I hope that everyone is home and sleeping at this point in the evening. It was a long day for all of us, but things went smoothly. I will post a recap and other information for you tomorrow.
Thank you to our guides, Eva and Adrian, who did a phenomenal job the last 10 days. It is not easy to constantly bring the positive energy, but they were upbeat and ready to give our students an exciting day.
Thank you to our Rustic Pathways representatives, Matija, Maricruz, and Ricardo, who helped plan this amazing experience.
Thank you to Mrs. Wooden, my travel buddy, for being willing and crazy enough to go on this trip with me for a third time. Eva summed it up best- you truly exemplify the "pura vida lifestyle."
And finally, thank you to the students for being open to new adventures and ideas. We do this trip because of you and I am so glad that I had the chance to learn from you and gain a new perspective seeing this trip through YOUR eyes. Your energy drives the trip and I appreciate you getting up early each day, putting on bug spray when asked, following bedtimes, showing up for activities on time, putting up with the constant picture taking... you are awesome. I hope that you can take something away from this experience and apply it at home or wherever your travels may take you!
It's officially been a 19 hour travel day... be on the lookout for photo details in the next few days. Pura vida! And, as the boys would say, buenos nachos! :)
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
In the U.S.!
Just landed early in Baltimore & taxiing to our gate. It will take us a little while to get through customs, but after that, all the texting & phone calls you want :)
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Whitewater rafting
What a day! We were up at 7:30 for breakfast at our hotel. Charlie, the owner, had a typico breakfast ready for us to eat family style. We had a few minutes to apply our sunscreen and bug spray and to check to make sure we had everything packed. Then we headed out to the bus for a 45 minute bus ride to our starting point on the river.
On the way out of Turrialba, we passed several points of interest. First, just outside of town there is a large Firestone factory. This plant employs many people living in Turrialba. The parking lot was full of motorbikes from the workers, otherwise many of them take the bus from town. We also passed CATIE just down the road. CATIE is an organization founded in the 1940s for agricultural research. They do a lot for conservation as well, but their farms/plantations employ the locals while researching sustainable practices and educating students. It's a very large facility. We also passed a lot of coffee plantations and pineapple plantations. The coffee plantations were interesting because they planted large trees in between the rows of coffee bushes. Eva said that this serves two purposes: 1) as a wind/rain block to keep the flowers on the plants (if they fall off, no coffee beans) and 2) a different plant in the soil provides/uses different nutrients, which makes it easier to plant coffee for years to come. Eva also shared some interesting information on the pineapples. Pineapples are terrestrial bromeliads. This genus is typically associated with epiphytes, or air plants, which grow in the trees. However pineapple plants grow on the ground. It takes one year for a pineapple plant to produce fruit, which is incredible considering how easy they are to purchase (side note: the pineapple here tastes COMPLETELY different from back home- so much more flavor!)
We made it to a spot that looked like a public bus stop and had a dirt road right next to it. This is where we met one of our river guides, David. After a final application of sunscreen and bug spray, we said goodbye to our bus driver Marco with just our sunscreen and water bottles in hand. A large tractor attached to a trailer with benches and a roof picked us up. This would be our transportation for the steep, narrow 30 minute ride down to the river. Everyone thought their bench was going to break, but it was set up with what felt like shocks because every time we hit a bump, the seat bounced back. No lower back problems today!
After what felt like a roller coaster ride, we made it to the river. David gave us our safety talk after we were outfitted with a helmet, life vest, and paddle. There are so many instructions and rules to go over, so he gave us the basics before we met our boat guides. They split us up into four different boats:
Boat 1: Eva, Aubrey, Scotty, Colin, Aaron
Boat 2: Adrian, Alex, Griffin, Emma, Leah
Boat 3: Mrs. Wooden, Ben, Katie, Marley, Ryan
Boat 4: Me, Kelly, Justin, Reed, Alyson, Mikala
Once we were assigned, we met our guide and received further instructions: forward paddle, back paddle, lean in, get down, high left/right, etc. Other than that, you're operating on full adrenaline.
The Pacuare River (or Rio Pacuare) flows toward the Caribbean. It is one of the top 5 whitewater rafting rivers in the world, filled with mostly Class III and IV rapids. Our teamwork, or "workteam," as Adrian called it :) was put to the test. Only a few students had been rafting before and it was nothing like this.
We didn't take any pictures today because you can't really stop for photos on the river. Even if you have a waterproof camera or case, you worry about it popping out of the raft. They have two kayaks that accompany us down the river; one is a safety guide and the other is photographer. Some of the students chose to purchase their pictures at the end of the trip. But considering that people pop out of the raft so easily, we chose not to bring our phones or cameras. Colin and Aaron probably got some great footage on their Go Pros.
You are so focused on what's going on with your group that you don't really notice what's happening with the other rafts. It's hard to say if people fell out of the raft during the rapids or fell in on purpose. Kelly fell out of our raft during one of the Class III rapids. Our guide, Diego, yelled "get down," which doesn't so much involve us getting down in the raft as much as it is us falling into it. Well as he said this, you could see Kelly smiling wide as she spun around, facing into the boat, continuing to smile as she popped out. She was smiling floating down the river during the rapid, and smiling as we pulled her back in. She actually said it was a lot of fun :) Mikala almost fell out on one of the rapids, but Diego grabbed the back of her life vest just in time! In the other groups, I can't say for sure. After one of the rapids, half of a raft was in the water... they may say the fell intentionally, but who knows...
One of the coolest features of this river is the lack of development. There are two lodges set up along the river, Pacuare Lodge and Rios Tropicales lodge, and that's it. Everything else is just jungle. It makes it so much more pleasant to enjoy the scenery. There are a few spots where you can see small houses or huts that are only accessible by cable cars going across the river. We saw dragonflies, toucans, kingfishers, and cormorants from our raft. The dragonflies were a hit because they followed us and landed on us the entire second half of the trip. We even named them: Fred and Regina. Why? I have no idea.
