Costa Rica Photos

Our work group in CASEM and the ladies of CASEM.

Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

The kids of Canitas.

The "Casa Club" in Canitas.

Hummingbird in the backyard of the B and B in Canitas.

View from Gaudy's hostel in San Jose my first morning.

Madison

The first week of school is over. I left Costa Rica on Saturday January 16th, arrived in Denver, flew out to MN on Sunday, and drove to Madison on Monday. Phew. Classes are wonderful and the week went along without much trouble. I miss Costa Rica but I am really glad to be back in school, learning about new and interesting subjects. I am especially psyched for my Soil Science class which is a little ironic because originally I thought this would be a rather boring class. This is apparently not the case. School, studying, work, and fun. That's my life for now.

Art and Food

This last week has been a blast. The five new volunteers arrived on Sunday. They are all over 55 but are still kicking it like they are twenty. We worked this week at the local woman's co-op. Global Volunteers has worked with this cooperative for many years and through this collaberation many great projects have been accomplished. It was wonderful to add our own layer of work to this effort during this week. The building in which the co-op resides was actually constructed with the help of GV. Over time new improvements have been made. The co-op is made up of all woman artists who sell their wares at this co-op to make a living or to generate a little more income for themselves and their families. It is also very empowering for them because they support each other emtionally and learn to becoming a little more self sustaining by learning a new skill. We spent the week painting the backroom of the co-op. The future plans for this room involve turning it into a cafeteria where the women can sell traditional Costa Rican food.

Everyday we ate a delicious meal prepared by some of the ladies. We sat together and ate and talked about our families or hobbies. The ladies wanted to practice English and I practiced Spanish.

The weather has been really cold and rainy lately but today the sun finally made an apperance. I went for a long hike today after work with Elle, one of the volunteers. We hiked in the forest to this beautiful look out. Today is my last day in Santa Elena but it could not have ended more perfectly.

Arco Iris (Rainbow) Numero 11

I have seen a rainbow almost everyday since I have been here in Monteverde. I have been horrible at updating this blog but there was no internet over the weekend and this week suddenly slipped by into Thursday. So what is new?



First, I visited the Cloud Forest. I walked the suspension bridges in Selvatura Park over and through the forest. There were eight bridges total and it gave us a wonderful view of the rainforest. The rest of the group chose to zip line through the forest but I think I made the better choice because I actually got to see the forest rather than speed over it. Still it was a fun day.



We spent eight days working in Canitas and we managed to get a lot done. I spent everyday painting. Painting the ceiling, the outside and inside walls, and the trim. Amanda and I were the designated trim team in the group. Everyday the ladies of the town would prepare a wonderful lunch for us which usually included a salad of tomato and shredded cabbage, black beans, rice, and some protien source. This is a very traditional Costa Rican meal. After lunch we would play soccer with the kids or if we were tired just lay in the grass and watch the kids play soccer or futbol. The people of Canitas are so wonderful. The kids were especially cute. Today they gave us all gifts. The women got earrings and the men got bookmarks. All handmade of course. Today was also fun because I got to cook with the ladies and they taught me how to make this delicious fried bread and cheese snack.



New Years was WONDERFUL! We went out to eat with the entire volunteer group. Half of the team was leaving the next day so we wanted to celebrate with everyone. After dinner we went to one of the bars and got a salsa lesson from one of the locals. It was sort of fun but no one else was at the bar so we ended up leaving and heading to another bar where all the locals were hanging out. A bunch of us stayed up until midnight dancing and drinking. Dancing was really the best way to bring in the new year in another country.



On the weekend I traveled with Amanda, another girl in our group, to La Fortuna. After an exhausting three hour ride that involved a shuttle, a boat ride across the lake, and another shuttle ride we arrived. Unfortunately it was rather disappointing. La Fortuna is overshadowed by the volcano Arenal. This is the main attraction of the area but other than this geographic wonder the town of La Fortuna does not have a lot going for it. It reminded me a lot of the Wisconsin Dells (yuck). We ended leaving early and returning to Santa Elena but still managed to have a fun weekend.



I feel like this only glosses over the last week. There is so much I have seen and done that it would take about three hours to write about it all. When I am back in the States I hope to share more stories and pictures with all of you.



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Hello all!!

I am doing really well. I had a wonderful New Years and hope everyone else did as well. Sorry my blog fell off the face of the earth but internet has been down the last couple of days. I am about to run to dinner but I will write a more detailed description of the last few days later tonight or tomorrow.

Hope you are all well!!!!

