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!

Baldi Volcanic Springs

 In addition to visiting the Arenal Volcano, my mom and I also kicked back and relaxed at Baldi Volcanic Springs. At Baldi there are twenty six different springs, all of which are heated by the volcano. The temperatures of these pools range from the low 100's to the mid 150's. Muy Caliente! We visited three or four pools, including the giant Jacuzzi which had two small "cool-pools" in the middle. We used these to cool off in after swimming in the jacuzzi. There was also an all-you-can-eat buffet which we both enjoyed with lots of good Costa Rican food. But my favorite part had to be the slides. We zoomed down three different slides at around 45 kph which is insanely fast. Increible! 

Ademas que visitando el Volcan Arenal, mi madre y yo tambien relajamos a Baldi Volcanic Springs. A Baldi, hay veintiseis piscinas diferentes, y todos estan calientan por el Volcan Arenal y yo creo que este es bastante guay. Las temperaturas de las piscinas se intervalo desde las 100's a las 150's. Muy Caliente! Visitamos tres o cuatro piscinas, incluido el Jacuzzi Enorme que tuvo dos piscinas frias y  pequenas en el centro. Usamos estes para refrescarse despues de nadando en el agua caliente. Tambien hubo un buffet muy bueno con muchas tipas de comidas tipicales de Costa Rica. Pero mi parte favorito fue las disapositivas. Hubo tres disapositivas y fuimos abajos en estes cerca de 45 kph. Increible

Arenal Volcano

Over the weekend, my mom and I took a trip to the Arenal Volcano, the most active volcano in all of Costa Rica. We took a scenic and, once again, bumpy ride over to a lake where we stopped and hopped on a boat which ferried us over to the volcano. On the ride, the views of Arenal were phenomenal and we took many photos. After we "sailed" across the lake and arrived at our hotel, we were astounded. The volcano dominated the landscape. We were extremely lucky that the skies were clear, a rare pleasure, and that we could witness the volcano actually spewing steam right in front of our eyes! We had lots of fun.

On this weekend trip, we also visited the Baldi Volcanic Springs and hiked various trails and these activities will be described in later posts.

En el fin de semana, mi madre y yo tomamos un viaje al Volcan Arenal, el volcan mas activo en todas partes de Costa Rica. Tomamos un paseo de coche escenico y muy desigual a un lago donde nos embarcamos en un bote al volcan. En el bote, laqs vistas de Arenal eran increibles y tomamos muchos fotos. Despues de no embarcamos a traves del lago y llegamos a nuestro hotel, estabamos atonito. El volcan domino el paisaje. Teniamos muho suerte que el cielo era muy claro, un placer poco comun, y que pudimos ver el volcan fue arojado vapor  en frente de nuestros ojos! Que magnifico! 

Canopy Tour

On Thursday, my mom and I decided to go on a canopy tour, which is also known as  zip lining. Monteverde has the best zip lining in all of Costa Rica and there are many different canopy tours from which to choose. We chose one called Selvatura and it was totally awesome as it is the only zip line in Costa Rica that lets you fly through the canopy of the Cloud Forest. It probably has the longest zip lines in Costa Rica as well and by the time we were ready to get started, my mom was shakin' in her boots! There were thirteen different lines and one was more than a kilometer long! On that one line I felt like a bird flying through and above the Cloud Forest and it gave me a feeling of pure adrenaline as I whooped and screamed the entire way. They also had a Tarzan swing which I loved. It was a bit windy that day and the gusts either sped you up or slowed you down so it was important not to brake to early or else you would be stuck in the middle; my mom's biggest fear. But, despite my mom's fear of heights she had a great time flying through the canopy and I did as well.

En Jueves mi mama y yo decidimos ir a una gira del dosel o tirolesando. Monteverde tiene el mejor tirolesando en toda de Costa Rica y hay muchas giras diferentes del dosel para eligir. Eligimos un que se llama Selvatura y fue totalmente impresionante porque es el solo tirolesa en Costa Rica que le permite a aviar a traves del dosel de la Selva de Nublados. Probablemente tiene las tirolesas mas largas en Costa Rica y tambien y cuando estabamos listos para empezar, mi mama temia mucho miedo. Fue trece lineas diferentes y uno fue mas de un kilometro en medido. En este linea, me senti como un pajaro aviando a traves de la Selva de Nublados y me dio un emocion de adrenalino puro y yo grite mucho. Tambien tienen un Tarzan swing y me encanta esta. Hubo un poco de viento este dia y el viento me hizo ir mas rapido o me hizo ir mas lente y por eso, era muy importante para no freno mas temprano o seria atascado en el medio de la linea; el miedo mas mejor de mi mama. Pero, a pesar de el miedo de las altitudas de mi mama, ella tenia un tiempo muy bueno aviando a traves de los arboles y a mi tambien.

