Granada

Our group is reunited again! Our leader was able to get her daughter the visa she needed, and they joined us here in Granada yesterday afternoon. Yesterday we participated in a service project with La Esperanza (which means "Hope"), a nonprofit organization. In the morning, we tutored middle and high school students and taught them how to use the internet. After the tutoring session we took them out for pizza--Hawaiian pizzaseems to be the most popular choice among teenagers around here!

After lunch, we went outside of the city of Granada to visit a school La Esperanza works with, pictured below.

The students were breaking for lunch, and a group of parents were gathering for a juntas, or what we would call a PTO meeting. This little boy was eating gallo pinto, or beans and rice. They call it gallo pinto because the dish is the color of a "painted rooster."

We met a first year teacher who earned his degree in Managua. He rides his bicycle from Granada to teach the combination fifth and sixth grade class each day.

We walked about 3 miles back from the school into Granada. Along the way we saw the homes of the children who attend the school. The children loved to have their photographs taken! Below is a picture of a typical Nicaraguan home. Aboput 90% of the people of Nicaragua live in homes just like this one.

These boys were playing a pick-up game of futbol as the sun was setting.

Today we visited the market in Masaya. We practiced our bargaining skills! Tonight we will be working with La Esperanza again. The organization has been helping a group of young men to develop job skills, and the young men are planning to open a restaurant in Granada soon. Tonight they will be practicing their cooking skills for our group. Yum!

Crossing the Border . . .

Yesterday (Sunday), we spent the day traveling from Costa Rica into Nicaragua. We had to travel from Santa Rosa back to Liberia because you can't catch a bus into Nicaragua as close to the border as Santa Rosa. So, while we were only 12 kilometers form the border where we were staying, we traveled an hour back to Liberia, waited on the side of the street to flag down our bus, and then rode for another hour and a half by bus to the border.


Once we arrived at the border, we waited in line, clinging to our backpacks strapped across our chests, to exit Costa Rica. Then we all boarded the bus again, and the bus drove across the border and then through a car wash kind of device which sprayed the bus down to kill any hitchhiking insects, which we found hilarious since they could surely just fly or crawl across the border on their own, right? Then we all unloaded all of our large luggage this time and waited in yet another line with all of our belongings. I wish I had pictures to show what we saw and experienced, but this was not at all the place the pull out a camera. We waited here for hours in the heat, holding all of our bags, with no place to sit down and no bathrooms. We snacked on cookies knowing we would not be eating lunch that day. While it is easy to imagine being upset about this, I just couldn't be because I saw a man digging through the trash to find discarded scraps of food, and I could only be so thankful for my cookies no matter how hungry, hot, and tired I was.

We really found out how unpredictable the border can be when our leader and her eleven year old daughter were forced to stay behind in Costa Rica. She has dual citizenship (CR and US), and our leader had been told by immigration authorities before the trip that she would not need a visa to enter Nicaragua as a Costa Rican citizen. But once we got to the border she was denied entry without the visa. Her US passport had expired earlier this month, or she would have been able to enter as a US citizen. It was emotional for everyone to be separated, and it really caused me to think about the trauma of family separation our immigrant students experience. In our case, we know they will be able to join us in a day or two or three, or worst case we will meet them when we return to Costa Rica on Thursday. For our students, the separation is often for years or even for the rest of their lives. The sacrifice is nearly incomprehensible, but witnessing the circumstances which motivate these decisions overwhelms me in certain moments.


So, now we are here (minus two) in Granada, Nicaragua, the oldest colonial city in all of the Americas. It is a beautiful city, and after our previous stop, I am really appreciating the absolutely lovely hotel and the first air conditioned accommodations of our journey.



Sorry I can't rotate this picture of our hotel here in Granada, but just tilt your head! You can see a volcano on the horizon.

I'll send an update soon now that we have internet access!

Santa Rosa National Park, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Friday, our second day in Santa Rosa, was the most incredible day of the trip so far. We were honored to accompany Maria Marta, a botanist and local activist for the marine ecosystem in the fishing town of Quanaquil pictured below, on a day long boat trip around the bay area of Santa Rosa National Park. The area is home to a diverse number of birds, including pelicans, kingfishers, friggets, and herons.

We snorkeled in two different areas in the bay. I saw an eagle ray, incredibly beautiful with its white spots and so graceful when it swims, as well as several octopi and lots of tropical fishes. I also got to touch a puffer fish, all puffed up, and was surprised by its texture. The experience was exhilarating!

