So, I have been here almost three months and I have done very little of the “tourist” things that Monteverde and the Cloud Forest have to offer. Last week however was “touristy”. There were no classes on Friday the 20th so my friend, who works in a tour info office, arranged for us to go Canyoning: repelling down 6 waterfalls and getting wet from head to toe! It was really fun, but by the last waterfall I was cold and ready to get into dry clothes. I didn’t bring a waterproof case or plastic bag for my camera I don’t have any pictures of the beautiful waterfalls and forest we were in. I have a few bruises that still haven’t gone away but it was worth it. Those are the kinds of things you don’t see just hiking, plus it was in a part of the forest that isn’t accessible to just anyone and the trees were just beautiful. Then on Saturday my friend set up a canopy tour for my friend Macy and I. All the other interns had gone out of town for their last adventure in Costa Rica before many of them left. Some went to Tortuguero (Carribian coast with beautiful nature sites, famous for turtles, hence the name), La Fortuna (to see Volcan Arenal), or to Montesuma (beach with some beautiful sites). Macy and I had stayed behind for money reasons, plus I had done a lot of traveling and wanted to stay “home”. So we joined forces and went on the most amazing tour of the primary forest! Extremo Canopy Tours gives you an amazing thrill, a good hike, and an absolutely outstanding view of the primary forests of Monteverde. You go in a circle as you go from platform to platform in the trees flying along the zip lines and doing your best to absorb everything you see as you go past. In this tour there are 14 zip lines. Some are short but you go really fast and some are really long that take you over valleys. The views are spectacular!! Macy and I had such a blast together. We met another couple of people that were in Costa Rica long term, and visited Monteverde for the weekend. We traded cameras so that we could try to get pictures of each other on the zip lines. While we were waiting for one of the zip lines we watched a couple of Howler monkeys climb in the trees and one of them got onto a branch right above the zip line and I went right under him. They were not talking but it was cool to see them in the trees of such a beautiful forest. Then as we were hiking between two of the platforms Macy and I saw a Blue Morpho Butterfly! OMG!! They are the unofficial symbol of Costa Rica. A lot of touristy stuff you see has the Morpho on it. However it is endangered and not seen that often in its natural habitat. You can buy mounted Morphos but as beautiful as their almost metallic coloring is, I don’t know if they were caught legally or if I’d even be able to leave the country with it. I knew I would see one in the butterfly gardens or insect museums but I didn’t think I would have time to see one in nature! So I have seen a sloth and a blue Morpho…now I just have to see a quetzal and I can go home happy!! Some of you may be familiar with the independent film called “The Blue Butterfly”. It is a wonderful family movie that follows a young boy and his mother as they journey through the forests of Costa Rica in search of the Blue Morpho Butterfly which is rumored to have healing powers if caught. The boy is in a wheelchair and it is based on a true story. It was filmed in a rain forest in Costa Rica!!
Thank you so much for keeping up with my blogging!
This Friday I head off to my next adventure: Taking a 15 hour bus to Panama City to meet my best friend!! I’ll try to update before I leave, but if not, don’t be worried if you don’t hear from me for more than a week as I won’t be taking my computer with me. We will have a little more than 48 hours together and I don’t want to waste ANY of it on the computer!
In case you didn’t know, and I know it is a little late for that but I thought I might as well tell you what classes my friends are teaching or helping in.
Stacey – colegio math (high school math) Amy – 1st and 2nd and art Caitlin – designed and teaches a brand new music program and 4th grade Jane – Education Ambiental (environmental ed with Milton) Allison – 1st and 2nd Charlotte – ESL with Teresa Robert – ESL/Spanish (I think) David – 1st and 2nd Hollyn – 4th grade Macey – Kinder/prepa and special education Ruth – 6th and drama
I don’t think I’m forgetting anyone. We are all spread out and we usually only see each other before and after school, unless our lunch or prep periods ate the same.
