Blogs from Cartago, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 7

i had a really busy weekend so sorry i am a little behind but i have a lot to tell you all about and a lot of pictures too!im starting my second week of classes already! monday and wednesdays i have spanish grammar/conversation from 8-12 and then latin american dialect class from 1-3, tuesdays thursdays and fridays i have just spanish grammar/conversation class 8-12. my dialect class is really hard cause it is all in spanish and for those that are really advanced speakers but i just have to work harder at i suppose. there is another guy that is in my normal spanish class so we are in the same boat. friday night my roommates and a friend that was visiting my roommate and i went out to el rio to get dinner. while we ... read more

3.30am, wake up time!…After a crazy Costa Rican style new year eve and some great diving in Playa del Coco, a short stop in La Fortuna, my next stop was Turrialba, a tiny town located at about two hours drive from San Jose & a good 5 hours from La Fortuna. Turrialba is slightly off the main touristic area, and this actually does come as a relief especially after my very short stay in La Fortuna! It is well known by the outdoor sports lover as the absolute adventure Mecca in Costa Rica and for really good reasons…From the Pacuare River that has been designated by the National Geographic Magazine no less than one of the top five most beautiful rivers in the world for rafting to its rain forest where ones can experience truly fantastic ... read more

After going through all of my blogs I was disappointed to see that I had not written much about my experience at Sistema Educativo Saint Clare and I apologize. It is, after all, the reason I came here and has been just as much an adventure as surfing in Nicaragua or eating the innards of a cow. My student teaching experience in Costa Rica has been amazing and I don’t think I could have asked for a better cooperating teacher or group of students. The staff at school was patient and welcoming. The school community feels much more like a family here than what I have experienced in the United States. It is impossible for me to tell you everything about my time in school so I will post some pictures that I have taken over ... read more

Ah Turrialba, the land of farms, friends, and oddly enough, the Rawlings factory that produced the weapon Barry Bonds used to hit his record breaking home run. The weekend following our trip to Nicaragua, Steve and I made our way to nearby Turrialba to visit my good friend Guillermo (Memo) who I had met while harvesting the Earth’s bounty at the Bean. It is partly due to his stories of Costa Rica and the friendship we built that I find myself in this truly “Rich” country. Early on Saturday morning, we hopped on the bus in Cartago to start our hour-long ride to Turrialba where we were met by Memo, his girlfriend Adriana, and their beautiful baby boy Andres. The town of Turrialba sits in a valley surrounded by beautiful mountains and rolling hills with endless ... read more

Recently Steve and I made our way to the nearby town of Cartago in hopes of catching a bus to the top of Volcan Irazu, which is the tallest active volcano in Costa Rica. Everything was going great. We made it to Cartago early with a map of the town in hand and found the bus stop for Irazu or at least what the map said was the bus to Irazu. Turns out the map was wrong and we missed the bus but on the upside the top of the volcano was cloudy that day and we probably wouldn´t have seen much anyway. So we decided to head to the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles (Our Lady of the Angels Basilica). The Basilica was built in 1639, as the story goes, at the location ... read more