Playa Hermosa, Guanacaste
Jordan The Mermaid
June 29, 2011 La Fortuna to Guanacaste…..Semi Home Stretch
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Semi Home Stretch
Playa Hermosa, Guanacaste Jordan The Mermaid
La Fortuna.... "Soakin' it in
La Fortuna Waterfall
Baldi Hot Springs swim up Bar
June 28, 2011 La Fortuna…… “ Soakin’” it in
The morning’s festivities in La Fortuna kicked off with the standard eggs, pancakes, and fruit buffet, and a gorgeous view of the Arenal Volcano looking along the path lining the cabins, through the tropical vegetation. A ten minute bus ride, pass Rogel’s (our bus driver) mansion that he kindly welcomed with a honk each time we passed, landed us at Lake Arenal. Mom and I got our teamwork together, agreed upon our rowing commands, and boarded the two-man kayak for the 30 minute one way excursion to the swimming hole. The majority of the students participated, and for some of the teachers who opted out, the boat followed us as our guide Julio lead us around a tiny portion of Central America’s second largest lake. After the swimming stop, spanning 30 minutes, we headed back toward the dock. Wanting exercise, Mom and I would rotate sprinting out the paddling, and taking it easy, while still enjoying our surroundings. That took care of the arm workout for the day, and after lunch, we tackled the leg workout. We trekked down 480 stairs to reach La Fortuna waterfall, and to give the kids a chance to swim in the water. The water, much too cold for me, was beautifully cascading down the cliffside, and was perfect for photo ops. The real challenge laid on the way up as we all broke a sweat, and then treated ourselves to ice cream and water at the top at the waterfall store, which was very conveniently placed….
The afternoon adventure consisted of a stop in the town of La Fortuna, located just a 7 minute drive from our lodge. Knowing that Costa Rican coffee is some of the best in the world, several of us knew we wanted to buy some coffee to take home with us. There was a coffee shop located adjacent to the church called Earth Coffee. The owner of the plantation was in the shop, and told us that his plantation is located just outside of San Jose at an elevation of 6,000 feet, which according to one of his co workers, is one of the prime locations in the world. The coffee sample was delicious, yet due to the heat, Mom and I and some of the kids decided to indulge in a coffee/milkshake that was delightful itself. Mary, Mom, and I sat on the chairs outside, and began to converse with the other worker, only to find out that he and his family won the reality TV show “ Under One Roof” meaning that they won the home on the show in Fiji. Random? Yep.
Due to the physicality of the day, our nighttime trek was to the hot springs, for with La Fortuna is known. The spa we chose was called Baldi, and it was extremely relaxing. For about 2 and a half hours, we spa hopped, testing out the different temperatures of water, letting the man made waterfalls massage our backs, and fighting off naps while the jets soothed our muscles. These were not natural springs, but they did the trick because we all slept well despite the lightning and thundershowers during the night.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
A Zippin' and a Hikin'
Lake Arenal
Arenal Volcano
Iguana
Ready to zip line!
June 27 Sarapiquí de Puerto Viejo to la Fortuna…A Zippin´and a Hikin´
From Sarapiquí, we loaded up the bus again with Rogel at the wheel to head toward La Fortuna. A pit stop at ¨The Green Iguana¨ where we saw upwards of thiry iguanas roaming the riverbead around a little gift shop, and around the porch, preceeded our arrival into La Fortuna. Pulling into the town, we were in amazement at the size of Arenal Volcano, an active volcano, and thankful that we had arrived after seeing it for so long in the distance. After lunch, and a quick nap, we took off for a hike to get a better view of the volcano, and to a lookout where we could see Lake Arenal, an engineered lake that provides electricity to 60% of the country of Costa Rica. The hike took about a half an hour in, and a half an hour out, plus time for photo ops at the ¨mirador.¨ Tired, and with naps on the mind before dinner, Margel, surprised us by saying we were going to stop for an hour in the town of La Fortuna. A cute little town, that is one of the most turistic in the country, we only perused the shops around the central plaza, which of course was located in front of the Catholic Church. A thunder shower, and pouring down rain put an end to our time in the town, although we had all learned early that we must always carry a rain coat with us! Pasta, salad, and garlic bread rounded out the evening, as did many laughs with Brian, a tour guide from Maryland, Mary, my Mom, and I.