After leaving the first snorkeling site, a group of 15 to 20 dolphins swam along side our boats. Of course, I never could quite seem to snap the picture when they were jumping, but here you can see a couple of fins . . .

We anchored the boats and ate lunch on a beautiful shell beach. We cold see several miles away where the clouds stretched down to the ground like pulled cotton from the sky, and our boat captain told us we were watching the rain coming down in Nicaragua.

Maria Marta talked with us about the problems of overfishing in the area and the impact on the ecosystem in the park. She is actively involved in conservation efforts and works not only with government officials but also with local fishermen to increase awareness. She is incredibly respected by both groups. We saw a commercial fishing vessel on the horizon below.

Another fascinating aspect of this area is the vast evidence of the geological history of the area. You can see the tilt and the striations in the rock below, and we would learn even more about the geology of the area when we visited Rincon de Vieja, a volcano called "the corner of the old woman," the next day.
So, the next day (Saturday), we hiked a three mile loop through the volcanic area of another national park. Look at the tarantula!!!
Evidence of the geologic activity below the surface of the earth . . . .
Boiling springs and mud pots with temperatures up to 248 degrees F! Scientists have just discovered a new form of bacteria living in the mud.

Tonio, the park "mascot," joined us for lunch. He's in the raccoon family and is just as sneaky. He stole a sandwich!

Here's a couple of pictures of our Hotel in La Cruz where we had been staying while visiting the Santa Rosa area.

You could call it "rustic," I suppose. We had lots of geckos and bugs in our rooms. The geckos would click all night long. Click click click click. Between the clicking and the heat, it was hard to sleep. Luckily, the hiking and the swimming left us exhausted enough to get at least some sleep.

There were also the largest toads I have ever seen in my life outside (well, inside too) the hotel. This giant was about the size of a small canteloupe!

Leaving Monteverde

There's so much to catch up on after the last few days without internet access, I don't quite know where to begin. We finished out the first leg of our journey, in Monteverde, last week. On Wednesday, we saw this extraordinary rainbow on the way back down the mountain from Santa Elena, and to the left of what was captured in the picture below we could see the Pacific Ocean past the mountains. It was breathtaking!

And, as if that weren't enough, here's a picture of the sun setting that evening from the porch of the Ecolodge . . .

We all got one last treat from the Monteverde cloud forest when we were packing the van the next morning to leave. We were told there was a sloth right around the corner, which by Tico standards (Tico is a term the locals use for the Costa Rican people) was really about a half mile up a rocky steep path! But it was worth the sweat to get to see this amazing creature. She was irritable because she was about to give birth, but she tolerated us for a moment and even posed for this picture . . .
After five hours in the van, we arrived in Santa Rosa National Park. We visited William Walker's stronghold in Costa Rica, pictured below. He was essentially planning to take over Costa Rica, but run out of town back in to Nicaragua. School children in Costa Rica reenact this every year, and one lucky little boy gets to play the fifteen year old Costa Rican who runs up with a burning torch and lights fire to the paper house they pretend is the stronghold. None of us, as teachers, could believe they actually let the child carry a lit torch!!
More adventures lie ahead for us in Santa Rosa . . . .

Day 4

Today we said goodbye to our host families and returned to the ecolodge for one last night tonight before leaving for the next leg of our trip. I can't download any of my pictures from today due to power surges from some intense rain we are experiencing, but I hope to share pictures of my homestay family soon.

Tomorrow morning we will leave for Santa Rosa National Park (in the northwestern region of Guanacaste) where we will visit a volcano and also have the opportunity to do some snorkeling. I think it will be about a 5 hour bus ride, but I am excited nonetheless!

Day 3

After leaving the ecolodge this morning, we took a taxi to the city of Santa Elena, up the mountain from San Luis where we have been staying. We visited a technical high school, or colegio, where students from all over this area must travel in order to attend high school. School is only compulsory through sixth grade in Costa Rica. For many children, a high school education is unattainable due to the great distance they must travel each day to reach the colegio. Distance is even more so a barrier to university study, although the colegio in Santa Elena does offer a distance learning lab through which students can earn an advanced degree from a university.

The most impressive thing about the colegio was the projects students are involved in. There are two technical tracks students can take--ecology and ecotourism. Students in the ecology track showed us their pig "project" and their tilapia pond . . They use the pig "by-products" to feed the tilapia. They are raising pigs to earn money to pay for field trips.

Students in the ecotourism track were learning how to cook. Today they were making a bechemel sauce.

