Day 4: School Days in Monteverde

Hello from Monteverde Country Lodge near Santa Elena, Costa Rica! It's a beautiful lodge in the middle of rural Costa Rica and the groups have really opened up and are mingling very well. Ok, so I'm going to cut right to the chase. Today we did one of the best things that I've done on any of the tours I've done with the students in the past, and that was paying a visit to a rural school in Latin America. Every tour has the eye-opening moment, and this was it. The kids put on a show for us showing some traditional dancing, we asked each other questions, and then it was time to hit the schoolyard for some games. We introduced them to the new phenomenon of a game, "ninja," and they completely bought into it and then beat the tar out of us at our own game! They introduced to the traditional sack race here, and then it was gloves off in soccer, boys first, and then the girls next. The teachers joked with a couple of us that it was the United States that beat Costa Rica and kept them out of the World Cup last year, so this was their chance at revenge! At any rate this was a very emotional experience for me, not only as an educator but also as someone with roots in Costa Rica, and so for me, watching my people and being with my people in this school had an additional level of importance. It's hard to put into words but every kid there felt like family, as did my fellow international colleagues that teach at that school. This experience certainly had an impact on the students as well! Seeing this school of 108 in a different world from their own had such an impact I feel. As with anything else, the students got so much from our visit, but not nearly as much as we got from them. THIS IS WHAT REAL EDUCATION IS ALL ABOUT. In no way could today be fully understood through a textbook or a lecture, only through experiencing it firsthand. In talking to the students this evening, this has been the highlight of the trip, and as Nolan Brogden put it to me tonight, "now we're really beginning to understand, it's giving us a lot to think about."

Well tomorrow we have an epic day planned. We'll begin by hiking Monteverde Cloud Forest, and later horseback riding and ziplining, so a packed schedule indeed. From deep inside rural Costa Rica, this is Roger Prill signing off. Good night everyone!