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!

Day 3: Without a Paddle

Hello folks one last time from La Fortuna near el volcan Arenal. Today has been another extremely busy one. Let's just say that if today was having a case of the Mondays, a case of the Mondays may not be such a bad thing. First of all, waking up near a volcano in the morning is not such a bad gig at all. Just saying. We kicked off the day with our normal daily dose of gallo pinto and then went off to kayak Lake Arenal. For many it was their first time kayaking and for me it was my first time in quite a while. At any rate, good times! I would imagine that we were on the lake for about 2 hours and it was a blast. Unfortunately, it wasn't until the time that we were leaving the lake that the top of the volcano started to emerge from beyond the clouds. But we did get some good shots afterwards including the one I took from my front porch at our villa in La Fortuna that I posted earlier today. Lunch was once again mom's cooking and then off to the La Fortuna Waterfall for some viewing of the impressive natural feature as well as taking a little swim around the somewhat chilly water there. Afterwards we spent some time in La Fortuna just hitting some shops and sampling some local food (my favorite will always be the baked goods, I had another very satisfying flauta today). I really like La Fortuna, because, even though it is built almost entirely around tourism with that giant volcano in the background, it really in many ways is a typical Costa Rican town. It is built around a very well kept plaza, with a church one side and a school and bank on the other, will little shops etc surronding it. It's hard to explain what I like about the town in a couple sentences but I like it a lot. At any rate, we capped off our day with a little relaxation at the famous hot springs that are fed by the volcano. There are 16 different springs of varying temperatures (the general rule of thumb is the closer the spring is to the volcano, the warmer it is, and some got rather hot!), and it was about as relaxing a way to wind down as I can think of. The journey continues early tomorrow as we leave the Arenal region and head towards Monteverde. We have about a four hour drive ahead of us, but there is a group of elementary school kids that I'm sure are pumped about our arrival because they have a little show prepared for us to introduce us to some of the folk dances of the region. This is the first time EF has visited this school as the company does its best to mix up the outreach. We have some things planned for them too, but more on that tomorrow. For now this is Roger Prill signing off from La Fortuna, Costa Rica. Good night everybody.

The View From Our Hotel at Lunch

Must share!

Day 2: Bioreserves, Volcanoes, and Steep Winding Roads, Oh My!

Well folks, buenas tardes de La Fortuna, near the infamous el volcan Arenal! Today has seriously been an epic one. We started out with the national breakfast here, gallo pinto. Afterwards it was off to INBioparque in Heredia to learn about the biodiversity of the area. It was an EXCELLENT introduction to the wonders of this country that we will be seeing in the next few days. Then it was off to beat the clouds to the crater of el volcan poas and we... Didn't. But what we did get was our first big soaking of the tour and everyone was certainly glad to have their raingear. Also, all learned what it was like to literally walk in the clouds as, at 10,000 ft, we were certainly in the clouds, and therefore not able to see the crater of the volcano. Everyone proved to be good sports about it and still had a great time. For human geography and world history students alike we were able to see, throughout the tour the real cultural landscape of this country-- the human imprint on the physical landscape. Dependency theory, core-periphery models, and globalization all began to really make sense today. This is not the United States, but one thing that we clearly see here is a general level of contentment. Several students commented that impressive how the Costa Rican people equate happiness with strength of family and not with size of home or other possessions. The national psyche here is unique indeed as pura vida is more than just a phrase but seriously a couple centuries long way of life. Nick Baker I think put it best today when he said that he's glad he's out doing the things that he's only seen on tv. The visit to Poas was followed by about a four hour ride to the next destination of Arenal. Not for the faint of heart, it's a long and winding road full of sharp turns and narrow bridges, but our driver is boss on these roads. Well I'm falling asleep now, so I'm logging off. Tomorrow, we jump deeper into arenal. Pura vida!

Hola de Costa Rica!

Hello from day 1 in CR! Right now we are calling it a night in the beautiful Gran Hotel Costa Rica. So far we've enjoyed our day of travel, and very glad to be here. Apparently the president of Costa Rica was hanging out at the theater across from our hotel and some of the LA kids got a chance to chat with her for a bit. Let's see, so far the early realizations the kids of come to here: 1) I wasn't joking when I talked about no respect for rules of the road, we've seen more red lights run tonight than in the past year back home, 2) as much as I love this country and as much as the rest of the group will, this is the periphery, and so the difference is instantly seen and realized, even in this nicer zone of San Jose, 3) churros are AWESOME (me and the guys sampled some off the street tonight, and good times... So, off to bed for me as tomorrow will be a long one! Cheers til tomorrow.

A Little Humor Before Takeoff...

In preparation for takeoff, I thought you would enjoy this bit of humor... I must say, I was nodding my head through much of this...

Estamos Listos Para Viajar!

Seven days to takeoff! Stay tuned!

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