Thanks for the Memories

Finally, below are collages for each day of our trip to remind everyone of the amazing, adventurous, and fun time we had in COSTA RICA! 

 

Before school starts in the fall, I plan to make a poster of each of the above collages to share Costa Rica and our adventures with others in our school!

UPDATE: Below is the bulletin board that is outside my room at school which shares our Aventuras en Costa Rica with the entire student body at our school.  EVERYONE should travel!!!

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Our journey home

After breakfast I walked to the store and bought some goodies from Costa Rica to take home to share with my family.

 Then we met outside the hotel at 10:30 with our luggage and started our day's journey home.

On the fifteen minute drive to the airport, we reminisced about our 9 days in Costa Rica.

Giovanny and Didier unloaded our baggage for one last time...

and we said our final goodbyes.

Two flights and eleven hours later we were back at the Philadelphia airport and the group was eager to see their family members that were waiting for them.

After one last photo, our group dispersed, tired, but full of great memories of our adventures in Costa Rica.

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Giovanny and Didier

Our trip was a success due to a big part to our tour guide, Giovanny, and our bus driver, Didier.

Didier maneuvered the steep gravel mountain roads, the narrow streets, and the busy traffic of San José. He also had a sharp eye and could spot wildlife as he was driving. We had some extra photo opportunities because of him.

Giovanny was an absolutely fantastic tour guide. First of all, he was very knowledgeable about plant and animal life, about Costa Rica's history, about the towns and villages, and about the culture of Costa Rica. He was always prepared to answer any questions we had for him.

It was evident that Giovanny wanted to make our experience in Costa Rica the best it could possibly be. I was hoping my group would have the opportunity to go white water rafting and Giovanny made that come true. He also made the arrangements for the crocodile tour, another bonus that made our trip even more interesting.

He did an excellent job of keeping track of our group, suggesting places to eat, asking us if we had all our belongings, and watching our bags as we spent the day on the beach.

But most importantly, Giovanny is a kind and caring person. Everyone in our group enjoyed our time with Giovanny! He joined our group dancing at the club, sat with us to watch the World Cup game with Costa Rica and Greece, and treated us to different snacks and specialty foods of Costa Rica. He is an overall great person and we will miss not seeing his smile and hearing his laugh.

Gracias Giovanny y Didier!

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Living Fences

Living fences can be seen all throughout Costa Rica.  They are made by planting trees around the field or pasture that you want to enclose.  

Giovanny gave an explanation of how planting a tree according to the different phases of the moon and the tides affect how quickly the tree will grow.  Click on the Vocaroo link below to hear his explanation.


Record music and voice >>

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Back to the Capitol City, San José

Today is our 8th day in Costa Rica. We have been busy and the time is flying!

Lucy and Maddie had a few more things on their shopping list so after breakfast we walked to the nearby shops. The guys joined us later and they bought some additional souvenirs for their families.

There is an abundance of shops to buy carvings, clothing, bracelets, pottery, and just about everything else for a keepsake of Costa Rica. Prices are not marked on much of the merchandise, so when they tell you a price, you are free to barter with them and give a counter offer. Some of the students in the other group were successful with this, but our group was hesitate to try it.

 The coastline is beautiful but the high temperature and humidity are intense. After an hour of shopping we decided to retreat to our hotel rooms for half an hour before loading our suitcases on the bus.

I walked across the street to take a few photos of the beach.

Then the men loaded the suitcases on the bus...

and we took some photos of Giovanny and Didier, our bus driver....

and one last photo of our group before leaving Manuel Antonio.

As we were leaving Manuel Antonio, we spotted the road sign below.  It informs drivers to drive slow due to the possibility of children, dogs, sloths, and monkeys crossing the road.

On the trip back to San José, we stopped for lunch, ice cream, and souvenir shopping. This painting of the fruits of Costa Rica was on the ice cream shop wall. I found a poster of this and bought it for my classroom. (That's the teacher in me.)

We arrived in San José mid afternoon and had free time to relax, connect with family, and organize our suitcases for our return flight to the states.