The first part of our trip was about 2 and a half hours. We stopped for lunch along the banks of the river and had plenty of rocks to sit on. Each guide had a different plastic barrel in his boat containing the items for our lunch. One boat is pulled out of the water and flipped to create a giant buffet table. We made deli sandwiches, had chips with beans or salsa, fresh pineapple and watermelon, cookies for dessert, and water or iced tea to drink. Rafting is hard work, so most went up for seconds, some for thirds and fourths. Because of the effort you put in, it's probably one of the best meals of the trip. We clean up all the trash and put it into the barrels, reapply sunscreen, then head back down the river.
Another great feature of the river is the canyons. If you Google image search "Pacuare River," you'll see exactly what I'm talking about: high stone walls, waterfalls on the sides, and rope bridges above. We go through two or three of the canyons. The water is so deep here, it's a great spot to swim. Everyone jumps out of the raft, swims around close to the "chicken line," then helps pull each other back in. Justin did a couple backflips off our boat, which was impressive, UNTIL Diego had to one up him and get some serious hang time on his flip. You can't out-do the guides on this trip!
You know the 4 hour trip is ending soon when you encounter two bridges: one old iron train bridge and the major highway bridge running between Siquirres and Turrialba. When we got to the iron bridge, there was a large group of boys on the rocks and the bridge. All of a sudden, one of them jumped into the water: about a 30 foot drop. Next thing we know, two more boys, then another two, follow. Then the whole group is jumping in. We thought that at 2:30 on Tuesday, maybe they should have been in school. Someone in the boat even asked "where are your parents?!" We decided that in Costa Rica, if everyone jumps off a bridge, apparently you're going to do it to.
We went under the highway overpass, then stayed on the left bank of the river in calmer water. We saw the truck up on the bank and the raft ahead of us being carried out: our adventure was over. We helped carry all the rafts out, then took off our vests and helmets. Despite the reminds to apply sunscreen at the start and to reapply it at lunch, we have some very pink students coming home... Marco was waiting for us with all the bus seats covered with garbage bags and our towels. It was just a 10 minute ride to the Rios Tropicales headquarters where we all got showers, coffee and tea, and purchased pictures. While we were waiting on everyone to finish, someone spotted blue jean frogs, or strawberry poison-dart frogs! They are very small, less than an inch long, and there were four of them hopping around on the rocks between the plants on display.
It was about an hour and a half ride back to Turrialba; we gave 4 of our rafting guides a ride back and said goodbye. Incredibly, very few of them slept on the bus ride back. They had a little time before our last dinner together in Costa Rica.
It wouldn't be a day here without a trip to the hospital. We had 2 people get stitches on this trip; tonight, our second ear infection. So the first two days of the trip had a little excitement and now the last night! Eva, Mrs. Wooden, and Ben ate quickly at dinner, then headed to the clinic while the rest of us stayed at El Tomate Rojo. We watched the first part of the USMNT game vs. Argentina (ouch) while enjoying another Costa Rican specialty: gallo. Adrian made it clear that gallo is NOT a taco; this has its own Costa Rican flare. We had tortillas, the option of beef or chicken, black beans, fresh guacamole, lettuce, and pico de gallo. I am not a picky eater and I pretty much love everything here, but this was probably the best meal. Plates were clean at the end. Thankfully, the crew saved room for dessert: warm brownies. Only fitting to have one of the comforts of home right before we head back.
Everyone is packing up right now because we have to be up for breakfast at 5:45. That's 7:45 back home, but either way, anything before noon is painful for teenagers. We'll have our last activity tonight at 9: Rustic Ties, a great wrap up for the group.
If you lost your itinerary, our flight leaves from San Jose at 12:35 PM local time. We will land in Baltimore at 7:30 PM. Please keep in mind that we have to go through customs and immigration, so you may not hear from them at exactly 7:30. We take off from Baltimore at 10:40 PM and we'll see all of you at 11:55 PM in Cleveland!
Have a wonderful night & see you tomorrow! Pura vida!
On the way out of Turrialba, we passed several points of interest. First, just outside of town there is a large Firestone factory. This plant employs many people living in Turrialba. The parking lot was full of motorbikes from the workers, otherwise many of them take the bus from town. We also passed CATIE just down the road. CATIE is an organization founded in the 1940s for agricultural research. They do a lot for conservation as well, but their farms/plantations employ the locals while researching sustainable practices and educating students. It's a very large facility. We also passed a lot of coffee plantations and pineapple plantations. The coffee plantations were interesting because they planted large trees in between the rows of coffee bushes. Eva said that this serves two purposes: 1) as a wind/rain block to keep the flowers on the plants (if they fall off, no coffee beans) and 2) a different plant in the soil provides/uses different nutrients, which makes it easier to plant coffee for years to come. Eva also shared some interesting information on the pineapples. Pineapples are terrestrial bromeliads. This genus is typically associated with epiphytes, or air plants, which grow in the trees. However pineapple plants grow on the ground. It takes one year for a pineapple plant to produce fruit, which is incredible considering how easy they are to purchase (side note: the pineapple here tastes COMPLETELY different from back home- so much more flavor!)
We made it to a spot that looked like a public bus stop and had a dirt road right next to it. This is where we met one of our river guides, David. After a final application of sunscreen and bug spray, we said goodbye to our bus driver Marco with just our sunscreen and water bottles in hand. A large tractor attached to a trailer with benches and a roof picked us up. This would be our transportation for the steep, narrow 30 minute ride down to the river. Everyone thought their bench was going to break, but it was set up with what felt like shocks because every time we hit a bump, the seat bounced back. No lower back problems today!
After what felt like a roller coaster ride, we made it to the river. David gave us our safety talk after we were outfitted with a helmet, life vest, and paddle. There are so many instructions and rules to go over, so he gave us the basics before we met our boat guides. They split us up into four different boats:
Boat 1: Eva, Aubrey, Scotty, Colin, Aaron
Boat 2: Adrian, Alex, Griffin, Emma, Leah
Boat 3: Mrs. Wooden, Ben, Katie, Marley, Ryan
Boat 4: Me, Kelly, Justin, Reed, Alyson, Mikala
Once we were assigned, we met our guide and received further instructions: forward paddle, back paddle, lean in, get down, high left/right, etc. Other than that, you're operating on full adrenaline.