In some of the classes, I help out by answering questions, making sure the kids are taking notes and helping Anna try to keep some of the classes in order. The 8th grade.octavo grado, are one of the hardest classes to deal with sometimes. More than half of the 23 of them are boys and they are all pretty friendly with each other, making classroom management pretty difficult. Anna is doing really well, considering this is her first year teaching and this school is hard to teach at due to the way the school is organized. Classroom management is the biggest struggle here and I think part of it is cultural. There is also a very widespread issue with confidence in the material. I can’t count how many times students have asked me during a test “Is this right?”. And then there is the pouting and whining that drives me crazy sometimes. The minute you mention homework there is an outbreak in whining and “Oh, Anna!” or “Noooooh”. It is probably the hardest thing for me to deal with. My parents didn’t put up with whining much (although I was pretty good at it) and I find that I have very little tolerance for it now. I think it is cultural though. As a kid there is some indulgence whenever possible and I don’t know if it is on purpose or if it is just part of how life is here. Amy and I were talking about it one day. The indulgence could be part of trying to get the children to have as much childhood as possible, because life as an adult is so much harder here. I don’t know how some of the families do it. There are often three or more kids in a family and often both parents work, and the kids are alone or another Aunt, Uncle or Grandparent takes care of them. I’m still trying to figure it out. That is the best part about living here for so long. I am getting a really good feel for the culture, no matter how touristy this town may be. I am really enjoying teaching. I do a lot of research to get the information that I need in order to teach the class. They ask so many questions!! I have been learning the finer art of google searching. I managed to come across three or four different lectures (in word and power point form) about the circulatory system. Some of it is much more in depth than I need for this class, but I am enjoying learning it. I probably wouldn’t be having as much fun if I was required to learn it, but I am having a lot of fun. For the past couple months, the 11th grade class has been helping out on a research project designed by a woman named Patricia Townsend. She is finishing her doctorate at University of Washington and she wanted to begin another project that we can continue to do on our own, so the school can measure the progress of the reforestation efforts they have been doing for the past 15 years. There is very little hard data about the reforestation here at the school and most the information about when trees were planted and so forth is in the head of our land manger, Milton. So there are 10 plots measured off in the pasture area. 5 of them have a lot of inga trees (a common tree planted by the school) and the other 5 are mostly the invasive grasses. In each plot there are 2 meter by meter subplots where we count species diversity, number of tree seedling, percent cover of native verses non-native plants, and percent herbaceous or leaf litter cover. Then each tree in each plot is measured for height, canopy width (how far spread out the branches are in two directions) and branch width at average chest height. It is a little tedious but kind of fun. We have been out there in horrible rain, wind and also when it was gorgeous and we napped among the grasses. It has been fun. There are two grad students that have been helping with taking data. As students, we take data and it is compared to the data they collected and a margin of error is determined that can be used in future data taking. Eric was here for a month and did bird surveys. He was up and in the field looking for birds by 5:30 AM. He was really fun. Then there is Michael. He is a riot to be in the field with. A great sense of humor makes even the most mundane data taking much more interesting. We are almost done with all the data taking which is good because the 11th grade has to prepare for the Ministerio Exams they take in May. They take one in each subject and it is more important than the SATs. These can actually affect what kind of jobs they can get or any kind of education they want to do beyond high school. Today Anna is in San Jose picking up her sister who will be here for an undetermined amount of time, exponentially increasing the amount of stress Anna has. Her mom just decided to send her to Costa Rica for the vacation from school, and Anna didn’t know about it until the day before yesterday. So I get to substitute, which means a little money in my pocket, also an entire day to try to deal with all the kids. Last time I substituted, just for a half day, it was really hectic and I just needed ice cream and chocolate by the end of the day. Today has gone pretty well. Granted I didn’t have to lecture or anything, which could have been more difficult, but they didn’t get out of hand or disrespectful. I took the 8th grade on a walk; there was no point in trying to contain them within the walls of the classroom. I would have gone crazy! With the 8th graders we went for a hike, part of the reason they were so cooperative. There is this hallowed out strangler fig that technically belongs to The Original Canopy Tour company but it is really awesome! The tree it strangled had died out, so you could climb up the middle of it! Rope steps made climbing easier and safer and the gaps between the vines allowed for a spectacular view of the forest. There was also a rope that you could swing out over the hill on. Being with a group of 8th graders, I had to watch carefully and enforce some rules, but I think they had fun. I even swung on it. You get this wonderful flying feeling and then you are in the trees! Just don’t let go of the rope! One of these days I’ll go on a tour and go on the real zip lines and stuff. I’ve heard that it is pretty fantastic! Specifically the one I want to go on, I don’t think I’d be able to get my parents to go…especially since my mom is a little nervous about heights and one of the zip lines is a a kilometer long! Maybe that’s what I’ll do this weekend while everyone else is off doing their own adventures (I don ‘t have the money or I’d go with them).