Horseback Riding

On Wednesday, my mom persuaded me to try horseback riding. I am really scared of horses so it was hard for her to draw me in but she was finally able to by threatening to take away dinner; I complied at once. I had never been horseback riding before and my mom has only been a few times so I didn't know what to expect and I was under the impression that it would be a torturous ride. However, I was mistaken in that presumption. I actually had a great time riding Chingo (the name of my horse) and my mother did as well. We road up and down hills covered in treacherous terrain and once I even galloped on Chingo. Teniamos mucho divertido!

En miercoles, mi madre me persuade a ir a montar caballos. Tengo mucho miedo de los caballos y por eso, fue dificil para ella a convencerme pero finalmente, ella me persuade de tomar mi cena lejos. Yo fui en un instante. Nunca iba a montar en caballo antes y mi madre solamente montaba un o dos veces y por eso, no sabebamos que a penar. Crei que estuvo a ser terrible. Sin embargo, era incorecto en este supuesto. Realmente tenia un tiempo muy bueno montando en mi caballo Chingo. Montabamos areba y debajo colinas en terreno peligroso y una vez, incluso a gallope en Chingo. Teniamos mucho divertido!

Monteverde Cloud Forest

One of the highlights of our stay in Monteverde was our visit to the Monteverde Cloud Forest reserve. We went on a very nice hike and learned about the flora and fauna in Monteverde. On our walk we saw a Quetzel, the national bird of Guatemala which is also a threatened species so it was a rare to treat to catch a glimpse of the splendid bird. We also saw lots of different types of trees, such as the strangler fig which grows around a separate tree, or a "host" and strangles it, and lots of flowers, including many varieties of orchids. We did not see much wildlife on this trip but we did see something I will never forget. As we reached the top of the fairly small mountain (only 5,000 feet above sea level) and stood on the continental divide, we could see both the Caribbean and Pacific sides of Costa Rica. It was an amazing sight and luckily the skies were very clear so we could see everything from the other mountains all the way out to the two seas. An interesting thing about Monteverde is the micro-climate which is an area with a completely different climate then one close by. For instance, in Monteverde it is about twenty degrees cooler than half an hour down the road and also, you will feel the occasional mist while the clouds zoom by at close to 60 mph. Que guay!

El dia pasado mi madre y yo viitamos la Selva de Nublados de Monteverde reserva. Fuimos en una caminata muy buena y apredemos de la fauna en Monteverde. En nuestra excurcion, vimos un Quetzal, el pajaro nacional de Guatemala, y muchos tipos diferentes de arboles y floras. No vimos mucha fauna en esta caminata pero vimos una vista que yo nunca voy a olvidar. Cuando llegaron al parte superior de la montana pequena (solamente 5,000 pies) en frente del Contental Divide, pudimos ver los lados del Caribbean y Pacifico de Costa Rica. Fue una vista increible y con buena suerte, no hubo muchos nublados y por eso pudimos ver todo de las montanas a las dos mares. Una cosa interesante de Monteverde es el microclimate. Un microclimate es un area con una climata completamente differente de una que esta cerca. Por ejemplo, en Monteverde, la temperatura es cerca de veinte grados mas frio que treinat minutos por la calle y eso es muy interesante. Tuvimos un tiempo muy bueno y fue muy divertido.

Night Hike

Last night my mom and I went on a Night Hike which is basically what the name says: a hike at night through winding trails in a reserve in the Monteverde Cloud Forest. On our trek we saw loads of different animals. We saw a kinkajou, a tarantula, a scorpion, a toucan, a giant toad, two other cool types of birds, a sloth and even some armadillos. We were given flash lights to use so that we would not stumble on the rocky road and when we encountered some wildlife, we were told to turn off our lights so we would not scare the animals. It was in these moments that I really enjoyed the hike as the sounds of the animals percolated through the night. All in all, we had an amazing time spotting the wildlife hidden in the darkness and we will never forget it.

Anoche, mi mama y yo fuimos en un Excursion de Noche que es basicamente que el nombre dice: un excurcion en la noche atraves de senderos sinuosos en una reserva en la Selva de Nublados de Monteverde. En nuestra caminata, vemos muchos tipos diferentes de animales. Vemos un kinkajou, una tarantula, una escorpion, una toucan, un sapo gigante, dos otros tipos de pajaro, una pereza y incluso algunos armadillos. Recibimos linternas para usar de modo que no caimos en la calle muy desigual y cuando descubrimos fauna, necesitamos apagar nuestras linternas por lo que no fuimos a asustar los animales. Fueron estes momentos que yo disfrute la excursion porque solamente pudimos oir sonidos de los animales en el oscuridad. Nosotros tuvimos un tiempo extraordinario manchado la fauna en el oscuridad y no vamos a olvidarlo.