The Pacuare River (or Rio Pacuare) flows toward the Caribbean. It is one of the top 5 whitewater rafting rivers in the world, filled with mostly Class III and IV rapids. Our teamwork, or "workteam," as Adrian called it :) was put to the test. Only a few students had been rafting before and it was nothing like this.
We didn't take any pictures today because you can't really stop for photos on the river. Even if you have a waterproof camera or case, you worry about it popping out of the raft. They have two kayaks that accompany us down the river; one is a safety guide and the other is photographer. Some of the students chose to purchase their pictures at the end of the trip. But considering that people pop out of the raft so easily, we chose not to bring our phones or cameras. Colin and Aaron probably got some great footage on their Go Pros.
You are so focused on what's going on with your group that you don't really notice what's happening with the other rafts. It's hard to say if people fell out of the raft during the rapids or fell in on purpose. Kelly fell out of our raft during one of the Class III rapids. Our guide, Diego, yelled "get down," which doesn't so much involve us getting down in the raft as much as it is us falling into it. Well as he said this, you could see Kelly smiling wide as she spun around, facing into the boat, continuing to smile as she popped out. She was smiling floating down the river during the rapid, and smiling as we pulled her back in. She actually said it was a lot of fun :) Mikala almost fell out on one of the rapids, but Diego grabbed the back of her life vest just in time! In the other groups, I can't say for sure. After one of the rapids, half of a raft was in the water... they may say the fell intentionally, but who knows...
One of the coolest features of this river is the lack of development. There are two lodges set up along the river, Pacuare Lodge and Rios Tropicales lodge, and that's it. Everything else is just jungle. It makes it so much more pleasant to enjoy the scenery. There are a few spots where you can see small houses or huts that are only accessible by cable cars going across the river. We saw dragonflies, toucans, kingfishers, and cormorants from our raft. The dragonflies were a hit because they followed us and landed on us the entire second half of the trip. We even named them: Fred and Regina. Why? I have no idea.
The first part of our trip was about 2 and a half hours. We stopped for lunch along the banks of the river and had plenty of rocks to sit on. Each guide had a different plastic barrel in his boat containing the items for our lunch. One boat is pulled out of the water and flipped to create a giant buffet table. We made deli sandwiches, had chips with beans or salsa, fresh pineapple and watermelon, cookies for dessert, and water or iced tea to drink. Rafting is hard work, so most went up for seconds, some for thirds and fourths. Because of the effort you put in, it's probably one of the best meals of the trip. We clean up all the trash and put it into the barrels, reapply sunscreen, then head back down the river.
Another great feature of the river is the canyons. If you Google image search "Pacuare River," you'll see exactly what I'm talking about: high stone walls, waterfalls on the sides, and rope bridges above. We go through two or three of the canyons. The water is so deep here, it's a great spot to swim. Everyone jumps out of the raft, swims around close to the "chicken line," then helps pull each other back in. Justin did a couple backflips off our boat, which was impressive, UNTIL Diego had to one up him and get some serious hang time on his flip. You can't out-do the guides on this trip!
You know the 4 hour trip is ending soon when you encounter two bridges: one old iron train bridge and the major highway bridge running between Siquirres and Turrialba. When we got to the iron bridge, there was a large group of boys on the rocks and the bridge. All of a sudden, one of them jumped into the water: about a 30 foot drop. Next thing we know, two more boys, then another two, follow. Then the whole group is jumping in. We thought that at 2:30 on Tuesday, maybe they should have been in school. Someone in the boat even asked "where are your parents?!" We decided that in Costa Rica, if everyone jumps off a bridge, apparently you're going to do it to.
We went under the highway overpass, then stayed on the left bank of the river in calmer water. We saw the truck up on the bank and the raft ahead of us being carried out: our adventure was over. We helped carry all the rafts out, then took off our vests and helmets. Despite the reminds to apply sunscreen at the start and to reapply it at lunch, we have some very pink students coming home... Marco was waiting for us with all the bus seats covered with garbage bags and our towels. It was just a 10 minute ride to the Rios Tropicales headquarters where we all got showers, coffee and tea, and purchased pictures. While we were waiting on everyone to finish, someone spotted blue jean frogs, or strawberry poison-dart frogs! They are very small, less than an inch long, and there were four of them hopping around on the rocks between the plants on display.
It was about an hour and a half ride back to Turrialba; we gave 4 of our rafting guides a ride back and said goodbye. Incredibly, very few of them slept on the bus ride back. They had a little time before our last dinner together in Costa Rica.
It wouldn't be a day here without a trip to the hospital. We had 2 people get stitches on this trip; tonight, our second ear infection. So the first two days of the trip had a little excitement and now the last night! Eva, Mrs. Wooden, and Ben ate quickly at dinner, then headed to the clinic while the rest of us stayed at El Tomate Rojo. We watched the first part of the USMNT game vs. Argentina (ouch) while enjoying another Costa Rican specialty: gallo. Adrian made it clear that gallo is NOT a taco; this has its own Costa Rican flare. We had tortillas, the option of beef or chicken, black beans, fresh guacamole, lettuce, and pico de gallo. I am not a picky eater and I pretty much love everything here, but this was probably the best meal. Plates were clean at the end. Thankfully, the crew saved room for dessert: warm brownies. Only fitting to have one of the comforts of home right before we head back.
Everyone is packing up right now because we have to be up for breakfast at 5:45. That's 7:45 back home, but either way, anything before noon is painful for teenagers. We'll have our last activity tonight at 9: Rustic Ties, a great wrap up for the group.
If you lost your itinerary, our flight leaves from San Jose at 12:35 PM local time. We will land in Baltimore at 7:30 PM. Please keep in mind that we have to go through customs and immigration, so you may not hear from them at exactly 7:30. We take off from Baltimore at 10:40 PM and we'll see all of you at 11:55 PM in Cleveland!
