Costa Rica Tribute to our volunteers...

Dear Volunteers,

The Costa Rica Service Program is held in the Monteverde Region and surroundings, in quite emblematic peaceful villages, where life is simple, where life is taken at a slower pace, tranquility and friendship cherished as the greatest of treasures. Help us make a difference for the kids, the hope of progress and self sufficiency of the cooperatives we serve, like the coffee and arts and crafts coops, the village that now has the first computer room in an elementary school of the region, mini health clinics, gyms, community centers, drainage pipes, thanks to all the volunteers that generously chose to serve in this program.

But there is so much more that needs to be accomplished! One of our villages is even preparing surprises for the volunteers that will come on Independence Day (Sep 15th), the ladies even meeting in their spare time, to design good meals for volunteers whose faces and names are yet to be known but that they trust will sign up to help the village… Help us make the difference in their lifes! They are eager to welcome you and greet you with a smile!

I would like to share my favorite quote from Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world …Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has”.

Come , visit, serve, leave your “soul-print” in our hearts and land!

Saludos from the Cloud Forest,

Nia Salas
Costa Rica Country Manager

Interesting links :

Quetzal and hummingbird webcam:
http://www.cloudforestalive.org/tour/hcam/

Treehouse Restaurant downtown Sta. Elena:

http://www.canopydining.com/webcam.php

Satellite image showing monteverde region and Costa Rica

http://www.monteverdeinfo.com/costa-rica-weather.htm

April 24th, Thursday

Anita

We all knew today would be a difficult day as those of us at El Colegio, would be saying goodbye to the students, and Sally to her friends at CASEM. Harold greeted us with today “it is just the details”. This involved a second coat of paint on areas of the classroom and for Dave’s group repair of the accidental hole in the girls bathroom door and completion of sanding of same. All work achieved by morning “receso”. We were treated to the creamiest hot chocolate and then had free time until 12:00. The students were eager to show us their cheese making project and introduced us to the cheese maker. David was particularly, interested in this area due to his farming background and I think that the cheese maker enjoyed talking to someone who understood his work. /we all sampled the delicious mild slightly salty cheese.

We spent the remainder of the time sitting by the pond soaking up the sunshine and chatting with the students. Isaac precariously climbed a tree to pick us all guavas. 5 pigs were pleased to see us but somewhat to our dismay preparation for the sacrifice of one chicken was being made.

The students and staff of El Colegio took us to the Sta. Elena Reserve and after a hot lunch we hit the trail climbing through the most amazing forest to 5,600. Finally we all had a view of the Arenal Volcano from one of the viewpoints. As even better view seen from the precarious climb up the observation tower.

We returned to the party center to complete our goodbyes with speeches from students, staff and volunteers. The school graciously presented us with certificates in recognition of our work to improve the school facility.

We returned to El Colegio where we gave each other another round of hugs and kisses and went in our different directions.

We then went to CASEM to meet Sally. It was clear that staff were very sorry to see her go and presented her with a lovely bag made at the site. The progress Sally has made with learning Spanish there 2 weeks seems she has inspired the staff to tackle English 101 soon.

The work day progressed as usual, pricing, cleaning, and stocking shelves. Monica heard the sweet call of the trogan and we went hunting for it. She said it was the first one she had seen here.

Nia introduced us to a really elegant restaurant “Sofia” a perfect plan to spend our last evening in Sta. Elena. It was a bitter sweet evening. Nia has been an outstanding team coordinator handling her “senior group” with grace. It is going to be like leaving a family member behind when we head home. Wisely or not, at 7:50 am in the morning we are heading off for the Zip line adventure.

Wednesday, April 23

Sally

Miercoles ,

Another beautiful sunny morning greeted us as we headed out towork. The wind has abated and ceased ripping the roof of the Amanecer. Anita, roger, and the girls painted the audio-visual room a thn coating of teal green while Dave, Jose and Daniel wire-brushed graffiti from the ban/o doors. Dave reported that he and Harold had a nice talk in a combo of espan/ol and anglais while on a trip to the hardware store to buy supplies,

My day was delightful, filled with many laughs and language mix-ups. There was on-going pricing and shelving of the products. The highlight was when lady called on her to translate for a customer. Leidy decided she wanted to learn more. English so then was a practice session after lunch.

