusiasm for coffee, and he ran next door and came back with a bag of freshly roasted seeds for me.  I felt like I had just won the lottery.

To conclude our San Jose adventure, Erik and I hit up the opera at the Teatro Nacional.  It was a great show and a fitting end to our trip: we heard the fat lady sing.  Now it's time to pack and get ready for our trip home tomorrow.  There have been many firsts for both of us on this trip, as well as for the kids, and we have learned so much and gained a wider perspective of the world.  I hope that you have enjoyed reading this as much as we have enjoyed the experiences and recounting them to you.  The kids have been a dream to travel with- we could not have asked for a better group.  They made our job easy, taught us many new things, and made us laugh uncontrollably.  Heck, they even planned Profe Olson's wedding.  ;)  We look forward to seeing you tomorrow night at about 10:20 PM.

Hasta manana,

Profe Simmons and Olson

Day 10: Doka Estate and Sarchi

Hola!

Today was the day I was most looking forward to, given my fondness for coffee: a tour of the Doka Estate, a coffee plantation in Alajuela.  We were taken through the fields and then into the production area and explained the various steps of coffee production, from harvesting the red berries to roasting the seed.  A common misconception (and one that I admit to having had) is that the coffee that we buy is a coffee bean.  We were informed that it's actually a seed.  Good to know. 

At the end of our tour, we were shown to the gift shop, where they had the best buffet ever: 6 different varieties of coffee, all of which are produced and sold at the estate.  After sampling them all, I of course liked the most expensive one, the peaberry.  At only $1 more per bag than the others, though, it was not a hard sell.  Many of us stocked up on coffee, enough to keep us caffeinated into next year.  We then enjoyed a buffet lunch at the estate and spent some time in the butterfly garden down below. 

Our bus then brought us back to San Jose, stopping along the way at several gift shops in the town of Sarchi.  We spent a good 2 hours shopping, and then marveled at the world's largest ox cart on the way out of town. 

Upon arrival back in San Jose, students were dropped off at their host family's houses and we said our good-byes to them for the weekend. 

Thanks for reading!

Profe Simmons and Olson

Day 9: Irazu Volcano, Lankaster Botanical Gardens, and Cartago

Hola a todos!

Today we started out with breakfast with our host families (cream cheese-filled French toast with mango...the best breakfast ever was what we had for our last meal with our host mom, Marcela) and then met our new tour guide, Jeff, and driver, Fabio.  Jeff is originally from Massachusetts and moved to Costa Rica 32 years ago.  His English is perfect and his Spanish is pretty darn good, and he's extremely knowledgeable about Costa Rica and its plant and animal life, but he's not the kind of guide that will spontaneously break into a fast-paced Spanish rap like our last tour guide, Ricky.  We still liked him, though.

The whole group met at Marcela's house to load up the bus and head to Irazu Volcano, our first stop.  The fog lifted JUST in time for us to see the crater lake at the top of this magnificent volcano.  It was over 11,000 feet above sea level, so it was a bit colder than we were used to (which was actually refreshing after so many days of jungle heat and humidity), and the air was thinner, making running more difficult.  But, the views were spectacular. 

Our next stop was the Lankaster Botanical Garden, which was full of interesting plants, trees, and flowers.  We started with Costa Rican flora and fauna, including many beautiful orchids (one orchid no larger than a pin head), and also saw the Japanese portion of the garden which was donated by Japan.  We all got some good practice at using the macro feature of our digital cameras!

After that, we stopped by the ruins of a 500 year-old church in the former Costa Rican capital of Cartago.  Only the brick walls and facade remained, as well as the altar with a stone cross on it.  We explored a bit, took a group picture, and then boarded the bus again.  Today was a day of many bus rides. 