This last weekend Jane, Stacey, Amy and I all went to Tamarindo.It is on the peninsula of Costa Rica and in some guide books it is called “Tamagringo”.Several years ago a movie was filmed there and since then it has only gotten more and more touristy. It was pretty amazing to see just how touristy it was.There was a driving range, and Costa Rica doesn’t play golf, a Pizza Hut, TCBY, Subway and so many fancy, overpriced shops that I couldn’t even count!We didn’t do any shopping though, we spent almost the entire time on the beach!
Tamarindo beach isn’t the prettiest thing, but on Friday, when we arrived, we just had to be on the beach.Of course, once we checked into the hostel and gotten our suits on, we had to put on our sunscreen.Amy and I are the most fair skinned of the four and as we were lathering on our SPF 85 and 70 Jane says, “I can’t believe I brought the sunscreen twins to the beach!”.Classic Jane, but so true.So once we finally got to the beach it was wonderful to get into the water.The beach itself wasn’t that pretty because it was Tamarindo beach lined with resorts and a lot of people there.
Saturday we got up, had cereal for breakfast and were on the beach by 10 am.We walked down Tamarindo and got on a little boat, for a dollar, and crossed the estuary to get to Playa Grande (everything sounds so much better in Spanish, because this translates to Big beach...how dull).This beach was quieter and FILLED with some of the most beautiful shells.I must have spent an hour just picking up shells to give as gifts and make into jewelry!The water was wonderful and the four of us had a great time riding the waves.For lunch we went to Subway (which, believe it or not was better here than in the states) and then to our hostel to change and relax for a while where I discovered that I had burned the sides of my legs pretty badly and putting on pants was quite an ordeal.Then we went back to the beach for the sunset.We took pictures and a couple offered to take a group picture for us, so we have a couple group shots on at least one of the cameras there.We walked south down Playa Tamarindo to a part the juts out into the water.It was probably the most amazing place to watch the sun set ever.We climbed up the rocks and were able to take some awesome pictures and then just sit together and watch the sun go down.After that we went to a cool bar for happy hour: 2 for 1!After trying to go out and not finding anything worth while, we got gelato which was very overpriced but good.Not everyone was happy with their order, but in the end we got it all worked out.
Sunday Jane woke us up at 8 again (We didn’t come to the beach to sleep!Besides, you can sleep on the beach!)We asked the owner of the hostel how much a taxi to Playa Avallana should cost, so we wouldn’t get ripped off by the first one we asked (Jane is really good at bartering).She actually had a friend who drove a van and so for $10 each we got a ride to an absolutely gorgeous beach!And the best part: there was shade!!I was able to lay in the shade, still wearing my t-shirt, sunscreen and covered by a towel where I was burned, but was very comfortable!The water there was by far the best.The waves were better at Madera, but this water was so clear and so blue that I could have stayed there forever!When I was up to my chest, I could still see my feet!Unbelievable!Jane and Amy went for a walk, but neither one of them had a watch so they didn’t get back until 3:15, and the car was supposed to pick us up at 3…he was a little grumpy on the ride home.Oops.
We went to back to our hostel to shower and get dressed for a wonderful last evening on the beach.Fist stop was the bar on the beach for happy hour and to watch the sunset.It was beautiful!Since it was our last night we had a little fun.I was tipsy after one drink and Jane was still fine after 2.Amy was the cutest though.She was giggly and having a lot of fun.Jane and I took it upon ourselves to educate our younger friend about what to do and what not to do when it comes to drinking.Probably not the best time to do it because she wouldn’t remember all the details the next morning, but she was happy to hear it.Jane and I learned some of this the hard way so we were happy to help Amy avoid some of those less than fun events.As the sun began to set, we took our drinks and went to the beach side section of the bar and took some more pictures.In some of them the colors didn’t turn out well, but all of us look good.
