We have come to a close of our 2nd week here in Monteverde. This place is absolutely amazing and has felt like a home away from home. The people here are incredible and this town is small, yet beautiful. On Thursday, May 24th, we spent our morning at the Elementary school in Santa Elena for a second time. During the 1st half of our time there, we got to observe a classroom, I was in a 4th grade class. It took Kelly and I a little while to figure out what was going on, but we figured out that the P.E. teacher was "teaching" the class about rules and responsibility. I enjoyed watching his style of teaching, because he guided the students through questions but relied a lot on student input to led the class. After observation, we went into a 6th grade class, which my sister Tica was in, to teach a lesson and play a game that involved the animals of the rain forest. We wanted the children to learn the English names of the animals, so our game involved them having a piece of paper with a picture and the name of the animal around their neck. We then took koosh balls and had the students toss the ball to another student in the group and say the name of that students animal. We then added another ball to turn it into a juggling act. I think the students really enjoyed the game and learning the names of the animals. After we visited the school, we went to CPI for our Spanish classes. After Spanish, we got to have Latin dance classes. I absolutely loved the dance classes and the teacher we had was great! We got to learn how to Salsa and a little bit of Merengue. The class was interesting because since our group is only girls we got to learn both the female and male roles of the dances.
On Friday, May 25th, we went to the Santa Elena Reserve, where we hiked and learned more about the cloud forest. While we were hiking, our guide spotted a very rare bird so we spent a lot of our time "chasing" after this bird and trying to get a good look at it. Unfortunately it was too fast and very good at hiding, because we only barely got to see it and no one was really able to get a picture of it. It was cool to hear its call though because it almost sounded electronic. After we went to the reserve, we ate lunch together in town and headed back to CPI for Spanish class. After Spanish we went back to our homes and enjoyed our time with our family. I cannot believe our first week with our families has gone by so quickly. My family is so nice and I have loved spending time with them each night and being immersed in their culture.
On Saturday we made our way to Arenal Volcano. Our guide from last weekend, Javier, accompanied us again on this journey. The ride to Arenal was quite long, taking about 3 1/2 hours. The view throughout our ride was amazing! We stopped on a few occasions to check out local street vendors and take pictures of the Volcano and Arenal Lake. Once we arrived in La Fortuna, the town around the volcano, we got to eat and shop around. We then went closer to the volcano to our hotel. The hotel we stayed at was one of the best and most beautiful places I have ever stayed in. It had 5 or 6 pools, heated from the hot springs with natural water, and our rooms were in these little villas around the property. Just our view of the volcano from our room was breathtaking, not to mention all the beautiful plants and scenery they had on the hotel property. We were all so thankful we got this day to relax and just enjoy our evening in the hot springs.
The next morning, only 3 of us and Javier went to take a hike around Arenal Volcano. The rest of the group decided to relax, which Kristen, Catherine, and I debated but decided we would much rather look back and think I am glad I got up early to hike instead of sleeping in and swimming in the hot springs. To begin our hike, we got to look and take pictures at an amazing view of the volcano. While we hiked, we spotted many birds, bugs, lizards, and howler monkeys. Javier is extremely knowledgeable of all the animals, so it was great having a guide show us all the different plants and animals living there. After our hike, we came back and enjoyed another hour in the hot springs before we had to pack up and leave the hotel to go back to Monteverde. On our way back, Javier got our driver Benjamin to take us on a side road where we got to see a mountain range in Nicaragua. This trip was amazing and if (when) I come back to Costa Rica I would love to come visit Arenal and the beautiful hotel we stayed at again.
Pura Vida!
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