Manuel Antonio

After waiting for many weeks, my mom and I met up with the rest of our family in Manuel Antonio. We have done many cool and interesting things here but one of the highlights was definitely our trip to the Manuel Antonio National Park. There we saw loads of different animals such as a sloth, a hummingbird nesting, a toucan, white-faced or cappucino monkeys, bats, killer bees, a stork, you name it. There was also a nice beach where we chilled once our tour through the park finished. We all had loads of fun!

Despues de esperar por muchas semanas, mi madre y yo nos encontramos otra vez con mi familia en Manuel Antonio. Hicimos muchas cosas interesantes y guay pero uno de los realces fue nuestra caminata a traves del Parque Nacional de Manuel Antonio. Alla, vimos muchos animales diferentes como un perezoso, un colibri, un tucan, cappucino monos, murcielagos, abejas y muchos mas. Tambien hay una playa muy bonita donde nos relajamos el resto del dia cuando nuestra gira termino. Nos divertimos mucho!

San Jose

Yesterday, my mom and I took a tour through the city of San Jose. It was a pretty interesting trip but to be honest, it was hard for the city to kindle my interest after seeing all of the grand cities in Spain. Despite this fact, we still had a good time wandering San Jose. During our trip we visited a few different attractions. One was the Museo de Oro Precolombino, famous for the largest collection of pre-Columbian gold jewelry in Central America. It also had an amazing variety of coins used by the indigenous people of Costa Rica to the present time. Another was El Teatro Popular Melico Salazar which I found very interesting. It was a "classic" theater with hundreds of seats on the floor and with two balconies offering even more chairs. It is by far the most ornate theater in all of Costa Rica. Almost everything was handmade with beautiful  materials imported from France and Italy, including the steps, railings, balconies and more. Que Magnifico!

Ayer, mi mama y yo hicimos una gira por la ciudad de San Jose. Fue bastante interesante pero, para ser honesto, no era como las ciudades en Espana. A pesar de esto nos divertimos mucho andando. Durante nuestro viaje, visitamos algunas atracciones diferentes. Una fue el Museo de Oro Precolombino el cual es famoso por su gran cantidad de figuras de oro. Tambien visitamos el Teatro Nacional. Yo pense que este es muy interesante. Era un teatro clasico con muchas butacas en el primer piso y tambien hay otras en los balcones. Casi toda esta hecho a mano incluyendo los escalones, los balcones, las barandillas, etc. Que magnifico!

Cafe Britt

Today, we decided to check out Cafe Britt, one of the main coffee producers in Costa Rica. We sampled many different types of the aromatic drink, all with different flavors and smells. We also tried an assortment of the rich chocolates they sold such as coffee beans covered in dark chocolate and orange and passion fruit chocolates. All of these were amazing. After picking some coffee and chocolates from the shop, we wandered around a small field overflowing with coffee plants. There, we learned how coffee is made. First, they harvest the bean which is a reddish color when ripe. Then the beans are left to dry in the sun. Next, the dry beans are husked and finally, roasted and ground up into coffee. The coffee was fabulous, the chocolate was extraordinary, and we had a blast.

Hoy visitamos el Cafe Britt, una de las mayores procecadoras de cafe en Costa Rica. Probamos muchos tipos diferentes de cafe, todos con sabores y olores diferentes. Tambien probamos un surtido de chocolates como semillas de cafe cubiertas con chocolate y chocolate de naranja y parchita. Todos eran increibles. Despues de elegir muchos productos de la tienda, caminamos en un campo donde hay muchas plantas de cafe. Aprendimos como se produce el cafe. Primero, se cosechan las semillas cuando estan maduras. Entonces, se dejan los granos al sol. Despues, los granos son separados y finalmente, se tuestan y se muelen. El cafe era increible, los chocolates fantasticos y nos divertimos mucho.

Sarchi

Today we took a cab over to Sarchi, a small town 20 minutes or so from Heredia. Sarchi is well known for its traditional Costa Rican handmade crafts such as wood carvings and hand-painted items. In addition, it has the biggest wagon in the world which also holds the world record. Our driver was familiar with the town and he showed us around. We got to see many of the craftsman painting and carving wood and we enjoyed watching them. Next, we entered into the store where all of the wares that the craftsman created were sold. We found many neat things ranging from wooden jewelry (which my mom could not keep her eyes off), animals and bowls, to hand painted chairs and benches and much more. Que Divertido!