Then we went to this roof-top Italian restaurant that we had gotten coupons for the day before.It was really nice and Jane did most of the talking, seeing as she was the most competent one at the time.We ordered the spaghetti, the pesto and the cheese pizza.It was all SO tastey!Real Italian food is a little hard to come by here and it is one of my favorites.The pesto was outstanding though.Some of the best I’ve ever had.Amy was so cute at dinner.She loves French, and takes every opportunity she can get to practice and is worried she is losing it because of how much she is using Spanish (I tell her that is silly, and when she goes to France she will pick it right back up).The funny part is that at the table next to us four French women were having a conversation and Amy was so out of it she couldn’t comprehend what they were saying.It was adorable!
Ok, so the whole reason Jane planned the trip to “Tamagringo” was because her best friend, Toban, was going to be there for Spring Break, starting Sunday night.So after dinner we wandered around trying to find the hotel he was staying at El Escondito (the hidden).When we found it, he wasn’t there.Jane and Stacey decided to wait and see if they came back but Amy and I went home to go to sleep.
The next morning we heard the story about trying to find Toban.Jane and Stacey had been waiting at his place when the owner came out and told them that Toban and his girlfriend, Alexis, had gone to our hostel to find us.So Jane and Stacey go back to our hostel only to find that Toban and Alexis had already been there and left.So they went back to El Escondito to wait for them.After waiting, they decided to leave them a message in rocks they headed home and just so happened to meet up with them.So after about 45 minutes of missing each other they finally got to see each other.
When Jane, once again, woke us up at 8 am, Amy and I got the story and then we headed to their cabin for breakfast.After some FANTASTIC eggs that Toban made, we walked to Tamarindo, and then crossed the estuary to Playa Madera.It was another gorgeous day and despite my sunburn I had a lot of fun.I spend about an hour just looking for the coolest shells I could find (and I found some really pretty ones) and then went into the water to ride the waves with everyone.The waves were better than they had been when we were there last and we almost got “run over” by a couple of surfers.Fortunately they were good enough to know how to control their boards in order to avoid us, but it was interesting.
Subway for lunch one last time and then back to our hostel to rinse off and ride home.I napped for a little in the car and about half-way we stopped at Burger King where for 300 colones (about 50 cents) I got a soft serve ice cream cone.It was so good!About an hour from Monteverde I woke up to Disney songs…specifically A Whole New World from Aladdin.So for an hour we had a Disney Marathon!I even sang Poor Unfortunate Souls (from The Little Mermaid) for them and they were a little creeped out by how well I knew the song (but hey, it has been my favorite since I was a kid, why shouldn’t I know it well?).
Needless to say, my weekend was wonderful, despite the sunburning.It was perfect to get away from Monteverde, where the weather was rather dismal, to a beautiful beach with some of the closest friends I have had in a long time.
Sorry this took so long to put up, and likely the pictures will take even longer since things here are a little insane, but know that I am well, school is good and I am going to miss my new friends like crazy when they leave…the first one leaves on March 25th and the rest are soon to follow.I have never had this many close friends at one time.Due to the fact that we all chose to come here and we were all far from home, we became fast friends.I will miss them so much.
Don’t forget to comment if you like a picture or something…I feel like I’m writing to myself sometimes.
After the amazing day at Masalla on Wednesday, we returned to town and had dinner and went out for a drink and some relaxing time as a group.I didn’t have anything but it was fun to just be out with the girls.We tried to find a place to go dancing, but in San Juan del Sur, there wasn’t much to do on a Wednesday night.When we got back to the house things got a little crazy, and not in a good way.I don’t think this is the place to discuss such things, but know that we are all safe and everything got figured out by the time we left.Some of us would rather forget the events of that evening, but it was an important learning experience for some of us.