The real cathedral in the city of Cartagos was our next stop.  It is said to be the holiest site in Costa Rica, with people making a pilgramage to it from San Jose every August 2nd.  In the basement we were able to see a vast series of tropy cases with thing like medals, trophies, metal representations of body parts that had been healed, and all sorts of other things that people had donated, accrediting their success or healing to Nuestra Senora de los Angeles, the patron Saint of this church. 

Our trip back to San Jose lasted about an hour and a half.  Marcela boarded the bus to direct the bus driver to the house of every host family.  We said our good-byes and then Erik and I were driven back to our hotel by our tour guide, Jeff.  On the way, we saw a license plate with a Green Bay Packers license plate frame, which made Erik really excited.  It was fun to have a hometown connection all the way down here in Costa Rica. 

Thanks for reading!

Profe Simmons and Olson

Day 8: Isla Tortuga & Family Stay

Hola!

Today we had the opportunity to go to paradise on earth.  It is an island called Isla Tortuga, or Turtle Island, and it surpassed any expectations we might have had for it.  We boarded a really nice catamaran with sturdy nets up front for people to sit or lay on and began our voyage from Puntarenas to Isla Tortuga.  The trip lasted about an hour, and the workers on the boat brought us beverages and fresh pineapple, watermelon, and papaya to keep us hydrated in the hot sunlight.  From the boat, we were able to see a pod of dolphins jumping playfully out of the water, and the sight of the beach from the distance was tantalizing.

When we arrived at the beach, the crew pulled out a foot bridge for us and quickly began unloading and setting up all the necessary supplies for a shore lunch.  We occupied ourselves by playing sand volleyball, applying and re-appplying sunscreen, burying kids who wanted to be buried with sand, and playing with Sofia, an unusually tame and friendly wild boar that hung around our area and took multiple siestas throughout our time there.

The whole place was set up like an island cafe, with a giant hut with a thatched roof and wooden pillars, picnic benches with tablecloths, a kitchen area with a gigantic grill, and a bar area for us to take advantage of all the pop we could stomach. 

Our time there (about 4 hours) flew by, and it was difficult to say good-bye, but we were pretty burnt out...some in more ways than one.  ;)  The boat ride home was our last opportunity to soak in every moment of this tremendous excursion- potentially the exact type of thing that the saying "Pura vida" was meant for.

Upon arrival back at the port, we changed out of our beach clothes and into more appropriate attire in order to meet our host families.  We drove about 2 hours to San Jose and were surprised that most kids did not sleep on this bus ride, which we were sure they would, having been out in the sun for a good 6 hours (including the boat ride there and back).  I think the anticipation of meeting their new host families might have kept some of them up.   In any case, we had a great time listening to Spanish music (Erik held my iPod earphones up to the tour guide's microphone so that all could hear what was playing) and marveling at traffic in San Jose.

Bad traffic was complicated by the fact that there are no street names or numbers in San Jose- people get places by using landmarks.  For example, a house might be described as being 500 km west of the cathedral, 250 km north, and next to the brown house with the red door.  As you can imagine, this makes for some pretty interesting routes, especially when you throw in one-way streets and terrible traffic.  After getting sufficiently lost and asking several people for directions, the kids met their host families (with whom they'll live for the next 5 days), bade farewell to Ricky and Scooby (our tour guide and bus driver), and set out on the next portion of their Costa Rican adventure.

Erik and I had the opportunity to stay the first night with the mom who arranges all the family stays- Marcela.  She was hosting two students in our group, Olivia H. and Rachel K.  It was so much fun to get an insider's perspective of the first night of a family stay.  Marcela's helper, Milagros, had prepared a delicious meal of a rice casserole with vegetables and some type of soup to season it (cream of something, perhaps?), and served that along with delicious guacamole and rolls.  For dessert, homemade tiramisu.

After we were sufficiently stuffed, Marcela brought us across the street to the local grocery store, where she pointed out and told us the Spanish name of every single fruit and vegetable sold there.  It was awesome.  We were all totally exhausted and in need of a good night's sleep, but it was still interesting to hear Marcela's lesson on (especially) local fruits and vegetables.