Have a wonderful night & see you tomorrow! Pura vida!
Monday, June 20, 2016
Turrialba
We got to stay up a little later last night to celebrate the victory. Everyone was excited and fired up. The pool celebration was cut short by lightning and an impending storm, but everyone was in a great mood. We did it. So crazy to think that we had the opportunity to watch it in a completely different country. Crazy to think that we ended the drought. Crazy to think about how we're the first team to come back from a 3-1 deficit. What a wonderful night!
Everyone slept in this morning, but I couldn't sleep last night. I was excited about the game and still couldn't believe that it really happened. Even on my run this morning, surrounded by a beautiful landscape, a gorgeous beach, I couldn't stop thinking about the game. Cleveland wasn't a joke anymore. We could be proud of our city and have a championship to back it up. Last night someone said to me that sports people are weird. Well, that's me. I'm one of those crazed fans. Running on the beach, looking for howler monkeys and my mind is still on that game. Incredible.
It was a good morning to sleep in and drive. This was our first overcast morning and it actually started raining a little as we left. We ended up leaving around 8:45 and our estimate was that we would arrive in Turrialba some time between 2 and 3. We drove up the coast past Dominical, then went east on the same highway we took to the cave. We continued on past that and kept driving up, up, and up into the mountains. Our first restroom stop was about 2 hours in and you could notice the change in temperature. Costa Rica doesn't have an average temperature because it has roughly 200 microclimates. The mountain conditions were very different from what we experienced in Uvita and you could see the change in the vegetation as well.
We continued to wind through the mountains, making a restroom stop every hour or so if there was a good place to stop... plus someone was always needed to stop :) It was somewhat difficult because in the mountains, a lot of the land is protected for conservation or the roadside is too narrow. One of the cool things about the drive was that every saddleback we drove through was full of wind turbines. Costa Rica has a goal set to be carbon neutral in the next 20 years. All of their electricity comes from wind turbines or hydroelectric plants. They take full advantage of the mountain passes and all the rivers.
One of the larger towns we stopped in was Cartago, which happens to be Adrian's hometown. Cartago is the oldest city in Costa Rica. It was founded by the Spaniards in the 1560s. It has the oldest buildings in Costa Rica; however, none of the original buildings are there because volcanic eruptions and earthquakes have knocked them all down. Cartago is located in a valley below Volcan Irazu, the second highest point in Costa Rica, and also an active volcano (the last eruption was in the 1990s). Cartago is also the focal point of a pilgrimage made in devotion to Costa Rica's patron saint every July.
We wound back up in the mountains and an hour later, found our way going back down on switchbacks. Turrialba is another valley town in the shadow of a volcano. Turrialba's volcano was a little more active in May, with ash blowing over the city. You can still see clouds of ash, but the winds have shifted and it is staying primarily in the mountains. We checked into our hotel, Turrialba Bed & Breakfast, which is right off of the town square. This is my fourth time in Turrialba and the fourth place that I've stayed: it's really nice and I love the proximity to town. Once we got settled in, we walked to the square and had a chance to shop. Most students are all stocked up on food, so after a very short trip to the market, we went to Pops for ice cream, where we found another Rustic group. We then ventured to a souvenir shop where the students found they highly sought after hammocks. It was a short walk back to the hotel and we relaxed, read, played cards, or played pool until it was time to meet for dinner at 6:15.
The restaurant was a short bus ride away- only about 10 minutes. We went to El Tomate Rojo, a place that catered all of our meals last trip when we stayed at Mau's house. We didn't have a lot of activity today with the long drive, so I think that no one was as hungry or just really tired.
When we came back we got our instructions for tomorrow: breakfast at 7:30, leaving for rafting at 8. We have about an hour drive to where the rafting will begin, be on the river for about 4 hours, then we'll end near the town of Siquirres, which is in Limon province. It will take us 2 hours to drive back to Turrialba. Our last day here will be a full one.
Going to bed early... need to be ready for a day of Class V rapids!
Everyone slept in this morning, but I couldn't sleep last night. I was excited about the game and still couldn't believe that it really happened. Even on my run this morning, surrounded by a beautiful landscape, a gorgeous beach, I couldn't stop thinking about the game. Cleveland wasn't a joke anymore. We could be proud of our city and have a championship to back it up. Last night someone said to me that sports people are weird. Well, that's me. I'm one of those crazed fans. Running on the beach, looking for howler monkeys and my mind is still on that game. Incredible.
We continued to wind through the mountains, making a restroom stop every hour or so if there was a good place to stop... plus someone was always needed to stop :) It was somewhat difficult because in the mountains, a lot of the land is protected for conservation or the roadside is too narrow. One of the cool things about the drive was that every saddleback we drove through was full of wind turbines. Costa Rica has a goal set to be carbon neutral in the next 20 years. All of their electricity comes from wind turbines or hydroelectric plants. They take full advantage of the mountain passes and all the rivers.
One of the larger towns we stopped in was Cartago, which happens to be Adrian's hometown. Cartago is the oldest city in Costa Rica. It was founded by the Spaniards in the 1560s. It has the oldest buildings in Costa Rica; however, none of the original buildings are there because volcanic eruptions and earthquakes have knocked them all down. Cartago is located in a valley below Volcan Irazu, the second highest point in Costa Rica, and also an active volcano (the last eruption was in the 1990s). Cartago is also the focal point of a pilgrimage made in devotion to Costa Rica's patron saint every July.
We wound back up in the mountains and an hour later, found our way going back down on switchbacks. Turrialba is another valley town in the shadow of a volcano. Turrialba's volcano was a little more active in May, with ash blowing over the city. You can still see clouds of ash, but the winds have shifted and it is staying primarily in the mountains. We checked into our hotel, Turrialba Bed & Breakfast, which is right off of the town square. This is my fourth time in Turrialba and the fourth place that I've stayed: it's really nice and I love the proximity to town. Once we got settled in, we walked to the square and had a chance to shop. Most students are all stocked up on food, so after a very short trip to the market, we went to Pops for ice cream, where we found another Rustic group. We then ventured to a souvenir shop where the students found they highly sought after hammocks. It was a short walk back to the hotel and we relaxed, read, played cards, or played pool until it was time to meet for dinner at 6:15.