A Little Flash of Adrenaline in Sarapiquí
With our cute little guide Luís
Margel, our tour guide, and Mikel, one of the workers at La Baula Lodge
Loving the rafting!!!!
Um, we were guideless, and didn´t know it!!!!
Mom was the life of the party!June 26 Tortuguero to Sarapiquí…a little flash of Adrenaline
An early rise, and a goodbye to the incredible staff at La Baula Lodge started off our day of adventure. There is definitely a water theme here in Costa Rica, as we took the water taxi from our hotel through the canals, and were dropped off again near the Nicaraguan border to catch our tourbus again. We drove for seveal hours, stopping for a bathroom break in Guapiles, and then on to Sarapiquí (otherwise known as Puerto Viejo). Upon arrival here to the Ara Ambigua Lodge, of course ATE, and then hung around exploring the grounds of the lodge until departure time for white water rafting. Overall, this country´s flora and fauna is incomparable to any other place I have been. The exotic flowers even here at the lodge coupled with the animals make for spectacular scenery. At any rate, we boarded the bus after hitting up the ATM and headed for an adventure!!! It was not included in the original itinerary, but was mentioned yesterday, and the students seemed interested, so we headed off toward the Río Puerto Viejo. We picked up a guide (a Chilean) from the Aventuras de Sarapiquí company, and he briefed us on our adventure before hitting the water. After gearing up with fashionable helmets and life vests, we split into groups of six, each with our guide, and were ready to brave the rapids.
I fell in love with our little 20 year old guide Luís, who spoke very little English, but had a gorgeous smile J. Lucky for me, and for him because of his broken English, I got to sit next to him in the rear of the raft. After informing him that I was the students´Spanish teacher, instead of saying the commands in English, he said them in Spanish, so they could all learn. I must say, we got good at ¨Lean In¨ ,because that means to get off the side of the boat, crouch down, stick your paddle in the air, and say a prayer that you make it through the rough patch. Toward the end of the ride, once Luís didn´t hate us because we sucked at paddling, he was fearfully calling ¨Lean In¨ when it wasn´t necessary, just so he could laugh at us.
As fearful as I was that I signed my life away for the five minors, who needed a Guardian´s signature, my fears increased after two minutes into the trip, I looked up after the first rapids to the guide in the boat in front of us laughing and pointing at us. After some confusion, we realized that we were guideless in our raft…Luís was overboard!!!!!! After that, and getting stuck on two rocks, I was questioning his trustworthiness. However, his smile and great nature made up for that!!! At one point, he even allowed us to all hop out of the raft and swim around a bit to cool off. After the students begged me to join, I looked up to see my Mom tipping backward off her end of the raft, wide eyed! Lauren, the sneaky one that she is, had pulled her off! After that, it was a splashing war between us and the other rafts, and between us and Luís. I gave him full permission to play any tricks on my Mom that he wanted, and she was definitely the life of the party, navigating her way around our conversation with her little Spanish, and yelling ¨Puta Vida¨(woops) instead of ¨Pura Vida¨with the rest of us (the ¨t¨adds a different meaning…a bad one J). A pineapple and watermelon break preceeded the last 40 minutes of the trip, which left us with some great laughs, and lasting memories. My favorite part was seeing the smiles on all of my students´faces, and hearing how much they enjoyed the activity. Can hardly wait for tomorrow…zip lining!!!
Saturday, June 25, 2011
In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle
The crew after the muddy hike on which we saw no wildlife.
Showing off our stylin´boots!
Golden Silk Spider
Getting ready for some bird huntin´
Wonder what this caiman is thinking?
White Faced Capuchin Monkey....soo in love with these fellas!
Green IguanaJune 25, 2011 Tortuguero, Costa Rica….In the jungle, the mighty jungle….