Hoy tomamos un taxi a Sarchi, un pueblo que esta mas o menos a veinte minutos de Heredia. Sarchi es famoso por su surtido de artesanias como tallas de madera y cosas hechas a mano. Ademas, tiene el carreta mas grande del mundo. Esta carreta tiene el record mundial. Nuestro conductor conoce muy bien el pueblo y el nos lo mostro todo. Pudimos ver a muchos artesanos pintando y tallando madera lo cual fue muy interesante. Despues entramos en una tienda donde todos los productos de los artesanos estaban a la venta. Conseguimos muchas cosas guayes como joyeria madera, animales de madera, bolas de madera, sillas pintadas a mano y muchas cosas mas. Que divertido!

Heredia

We have started our week of class in Heredia, a city on the outskirts of San Jose. Only one more week to go! Yipee! The campus of the school is very nice and has all sorts of cool toys like a punching bag, a basketball court, a foosball table and even a soccer field! For once, I am not alone in my classes. I have one classmate, an older teenager from the Bahamas, and we are both at the same level. Today we took a walk through Heredia with my Mom's classmates and a "guide" from the school. The main part of our trip was walking through a giant indoor market. It was awesome. The insane variety of fruits and vegetables blew my mind and there was also a huge assortment of meats and fish. It was really fun to learn about all of the different types of tropical fruits and sample them as well. After our walk through the market,we got some ice cream (I got Guayabana and Choco Chip. Delicious!) and we sat in one of the plazas in the center of the city. We had a great time!

Empezamos nuestra semana de clase en Heredia hoy. Solamente una semana mas! El campo de nuestra escuela es muy guay y hay muchas cosas muy divertidas como una bolsa para golpear, un cancha de baloncesto, una mesa de foosball, y hasta un campo de futbol! Por una vez, no estoy solo en mi clase; hay otra chica en mi clase y nosotros dos estamos al mismo nivel. Hoy, para una de nuestras actividades, visitamos  Heredia con los estudiantes de la clase de mi madre y un guia de la escuela. La mayor parte de nuestro viaje caminamos a traves del mercado. Fue increible! Habia frutas y vegetales de colores y tamanos diferentes y tambien habia un surtido de pescado y carne enorme. Fue muy divertido aprender sobre tipos diferentes de comidas y probar algunas de las frutas. Despues de nuestra caminata por el mercado, compramos helado (yo comi Guanabana y Choco Chip. Delicioso!) y nosotros nos sentamos en una plaza en el centro de la ciudad. Nos divertimos mucho.

Las Playas y El Agua

Our week at Playa Flamingo was all about the beaches. From the white sand of Playa Flamingo to the black sand of Playa Danta, there is a beach for everyone. Life here is lazy and slow and due to the extremely hot weather, we have taken advantage of every beach to beat the heat. Most of the time the water is a deep blue and is pleasantly cool. We have done many activities on the water including a trip on a catamaran to a beach where we snorkeled and swam. In addition,we also journeyed to Playa Tamarindo where we went surfing. The waves that day were perfect and we totally shredded it up, bro! We also saw some killer sunsets while lounging on one of the many beaches such as Playa Penca, Potrero, Flamingo, Danta y Tamarindo.

Nuestra semana en Playa Flamingo fue pura playa. De la arena blanca de Flamingo a la arena negra de Danta, hay una playa por toda la gente.La vida aqui es muy lenta y debido a que hace mucho calor, aprovechamos todas las playas para escaparnos del calor. La mayoria del tiempo, el agua es muy azul y bastante fresca. Hicimos muchas actividades en el agua incluyendo un viaje en catamaran a una playa pequena donde pudimos practicar esnorquel y nadar y tambien surfeamos en playa Tamarindo. Las olas eran perfectas y nos divertimos mucho. Vimos muchas puestas del sol cuando nos relajabamos en una de las Playas de Penca, Potrero, Flamingo, Danta y Tamarindo.

Lacrosse in Costa Rica

Our first day in Flamingo, we ran into one of our friends from Charlottesville, Susanne Grossman. We got quite a kick out of it because the chances of meeting someone we knew in such a small town were very slim. We learned from her that the non-profit organization Lacrosse the Nations was teaming up with another non-profit called Abrientos Mentes. This organization is an after school program whose goal is to try and teach English to children at a young age and educate adults in the use of computers. Lacrosse the Nations uses lacrosse as their vehicle to help teach the students. And that is where I helped. My mom and I sat in on one of the after school sessions and helped them a bit. Once that was done, we set out for the soccer field and prepared to teach the kids to pay lacrosse. It was really fun to help teach them about lacrosse as well as to see the kids' faces as they learned.