When we came back we got our instructions for tomorrow: breakfast at 7:30, leaving for rafting at 8. We have about an hour drive to where the rafting will begin, be on the river for about 4 hours, then we'll end near the town of Siquirres, which is in Limon province. It will take us 2 hours to drive back to Turrialba. Our last day here will be a full one.
Going to bed early... need to be ready for a day of Class V rapids!
We're in Turrialba!
I will write about our day later, but I wanted to let everyone know that we've arrived safely in Turrialba. We got here around 2:30 and we're just settling in. We'll be leaving in a little bit to explore the town, get ice cream, search for hammocks, etc.
The wifi was down at the hotel last night and this morning, so I didn't get a chance to update on the game. WOW! What an experience! These students are going to remember this for the rest of their lives.
We found the game in English after halftime. The satellite gets the ABC station from Miami, so we could listen to the commentary. The feed, however, was on a 10 second delay from the Spanish language ESPN. We kept watching in Spanish and didn't have to understand the language to know what was going on: we won the championship. WE. WON. THE. CHAMPIONSHIP.
We were gathered in our rooms and as the game went on, no one was sitting: we were all huddled around the TV. You could hear the screams of excitement when we hit the three at the end (I have no idea who made it- LeBron? The TV screen was so small I couldn't even tell), when they missed their shots, when LeBron got fouled. There was an absolute UPROAR when the final buzzer sounded. Mrs. Wooden and I screamed and hugged each other. The boys sprinted out of their room and jumped into the pool. I cried. And cried. And cried. All of us were overcome with emotion in our own way. It felt like a dream: was this really happening? We all believed it could, now it finally did. WE DID IT.
I hope that everyone in Cleveland had fun last night and stayed safe! What a great moment for our city!
The wifi was down at the hotel last night and this morning, so I didn't get a chance to update on the game. WOW! What an experience! These students are going to remember this for the rest of their lives.
We found the game in English after halftime. The satellite gets the ABC station from Miami, so we could listen to the commentary. The feed, however, was on a 10 second delay from the Spanish language ESPN. We kept watching in Spanish and didn't have to understand the language to know what was going on: we won the championship. WE. WON. THE. CHAMPIONSHIP.
We were gathered in our rooms and as the game went on, no one was sitting: we were all huddled around the TV. You could hear the screams of excitement when we hit the three at the end (I have no idea who made it- LeBron? The TV screen was so small I couldn't even tell), when they missed their shots, when LeBron got fouled. There was an absolute UPROAR when the final buzzer sounded. Mrs. Wooden and I screamed and hugged each other. The boys sprinted out of their room and jumped into the pool. I cried. And cried. And cried. All of us were overcome with emotion in our own way. It felt like a dream: was this really happening? We all believed it could, now it finally did. WE DID IT.
I hope that everyone in Cleveland had fun last night and stayed safe! What a great moment for our city!
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Last day in Uvita
Happy Father's Day! We had a little extra time to sleep this morning and the group took full advantage of it. Breakfast was at 7:15 because our community service project was just up the road. We left at 7:45 for Playa Hermosa. Normally the Rustic groups clean up the beaches in the national parks; however, with 3 other Rustic groups currently in the area, Bahia Ballena was looking pretty good. Playa Hermosa is a busy beach located between Uvita and Dominical and it is particularly busy on a beautiful day like today. Lots of families celebrating together.
We split up into groups of 4 and 5 and we were assigned different sections of the beach. I worked with Ben, Ryan, Marley, and Alyson. Our area was primarily in the shade around the entrance. They have a couple little stands selling coconuts, ceviche, popsicles, cold drinks, etc. 90% of our trash was plastic straws. They put a hole in the coconut and give everyone a straw to drink the coconut water. The coconuts get tossed in a pile because it's organic waste. But the straws were everywhere. We found a lot of candy wrappers and bottle caps as well. Once our area was clean, we moved toward the beach. We found one Croc shoe, a plastic letter "A," and other odd items. Other groups found a large metal bucket, boots, shoes, plastic clothespins, and a plastic toy cow. Our bags were pretty heavy considering that most of it was small plastic items and wrappers- all that stuff adds up.
We took a break to use the bathroom, to drink more water, and to eat bananas and ice cream. The groups got back together and we moved down the other side of the beach. This time around the weirdest things my group found were a child's flip flop and a toothbrush. The three hours of work went by quickly thanks to each other's company, watching the thousands of hermit crabs move around, following the trails of leaf cutter ants, and looking for iguanas sunning themselves on the branches. We ended up with 4 FULL bags of trash, primarily plastic and foam, and actually had some of the Ticos applauding our efforts.
A few of them swam with the half hour of free time before lunch. Lunch was special today because of Father's Day: it was a special chicken and rice dish that is a traditional Costa Rican meal. We are celebrating our bus driver, Marco, today because he can't be home with his two kids and we can't be home with our families. Marco takes very good care of our group!
Surfing lessons didn't start until 3:30, so everyone participated in their favorite past times until then: playing cards and swimming in the pool. Today was probably the hottest day since we've been here, so they didn't last as long in the pool or playing cards outside. We met briefly to recap our community service experiences. It was encouraging to hear them reflect on how just little things, or on how just a little bit of time, could make a big difference. Hopefully they are compelled to do some projects back home based on what they saw and felt over the last week.
We hopped on the bus up to Dominical for our last surfing lesson of the trip. It's been great to see the students' interactions with their surf instructors. They have actually grown pretty close in just a few days, some of them with their own handshakes and inside jokes. We had better weather than yesterday. It was very hot, but there was a nice breeze on the water and eventually the clouds rolled in. The downpour waited until our last 5 minutes on the beach.
Our lesson was from 3:30 until 5:30, resulting in a race back to the hotel to see the game. We had to stop at the grocery store first to pick up snacks for the game and for the bus ride tomorrow. We managed to make it in and out of the grocery store in under 15 minutes (an absolute miracle with our hungry crew) and only missed a few minutes of the start of the game.