Following up a well deserved night´s rest after the expedition in search of the nesting 650 pound turtle, we walked outside of our lodge room to see what an incredible morning it was for crusing down the canals, in the National Park of Tortuguero in search of wildlife. The West Valley crew loaded an open air boat driven by Juan Carlos and guided by Margel, after applying sunscreen of course, in hopes of spotting creatures alongside the canals. For three hours, we wound through the canals at a leisurly pace, appreciating every moment in this wildlife sanctuary. Margel told us that this country used to be more diverse, animal and plant wise, before the building of the Panama Canal, which split Central and South America. For example, there are only four species of monkeys found in Costa Rica, and upwards of thirteen in South American countries. Before this journey, I had always been suspicious of monkeys, and what they were up too, as I guess many people are seeing that they are known as the ¨diablos de la selva¨, or ¨devils of the jungle¨. However, I think I have fallen in love with these cute little devils, after watching a group of about six White Faced Capuchin Monkeys swinging through the trees, cracking and sucking the juice out of fruit, and listening to the Howler Monkeys make uncharacteristicly loud Gorilla-ish noises for such a small twelve pound animal. The sounds the Howler Monkeys make can be assimiliated to the scariest animal noise you can picture from a horror movie…..just amazing! In addition to the monkey sightings, which at first brough tears to my eyes, for no other reason than it being such a unique sight, we also spotted an array on birds in their natural habitat. We saw Blue Billed and Green Backed Herons, a Rufus Tailed Jacamar, a Toucan, and a Blue Throated Tiger Heron adult and baby. Additionally, we saw several caiman (small crocodile like creatures) floating around the canals as if to warn that they were claiming their space, and a turtle. For not being a self-proclaimed animal enthusiast or knowledgeable about animals, this trip has been inspiring. It felt as though we were cruising down the Amazon, which we were in a way, just the Costa Rican Amazon J.
An afternoon siesta and a delicious lunch, which of course included gallo pinto (rice and beans), we prepared for our afternoon hike. We should have all known that we should be suspicious when they instructed us that we were to wear the rubber inrrigation-ish boots provided by the lodge instead of hiking boots or tennis shoes. So, off we went in our rubber boots, trailing our trusted guide Margel through the Costa Rican rain forest. Mary was the only one who didn’t comply with the suggestion, and decided to brave the trek in her Keen sandals. Two hours after beginning, we ended, up to the top of our knee high boots covered in mud, having seen no wildlife, yet having sloshed through several miles of deep mud. Mary rounded out the group a trouper, with mud up to her knees, and we all posed for a group picture with her posing for her magazine shoot front and center. We all agreed that when we come again to Tortuguero, we may pass up the Day Two optional excursion.
A surprise of the evening ocurred when after enjoying about forty five minutes of live salsa music during dinner, another group leader convinced my Mom to hit the dance floor with her. My Mom was hesitant at first, and I refused to join her, until I saw how good of a teacher Yoni was, and my Mom looked great out there. So, in group leader fashion, I convinced the majority of my students to join as well. The girls were awesome following the steps and letting loose on the dance floor!!! We danced for about twenty minutes, and when it felt as though we were just getting started, the music ended much to our dismay. Such a great ending to an unbelievable day!!! Tomorrow we are on to Sarapiquí!
Friday, June 24, 2011
Tortuguero, Costa Rica
View from the Tortuguero Canal
Del Monte Banana Plantation
Spider monkeys playing in the trees!
