Long post...but lots of pictures!

I finished up at school on May 14th and the next day, guess who came to visit?!


Geoff!! Saturday and Sunday, I showed him around the city, my school, my church, and he got to spend some time getting to know my host mom and roommates. Monday we bought some bus tickets and traveled to Liberia (4 1/2 hours on a bus with no a/c, no bathrooms, very little leg room, but great conversation and great views of the country). At the airport that evening, Dad and Kim arrived! Mom was hoping to come as well, but ended up staying home waiting for news on a possible surgery for my grandpa.

While in Liberia, my dad rented a car (and a GPS!) which ended up being such a blessing during our trip and we spent the next 7 days traveling around Costa Rica!

We started near the Rincon de la Vieja volcano. Here we stayed at a somewhat all-inclusive place that had lots of activities to choose from. Our first day there we signed up for the all-day pass and got to do the following activities:

Horseback Riding: didn't get any photos of that though...

Ziplining/Rappelling:






Rafting/Tubing down the Rio Negro:



Kim's face is priceless in this next one:


Lunch: rice, beans, beef stew, yucca chips, star fruit or watermelon juice, salad bar, etc. etc. etc.!

Spa Time: sitting in a sauna (I thought Costa Rica, itself, was a sauna!), coating ourselves in volcanic mud, and relaxing in the volcanic heated hot springs:




Next, we traveled to a different volcano, the Arenal Volcano, near La Fortuna. You might remember this one from my Semana Santa trip. I loved this area so much, that I knew we had to come back. Here's the view of the volcano from town.


Our hotel, Los Lagos, was simply gorgeous. The area was covered in luscious landscaped gardens, flowers, even animals. They had crocodile, frog, ant, and butterfly gardens too. The best part about the hotel was their own hot springs. Who would have thought that over 100 degree water would feel so good in such a hot climate!


Gorgeous view from our room!


Since we did so many activities on our first day, here we decided to do something fun but a little less exhausting! We went on a private ATV tour around the volcano. Here we are cruising around the volcano...it was cloudy that day (the volcano is the large white space in the background).


Next we crossed this bridge over the Arenal River...

Just kidding! We actually just cruised up to the river, checked it out, and looked at the rickety old bridge. After the tour, they gave us a delicious authentic Costa Rican lunch: rice, beans, plantains, chicken, tortillas, tomatoes, and avocados; all washed down with a strawberry juice drink. YUM!



That afternoon, we decided to take advantage of some local hiking trails. As if we weren't tired enough, we went on a 1 1/2 hour hike through the old lava trails in the area. Arenal was considered a dead volcano, dormant for over 400 years, until 1968 when it violently erupted covering 3 small villages at the base of the mountain and killing 87 people. Now it erupts hourly on average, but they are much smaller eruptions. Thankfully! We were lucky enough to see (and hear!) a big one during our hike. Right before the hike started, we stopped at an observation area to get some quick photos. Right on cue, as we got out our cameras, there was a great schoo, schoo, schoo, schoo sound, steady like a machine starting up and smoke started billowing out of the top of the mountain. I had seen lava on my last visit, but I never saw/heard anything like this before. It was pretty cool (especially given that we were in a very safe distance from any danger).


The lava is not liquid, like in Hawaiian volcanoes. Rather the lava here is formed into giant boulders and rocks. Here's what the 1968 lava trails looked like...It was a rough hike but a lot of fun.

Here's a night view where you can see some more activity happening...


We left Arenal on Friday morning and headed for the beach. On the way, we drove over the Tarcoles River, known for its crocodiles. We took a quick break from the drive and counted 19!


On a few more breaks, we got to see some wildlife. Here we stopped right by Playa Hermosa (last year's world surfing championship black-sanded beach). A native was collecting sand for his granddaughter's art project and pointed out a flock of scarlet macaws (red parrots) to us.


We finally arrived in Manuel Antonio, a city and national park on the Pacific side of the country. This area is known for its breathtaking beaches and abundant wildlife. Here is one of their unique traffic signs: Caution/Slow for kids, dogs, sloths, and monkeys.



While in the area, we visited the Manuel Antonio National Park. It's the smallest national park in the country (there are 20 in total), but is the second most-visited conservation area. We were lucky enough to see a lot of wildlife while visiting: white faced capuchin monkeys, red legged-purple bellied crabs, sloths, iguanas, lizards, and geckos (everywhere!). Here's a picture of the beach. The undertow was super strong and all four of us got knocked down a few times, our suits filled up with sand, and a mouth full of salt water, but nonetheless it was thrilling!