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After our visit to the colegio, we visited the public health facility. I was surprised by the level of accessibilty to health services, although people must travel to another larger city for anything other than sick visits, some preventative care, and minor surgery. The staff here consists of two general practice doctors, two resident doctors, and five nurses.

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Now we are enjoying a couple of hours of free time in Santa Elena before returning to our homestays for the evening.

¡Hasta luego!

Day 2

Yesterday was another full day . . .

We visited to elementary schools (primarias) and the coffee processing plant for the co-op in San Luis. There was a great deal of walking, and that always means fantastic sights along the way.

Here's Gilber again (the coffee farmer we visited at Finca la Bella yesterday). Today he is volunteering at his children's school, painting a mural. He laughs because he says right now he is a conflicted man. He is painting caterpillars, which he doesn't love because they eat the coffee plant leaves. We passed Gilber later on today on our way to our homestays. He was running up the mountain (as we were all huffing and puffing just trying to walk). Yes, on top of everything else, he runs marathons and trains for them by running UP the mountain.

The coffee processing plant . . . .











I spent the night with my homestay family in San Luis, and they were so kind and patient with my Spanish. Eugeno, the father, works at the Ecolodge. One of his sons will be attending Georgetown University this fall on a full scholarship.

We are leaving in a minute to visit a high school and the public health facility in Santa Elena, so I have to keep this one short . . . More later!

Day One

Morning Vistas . . . . .

After a four hour flight to Liberia yesterday (where for the first time in my life I landed in an open-air airport!), we travelled by van for four hours to reach the San Luis Research Station (UGA Costa Rica campus) in the "cloud forest" of Monteverde. The last hour and a half of the bus ride was up a steep winding "road" of large gravel and rock. To navigate the road, the driver had to weave back and forth to avoid the biggest rocks and potholes. I would estimate our top speed at 10 mph, and even at this pace the jostling was an unprecedented experience. Since it was dark when the plane landed, we really didn't see much of Costa Rica until we awoke this morning--and the pictures don't even come close to capturing how breathtaking it is here.

We had an amazing breakfast of fresh papaya, pineapple, and watermelon, a delicious sweet bread with pineapple marmalade and "natilla" (a cross between sour cream and cream cheese-but a little sweet too--made from the fresh cream from the dairy cows here on campus), and beans and rice--which so far has been served with every meal I've eaten here. After breakfast, our first trek was to an amazing waterfall--which once again just can't be caputered in a photograph . . .

The waterfall is actually about three times as high as what I could fit in one frame--so use your imagination a little bit here! The hike up was the most difficult hike I've ever done in my life--complete with rickity, slippery wooden planks for bridges and rocky inclines requiring the use of rope lines in order to scale them successfully. Most of the trail required too much concentration and careful footing to take many pictures along the way, but it was an exciting challenge for which we were richly rewarded in the end. The water was beoyond frigid, but we weren't about to pass up the opportunity to jump in!

After hiking back to the Ecolodge for lunch (where I drank starfruit juice for the first time--yum!), we visited Finca de Bella, or "pretty farm"--part of a 25-family co-op of farmers in the San Luis area. Gilber, the man in the picture below, shared with us the history of the co-op and how the farmers work together as a community to farm in a sustainable, responsible way without pesticides or herbicides and minimal use of fertilizers. Given the ideal rainfall and elevation, the main crop here in the cloud forest is coffee. The picture below to the right shows some of the coffee beans, which are green at this time of year. The beans are ripe when they turn a bright red color. Through the co-op, the farmers are able to sell their coffee for export at fair trade prices. Still, to give you an idea: One plant yields about a half a kilo of beans, and for 46 kilos the farmer will earn about $100. That's about 90 plants. Now, each kilo of coffee will brew about 80 cups of coffee. From 46 kilos of beans, about 3,686 cups of coffee will be made. Starbucks sells a cup for about $1.50, totaling $5,529.00 for the 46 kilos of coffee for which the famer earned $100.00. Crazy.

Also from Gilber's farm . . . . . .. Red platanos, or bananas and papayas.

You'll notice the last picture--the papaya tree--is a little cloudy. And it is, literally, "cloudy." While we were visiting Gilber's farm, the clouds descended and it looked like this in a matter of minutes:

This was naturally followed by a torrential downpour which continued for about the next five hours, off and on.

I'm headed off to my bungalow to catch some sleep. Tomorrow we will be visiting two schools in San Luis and then I'll meet my homestay family. I'll be staying there for two days, and I'm really nervous about my Spanish since I'll be on my own . . .

Buenos noches!