Blogs from Playa Grande, Guanacaste, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean

Yesterday marked the 4-month-mark of us living in Costa Rica; I can't believe how fast time is now flying by. This has been a wild experience in every possible way. Imagine the following sounds: howler monkeys, birds, ocean waves, ambulances, house alarms. Imagine the following sights: volcanoes, sunsets, beaches, rain forests, birds, crocodiles, hospitals and car wrecks. As Charlie commented "I've seen more crazy stuff here in one week than I see in a year at home". I've gone from loving it here, to wanting to get out of here pronto, to now wanting to stay (don't worry mom, we're not staying). We knew from our research that things could be very difficult here (after all, this is a 3rd world country) but we felt that we were smart enough, resourceful enough and patient enough to ... read more

Well it's been a while since my last entry so this is mostly going to be a rambling, catch-up post. I guess the primary bit of news here relates to Ella's challenges at Home School Beach Academy (where Charlie seems to be thriving). Ella was absolutely miserable at her school. While Charlie was able to quickly make two friends (Marshall, an Albertan who's been here for 6 years and who's dad works on an oil rig in mexico and Liad who's family has moved here permanently from Israel), Ella found herself in a class of all Spanish speaking kids. In addition to that, the school is in the process of being accredited by the national Ministry of Education, and that requires them to teach at least two classes completely in Spanish. None of us were told ... read more

Cher and I went for a nice walk last night around the neighborhood. It was warm and I was wearing my pajama pants with no shirt, my usual dinner attire here. Something crawled across the road in front of us that we thought might have been a crab that had strayed a little too far from the ocean. It turned out to be a very large spider. We commented on how cool that was and kept walking. It’s amazing how quickly we adjust to things that are different or that would normally be considered scary; I’ve grown used to the constant growl of howler monkeys, the lizards running everywhere (including the one living in our house), and the crocodiles out back. I actually went looking FOR crocodiles on my morning kayak paddle today and was disappointed ... read more

Hola! It's day three here in Costa Rica and we are pretty much settled in. Here's an update for you all: Saturday was a long (15 hour) day of car and airplane travel. The kids held up really great and the first 5 hours of the 6 hour van ride from San Jose to the coast was really relaxing and scenic. It was nice to unwind and, since none of us had working cell phones, we were able to just unplug, relax and take in the scenery. The last hour of the ride was filled with the usual steady stream of "how much longer?" which was understandable since we'd been travelling all day and everyone was hungry and tired. The ride into Playa Grande is on a bumpy dirt road and it was pitch black. The ... read more

When people find out that we are going to Costa Rica for 5 months their first question is usually "Why Costa Rica?" I won't attempt to answer the implied "Why are you doing this at all?"... maybe on another post. The answer is long and political. Cost Rica: The Good For starters - please watch this video presentation on Costa Rica that was created for the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Multicultural Festival in 2009. It speaks to a lot of the "good" of CR. Some additional attractions for us: We are not 'winter people' so getting somewhere warm at this time of year is a real treat. The western part of Costa Rica is a Blue Zone. One of a four places in the world with an exceptionally high ... read more