There was a troupe of about 10 monkeys that circled the picnic area where we had some snacks. They were so close to the people, taking food from trash cans and running all over the area. I'm sure they get a hoot out of watching the humans follow them like little paparazzi crews, all with their digital cameras in tow hoping to catch that one picture. I tried to keep out of that crowd for a little while but then realized if I didn't get my camera out, I wouldn't get this awesome picture below: (he wouldn't smile...I even tried the 'got-your-nose' trick on him)


We got the absolute last room available at our hotel, Costa Verde. We chose this hotel because it has a suite made out of the fuselage of a 727. Seriously. Check it out (www.costaverde.com) Unfortunately, we didn't stay in the suite, but only because it was booked for the night, not because of the incredibly reasonable price of $400 a night (!!!). Dad and I thought they might give a discount for being pilots...maybe that would lower their insurance rates. You know, in case there was a hurricane and the plane took off, we could...fly it or something. Instead, we looked out of our hotel room at this perfect piece of rainforest property:

Gorgeous, right? From this view alone, we saw a sloth, a BIG iguana, capybaras (the world's largest rodents...they have a beaver face and fur, but shaped like a pig...interesting combo I think), a poison dart frog (who is smaller than half my palm but can secrete enough poisonous toxin through its skin to kill a human...yikes!), a tapir, and more monkeys. Lots of different wildlife than Iowa has to offer!

This is the view from the hotel's pool. Just about the most picturesque moment I've ever experienced! That penninsula on the left is the national park and the area just to the left of the palm tree is open public beach. I'm going to miss Costa Rica!





Our last day in Costa Rica was spent driving to San Jose and getting things situated to come home. All four of us stayed at the Holiday Inn Express by the airport, but made a trip through the pouring rain to Escazu to visit my school and my Costa Rican home. It was great to have them all meet Oky and my one sole remaining roommate. We drove back to the hotel through the worst conditions ever possible: a foreign country, a manual transmission, midnight dark skies (though only 7 pm), hurricane type rain, and Costa Rican roads filled with Costa Rican drivers. At one point, we passed a "pot hole" as big as a two car garage. No joke. To give the Ticos credit, it did have caution tape around it. With God's help, we did make it back to the hotel in one piece and returned the rental car.

Dad and Kim took off on a 6 am flight while Geoff and I followed later on a 2:30pm flight. We arrived in Chicago Monday night and drove back to Waterloo Tuesday. (My first meal was a pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw and french fries at Chili's in the Charlotte Airport...does it get more American than that?! YUM!)

Ok...I'm tired of typing. This one post has taken over an hour...so much to talk about! We're heading back to Spencer today for Memorial Day Weekend...I'll make at least one more post next week to let you know how my reverse culture shock is going. Until then...Enjoy your freedoms and thank a veteran!

My final day at CDS

This is the view (albeit a little blurry) from the mid-section of the local mountain looking on to San Jose. Oky's good friend, Beni, drove us up the mountain last night to be able to see the view before we leave. Gorgeous, isn't it?

Today was my last day student teaching! This picture above are some of my second graders. Sam and I took the picture together. We each have seven in our 2nd grade classes. (Mine are on the right side)

These are my third graders, minus two students who were sick. The girls each drew me a picture and the one on the left wrote me a little story about a cat. Such cuties!

Here is my cooperating teacher, Karyn. As a gift, I gave her a copy of Dewey, the children's book about my hometown's library cat. She gave me a Costa Rica bookmark and book bag, perfect gifts for a teacher.

All in all, it was a good time student teaching but I'm excited to be finished! I'm officially an alum of the University of Northern Iowa! and Geoff arrives tomorrow morning! What blessings!!

Amigos, InBio Parque, and The Incident...

This past week has been awesome. Kelsie, Paul & Katy's trip was so much fun! Paul & Katy took off on Tuesday morning, while Kelsie stayed until today. She left early this morning. This picture is with Paul, Katy, Oky, myself, and Kels when they came over to enjoy an authentic Costa Rican meal with my host family. Kels stayed here with us and was able to come with me to school both Tuesday and Wednesday to see what I do everyday. Wednesday, however, we were able to go with a 1st grade class on a field trip to a local bio-diverse zoo exhibit. The place is called InBio Park and has multiple ecosystems displaying animals and plants that are native to that area. There was a dry forest, a rain forest, a farm, etc.