After work Ferin drove us to the Monteverde Reserve. On the way, se stopped at Rio Shanti, a sweet little cottage-type shop where Nia’s jwelry is displayed. We also learned it was the oldest house in Mv.

We then walked the beautiful cloud forest trails. We spied toucanettes, several capuccins and a pair of balck guans. Roger barely escaped being bombarded by a black guan, much to our amusement and his obliviousness. We think the guan continued stalking him as we headed down the trail.

Near the entrance to MV was the Hummingbird gallery. The birds were brilliant and busy at the feeders so we watched for a while. They were all mesmerizing.

After a taxi back to the Amanecer and a lovely send-off dinner of chips, guacamole, salsa and rice-chicken we went bar-hopping. Actually we only made it to one bar, that seemed quite sufficient.

It seems today we more then the usually hilarious moments, from Anita’s dog story , her journal remarks, Roger’s close call and Dave curiosity about the well-being of the pigs. Maybe our saying for the day could be “laughter always lightens the load”.

Tuesday April 22nd

Anita

This was the day for Sally to join us at El Colegio, have a tour of the campus and view our handiwork. She had a close call as Harold mistakenly assigned her to work at our morning meeting.


The teams were put to work completing graffiti removal of the girls bathroom and completion of painting in the boys bathroom. After a quick peak at the elbow grease involved in graffiti removal Nia and Sally made a hasty retreat to CASEM.

Harold halted graffiti removal in favor of painting and by lunch time the bathrooms were completed in well watered blue. The principal dropped in to inspect them and judging from the body language and conversation with Marlen he noted the lack of pigment of the paint. I’m almost certain I caught a slight smile on his otherwise serious face when he saw that the most important piece of graffiti was completely gone, thanks to Rogers special effort (Nia did translate but I’m not putting it in the journal).

The remainder of the day was spent completing the outside wall in the usual 2 tones with precisely scheduled breaks. The gold was completed by 2:35 p.m., most of us hoped the day was over us we washed brushes. However Harold had other plans informing us that we have 25 minutes left –the paint was ready- so the terracotta on the remainder of the wall. All the students pitche din and we surprised ourselves by finishing the job at 3:00p.m. exactly. Harold in his best English told Roger as we walked for debriefing that he was very happy.

The day for Sally and Nia was varied-some work and observation of workshops of bookmaking techniques and painting classes. All made for an interesting day. A side trip to the Quaker school to drop off Catalina and pick-up Fiorella, broke up the day they werevery excited to spot a mot-mot en route.

We all watched the sunset at the Atardecer with wine and snacks, that was followed by yet another fabulous supper from Irene. Traditional stew plate-picadillo de papaya verde.

We completed the evening discussing as to wether we were all up to the challenge of the zip line before we leave Monteverde!

Anew student Christian worked with us today!

Monday April 21

Thought of the Day-Roger
"The true secret to giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent as to whether it is taken or not and never persist in trying to set people right." Hannah Whitall Smith.

Journal-Dave

Monday morning, back to work day, dawned beautifully. Very little wind last night. A nice breakfast with eggs hit the spot. Roger read us a great report on the weekend and we were off.

The school strike was still on, but a lot of students were around. Harold sent Isaac and I to work on the door and Anita and Roger to clean walls before painting.

Lumber was found in the storage building next to the pigsty where we saw a mother duck with one duckling; the cow man caught the duckling and presented him to me, but I didn’t want too much to do with him because he had been swimming in the tilapia pond! We got our lumber and left!

Doormaking was sort of slow and so was graffiti removal. After lunch things picked up a bit and we went to the bank and book store. I managed to finish the door, although it didn’t get painted very well, and Roger and Anita managed to get some painting done.

