Monday, April 30, 2007

School: April 30, 2007

Today we went to visit our host school. It is an American school that was set up to teach foreign students living in Costa Rica. This would be business people's or embassey worker's kids. It was a K-12 school. We observed various classrooms but the coolest by far was the high school section. It is a private school and therefore can set their own standards. They don't have to follow a certain curriculum or worry about teaching to the test. It was so innovative and open. The high school wing had signs posted by kids that had political or environmental statements. And the teachers supported and encouraged creativity and openness. It was the neatest and most inspiring thing to see. There is a mix of foreign (American) and local (Costa Rican) teachers. It is through the International School System which means that the American teachers are encouraged to stay only 2 years. If they stay beyond that, their salary gets lowered and benefits go down. It was really exciting to see the dedication and creativity of the teachers. If I ever get a chance to do this, I would in a heartbeat!

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Aerial Tram, Zip-Lining and the most animals ever! : April 29, 2007

Today we woke up around 7ish. We all met at breakfast and shyly told our professor about our outing the night before. Lets just say she wasn't too happy. At all. In fact she yelled at our new friend for taking us out and that he should have known better. This was the beginning of a beautiful love-hate relationship.

Anyways, after our driver showed up 30 minutes late (and let me tell you that is the best. I'm being totally serious. As Americans we take time too seriously. We don't relax and let things happen because we are always on a "schedule." We need to breathe more and enjoy life.) Moving on, we all pilled into our turismo van and traveled to the Rain Forest Aerial Tram. We arrived there after traveling through the mountains or hills of the rain forest (I'm not sure what you classify them as, they looked like mountains to me). It was absolutely gorgeous. When I was about 9 I went to Malaysia with my family, and this brought me back to that trip, but with crazier drivers. It was gorgeous... so green. I kept looking for birds, because I consider myself an intermediate birder. I can spot them like no other, it's the identifying that slows me down.

Here is where we went: www.rainforestrams.com

Our driver drops us off and we check in at the desk. We have to take another bus to the place where the tram is and then we go on a short hike. We saw the Blue Jean Poison Arrow Frog and some cool ants, I believe they were solitary ants. We met our guides and split into two groups. My group was the second ones on the tram and our guide knew a lot about birds, so I was really excited! We rode around and because of the timing and the fact that it didn't look like it was going to rain, he allowed our groups to get out at the midway point and take another hike. We walked around and he showed us all of the different structures of the plants. We saw some huge, we think they were bumble bees... they were the size of a half dollar. And they were loud too, we heard them before we saw them.
Then we went onto a platform that looked out off the side of the mountain. It was absolutely gorgeous. And then the coolest thing happened, we heard a bird. Our guide told us it was a trogon and we should look for it because it would be beautiful. So we went all through the trails looking towards the beautiful sound and we spotted it. It was high in the trees but we could see the red and green with the stripped tail. It was gorgeous, absolutely amazing. So after we stared at it for about 20 mins we walked back to the tram area. When we got there the other group was waiting for us. And while waiting we saw a hummingbird's nest! It was so tiny, I would have mistaken it for a leaf cluster.
So back on the tram and on a high. Everything was so new, and green, and lush, and tall, and absolutely gorgeous, I just can't describe it in words. The opening picture to this blog was taken on the tram.. just amazing. I learned so much on this trip about plants, it was so cool. While on the way back, our guide told us about the zip-lining that they offer. My professor didn't know they offered this but suggested that we check it out. It wasn't too expensive and it turned out there was a group opening so we all decided to do it.

Ate lunch, visited gift shop, put our packs in storage and went to learn how to zip-line. We had a mini-lesson and were suited up. We went on a trial run, which I was happy about because I am more of a kinesthetic learner (which means I learn by doing). We practiced twice, and the harness was a double line which meant we would be supported by two cables instead of one. So we hiked up the short trail to the first landing. It was our group of 7 and two other groups of 3 or 4. They went first and screamed the entire way across. The whole point of this zip-line is to be within nature and see all that the canopy has to offer. Screaming does not help see the animals. So our wonderful guide thought it would be best if our group went first and we were able to. (This is one of the reasons we had such a wonderful time.. because our group would go out, party, drink, tell raunchy jokes, laugh at stupid things but then be stealthly quiet and observant and want to learn everything there was to know while in the jungle. This mix of goofiness and desire to learn was absolutely perfect!)