Thursday classes were ok, even on very little sleep.For the afternoon our host, Doña Rosa, had organized a trip to Grenada.Grenada is a small colonial-like town about 3 hours from San Juan del Sur that is known for its beautiful churches and the history.Grenada was the “capitol” of Nicaragua during a time when a man had declared himself president of Nicaragua under a puppet government and made Grenada the capitol.It didn’t last long but that is part of the strange history of Grenada.The streets were narrow but lined with continuous buildings, each shop or house painted a different color.It reminded me of a small town I went to when I was in Colombia, full of color and culture.There were food vendors selling apples (from the states!), local snacks and foods, mango verde (green mango, actually really good) and any number of other things.I walked around with Jane, Amy, Stacey, Caitlin, and Maritza (the woman who cooked for us) and her daughter.We waked through the town taking pictures and observing the difference in culture from Costa Rica, even the difference from San Juan del Sur.While loving all the colors we saw as we walked, we went into a couple churches.
Church in the main square
Center park with tour carriages lining the street
Cool barber shop, most all say that they are unisex.
The one near the central square was very beautiful, recently remodeled and repaired, but I didn’t take pictures inside, out of respect.Then we walked down the road a bit and went into another church:
Essentially: Kill the patriot Orteguismo. During one of their revolutions this was spray painted on the side of the church.
Beautiful carving at the top of the columns in the church.
Up the winding staircase to the tower.
It was in the middle of trying to do some repairs and one of the ways they funded that, was charging a dollar for tourists to climb the bell tower.It was one of the best dollars I have ever spent!The view from the top was phenomenal!We saw the bells, some older looking than others, and we could see so much of the city from there.Grenada sits on the edge of Lake Nicaragua, which we could also see:
In the other direction we could see green hills and we also had a fantastic view of other parts of the church’s architecture.
The pendulum of the clock at the top of the tower. We could feel it ticking!
We could see the town square and all the buildings:
It was breathtaking.After we climbed down, after taking a million pictures, we walked past a little café that sold iced coffee drinks and some amazing food.We enjoyed being out of the sun for a little while and cooled down with some fantastic milkshakes and other bebidas (drinks).
Maritza and her daughter, Jane, Stacey, Amy and Caitlin
Maritza wearing my sunglasses, she looked hot!
After a snack we continued our walk though town.We went down a very beautiful street.There were balcony gardens and so many colors!It was wonderful.Walking through the main square again, seeing the fountain and the statue of mother Mary surrounded by palm trees and little vendors:
Mother Mary bathing her children. My favorite is the one below:
We continued down the path that went to the lake:
Here there were no cars just some really cute cafés and higher end stores.I didn’t do any shopping, but we bought some mango verde and snacked while we walked.
Going back to the car we encountered several people begging for food or money.It was really different from Costa Rica.Granted I live in Monteverde, where there is a lot of tourism and not too much obvious poverty.But Nicaragua is poorer than Costa Rica by a long way, due to many revolutions and puppet governments that have left the country in turmoil.In Grenada, however, it was very obvious.They would come right up to you and ask for money or food.When we were getting in the car, they were right there.I had some food left from my snack and gave it to them but it still didn’t feel like I was helping.It is hard when the poverty is right in front of you.There are some memories that I will never forget.Some from the things I saw in India, some from Costa Rica and some from Nicaragua.Not all are negative, but they are all things that will influence me in the future.
After we left Grenada, we went to Masaya (sounds like messiah):
It is one of the largest collection of locally made arts and goods. It was a little like the Portland Saturday Market. We had a couple hours to look around. There was a lot of repetition. Many people doing the same crafts, but there was so much color and it was fun to look around. As I turned a corner I saw a vendor selling hammocks and hammock chairs, and they had them in, of all things, RAINBOW!! So, for $12, I have the most amazing rainbow hammock chair that will one day hang in my living room...or on the front porch of my house in Portland for the summer : ). I thought it would fit diagonally in one of my suitcases, but nope...I'll just have to carry it on, or send it home with my parents when they come in April (tee hee). There was all kinds of things there. shirts, native designed dresses in all colors (I would have bought one, but it would have looked like a Mumu on me, very unflattering). There were many types of cigars, some with Obama on them, cute carvings and paintings too. There was even some unusual art form of inflating and preserving or tanning frogs and posing them in some interesting and sometimes questionable poses:
After an hour, my feet hurt so much and I went back to the car to lay down. Plus most of the vendors were packing up and the sun was setting. It was very fun to see, plus a good way to buy some gifts for friends and family...hint hint.
