First Day in Monteverde

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The blog has been delayed a bit by weekend travel, but this will be a quick entry to show you just a bit about our arrival and first day in Monteverde. Once again, the weekend trip will have to wait for another entry.

Monteverde feels like the farthest reaches of the earth. The trip through the mountains in the bus totally merits the T-shirt sold here that states "I survived the road to Monteverde." The road winds through the Costa Rican countryside and in and above the clouds at times. Comments among the group ranged from "I don't think we are in Arkansas anymore" to "I'm worried that I am going to have to kill my own dinner while we are living up here." (Don't worry. No one is going to have to kill anything!) Everyone expressed tremendous relief when we finally -- several bumpy hours and four bathroom breaks later -- reached a small town. It was Santa Elena, the only real town in the Monteverde region. Santa Elena is the size of one block, only the block is triangular instead of square.

We were more than two hours late, the host families were waiting, and it started to rain, so it was not possible to get pictures of each person with his or her new host family. The CPI staff members were scrambling to get students and host families introduced so that everyone could get home for dinner before the really heavy rain hit. Because of the rain, the pictures are a bit sketchy, but they do show clearly how warmly the group was received. These are rural families and they tend to be more open and closer than the families of Heredia.

This afternoon, every member of the group met his or her new teacher and resumed Spanish classes. The school here is equally as beautiful as the one in Heredia, and the teachers are excellent. The first three photos displayed were taken just a little while ago during the break between classes. All is well for another week of Spanish in Costa Rica!

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Photos

Wi-Fi in the Garden
Candace talks to someone at home in the US from the garden of CPI in Monteverde.

Hanging Around
Today our group met up with recent ASU Spanish graduate Hailie who participated in the program last year and is working this summer for CPI.

Getting our Luggage
Ryan and our driver Andres on the roof of the bus getting our luggage uncovered and down to ground level.