So I know that it's been a few days, well almost a week since my last post, but I've been super busy! Since my last post, I've traveled across the western part of Costa Rica, and been planning a lot more of the school day.
Last weekend, Rachael and I went to Manuel Antonio. I'm so proud of us that we made it there and back, all by ourselves, safely. Everyone warned us about being protective of our things and we were! No problems and nothing lost...well almost nothing. I lost my Nalgene :( Oh well. Pura Vida.
Manuel Antonio was so beautiful! We set off to San Jose around 4:00pm to catch our coach bus to the coast by 6:00pm. San Jose is only about a 25 minute bus ride, so we figured it was no problem. We made it to our bus stop at 5:45 pm and still had to take a taxi to the coach bus terminal! We made it to our tourist bus door at 6:01. Almost missed it, but we got on. We ventured into the dark wilderness (I say wilderness because I still have not idea how we got to and from Manuel Antonio and it was pitch black the entire time). After a 4 hour tour, we made it to Manuel Antonio. We were let off the bus in the dark and told by someone outside to walk up this little road 150 meters to our hotel. We were super nervous about this, but what choice did we have? We trusted our advice and made the trek. To our surprise, the hotel staff were waiting in the street for us. They took our luggage and got us checked into the cutest little hotel room.
In the morning, Rachael and I woke up early to an included, Costa Rican style breakfast consisting of the best toast I've ever had, a jam made from local fruits, and STRONG coffee. After breakfast we ventured to the National Park. We opted against the $20 per person for a tour guide and just rode the coattails of the other tour groups. We saw sloths and a weird crab/frog thing, and more! It was so cool to be exploring the rainforest. After a 30-40 minute hike, we approached our first beach. This was my first time at a beach in a tropical place and I fell in love. We ended up exploring 3 beaches that day. It was amazing.
Everyone in Manuel Antonio was so nice and helpful for us. We only got taken advantage of money-wise one time, and that was with a cab driver. But what can you do...live and learn. It was hard to leave the beach on Sunday, but we felt rested and ready to enter another school week. We had figured out how to purchase our tickets home, and thought it would be a relatively painless experience. HOWEVER, the bus was not direct to San Jose and ended up making so many stops I lost track. It took us over 6 hours to get to San Jose. This time, however, it was light outside during most of the drive, so we were able to see parts of the country that we would not otherwise see.
The countryside in Costa Rica is beautiful. There is a lot of crop land, but it's spread over picturesque, foggy, lush mountains. One thing that I did notice about the countryside, is that instead of smelling like animal bi-product/fertilizer, it smells like coffee, flowers, cinnamon, rain, fruit, and fresh air. It was hard to be stressed on the bus when it smelled so great outside.
We made it home by 8:00 Sunday night, just in time for the Mariachi Band to play songs for our host mom's 50th birthday party! What a surprise! All of her family and friends were there, the band was amazing, and they all welcomed us to join in the festivities. Our host mom was happy to introduce us to the people closest to her. It was so cool.
For school this week, I'm taking on more of a prominent role in the classroom. I began writing quizzes, administering them, and assessing them. This is so helpful to me to get to learn the students and their academic strengths/weaknesses. My 4th graders have been doing book report presentations all week, complete with costumes. It's amazing to me how smart and confident they are while presenting. It seems as though presenting their material and what they've learned is so natural for them. It's really quite impressive to witness.
In 5th grade, my students are working on developing scripts for a role-playing activity they will do. They will be acting out a chapter from the book they are currently reading. They have started to try to test me this week and see what they can get away with. For example, during their spelling assessment, one student kept asking me to spell words for him. After explaining to him that I'm not new at this and that those tricks won't work with me, he stopped. I can't figure out why he needed help, he got the highest score in the class on his own.
The weather down here has been good for the most part. We had an earthquake today, apparently. I totally missed it. Only I would be totally oblivious to the entire ground shaking beneath me. It's usually sunny during the day, but without fail, whenever Rachael and I decide to leave school, no matter the time, it starts to downpour. Murphy's Law?? It's weird. For anyone who will ever go to Costa Rica be sure to bring an umbrella. We're not talking a few sprinkles everyday. We're talking full-on downpour, monsoon, thunder, lightning, sky exploding rain. It only lasts for an hour or so, but it will always wait for Rachael and I to step outside at the end of the day.
Things here are going great. This weekend we're going to be staying near Santa Ana but taking day trips to check out a volcano and some botanical gardens. I'm so excited! I'll try to post more often. I added some new pics of Manuel Antonio on Facebook so check those out if you'd like. Below is a link for Manuel Antonio National Park. Take care.
Manuel Antonio National Park
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