Here is our group of 15 first graders with their teacher, Mrs. Sobrado. Our tour guide was awesome. At one point, a little guy fell down and scratched his knee. The guide helped him up and told him how lucky he was to fall right where he did, because the bush right next to him was magic. He plucked off a leaf, rubbed it on his knee, and asked the little boy how it was feeling now with the magic on it. Of course, he felt much better. :) (I'm going to have to put that one in my own bag of tricks!)

Here are a few of my students showing me the snake skin. "Touch it, Miss! Touch it!" Ummm...no thanks!

A big hit with the kids was the finca (farm). They had goats, rabbits, chickens, pigs, a horse, some sheep, etc. It did smell like a farm, which they couldn't seem to get used to, but they loved all the animals. Here is Kelsie holding one of the friendlier rabbits.

There was also a butterfly garden area. This butterfly (which you can barely see...it's on my pinky) is a blue morpho. These are super common in this area and their roaming grounds stretch all the way to South America. The outside, as you can see, is a dark camoflauged brown, but the inside of their wings are a gorgeous bright metallic blue color. God's creations are simply stunning!!

This is the mushroom exhibit. Our rear-ends barely fit between those trees, but it was the perfect photo-op. The trip was fun, but exhausting. We both crashed on the way back to school, falling asleep. We awoke to 6 pairs of eyes staring at us. The little guy that fell down earlier asked me "Are you doing yoga?" ha ha...My mouth had dropped open and I must have been making an "Ohm" face as if I was meditating. Oops!

On another note...I STEPPED ON A GECKO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday morning, I went to the kitchen to get some strawberry jelly out of the fridge. I walked around the butcher block and stepped (BAREFOOT!) on something a little squishy. As I opened the fridge door, I lifted up my food and a little gecko ran out to hide under the fridge. This just might be the grossest thing that's ever happened. Ewwww

A weekend on the Pacific...with Iowa friends!

Boy, do I miss Iowa right now! Three friends from me and Geoff's small group are here visiting me right now and they brought with them fond memories of Iowa. Paul & Katy, and Kelsie arrived Thursday night around midnight. Friday, they did some touring around the city and Friday night we took off for Jaco, a local surfing town on the Pacific coast, about 2 hours from San Jose. We took the 7:00 bus on the windiest road in all of Costa Rica (I promise!). There were more curves than there were inches of straight road. Being so dark outside, I felt quite carsick, but we arrived without any major problems.

The hotel we were staying at, Arenal Pacifico, is owned by the same man who owns the school I work at: Country Day School. Because he owns it, CDS employees (or student teachers) get a nice discount. The hotel was fantastic and right on the beach. The picture below shows the view from the pool right out to the beach.


This little fellow was our poolside mate. There were dozens of them around the hotel area, including 6 BIG ones in the hotel's chicken coop. I asked the gardener if they were going to eat the chickens, but he assured me they were friends. I'm not sure yet whether or not he was lying...

Gorgeous black sand beach! I'm not sure why the sand is black, but it's scortching hot in the midday sun. The water is perfectly clear, but you can see swirls of black (dirt-looking) sand as each wave crashes in.

Here's Kelsie and I on the beach during our walk to supper. We ate at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the ocean. I had fresh tilapia, with some veggies and rice. Delicious! (She let me borrow her yellow dress...cute isn't it?!)

Saturday all-day and Sunday morning were spent lounging on the beach and in the pool taking time to get to know each other better and enjoy God's creation. Sunday afternoon, we headed back to San Jose. We ate at a very authentic Costa Rican restaurant. They served us a free sample of their carrot soup as an appetizer. Here's Paul & Katy enjoying their bowls.

The food was served on a wooden handled cutting board with palm leaves on top. I had a casado, which is basically a "combo" meal. It usually comes with rice, beans, other veggies, a salad, fried plantains, and your choice of meat. So much good, authentic food and usually it's the cheapest thing on the menu! Everything you can see on my 'plate' was only about $6! ($9 if you include tax though. Taxes are 23% here for food...13% for sales and 10% for service, so you don't have to leave a tip)

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend! They were all able to go on a tour today to see a local volcano, a coffee plantation, and an oxcart factory. We're going to meet up in a little bit when they're back from their tour to have supper here with my host mom and roommates. I'm looking forward to it! Paul & Katy take off tomorrow morning and Kelsie is staying with me until she leaves on Thursday. What a blessing friendship is!