Hummingbird in her nest at la Baula Lodge
Tortugero VillageFriday, June 24, 2011…..Cruisin´Route 32 San José-Tortuguero, Costa Rica
A six a.m. wake up call preceeded a breakfast consisting of eggs, rice and beans, tropical fruit, and costarican coffee, famously introduced into the country in 1920 by Braulio Carrillo. This all before we boarded the bus in the direction of Tortugero, a village reached only by boat, resting on the northwest corner of the country. Not five minutes into the ride, my mother looked at me with the ¨big eyes¨as my father called them, and promply headed to the front of the charter bus to prevent motion sicknes. I thought I was in for a long ride/week, but it turns out the cure was riding shotgun next to Margel. At any rate, we headed west out of San José, a capital filled with people, cars big and small, and the majority of the country´s (60%) population, on Route 32. The highway carried us through the contintental divide, a mountain range dividing the country in two, through a cloud forest, and into the tropical vegetation that is characteristic of the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica. Along the way, we stopped at took picture of a plant called ¨sombrilla del hombre pobre¨ (poor man´s umbrella), only found in the cloud forest, and one of the country´s more than 200 volcanoes. Approximately 2 and a half hours into the drive, and about an hour down a dirt, gravely road, that left us all questioning our destination, we pulled up next to the Del Monte Banana Plantation. We spent about half an hour photographing the plantations workers, and observing the process involved in preparing the bananas before we receive them in our supermarkets. The interesting thing is that the plantation employs more than 300 workers, each earning around $400-month. Although this is considered very little pay, even by Costa Rican standards, the benefits provided by the world reknown fruit company, include free housing and medical services. This also means that the community surrounding the plantation exists because of the plantation, including schools, local churches, and markets. The social guarantees provided by Costa Rica outweigh the poor salary acquired by the banana plantation employees. We saw workers young and old, who work year round, even during holidays until the fruit has all been harvested, washing, and packing the bananas. It was quite a site to be seen, as were the giant bugs that we all posed for pictures with. Getting back onto the bus with our fresh coconuts purchased at a stand outside of the banana plant was the treat as we continued toward our destination.
We passed through small villages, locals riding their bikes to reach their destination, and passed fields sometimes littered with cattle, but nearly always fenced in by a ¨living fence¨, or trees planted and then connected by wire. Por último, we reached the docking point where we transferred to small boats that were to take us to Tortuguero on a one and a half hour boat ride. On the ride through the muddy canals that gave us a preview of what is in store for us tomorrow, we saw two spider monkeys, named this because they have no thumbs, swinging playfully in the trees, bats lined up on their home tree (7 or 8 females lined up ahead of a male), and a short legged flamingo type bird. Finally, we arrived to La Baula Lodge, where we will be staying the next two nights. We ate a great lunch, with the highlight being a banana salad, and then rested for an hour before taking the small boats to the village of Tortugero. We spent an hour roaming the shops, and main street of the brightly colored village, buying jewelery, and observing the locals hanging out on their porches watching the tourists meander by. Althought it was raining, it was a warm rain, that left us all with the decision of whether or not to wear a rain jacket and stay dry but be hot, or not wear it, and get a little damp. I think we all chose the later.
At 6:00, we went to a preview of the optional turtle nesting that we would be seeing later on. Sergio, a local guide, inspired us all with his passion for protecting the sea turtles, and their eggs. We watched a slide show, and he explained to us what we would be doing on our expedition through the beaches. The one thing I was really reminded of was how passion can make a difference, and with passion, one can inspire. I hope my students saw the impact that Sergio´s love for what he did was on display during his presentation. Knowing very little about the history of the turtles in Tortugero, I was ready to follow his lead.
At 8:00 we boarded our lightless boats for what seemed like a ¨secret mission¨to the beaches of Tortugero. Mary and I assimilated it to what it probably felt like to be at war, after having been briefed on the rules, and then hopping on the boat in the dark to take off for our destination. We were told to wear dark clothing, and were going to be split into groups of ten. We followed Juan, our guide, in the pitch dark (no lights allowed except for the ocassional infared light to iluminate an obstacle in our path) for an hour long hike through the jungle, and then along the beach. We had to laugh thinking that we never would have guessed we would be walking in a single file line, in the pitch black, listening to the waves of the Caribbean, holding hands, and following a guide in pursuit of a possible witnessing of the laying of eggs (this was no guarantee). But, this is what we did (and Dad, Mom held my hand the entire time) until after two miles, we reached the Leatherback turtle, who had been on the beach for about two hours. It was a beautiful sight (what we could see with the red light) to watch her cover up the eggs she had layed 75 cm below the surface in a hole she had worked hard to dig. There were about 40 people gathered around to take a glimpse, and we all followed her after she put the final pat on the spot where she layed her eggs, and watched her wander back into the ocean, and get swept away in the waves. As breathtaking as this was, another event that stole my breath was patting Mary on the back to pull my hand back full of sand, and her bursting into laughter telling us that when she was walking in the back of our line, she took a digger and ended up flat on her back. Gotta love that lady!