We hobbled home and went to bed, and were asleep before our heads hit the pillow.

Thanks for reading!

Profes Simmons and Olson

Day 7: Monteverde and Puntarenas

Hola!

Today began with a power breakfast at our remote hotel, followed by a 25 minute drive to a zip line outfitter.  This place was even more remote than our hotel.  We pulled up, got set up with heavy, sturdy harnesses and helmets (which absolutely stunk to high heaven), and boarded a van to our first platform.  We got a 5 minute crash course in zip lining, and then climbed the staircase to the first platform.  To say I was nervous would be the understatement of the century.  Zip lining sounds like a great time until you're standing on a metal platform that you can see right through, 3/4 of the way up a 100 year-old tree in the rainforest, looking out onto nothing but treetops.  And then you see the person in front of you go gliding off into the distance, and it's your turn to go, and you really lose bladder control.  Okay, not really, but it's pretty scary at first.  At least to me...but I'm a total chicken.

Anyway, I'm happy to report that everyone in our group (including me) went without hesitation from one platform to the next.  There was a great variety of runs we went through- from short and sweet to exceptionally long- with the longest one being 2.2 miles.  There were runs that we did solo (a majority of them were solo runs), and there were others that we did with a partner.  Some runs went through the canopy, while others went high above it.  It was a total trip to be gliding through the air and see beautiful, exotic, colorful birds flying right alongside or in front of you.  There was also a run in which I could see one of our group members gliding through the air on the run that I had not yet reached.  It was exhilirating and terrifying and completely worthwhile.

The "surprise" at the end of our 13-run canopy tour was a tarzan swing.  This involved climbing up a staircase to about 4-5 stories high, getting hooked up to a long rope, and jumping off.  The workers at the zip line outfitter made us feel really safe by yelling, "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!" after pretty much everyone jumped off.  This was especially worrysome for the first person to jump, Profe Olson, who wasn't privy to the "joke" yet.   The rope caught us pretty soon after the initial jump, and then we began a long pendulum-like swing from one side to the other.  This resulted in a series of tummy tossers, but it was pretty darn cool.

Thanks for reading!

Profes Simmons and Olson

Day 6: La Fortuna and Monteverde

Hola otra vez!

Today was a little bit more of a relaxing day for everyone- we’ll call it the calm after the storm that we had the last couple days.  We woke up a little earlier than normal, but as we say in Spanish, "vale la pena" (it was worth it).  We arrived at La Fortuna Waterfall.  After seeing it from above and hearing such comments as “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” from our students, we took the long, steep hike down to see it from ground level.  Once we arrived at the bottom, the students all jumped into the water to swim with the fish.  The temperature of the water was....well we’ll just say it wasn’t quite as nice as the hot springs from last night.  At this point many students ventured up stream to get a closer look at the waterfall. 

It was truly amazing how powerful the waterfall was as it hit the creek below.  After taking pictures and enjoying the waterfall, we were reminded of a valuable lesson: what goes down must go back up.  Wait...that's not right.  We were reminded of the sobering fact that in order to get back to the bus, we would have to climb up the same steep stairs that we climbed down.  We did this, with little complaining on the part of the students, but rather acknowledgements that this would probably count as their workout for the day...or week...or month. 

After we had the chance to rest and catch our breath, we boarded the bus and headed towards a quaint mountain city named Monteverde.  First, we drove around the immense Lake Arenal, which was constructed around 40 years ago, and was built to be used as a source for hydrogen power.  They used dynamite to change the rountes of rivers for flow into the lake, and after a year it was full.  It sits in the shadows of the Arenal Volcano, and was actually made over the original city of Arenal.  The new city now rests about 20 miles away the lake.