Project Abraham

This morning my roommates and I had the unique opportunity to tag along with some kindergarten teachers who were checking out a local orphanage as a possible service project for their students. The orphanage, which also includes a guarderia (nursery/day care area), is called Project Abraham (http://www.projectabraham.org/ - but it's not a great website, just to warn you). It was started by a Pastor Jorge and has grown into an amazing project. We were taken aback by the quality program he has grown here.




To start off, this first picture shows a bunch of pieces of wood. Every single piece of wood
used in the construction of all the buildings you are about to see came from crates that are used to ship glass. The crates were being thrown away before but now each and every piece is taken apart, nails and staples removed, planed, sanded, treated for termites, and stained. They begin like the piece on the far left and end up as beautiful as the piece on the far right. (Talk about a 4-H, project, right?!)

Here is a pile of scrap wood waiting for someone to complete the necessary steps to make it usable. They have volunteers from the states or Canada almost once a month. They help out with the kids and also help take down this huge pile. Apparently, there are about 4 more piles of this size in a different area that we didn't see today.

This is the gorgeous woodwork that they complete with the scrap wood. Stunning, isn't it?

This building is where all the classrooms are. There are rooms specifically for infants, toddlers, and 3-4 year olds. Upstairs there are more rooms for older students. The public education system in Costa Rica has students going to school for only half days because of the lack of resources for all the students. There is usually not enough room for all the students to come all day, so they split it into mornings and afternoons. When the students are not in school, they're able to come here and use these upper rooms.

The kids that attend the nursery/day-care come from local farms and neighborhoods. The orphanage is in a very dangerous area of town (just outside of San Jose), but has really made a difference in the amount of violence in the area. For the most part, these kids only eat when they come here. Lunch is served every day: a bowl of rice, beans, and sometimes chicken. When they finish the bowl, they're able to have a glass of juice. Breakfast and a snack are also served to those who are there at that time. There are approximately 120 kids who come every day to the guarderia.

These two buildings are the orphange itself. In each building lives one host family and 10 orphans. The host families are expected to treat the children as their own. They have chores, are disciplined, but are part of a family with whom they play, eat, and live. The buildings are so clean and well-maintained, it was remarkable! They certainly put to shame most of the college apartments I've seen!

Here's a typical bedroom. No worries...they do have sheets, but it was laundry day. The beds were also made from the scrap wood.

This shows some of the playing area the kids have. Our guides told us the orphans are cared for very well. They have enough to eat, plenty of clothes, and lots of toys. It's the local children who are really lacking and are really in need. The orphans do have some pretty horrible stories of where they came from, however. There are four siblings (3 girls, 1 boy) here together living in the orphanage. One girl was raped at age 7, another has scars on her face from rat bites, and the third was laying in bed with her mother when she was decapitated by her estranged husband. The poor brother is struggling with rage issues from having to be the sole protector of his sisters for so many years. I couldn't help but tear up hearing stories like these yet seeing how joyful the little ones appeared. God really can shine through the darkness.

The final building on the campus, which is being constructed right now, is a consortorium/stadium. The consortorium is seen in this above photo. The dream for this building is to bring in doctors, nurses, dentists, lawyers, etc. from the States or wherever to help these kids and these families. Obviously, if the kids don't have enough to eat, they aren't getting the proper health care either.

The only building I didn't get a picture of was the multi-purpose building. It's used on Sundays for 2 different church services with a total of 450 people! During the week, it holds the cafeteria and is used for special events at the school. Pastor Jorge has dreams of the other side of the consortorium being used as stadium, which is shown here in this picture. Soccer, being the unofficially official sport of the country, is so important to small towns here. This area does not have their own soccer field. Jorge sees this place turning in to an indoor soccer field that can also be used for Sunday services and any sort of school play or event.

This above picture are 3 of the 6 bags that the kindergarten teacher brought from only 1 student's mother. 1 student had this much stuff (toys and clothes) at home that was no longer wanted. Can you even imagine what the entire school could bring in? We're heading back here on Tuesday to help train some of the guarderia teachers. When we walked in one of the classrooms, the teacher was playing the Quiet Game with the students. The first one to talk, loses. That's not the interaction these students need. Another incident happened when the teacher wanted the students to play with blocks, so she handed out one block to each student. Can you imagine playing with one solitary block? How sad...I'm so looking forward to coming back next week.

All in all, it was one of the most impactful days of my life. My heart has grown for these kids today. I can really feel God telling me that I'll be back here someday to really help them. I'm hoping to pool ideas for resources and man power from my home churches and come back for a mission trip some day. What a blessing that would be indeed!