En nuestro primer dia en Flamingo, encontramos a una de nuestras amigas de Charlottesville, Susanne Grossman. Nos enteramos gracias a ella de que un programa sin fines de lucro que se llama Lacrosse the Nations estaba trabajando conjuntamente con otra programa sin fines de lucro que se llama Abriendo Mentes. Este programa es despues de la escuela y su objetivo es tratar de ensenar ingles a chicos a una edad temprana y tambien tratar de ensenarles adultos como usar las computadoras. Lacrosse the Nations usa el lacrosse como su vehiculo para ayudar a los estudiantes. Yo ayude aqui. Mi madre y nos sentamos en el programa despues de escuela y les ayudamos un poco. Despues de terminar, fuimos al campo de futbol y empezamos a jugar y a ensenar a los chicos y chicas como jugar el lacrosse. Fue muy divertido ayudar y ensenar a los chicos el deporte de lacrosse.

Flamingo Beach Area

After a week of school in Monteverde, my mom and I started classes in the Flamingo beach area. Flamingo is a beautiful beach town on the northwest coast of Costa Rica in the Guanacaste province. We are staying in the town of Potrero, a typical "tico" village with a population of 450. A neat thing about this town is that it is centered around a big soccer field which illustrates how the Costa Ricans revere the sport. There is also a small supermarket nearby and a school where I assisted with an after school program. (This will be described in a later post). Every morning to travel to school , we take the bus, ride our bikes or even better, walk along the beach. The roads are dry, dusty, bumpy and not very pleasant. Once again I have four hours of private lessons every day and the school itself is pretty cool. There is a ping-pong table, a foosball table, and even a pool! Definitely my type of school :)

Despues de una semana de clases en monteverde, mi madre y yo empezamos clases en la area de Playa de Flamingo. Este ciudad, Flamingo, es un pueblo hermoso cerca de la playa en la costa norte y oeste y esta en la provinca de Guanacaste. Estamos viviendo en el pueblo de Potrero que tiene una poblacion de 450. Una cosa interesante de este pueblo es que esta se centra de un campo de futbol que se illustra como importante el deporte de futbol es aqui. Tambien hay un supermecado y una escuela donde yo asisti como una programa despuesde la escuela. Cada manan, para ir a escuela, tomamos el bus, montar a bicicleta o mejor, caminar en la playa. Las calles estan muy secas, desiguales, polvorienta y no muy buenos. Otra vez, tengo lecciones privadas por cuatro horas cada dia y la escuela es bastante guay. Hay una mesa de ping-pong, una mesa de foosball y incluso una piscina! Definativamente mi tipo de escuela :)

WIldlife near Arenal

Coati

Male Jesus Christ Lizard

Butterfly

Female Jesus Christ Lizard

Toucan

Boat Billed Heron

Sloth

During our trip to the Arenal Volcano and the Baldi Springs, we also hiked two trails: El Silencio and one on a private reserve. El Silencio is a path which winds up a small hill and at the top, offers a great view of the volcano. On El Silencio, we saw many different types of flora and fauna. Some of the highlights were definitely the toucan and the coatis. We located the toucan by its distinct, high-pitched sound and we found the coatis ambling across our path. The other trail we hiked was on a private reserve and circled a small pond located in the center if the park. Once again we witnessed many different species of wildlife such as a boat billed heron, a few types of butterflies, some Jesus Christ Lizards (named this because of their ability to run on water) and even a sloth!

Durante de nuestra viaje al Volcan Arenal y las piscinas de Baldi, tambien caminamos en dos senderos: El Silencio y uno en una reserva privada. El silencio es un sendero que va areba de un lado de una colina pequena y al parte superior, que ofrece una vista inrcreible del volcan. En el Silencio, vimos muchas tipos diferentes de la fauna en el bosque como coatis y un toucan. Nosotros enseguimos el toucan de su sonido muy distincto y enseguimos el coati que anduvo en nuestro sendero. El otro sendero que cambinams estuvo en una reserva provada y rodeado un lago pequeno en el centro del parque. Otra vez vimos muchas tipas de fauna en el bosque. Vimos un boat billed heron, mariposas, Jesus Christ lizard, incluso un sloth!