The game was on in every single room until dinner at 7. It was a pleasant surprise when we showed up at the restaurant and they had the came on for us! We enjoyed our salads and lasagna through the second quarter. Another Rustic group came in and their leader had on a LeBron jersey. He's a Spanish teacher at Brady Middle School (Orange's school district) and was born and raised in northeast Ohio. Small world! It was nice to enjoy part of the game with other Cleveland fans.
After instructions for tomorrow, it was a mad dash back to the rooms to continue watching the game. With every big play, you can hear loud cheers from the first and second floor. I'm going to wrap this up and post it before the end of the game so I can enjoy a little of it :)
Tomorrow we head up to Turrialba. It will be a 5 to 6 hour drive from Uvita. There aren't any big highways in Costa Rica, so it's kind of like driving through West Virginia only using back roads. They get to sleep in after the game and we'll leave around 9 AM. The plan is to bring boxed lunches to minimize the amount of time spent off the road. We hope to arrive in Turrialba between 2 and 3 PM, which will give the students a few hours to explore the town and shop for something other than Oreos and Milanos.
I'm not sure what the WiFi connection will be like at the next hotel, but I will let you know ASAP when we arrive in Turrialba. Pura Vida and GO CAVS!
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| Playa Hermosa |
We split up into groups of 4 and 5 and we were assigned different sections of the beach. I worked with Ben, Ryan, Marley, and Alyson. Our area was primarily in the shade around the entrance. They have a couple little stands selling coconuts, ceviche, popsicles, cold drinks, etc. 90% of our trash was plastic straws. They put a hole in the coconut and give everyone a straw to drink the coconut water. The coconuts get tossed in a pile because it's organic waste. But the straws were everywhere. We found a lot of candy wrappers and bottle caps as well. Once our area was clean, we moved toward the beach. We found one Croc shoe, a plastic letter "A," and other odd items. Other groups found a large metal bucket, boots, shoes, plastic clothespins, and a plastic toy cow. Our bags were pretty heavy considering that most of it was small plastic items and wrappers- all that stuff adds up.
We took a break to use the bathroom, to drink more water, and to eat bananas and ice cream. The groups got back together and we moved down the other side of the beach. This time around the weirdest things my group found were a child's flip flop and a toothbrush. The three hours of work went by quickly thanks to each other's company, watching the thousands of hermit crabs move around, following the trails of leaf cutter ants, and looking for iguanas sunning themselves on the branches. We ended up with 4 FULL bags of trash, primarily plastic and foam, and actually had some of the Ticos applauding our efforts.
Surfing lessons didn't start until 3:30, so everyone participated in their favorite past times until then: playing cards and swimming in the pool. Today was probably the hottest day since we've been here, so they didn't last as long in the pool or playing cards outside. We met briefly to recap our community service experiences. It was encouraging to hear them reflect on how just little things, or on how just a little bit of time, could make a big difference. Hopefully they are compelled to do some projects back home based on what they saw and felt over the last week.
We hopped on the bus up to Dominical for our last surfing lesson of the trip. It's been great to see the students' interactions with their surf instructors. They have actually grown pretty close in just a few days, some of them with their own handshakes and inside jokes. We had better weather than yesterday. It was very hot, but there was a nice breeze on the water and eventually the clouds rolled in. The downpour waited until our last 5 minutes on the beach.
Our lesson was from 3:30 until 5:30, resulting in a race back to the hotel to see the game. We had to stop at the grocery store first to pick up snacks for the game and for the bus ride tomorrow. We managed to make it in and out of the grocery store in under 15 minutes (an absolute miracle with our hungry crew) and only missed a few minutes of the start of the game.
The game was on in every single room until dinner at 7. It was a pleasant surprise when we showed up at the restaurant and they had the came on for us! We enjoyed our salads and lasagna through the second quarter. Another Rustic group came in and their leader had on a LeBron jersey. He's a Spanish teacher at Brady Middle School (Orange's school district) and was born and raised in northeast Ohio. Small world! It was nice to enjoy part of the game with other Cleveland fans.
After instructions for tomorrow, it was a mad dash back to the rooms to continue watching the game. With every big play, you can hear loud cheers from the first and second floor. I'm going to wrap this up and post it before the end of the game so I can enjoy a little of it :)
Tomorrow we head up to Turrialba. It will be a 5 to 6 hour drive from Uvita. There aren't any big highways in Costa Rica, so it's kind of like driving through West Virginia only using back roads. They get to sleep in after the game and we'll leave around 9 AM. The plan is to bring boxed lunches to minimize the amount of time spent off the road. We hope to arrive in Turrialba between 2 and 3 PM, which will give the students a few hours to explore the town and shop for something other than Oreos and Milanos.
I'm not sure what the WiFi connection will be like at the next hotel, but I will let you know ASAP when we arrive in Turrialba. Pura Vida and GO CAVS!
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Boat tour & surfing
We'll start with the bad news first: one of us got seasick and the conditions weren't great for snorkeling. The good news: we had a fantastic day nonetheless!
The day began with a typico breakfast at 7 AM. We then applied our sunscreen and got our belongings for a 7:45 departure. The ride into the town of Uvita is a short one: just 5 minutes down the road. In town, we stopped at Bahia Aventuras to meet our boat guides for the morning. Alejandro and Dean discussed boat safety, what we could potentially see out in the ocean, and our itinerary. We got our life jackets, then boarded the bus for another short ride down the road to Bahia Ballena national park. We wouldn't have access to our bags during the tour because they are stored in a dry area in the front of the boat, so they had wet packs for us to place our cameras, phones, etc. This way, we could keep the bag near us, then take out our electronics when it was safe (when we were stopped) to take photos. There is no marina at Bahia Ballena because it is a protected area, so the boats backed up along the shoreline and we waded out to hop in.