Costa Rica: Sacramento to Houston to San José, Costa Rica
Teatro Nacional: San José, Costa Rica
Mom and I in front of the cathedral in San José
The crew getting ready for departure from HoustonJune 23 Sacramento to Houston to San José, Costa Rica
It seemed too good to be true that everyone showed up to the Sacramento International Airport on time, with their luggage, with their tour guide tips ready for collection as instructed. We even skidded around and avoided leaving one student behind ,Mike, as he had his dates mixed up, and made a zooming trip to the airport It was so smooth that when we got into line to do the Group Check In, that ease turned into panic as one student passed forward her Passport CARD instead of her passport. Unbenownst to her, the passport card is only good for entrance into Canada and México. Amidst several moments of panic, Judi’s friend Ellie called her brother to save the day. What ensued was pure luck. Ellie’s brother, not knowing Judith, and not knowing where she lives, found her house, found the passport in the house, hopped in his car and sped down the freeway heading south where the precious cargo was handed off to Ellie’s parents who were heading north on I-5. The handoff ocurred in Orland, where Ellie’s parents promptly turned around and headed back to the Sacramento Airport. At this point, time was ticking, and we were all nervously watching the clock wondering whether Judi’s dream trip was going to happen, or if it was going to turn into ¨the dream trip that was¨. By the grace of God, the flight was delayed one hour, which allowed Ellie’s pare¨n¨¨ts to hand off the passport, and for Ellie and Mary Lord to get checked in, and race upstairs in hopes that the plane had not left. We all breathed a sigh of relief as we saw the whites of their eyes, and we all realized that they whole group would be headed toward the PURA VIDA!!!! (Costa Rica’s national slogan literally meaning: “ Pure Life”)
A three and a half hour leg to the Houston Airport left us all hungry and of course, waiting in line at Starbucks; mostly just to waste time. After a two hour layover, we boarded Continental flight #1528 and headed toward our final destination of San José, Costa Rica. We arrived and were met by our EF Tour guide, Margel, at about noon Costa Rica time (one hour ahead of California time), and of course thunder showers. Due to the fact that Margel was awaiting another arrival, he took us to somewhere very familiar. The mall. This is every Spanish teacher’s desire, that her students’ first experience with Costa Rican culture is with Taco Bell, Burger King, and Pizza Hut in a Costa Rican mall. J Luckily after filling our bellies, we were whisked off to the city center, where we checked into our hotel, the Gran Hotel Costa Rica. The hotel is one of the oldest in the city, and is located ketty corner to the National Theatre, which iluminated the plaza as the nightime rolled in. After getting the students squared away with their rooms, we all bee lined to our beds to take a nap after sleeping very little on the red eye flight. The rooms were modest, and I respectufully headed to the roll a way bed in the corner, and offered the larger one to my mother. It was the least I could do; she came on this trip with me!
After a well deserved rest, we groggilly awoke, and set out to explore around our hotel. We strolled down the pedestrian street located directly behind our hotel. I would say that we partook in the evening ¨paseo,¨ but as one student pointed out, the Ticos (costa ricans) were walking at a very fast pace. This struck me as odd, as they are a self proclaimed relaxed people, that simply go with the flow. However, we were in the capital city, which was strikingly similar to all of the other capital cities in the world that I have visited. Después de visitar the cathedral, window shopping, and enjoyingly watching the students take funny pictures of themselves throughout the city, we returned to the hotel and got in the mile-long dinner line. As per typical costarican fashion, the dinner consisted of rice and black beans, a questionable (as per Mary) hamburger patty, green salad, and a delightful array of vegetables that required seconds by many of us. Before retiring for the evening, the adults headed downstairs and sipped on a costarican capucchino, and attempted to listen to piano music played in the hotel restaurant. To sum up the day, the beginning was forgetful, while the rest was a great introduction into what is to come in the next eight days.