After our dinner, Giovanny thanked us for being willing to try new things and for immersing ourselves in the culture. He asked each of us to share one memory that we will take home with us. Some of the memories mentioned were watching the World Cup game with the locals, seeing the howler monkeys, white water rafting, and the friendliness of the people of Costa Rica.

For one last group activity, Giovanny said he felt like going for a walk, so the whole group took a 40 minute walk around the (big) block. The weather was much cooler than in Manuel Antonio, and it was a nice way to end the evening.

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Tico Fever and World Cup Frenzy

The whole country of Costa Rica is preparing for the World Cup match of Costa Rica against Greece at 2:00 today. The blue, white, and red flag of Costa Rica can be seen everywhere; on cars, motorcycles, public buses, outside and inside stores and restaurants, or simply by people carrying them as they walk around town.

Giovanny suggested the restaurant, The Marlin, for lunch, because it has several televisions for viewing the soccer game. We arrived around 12:30 and we found a table that was close to one of the televisions. The pregame shows had already begun and people started filling the restaurant. By 1:30 the restaurant was packed, so we were glad that we had arrived early.
By game time, we had finished our meal and could give our full attention to the game.

Cole, Michael, and Lucy were dressed in soccer shirts of Costa Rica, so they fit in well with the native fans.

Neither of the teams scored in the first half, but it was interesting to watch the employees of the restaurant. When the Costa Rica team was nearing the goal, the waiters and fans would say things like "vaya, vaya" and when the cooks heard that, they would come running from the kitchen to check out the action on the tv screen.

The second half was more eventful with a goal by Costa Rica. The place erupted with cheering and horns. The employees at the restaurant were hugging each other and running around giving everyone high fives.

Needless to say, when Greece scored with only a few minutes left in regulation play, the atmosphere was quite subdued. Two overtimes followed.

At this point, there was a lot of nervousness in the air. There was an empty seat at our table facing the tv screen and our waiter would sit in the chair for a few minutes, then leave to check on customers, and then return to watch the game again.

Finally, it was down to penalty kicks. Each score by Costa Rica was accompanied by cheering and celebration in the restaurant. When the player from Greece failed to score, the stage was set. The fifth player on Costa Rica scored and the place exploded with noise as you can see on the video below.




On our walk back to the hotel, we saw more celebrations and dancing in the street.

We saw Giovanny smiling from ear to ear when we reached our hotel. There is no doubt that the Costa Ricans are happy and proud tonight.

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Manuel Antonio National Park

Our day started at 7:00 with breakfast at the adjacent restaurant.  Then we changed into our swimsuits and walked several hundred meters to enter Manuel Antonio National Park. This is Costa Rica's smallest national park but is unequaled in the 100+ species of mammals and birds.

As soon as we entered, we saw many different species such as a deer, sloths, spiders, a white-nosed coati (pictured below to the right of the deer), a raccoon, and tree frogs, to name a few.

When we arrived at the beach we immediately saw a group of monkeys hanging out in the trees.  We placed our backpacks and other belongings on a picnic table and Giovanny stood guard over it while we enjoyed the park.  He said one time in the past he saw a monkey try to snatch away someone's bag and he grabbed the bag and had to pull it away from the monkey!

This little guy was enjoying attention from guests in the park.

A true "photo bomb". I only realized the monkey on the right was in the photo later that day.

Click HERE to see a video of one of the monkeys.

We had two hours to spend at the private beach in the park.  Mohit took advantage of the coastline and went for a 25-minute run on the beach, and then joined the others in the water for the remainder of the two hours.

I enjoyed the time talking with Carolyn, the leader of the other group, watching one of Carolyn's students break open a coconut and drink the milk, and talking with Giovanny.

At 11:00 we left the beach and saw even more wildlife as we exited the park such as the camouflaged green snake along the pathway (below) and several lizards.

The park has several hiking trails, but we were more interested in escaping the heat and cooling off in our air-conditioned hotel rooms before lunch and the big World Cup soccer game in the afternoon.

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