Laguna de Apoya

---

Hi everyone!
We have been busy getting situated in La Mariposa Ecolodge and have been taking Spanish lessons. Rich has been studying hard, but I have doing my best to just shoot the breeze with my teachers and so am not really utilizing my time well.

We arrived late Wednesday and took classes Thursday and Friday. Today we had a field trip to Laguna de Apoya which is quite warm because of the underground warm springs that come up into the lake. The lake was really clean, but Rich noticed that there was a real absence of waterfowl and birds on the lake. It was a very large group of people who came from La Mariposa and this was a little hard for loners like Rich and I. We did swim for quite a while and chatted with a musician guy and then sat in the shade and had lunch and read our books.

My friend, Guillermina from last December was there with us and a lot of fun to hang around. We took many pictures of her attempting to be some sort of super hero. In her bedroom there are paintings of Superman on the wall and occasionally she dresses up as Clark Kent. Tomorrow we will go on another excursion with her and will get some ground glass at the beach. Rich will take his fishing pole and cast to see what he can catch from the beach. We will be going to La Boquita where I went last winter.

Rich has been making flashcard and is quite serious about his Spanish practice. I have been trying to make the listening and understanding connection.

I hope I can upload some photos of our activities.

Dawn and Rich

---

Photos

Mamon
This is a wonderful fruit very much like a grape that you peel, butg tastes more like a kiwi.

Rich's outdoor toilet
Rich enjoys the solitude of the new composting toilet. From the composting toilet you can get a nice view of the monkeys.

Plants
There are lots of plants to walk around and observe at the Mariposa. It is nice to hand off the camera to Rich for a while because he comes up with so many more things that i wouldn't photograph.

Monkeys
One of the kids staying at the Mariposa is feeding the Monkeys. I question the safety of this practice since they can be vile little creatures.

Volunteering at the school
One of the volunteers at the Mariposa set up this party where we fed all the kids and played relay races.

Volunteers in Front
We are all watching the relay races. Claira is the volunteer who set up the party with the help of Valeska who was my host sister in December.

Comments

[Patty]

touching base
Hey there, glad to hear Rich made it safe and sound. I can imagine the intellectual compare and contrast discussion next time he and Chris are fishing about the creative places they "compost". I am sure you will have a good time showing him places you have aready been and introducing him to the people you now know. Enjoy, PCL