A Day in the Rainforest

a sloth
Turtle

a toucan
a butterfly on Madison's finger
Madison got to feed a coati (cousin of a racoon)
a poison dart frog
a howler monkey

Today we joined a group from our school on an all day trip through two portions of rainforest. We took a very pretty boat ride down the Sarapiqui River. Our guide had a keen eye and pointed out some great wildlife. After the boat trip we went to La Paz. This is a series of beautiful waterfalls. At this site they also have an amazing amount of beautiful wildlife. Above are pictures of many of the exotic wildlife we saw on our adventure today.

The One Semester of Spanish - Love Song

No, we didn't write this or record it, but, sometimes we feel like this is about all we can say. What I can say is - after a record "cruddy" day in language school - this just made my day. Enjoy!

A Month in Reflection

Today is our one month anniversary of being in Costa Rica. Looking back it seems we just got here, but it also seems like we have been here for quite some time. I feel comfortable going places, the mall, the bakery and the store by myself now. That's a good feeling. It gives you a sense of freedom. It is also interesting what we have become accustomed to that would have seen so odd not even a month ago. Washing dishes by hand, throwing TP in el basurero (trash can), cooking everything from scratch, torrential aguaceras (downpours), and speaking Spanish everyday; Madison going to school, homework, tests, notes, detention (yes, once so far), gymnastics, and walking, walking, walking; taking the bus, and never watching TV. All in all, we are happy with our time here so far, we are managing, although somedays it seems to take so much time to do anything! Our days fly by because of school and how much time it takes to do everything. Many good experiences, a few bad ones.

Trash Day in Costa Rica

Who would have ever thunk that taking out the trash could be such an ordeal. In our home in California we used to pull the wheeled trash cans aaaalll the way out to the curb and the cans magically showed up empty by the end of the day. In our Apartment in California we would walk the trash out to the big shinny dumpster and somehow it went away.

Here in Costa Rica things are a little different. In commemoration of trash day, which is tomorrow, here is a video explaning how the trash “goes away” in San Jose, Costa Rica:

Isn't one enough?!

Learning a language can be a challenge. Anyone who has done so or attempted to do so will tell you. Along with learning the language is the specifics of learning numbers. Numbers are difficult indeed. Imagine a country where a gallon of milk will cost you 1530 colones. That's a big number, and it only goes up from there - imagine a grocery bill of 97,482 colones. Now that's a big number to hear in Spanish, then translate, then to try and figure out how much that is in dollars! Yikes! A person only likes to repeat themselves once or twice! On TOP of learning numbers, and money - Costa Rica uses many types of coins that are all the same value, but look very different. There are 3 types of 5 colones, 3 types of 10 colones, - all of which are the same value. Apparantly they are going to discontinue the large coins, and the bronze colored coins for the smaller value - and use the newest ones made of tin. But - they aren't taking any of the old ones out of circulation. They also use a 1 (imagine that - worth 1/5th of a penny!), 20, 25, 50, 100, and 500 - all in coins. Then they have bills of the following values: 1,000; 2,000; 5,000; and 10,000. They have other bills, but these are the ones we primarily use. That's a LOT of money! 12 different coins, and 4 bills. Sigh...

Fun day

Jaco Playa (Jaco beach)







Stanley at the beach (expression added :-)

If you have a chance, read our main blog to get additional info on our trip to the beach, but here is from my perspective. We started our day bright and early. Not a problem as we have all been up early since we have been here. We managed to catch the bus, and were about 30 minutes into the ride when Madison started groaning. What honey? I innocently asked. She had that green look on her face. The road was QUITE windy, and no way for her to look straight ahead. Next thing I know, I felt like I was back at work in the hospital with a sick child throwing up on me...poor baby. I just grabbed the first thing I could find - my Mickey Mouse embroidered sweatshirt. She only managed to get my shoe and part of my pants, the rest of it made it on the sweatshirt. Mike was sitting a few rows away from us, so he was oblivious to it all. She managed to get every last bit of items out of her stomach and felt oh so much better :-) Once we got to our location, my first business was to find a farmacia (drugstore). They had dramamine, and 30 minutes before our ride home I gave her some and she was asleep before we left town. She made it home just fine. An AWESOME day of relaxation, and the final stop for Stanley (see prior blog entry). So - this is a farewell to Stanley, I think he had a great trip to Costa Rica!

Flat Stanley in Costa Rica

Stanley doing gymnastics with Madison


Stanley hanging out to dry (no - he didn't get wet - he just wanted to experience hanging out)


Stanley helping out with homework (has his pencil in his hand ready to be available)


Stanley helping to buy groceries for the evening dinner

There is a very fun book called Flat Stanley. Madison read it a few years ago and enjoyed it very much. Well...Flat Stanley came for a visit yesterday. A friend of mine has a daughter in 4th grade at a Christian school in Sacramento. They obviously read the book and their "mission" was to send Flat Stanley to a missionary for a month and find out more about them. We were asked to keep a photo journal of Stanley's adventures as he finds out about the culture and work that is going on wherever the missionary is. So - enjoy a few pictures of Stanley's adventures. He will be with us for a few more weeks, so I may post more pictures of his adventures.