The rest of the 4 hour bus ride gave us all an appreciation for roads in the United States.  If you think the pot holes in Minnesota are bad after a long winter, imagine this: a gravel road with pot holes every 50 yards or less.  Our bus, full of students, with all our luggage on the roof, weaving around to avoid pot holes, crossing narrow bridges and making hair pin turns, barely missing oncoming cars and trucks on the narrow mountain roads. Thankfully Scooby was able to keep the ride smooth enough so nobody became a victim to motion sickness.  In fact, many students were lulled to sleep by the bumpiness of the ride.  The views were amazing; some tried to capture them with photos, but neither photos nor words can adequately capture or describe the sights from this scenic drive.  A yellow-footed monkey (not the scientific name) as well as a live toucan were among the different kinds of animals that we saw in addition the the picturesque views.

Upon arrival at the Monteverde Inn (a small bed and breakfast with an unbelievable view) we were served lunch- buffet style with one long banquet table so that we could all eat as a group.  A little more than half the group decided to walk back to town in order to buy some gifts and explore the small town of Monteverde.  There were a lot of small shops, but most importantly, students had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the Costa Rican culture (and the few other English speaking tourists that were roaming around town).  We were accompanied by a German Shepard dog, which the students named Franz or Pablo, depending on who you ask.

It's hard to believe that our trip is halfway over!  We're looking forward to new adventures in the days to come.

Thanks for reading!

Profes Olson and Simmons

Day 5: Tirimbina Rainforest Center & La Fortuna

Hola a todos!

Today we awoke half excited and half nervous for the day's adventures.  Taking a group of 20 high school students white water rafting is the kind of thing that can keep a chaperone up all night.  That and noticing the silhouette of a gecko on the window right next to your bed as you're trying to fall asleep, running next door to solicit the help of your brave co-chaperone, then having to capture said gecko in a glass and run outside to release it into the wild.  But, I digress.  I had pictured one raft full of students and chaperones braving class 6 rapids with several waterfalls along the way.  I was unsure as to how we would do.  I'm happy to report that the guides split us into 4 different rafts with 5-6 students in each raft and an experienced guide in back.  We went through a safety training and practice, then hit the water.

The rapids were only class 1 and 2 (with a couple 3s mixed in), so the trip was much more enjoyable than it was nerve-wracking.  Our guides kept the calm parts of the river interesting by starting water wars with other rafts, resulting in all-out splashing contests.  The guide in our raft taught us that in order to win a water war, all one has to do is declare oneself the winner.  So, after each war, our group would raise our paddles high, joining them in the air, and yell, "WINNERS!"  Other groups did the same thing, but yelled, "PURA VIDA!!!"  Our guide also incorporated 3 "life lessons" in to our tour, which the kids thought was pretty cool.  They were: 1) find a wise person in your life and ask them all the questions you can to garner as much wisdom as possible from them, 2) be proactive in finding the perfect job that makes you happy, because it's out there somewhere, and 3) smile- it can get you a lot farther in life than you ever thought possible.  Halfway through the trip, we pulled over onto a beach and swam while our guides cut fresh pineapple and watermelon for us to feast on.  It was the perfect treat on a warm day on the water.

After the whitewater rafting adventure, we drove to La Fortuna and checked in at the hotel.  La Fortuna is a small, quaint city at the foot of the Arenal Volcano, which is still active.  It's actually the most active volcano in Costa Rica (but I'm happy to report that it decided not to erupt when we were there).  Our dinner was at a hot springs resort which was immense- multiple hot spring pools dotted the park amongst beautiful tropical gardens and paths, restaurants, and waterslides.  Each pool was kept to a specific temperature by adding a certain amount of cold water to the burning hot thermal water.  It was quite an experience!  We spent a couple of hours swimming, relaxing, and going down waterslides before heading back to the hotel.  By this time, it was 9:30 and the kids were understandably exhausted.

FYI: our internet access has been a bit shaky lately due to weather conditions, but we´ll continue to post as often as possible. 

Thanks for reading!

Profes Simmons and Olson