Harold seemed to be happy with our work, so I guess our day was satisfactory. When we got to CASEM and picked up Sally, we walked back to the Ranario(frog pond). It was quite extensive with many interesting exhibits of frog habitats in miniature. Glass frogs, poison arrow frogs, cane toads, blue jean frogs and of course, the red-eyed tree frog of Cr. Our guide Alex was very knowledgeable and sharp eyed. How did he find all those “guys”?

We were all kind of tired when we got back but a quick shower and supper did wonders. Thanks to Nia for helping Sally and Dave with everything.

Saturday and Sunday 4/19 and 4/20

Roger Withrington


At last the weekend and a couple of days free of thin paint! We had booked ahead to see Arenal Volcano, and spend the night in La Fortuna. And so it was that after the usual excellent breakfast, we picked up our lunches packed in neat cloth baggies and headed off down the road. What a journey it was on rough roads down to the lake into La Fortuna. The views were beautiful as the van wound its way along the rugged hillsides. We bounced along over rocks, potholes and parts of the road made slippery and muddy by rain over the last few days. However, the driver was very good and we made it to the lake without incident. The trip across and down Lake Arenal was equally splendid as we paralleled the shore and spotted egrets and some other birds. The last leg over the dam and down to LA Fortuna on a surfaced road was smooth.


Alas; Volcan Arenal was hrouded in clouds and La Fortuna was humid and wet. No to be deterred, we took a walk around town noting the beautiful gardens and spotting a restaurant and a bakery for dinner and breakfast to come. Back at the hotel we ate our packed lunches and then rested up for a couple of hours before the tour to Arenal that started at 3. After picking up some additional people, we headed round from the East to the west side of the volcano where the 1968 and subsequent eruptions devastated the village of Arenal. Entering the Arenal Preserve, our driver spotted some toucans and our guide stopped the bus for us to have a good look. Thus started the spotting game as we headed to our destination that was a sclose to the volcano as allowed (about 2 kms). Our guide gave us a good history of it’s volcanic activity and then took us on a trek through the rainforest. He was very knowledgeable and ew saw many more birds, spider monkeys and plants including the traveling palm. We then headed for the best location for viewing volcanic activity and waited patiently for the sun to go down so we could see the expulsion and flow of red hot lava. Alas, the cloud teased us by rising up and falling back around the mountain. However, Anita refused to give up and obstinacy paid off as we saw a trickle red run below the clouds for a few seconds. That lava flowed so low emphasized the danger of the volcano for us.


The tour ended with a visit to the hot springs at Baldi. Dave, Roger and Anita downed their bathing suits and enjoyed the luxury of the different pools and waterfalls, all at different temperatures. We resisted the temptation of bars in set-up to serve drinks in some of the pools and finally caught a taxi back to the Choza Inn. We had a good beer and dinner at the Cascade restaurant. Then fully relaxed, hit the sack hoping for a clear on Sunday.

Alas!Alas! It’s Sunday morning, it is pouring with rain and the clouds are even lower. So, having common thoughts, we decided to take the early bus back to Sta. Elena and enjoy the afternoon there. The rain eased off as Sally, Anita and Roger headed to the bakery where we bought freshly baked cheese breads, croissants, empanadas and juice for breakfast. Then it was the return trip, just as adventurous as the previous day’s. The boat trip was longer as the pilot and guide went into some coves and did some extra bird spotting for us, while taking up the time for vans to come down to the lake on the Sta. Elena side. The ride up the bumpy road was just as beautiful; had some extra muddy bits and we arrived back at our hotel by noon. How nice it was to have the wind back, and here the sun was shinning.

After a brief rest, we went into town for lunch and then had a most enjoyable hike in the reserve ecologica. We didn’t see much more wildlife, but the path was very picturesque with some good workouts, tangled tree formations and incredible armies of leaf cutter ants. Towards the end of the trail were some unusual plants-the one not to be touched as Dave found out to his detriment.

On the way back to the Hotel we had a delicious ice cream. Getting back just before 6, it was time to shower, have dinner and learn that Nia had a relaxing weekend puttering about and getting the things she needed to do out of the way.