Blogs from Arenal, Alajuela, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 2

We chose the jeep-boat-jeep option (3 hrs as opposed to 8 hours via car or bus around the perimeter of the lake) to go from Monteverde to Arenal. One and half hours over very rough gravel roads took us down to the edge of the lake. It was a trip made more interesting by seeing very obious climatic changes in the scenery in a short period of time. We crossed from the dustier, drier Pacific side of the mountains to an obviously much greener Caribbean side. Very hilly country but scenic. There was no boat ramp at the lake - the jeep parked at the waters edge and we waited 20 minutes or so until we saw a boat heading across the lake towards us. In the distance Arenal Volcano loomed on the horizon and it ... read more

Helloooo!! We have had an awesome few days here!! Sunday was our last day in Puerto Viejo. Ian and I went on a botanical garden walk in the morning which was pretty cool... saw lots of red poison dart frogs and learned how many different foods are produced. We saw raw cacao, sugarcane, black pepper, pineapple, guava, etc. It was cool seeing what these foods look like before they get to us. Then we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed our last plate of nachos from Banana Azul...seriously the best thing ever. I think we had nachos at least once a day. Everything (chips included) is made fresh at the hotel so the taste is phenomenal. The chips arent like the ones you get in the US... they are super light and crispy and amazing! ... read more

Dear all. So, I have only two days left in San Francisco and six in Costa Rica. It's a shame to leave the school just as I feel more comfortable - the opposite feeling to getting into the swing of things (e.g remembering that few 10 year olds speak Aristotle) in the weeks before. I don't doubt that it deserves its reputation as one of the best schools in the north of Costa Rica - the children have the opportunities, facilities and standard of teaching of a good UK primary school (in fact there seem few differences). I've been taking classes of my own, and games make the children very enthusiastic - it's rewarding to see how much those children who say little in a larger class can be livelier in a smaller group. The most ... read more

I think at least one member of Monty Python was once a frustrated primary school teacher. ´What... is your name. What... is your favourite colour'. Small child continues to prefer nose-picking to intellectual endeavour. 'What... is the capital of Assyria?' Child fired into abyss. There seems to be a serious pencil and biro currency in the school - they are the prizes that Oliver (the english teacher who I spend most of my time assisting) and I hand out to the younger years and always brings rapt excitement. Best keep my fountain pen hidden. I'm starting to see that many people in the area don't live as comfortably as my host family. For example apparently many parents can't afford to give their children breakfast before school. My first proper jungle walk with Victor began by entering ... read more

Went on a trip to the volcano Arenal and some hot springs nearby. We were Mikkel, Simon, Yvonne & Joanna (Germany) and Lukas (Austria).... read more

So this past weekend I took another trip. I went with the other USAC group here in Costa Rica to Volcan Arenal again. I have been there before but I hadnt done the activities that we did this past weekend. The whole weekend was simply a blast! We left Friday for the volcano and that whole experience was an interesting thing. This past week has been a week of solid rain and there have been a lot of consequences. For example around 20 people died close to San Jose due to a mudslide burying houses and the road to Puntarenas was closed due to a mudslide as well. When we heard this news, it meant that I couldnt be picked up by the rest of the group (they were from another city but San Ramon was ... read more

So this past week I went to the Semi-Finals of the San Ramon basketball team. There weren't as many people there as I thought there would be considering it is the semi-finals. However it was a lot of fun and a great experience to talk spanish with the local people. Also the trip to Monteverde with the choir has been postponed due to some reason. I cant remember because it was really hard to understand everything the director was saying when she talked really fast in spanish. It's going great though and I'm learning a lot of fun music to sing and meeting a lot of wonderful people. Finally we went to Volcan Arenal and we saw the lava! I actually saw lava shoot out of the volcano twice this past night. Aparently it's really rare ... read more