We had two boats for the morning with 10 people on one and 11 on the other. We stayed together, but not close, so we could cover more water when looking for animals. Our first stop was the whale's tail reef formation for which the beach and the national park are named after. The tide was low, so people could walk out on the formation. There is a 800 meter sandbar that connects mainland to the reef formation. At low tide, it actually looks like a whale's tale from above. The entire reef is natural except for one cement pillar that represents the high water mark. Our guide grew up in Uvita and said that the only time he has seen it completely submerged was after the earthquake/tsunami in Japan a few years ago. He said even with high and low tide, the pillar was submerged for 10 days.
The boats headed north along the shoreline and we weren't having much luck finding any wildlife, so we turned out toward the open ocean and a shrimping boat. Dolphins like to trail behind these boats to get something easy to eat. This was a great move by our guides because it didn't take long for us to spot a pod of dolphins. There were 4 or 5 of them and Alejandro told us they were tropical spotted dolphins. Costa Rica has two species of spotted dolphins: Atlantic spotted dolphins on the east coast and tropical spotted dolphins on the west coast. The best part was that two of them were babies. We saw the babies jumping out of the water. Alejandro said that they were learning that behavior from their mother and that dolphins do that as a social behavior or to slap/stun the fish they want to eat.
Then we turned south toward Piedra Ballena. Along the way, Emma and Katie spotted an Olive Ridley sea turtle swimming near us. Once it heard the engine, it quickly ducked under the surface. They are not an endangered species, but they are vulnerable. It is not uncommon to see them in Costa Rica. Ben had a great eye and saw a devil ray jumping out of the water. Right when we all turned and looked, it happened again. No one knows why they jump out of the water, but the two most widely accepted reasons are that it is to get rid of parasites or it is showing off to a potential mate.
As we approached Piedra Ballena, it was clear that the island was inhabited by hundreds, maybe thousands, of birds. A flock of brown pelicans flew low in formation right in front of us and continued around the island. We saw brown booby birds (no blue-footed ones: those are very rare to see in Costa Rica), white ibis, and frigatebirds. White ibis normally nest in marshes and near rivers, but the water is too high during rainy season, so they come out to this island to nest. We saw another olive ridley sea turtle, then made our way past the Three Sisters rock formation closer to the shoreline.
Because of the conditions, we could not snorkel around the rock formations. There was so much rain in the last few days that the rivers brought a lot of sediment into the area. Alejandro said you would only be able to see an arm's length in front of you, so from the boat we looked at the Window Cave formations. (Note: I have tried to get more pictures to load, but it is taking forever. I'm tired and the Chromebook is not taking them from my camera, so you'll have to wait for these pictures until I get home. I'll have my phone for other excursions so I can get pictures on here, but anything on my camera is just not cooperating right now)
Playa de Arco was just around the corner and the boats dropped us off here for a little break. All the beaches in Costa Rica are protected and public, so anyone can have access to them. This beach, however, is very difficult to get to: it isn't close to any homes or roads. We had a pristine beach all to ourselves. We quickly noticed that there were so many more sand dollars, shells, crabs, and hermit crabs along this beach compared to the more touristy ones. We dropped off our water bottles and life jackets and could swim for a little while. The rip currents there are not like Uvita or Dominical, so we could swim out a little farther.
After some swimming, we were called in for a snack: fresh cut pineapple and watermelon. The students stood around the cooler and made quick work of the pineapple. Shortly thereafter, there was a commotion in the trees. A group of white-faced capuchin monkeys was fighting with a group of howler monkeys. This commotion quickly carried over to the students as they started jumping and hollering like the monkeys themselves. We got the group to calm down and stay quiet because the noise would either cause the monkeys to go away or it would increase the aggressive behavior of the capuchins. Alejandro had us stand at a safe distance to take pictures and video. These two groups continued to chase each other down the treeline of the beach, with our group right behind them. Several of the monkeys were carrying babies on their backs. We did not get to hear the sounds of the howler monkeys, but we were able to watch both species leap and bound from branch to branch. It was incredible.
The excitement wore down and we spent the rest of the time playing in a waterfall or the stream cutting through the beach, climbing rocks, trying to catch the different crab species, or taking pictures. After over an hour of playing at the beach, it was time to take the boat back just 5 minutes to Uvita, where we would end our tour. We washed the sand off our feet, then went straight to the hotel for lunch at 12:30.
We had a little free time between lunch and surfing, most of which was spent at the pool. All free time is either at the pool or playing card games: they never get sick of it. We left for Dominical at 2:40 to meet with our surf instructors.
Because of the tide and rip currents, we went a little further north today to a different protected beach. I didn't see the name of the beach, but we were behind "Hacienda Baru Lodge and Wildlife Refuge," so you can check that location out on Google Maps :) The students were getting more and more confident in their surfing, to the point where they asked if they had to surf with instructors, but today was a major reality check. With the tide and a storm coming in, the waves were stronger and more frequent. It looked like they were stuck in a washing machine today. However, it was a good adrenaline rush and they were all happy with their progress. It started pouring in the middle of the lesson, so I didn't get as many pictures today. We had to end our lesson a little early because the storm got stronger and we could see lightning on the horizon. There weren't any complaints because we stopped for ice cream on the way back to the hotel.
We had about an hour to shower (or swim and play cards) before dinner. We played a few more games before bedtime.
One of the best parts about these trips is getting to see the students' new perspectives. I absolutely love whatever small group or one-on-one time I can get with them so I can hear what they have to say. During the surf lesson, I was swimming with Marley, Aubrey, Alyson, and Mikala because they were done for the day. We were just talking about the trip and Marley goes "Yeah... I'm more of an indoors girl. Like Netflix and cereal." We laughed about it, but then she continued "My mom said that this trip is the total opposite of me, but I'm so glad that I'm here. Everything has been so fun." So even with bug bites, scrapes, and other inconveniences, they are having a great time. This is what makes all the planning worthwhile.
Tomorrow we'll have community service and some more surfing. The Cavs game is on at 6 PM local time, so we're hoping to catch some of that. There is a big screen in the restaurant; it's been really busy the last few nights, but we're hoping that they'll let us watch it together in there.