On the next platform, our group went first. When we got to the next platform our guide saw something on the tree. It looked like grey or green lichen but it wasn't... it was a tiny, extremely poisonous snake. It was an eyelash viper! It was so small and just curled around the tree... if you were walking up, you might have just absentmindedly grab the tree to help you and bam, you would have bitten and had to be rushed to the hospital... very intimidating for such a small guy!
Moving on to the next platform. Riding on the zip-line is incredible. You are flying through the trees and over small streams, you can see everything! It is so exhilirating, if you ever have the chance, you MUST go! Don't hesitate!
The next platform was amazing. We get over there and it was like we just blinked and were suddenly surrounded by birds. We saw Montezuma's Oropendola and their gorgeous hanging nests. We saw Fiery-billed Aracari no further than maybe ten feet away. We stayed there for a while just looking out. This platform was on a tree in the middle of the stream... it was so open and high that we could see everywhere. Our guide told us that this was where he saw a tapir before, so of course we spent ten minutes trying to see one... we didn't though.
On to the next platforms. Our guide was so entertaining and would jump off the platforms doing backflips and the likes. A couple of other students did them off the platform too, although I don't think we were supposed to. A couple of times they let us ride backwards. They even let one of the students sit in the guides lap so that she could take video going across! They were such cool people!

After our amazing zip-line tour we had to say good-bye to our wonderful guides. We hugged and were on our way to the bus to take us to our van and the animals decided to come out and give a show!
As we were in the waiting area for the bus someone looks up and starts pointing at something way high in the tree. We all focus our binoculars and find a three-toed sloth just hanging out. Their faces are unbelievable and look so human-like. He (I try to only use gender focused words if I know for a fact what the gender was, otherwise I refer to it as they) was staring over his shoulder looking down at us. And then all of sudden we hear another gasp. We rush over to where the crowd is forming and see that a Northern Tamandua (anteater) walking around where the forest meets the path. It was amazing, he was just going about his business climbing trees and looking for food. He walked on the sidewalk a little bit looked at all of the paparazzi taking his picture, stood on his hind legs, turned and then walked into the forest and out of sight. It was like they trained the animals to do this... On the way back to the bus stop we heard more commotion and went over and saw a Bare-necked Umbrellabird! It was so black and beautiful! It was a female because it didn't have the red skin sac off of its throat.

This was just the first day and already we had seen what some people see on their entire trip! It was so amazing and we were on a high from the animals. We went back to the hotel and told our friend all about it. We all took showers and got dressed for another night out, dinner at Tres Fratelli (an Italian restaurant). This time it was dinner with our professor. It was so nice to reflect back on the day. That's one thing that happened on this trip is that so many amazing experiences were taking place that I almost missed some because I didn't have time to just breathe and think about where I was.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Flight, Sickness, and Night Life: April 28, 2007

To start this travel blog, I will tell you why I am going to Costa Rica. In the fall semester, previous to this trip, I took an environmental methods course for elementary education. It absolutely blew my mind and opened up a world of possibilities that I never knew existed. I fell in love with the class and continued my education towards a degree in environmental education. In the spring I took a class called Teaching Global Issues in K-12 Education. This class had an optional field trip (to Costa Rica) that of course I had to attend. So myself, 5 other students (4 girls and one guy) and a professor (female) traveled down to Costa Rica for the time of our life. As a part of this trip, we would soon be exploring rainforests, volcanos, and schools of Costa Rica.

So now that you know why I was, I will tell you about the trip.

The first day. If you read my Germany blog, you might know that I was crazy nervous before I left. I was up until about 3 the night before packing. And by packing, I mean overpacking. I left my house around 430, picked up three of the other students, met the professor and tailgated down to the Orlando airport. We arrived, went through check in, ate breakfast and took our flight to Miami. We met up with the last student there and had a few hours to kill in the meantime. So a group of 21+ year olds college kids on our way to Costa Rica with a few hours to kill at around 1:00.... hmmm.... and theres a bar over there... with specials.

As we toasted our margaritas, we all talked about how excited we were and what we expected from the trip. We all were so excited and anxious to get started. This was the end of the spring semester and for some, the end of college. It was a celebration trip!