On our way home we stopped at a little place where we could stretch our legs and eat dinner.After that we got back in the car for a couple more hours to get back to San Juan del Sur.We were all in a van that had seats for about 18 people but there were about 21 of us in the van, so it was a little crowded.
Friday class was fun again.I began to learn the future tense, especially the “I’m going to go…” and so on.In the afternoon we went to the beach for one last swim in the ocean.However, the water was FILLED with dying jellyfish.That doesn’t mean they couldn’t sting you, but they were EVERYWHERE!!I got in the water anyway, because it was our last day, but it was eventually too much.Back at the main house where we ate our meals, our hostess had planned a little party for us all.Some of the teachers performed a traditional Nicaraguan Dance for us, and then there was dancing with a fun game of musical chairs.
Our host Doña Rosa
My teacher and I
Maritza's daughter, such a sweet girl
Jane and I in our complementary colors!
They provided some drinks and we were all enjoying talking and enjoying the last night of our vacation.Some of us wanted to see the sunset over the beach one last time, and Jane wanted ice cream, so we walked to town to get some ice cream and watch the sunset.The ice cream place on the beach was selling the equivalent of fudgecicles for 3 cordobas, which is about 15 cents!They were so good!Sitting on the steps leading to the beach, watching the sun go down behind the horizon with tons of boats floating on the water was beautiful.A couple days before there had been a monstrous cruise ship in the bay and I had refused to watch the sunset, but that night it was perfect.
Macey was less than pleased that I was taking the picture, but everyone else doesn't mind.
Our last sunset in Nicaragua
Back at the house, we had some great food and freshened up to go out and try to find some place to go dancing!First, however, we had to get Jane more ice cream.Those fudgecicles were SO good!!While we were there, we ran into some other Canadians and they introduced us to a guy who used to work at the hotel they were staying at.His name was Michael and he spoke English really well!So while Jane was getting her ice cream fix (she finally stopped at 8 fudgecicles) the four of us, Amy, Stacey, Jane and I, sat and talked with him.We had plans to meet with our other friends at another bar that usually has dancing, so he walked with us to the bar.Eventually we went back to Iguana’s, the bar we had been at a couple nights before.It was kind of crowded but eventually they put on some music we could dance to and we had a ball!They even played some music I knew!Michael and Amy and I danced together and when I got too hot, just went to the ocean and walked on the sand.It was an amazing night!!Michael and I stayed out talking late into the night and we learned a TON about each other.He just graduated from high school and got accepted to a University in Managua (the capital) and he is going to study French so he can be a translator!He is the first person I have met here that has the desire to get a higher education, and that he is in the process of doing it is also amazing.His first day of classes was yesterday!It was a fantastic night and a glorious way to end a vacation!
So Nicaragua was pretty amazing.Madera is the most amazing beach I have ever been to and I met some fantastic people!There are parts that I wish hadn’t happened but overall, it was a great vacation!I’ll try to post all the pictures soon.Keep in touch!
Still working on up loading pictures, but hopefully these will suit for now.
This is Wednesday, back to Playa Madera. It was SO beautiful! We were able to stay until sunset too! This brings us up to Wednesday night, what I wrote a couple weeks ago. See the next blog for the rest of the week's events!
Hugs!
K
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Sorry for the lack of pictures! The internet is being insane and very slow. This picture is mostly for my mom. The colors and the name of the place was just PERFECT for her! El Gato Negro, a bookstore and coffee house with different cat statues all over the place. It was like being home!
I am going to the beach this weekend, so I won't be back to the internet until Tuesday. Thanks for everything!
Cool tree on the drive to the beach...it was still growing!
Playa Masalla. Much more chill than Madera, but the waves weren't as fun.
Allison and Charlotte
Amy
Me, Stacey, and Amy having coke slushies. They were so cold when they were sealed that once the seal was broken they became slushy! It was really good!
That's all for now. I left my charger cord at school!