The day began with a typico breakfast at 7 AM. We then applied our sunscreen and got our belongings for a 7:45 departure. The ride into the town of Uvita is a short one: just 5 minutes down the road. In town, we stopped at Bahia Aventuras to meet our boat guides for the morning. Alejandro and Dean discussed boat safety, what we could potentially see out in the ocean, and our itinerary. We got our life jackets, then boarded the bus for another short ride down the road to Bahia Ballena national park. We wouldn't have access to our bags during the tour because they are stored in a dry area in the front of the boat, so they had wet packs for us to place our cameras, phones, etc. This way, we could keep the bag near us, then take out our electronics when it was safe (when we were stopped) to take photos. There is no marina at Bahia Ballena because it is a protected area, so the boats backed up along the shoreline and we waded out to hop in.
We had two boats for the morning with 10 people on one and 11 on the other. We stayed together, but not close, so we could cover more water when looking for animals. Our first stop was the whale's tail reef formation for which the beach and the national park are named after. The tide was low, so people could walk out on the formation. There is a 800 meter sandbar that connects mainland to the reef formation. At low tide, it actually looks like a whale's tale from above. The entire reef is natural except for one cement pillar that represents the high water mark. Our guide grew up in Uvita and said that the only time he has seen it completely submerged was after the earthquake/tsunami in Japan a few years ago. He said even with high and low tide, the pillar was submerged for 10 days.
The boats headed north along the shoreline and we weren't having much luck finding any wildlife, so we turned out toward the open ocean and a shrimping boat. Dolphins like to trail behind these boats to get something easy to eat. This was a great move by our guides because it didn't take long for us to spot a pod of dolphins. There were 4 or 5 of them and Alejandro told us they were tropical spotted dolphins. Costa Rica has two species of spotted dolphins: Atlantic spotted dolphins on the east coast and tropical spotted dolphins on the west coast. The best part was that two of them were babies. We saw the babies jumping out of the water. Alejandro said that they were learning that behavior from their mother and that dolphins do that as a social behavior or to slap/stun the fish they want to eat.
 |
| Tropical spotted dolphins (sorry I can't edit pictures on the Chromebook) |
As we approached Piedra Ballena, it was clear that the island was inhabited by hundreds, maybe thousands, of birds. A flock of brown pelicans flew low in formation right in front of us and continued around the island. We saw brown booby birds (no blue-footed ones: those are very rare to see in Costa Rica), white ibis, and frigatebirds. White ibis normally nest in marshes and near rivers, but the water is too high during rainy season, so they come out to this island to nest. We saw another olive ridley sea turtle, then made our way past the Three Sisters rock formation closer to the shoreline.
 |
| Piedra Ballena |
Playa de Arco was just around the corner and the boats dropped us off here for a little break. All the beaches in Costa Rica are protected and public, so anyone can have access to them. This beach, however, is very difficult to get to: it isn't close to any homes or roads. We had a pristine beach all to ourselves. We quickly noticed that there were so many more sand dollars, shells, crabs, and hermit crabs along this beach compared to the more touristy ones. We dropped off our water bottles and life jackets and could swim for a little while. The rip currents there are not like Uvita or Dominical, so we could swim out a little farther.
After some swimming, we were called in for a snack: fresh cut pineapple and watermelon. The students stood around the cooler and made quick work of the pineapple. Shortly thereafter, there was a commotion in the trees. A group of white-faced capuchin monkeys was fighting with a group of howler monkeys. This commotion quickly carried over to the students as they started jumping and hollering like the monkeys themselves. We got the group to calm down and stay quiet because the noise would either cause the monkeys to go away or it would increase the aggressive behavior of the capuchins. Alejandro had us stand at a safe distance to take pictures and video. These two groups continued to chase each other down the treeline of the beach, with our group right behind them. Several of the monkeys were carrying babies on their backs. We did not get to hear the sounds of the howler monkeys, but we were able to watch both species leap and bound from branch to branch. It was incredible.
The excitement wore down and we spent the rest of the time playing in a waterfall or the stream cutting through the beach, climbing rocks, trying to catch the different crab species, or taking pictures. After over an hour of playing at the beach, it was time to take the boat back just 5 minutes to Uvita, where we would end our tour. We washed the sand off our feet, then went straight to the hotel for lunch at 12:30.
We had a little free time between lunch and surfing, most of which was spent at the pool. All free time is either at the pool or playing card games: they never get sick of it. We left for Dominical at 2:40 to meet with our surf instructors.
Because of the tide and rip currents, we went a little further north today to a different protected beach. I didn't see the name of the beach, but we were behind "Hacienda Baru Lodge and Wildlife Refuge," so you can check that location out on Google Maps :) The students were getting more and more confident in their surfing, to the point where they asked if they had to surf with instructors, but today was a major reality check. With the tide and a storm coming in, the waves were stronger and more frequent. It looked like they were stuck in a washing machine today. However, it was a good adrenaline rush and they were all happy with their progress. It started pouring in the middle of the lesson, so I didn't get as many pictures today. We had to end our lesson a little early because the storm got stronger and we could see lightning on the horizon. There weren't any complaints because we stopped for ice cream on the way back to the hotel.
One of the best parts about these trips is getting to see the students' new perspectives. I absolutely love whatever small group or one-on-one time I can get with them so I can hear what they have to say. During the surf lesson, I was swimming with Marley, Aubrey, Alyson, and Mikala because they were done for the day. We were just talking about the trip and Marley goes "Yeah... I'm more of an indoors girl. Like Netflix and cereal." We laughed about it, but then she continued "My mom said that this trip is the total opposite of me, but I'm so glad that I'm here. Everything has been so fun." So even with bug bites, scrapes, and other inconveniences, they are having a great time. This is what makes all the planning worthwhile.
Tomorrow we'll have community service and some more surfing. The Cavs game is on at 6 PM local time, so we're hoping to catch some of that. There is a big screen in the restaurant; it's been really busy the last few nights, but we're hoping that they'll let us watch it together in there.
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