Cloud Forest

As I write this I am sitting at an internet cafe, sipping a pina con leche, and admiring the view of downtown Santa Elena. I finally left San Jose on the 26th only to find myself in Alajuela, a suburb of San Jose, which seemed if possible more crowded and hot than San Jose. I met the rest of the volunteer group that night at the hotel. We had dinner which disappointingly consisted of very American type food.

The group is a very mixed bunch. There is one other college aged girl, an older retired couple, two eight year olds with their moms, a few older people traveling by themselves, a family of four from Chicago, and a mom and daughter team. Everyone is very plesant but it seems a little weird to be moving around with such a big group of Americans.

Sunday morning we were briefed on the trip and at noon we headed out of town and towards Monteverde. The best part of Global Volunteers is their matched work policy. This means for every volunteer working there must be a local person working as well. This way the locals are equally involved and strong friendships are built between locals and volunteers.

We took the Pan American Highway most of the way to Monteverde but the last twenty five miles consisted of steep gravel hills. Overall the trip took about three and a half hours. At one point we were at a high enough elevation that we could look out and see the Peninsula of Nicoya and the Pacific ocean. Costa Rica is really small. Santa Elena is also very small and very touristy. The small mainstreet consists of a few souviner shops, cafes, a bakery, grocery store, and oddly enough a sushi restaraunt.

Today, Monday, we got up at 5:30 ate breakfast at 6 and made it to the bus stop by 7am. We took the bus a little ways out of town to Canitas. We are working with the town of Canitas to update and fix their ¨club house¨. The club house is a large one room building with a kitchen where all the local activities and events are held. We spent the day preping the outside walls for painting and pulling weeds and in the afternoon, after the paint was purchased, we were able to start applying the primer layer. The best part of the day was meeting Ramone. He is eight years old and lives in Canitas. As he pulled weeds with us he helped us with our Spanish. Very adorable.

Feliz Navidad!

I hope everyone is having a fun and relaxing Christmas.

It is a quiet snow-free morning here with the exception of a few trilling birds. Yesterday I managed to make it to the countryside. I was accompanied by Martin, a pleasent college teacher from Kentucky originally from Quebec. We started out in down town San Jose trying to find a bus that would take us to Cartago. There are few bus stations in Costa Rica mostly designated stops that are not very well marked which made finding our buses for the rest of the day a little challenging. In Cartago we transfered to Orosi which took us even further south east. Now that we had gotten out of San Jose I was able to get a good view of the landscape. Large hills covered with lush vegetation sloped down into a valley and nestled within was the town of Orosi.

In Orosi we found out about a local coffee farmer, Nino, who lived on the hillside. He loved to give tours so we decided to check it out. The climb up was very steep. We passed banana trees, coffee bushes, bamboo, pines, and lots of other foliage I don't know the name of. It turns out (Nino told us this) that a lot of the plants in Costa Rica are not native but were imported or accidently transported from other countries. My favorite was an apple tree that had beautiful red flowers (I am not sure if this tree was native or not). The tree, Nino said, would bear fruit in the fall. Nino was this wonderful character. Probably in his early fifties he was lean and muscular. He lives by himself in a house he built from a fallen tree. His house was modest but the view from the second story porch was breath taking. It looked out and down across the hills and into the valley (though we could not see the town). He showed us the thirty foot waterfall that ran near his house. It was very pleasant to wade in the warm water and enjoy the cool breeze of the mountain. We drank strong black coffee as Nino also told us about the parks of Costa Rica and showed us a book that pictured most of the volcanos in the area.

Leaving Nino's house we took a trail that wrapped around the hill. Nino showed us his coffee bushes and even let us eat one of the berries. A fresh coffee berry is sweet and moist and the green coffee bean is fun to suck on as it has a thin coating of flesh. Nino picked us some fresh limes to eat as we walked. Refreshing but incredibly sour. The trail led us to a look out that gave us a wonderful view of Orosi. Nino said that on the days when there are no clouds (which are very few) you can actually see both oceans from that look out. Not surprisingly there were clouds but we did manage to spot one of the near by volcanos.

Back in Orosi we stopped at a Sopa to refresh ourselves. It still surprises me a little that the frescas they serve are not made from fresh fruit but poured from a plastic jug. None the less I welcomed a cold drink after the long walk.

Returning to Cartago we had some trouble finding a bus. Our search through the city led us to a small parade of dancers and drummers. And as we continued to ask for directions we stumbled across a beautiful ruin. People attempted to build this church (a couple hundred years ago) but after several earthquakes that ruined the building the project was abandoned but the walls still remain. Inside there were nice flowers and a life size nativity scene. I threw a colon (Costa Rican money) into the pond for good luck even though this trip so far has been filled with good fortune.