This weekend we traveled to Manuel Antonio, the beach! We got up early Saturday morning and set out for the beach! On our way we stopped and walked across the bridge over Tarcoles River and looked down and saw over 20 crocodiles! It was awesome to see them all so close together in the river. We got back on the bus and Javier (our guide) said ok, we are going straight to Manuel Antonio and as soon as he got the words out of his mouth, the bus driver (Roy) turned to the right down an unpaved road! We rode for a while before we saw a sign that said Crocodile Boat Tours! We all got extremely excited (especially me and Katie P). We got on the boat and the boat driver (Manuel) drove us to an area where he got out (a croc was close by) and he got some fish out of the cooler and started slapping the water with it! The crocodile started coming in closer and closer and Manuel led her out of the water onto the shore and fed her one piece of the fish. Then he put a piece in his mouth and led the croc over and fed the croc the fish from his mouth! We had to be quiet throughout this whole process, but as soon as he dropped that last piece of fish we all cried out in excitement/amazement! It was quite possibly the coolest thing I’ve ever seen! He continued to ride us around and we saw more crocodiles, birds, crabs, etc. Then we got back on the bus and headed to Manuel Antonio! When we got there we all got checked into our rooms and headed for the beach! I stayed in the water for the first hour and then walked with Katie P and Ashley for the rest of the time. We got some ice cream and then got ready for dinner.
On Sunday we woke up to mas lluvia (rain) and ate breakfast at the hotel before going to the National Park for a hike (yes, in the rain). Despite the weather we saw a few sloths, monkeys, iguanas, birds, and a poisonous frog! At the end of the hike was the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen, where we spent a couple hours walking, swimming, and relaxing! Then we got packed up and headed out for our long trip to Monteverde! We stopped for lunch and then later for Churchills in Puntareanas and to drop off our guide and pick up Meggie (our chaperone). A Churchill is a desert local to that city that has shaved ice, powdered milk, and a bubblegum flavored juice…it was ok…not my favorite desert. We eventually reached a point on the road to Monteverde where the road turned into gravel. We started up the mountain on a gravel road bumping and trying not to lose it when we got near the cliff with each turn! After about an hour of this we made it to our neighborhood! My new papa tico picked me up! He grabbed my bag and led me to the van and he drove me to my new house! My new mama tica met me at the door and led me to my room! We sat down for arroz con polo and got to know each other a little bit! They are much younger than my first family (less than half their ages) and they don’t have any children, just dogs, so the family dynamic is extremely different! They are extremely nice and they both speak some English! I helped mama tica clean up, we watched Stuart Little en Espanol and then we went to bed early.
Monday we started by meeting at the Dentist Office in our neighborhood (our new meeting point) and walking the 40 minute hike to school. Along the way our chaperones pointed out the different places we may want to eat, visit, shop, etc. Once at school we had our UNCW class, then we cooked chalupas for lunch, and then had clase de espanol con new profesors. Our profesoras name is Guadalupe! She is very nice, but the stuff we were learning was harder and she was not as funny/interesting as Henry (our teacher in Heredia). We got a ride back to our meeting place and walked home from there! I ate fish, mashed potatoes, rice, and beans with my familia and then worked on homework and studied all the Spanish verbos.
Today we got up early and went to a local elementary school. We taught one lesson in fourth grade and got to observe a first grade English class! It was great to get to observe a class! We got to see the strategies that the teacher was using and how she was teaching the numbers and one to one correspondence by singing the monkeys on the bed song and drawing on the board the number and then that number of pictures. It was so awesome to see her teach them in English and have them repeat it all back to her! I'll add pictures soon!
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