[PHOTO_ID_L=flight.jpg] The flight was good. I was so energized and tired that I slept uncomfortablly for maybe two minutes. And then we landed. It was so exciting. I walked into the airport and there were so many people that all looked like they had something to do. I love airports, I love watching people and thinking about where they are going or what they are doing. There is a kind of magic in it. My favorite people are military or business men. They are always walking around with a purpose.

Anyways, we went through customs and met our driver for the trip. He didn't speak English and only one person spoke Spanish, and it wasn't the professor. This made for interesting times when he showed up late to take us to a scheduled appointment. It was a lot of "Mi professor dice que..." Anyways, he was incredibly nice and thought we were an odd group, which we were.

He takes us through San Jose and to our hotel, Costa Verde Inn in Escazu, right outside San Jose. Once we arrived there, we were to meet our the head of our sponsor school. They helped make it possible to be able to call this trip a study abroad trip, and also set up a lot of what we were going to be doing. So first impressions were important. Now, I have had maybe an hour of sleep the night before, a total of 10 minutes on the plane, a delicious drink, and no food combined with a diesel smell that I am not used to and driving that is, lets just say, different from US driving. Shake that all up and you have me getting sick behind a tree while we are supposed to be making good impressions.

[PHOTO_ID_R=costa-verde-lodge.jpg] We checked into the hotel and I need to tell you about this place. It is the nicest place. It is more of a lodge and is surrounded by a wall. Within the walls are lots of trees and a few courtyards, with a pool and jacuzzi. The rooms are all different and each has a cool feature. There isnt airconditioning but it isnt really needed. I was never once hot or uncomfortable at night. I would sincerely recommend this place to anyone staying around San Jose.

Anyhow, once in the hotel, showered, and I drank more water, I was ready to go to dinner that night. We went to Tiquicia for dinner which is this cool restaurant that overlooks San Jose. We arrived when the sun was setting and saw all of the lights of San Jose turn on. It was really cool. Dinner was good but company was better.

Because we had class together all semester, we knew of each other and about the little things that you find out about people during class, but we hadn't really connected yet. This was the dinner that we connected. Usually on these types of trips, it takes two or three days before the group becomes a cohesive group. And usually there becomes a seperation in the group, not a horrible thing, just a clique-ish type of seperation. Usually, one group is the partiers and the other is the ones that wake up early. Typical group dynamics. However, this group defied all of those dynamics. It helped because we were a small group of 7 people total. There was a sort of seperation in the group, but that only was during the night and it had to do with age, the professor and an older student and the 20 something students. [PHOTO_ID_R=view-from-tiquicia-.jpg]
Most of the group, with the exception of the professor and the older student, decided to go out that night. When we checked into the hotel, the hotel manager became another person in our group. He wasn't able to go on trips or anything with us but he became a group member when we were at the hotel. Needless to say we became great friends and our professor and him had a love-hate relationship, which made it that much more enjoyable. After spending two hours of quality time, we decided to get dressed and go out. Now my packing consisted of what I would wear into a jungle or on the beach through a jungle or what I would wear to a school, while trying to make a conservative, good impression. It did not consist of what I would wear if I were to go out. Therefore, my going out outfit consisted of nice capris, a nicer shirt, and tivas because my nice school shoes were closed toed shoes only fit to be worn with pants. Very stylish, let me tell you... tivas going out, downtown... hot!

Going out on the first night with a guy we just met was one of the most interesting experiences. We didnt go to the tourism going out places, we went to a local bar area. It was a bar that was three or four stories tall, packed to the max, and had the loudest music ever. It was a great time. After being scared sh*tless from the travel nurse and told not to drink the water or the ice, even to the point of brushing your teeth with bottle water. She also said something about drinking in foreign places with people you don't know, but I must have missed that part. So, I of course ordered a rum and coke (because that is my signature drink) and had it with ice. We all danced, stayed together in a close group, and had a blast. Our new friend introduced us to Sambuca, which is a licorice flavored alcohol that you can put in your mouth and light on fire. You put the fire out by swallowing. Amazing!

So we got back to the hotel around 3 in the morning and had an absolutely wonderful time. One girl got her camera stollen, we all were yelled at for being American (which I can understand seeing how at the time the Free Trade Agreement was in the news and there were many different strong opinions about it), and we almost died in the taxis that honk through red lights instead of stopping. But besides all of that, we had an absolutely amazing time! We bonded that night and that was one of the reasons this trip was so memorable and exciting!