Friday, July 18, 2014

Costa: Day 7


Buenos Noches from your favorite returning writers journalistic magicians. Another jam-packed day began with an early morning wake-up call at 5:38am courtesy of your chaperons for an "on-the-go" breakfast of cereal, yogurt, and breakfast tacos. Shortly thereafter, we boarded our bus bound for Portalon Esculela to meet up with our newest amigos.

Our first assingment upon arrival had us teaming up with Gato (a man, not a cat) and Gallo (a man, not a side dish) to begin efforts in a reforestation project the school helps support. Madeline rallied the group with her golden shovel to plant over 100(!) trees near the school and in the local plaza near/in the vicinity of/with proximity to/along/close to/within a reasonable distance of the school. Gallo showed us the different trees we were planting that would benefit the area, providing fruit from the guayabana tree and mucha sombra (a lot of shade) from another type of tree of which the name eludes us at the moment. We can't wait to see pictures of these seedlings sprouting up in the next year!

After wrapping up our arboreal adventure, we returned just in time for recess! We played futbol, jump rope, tag, and the Costa Rican version of Simon Says with the kindergartners, first, and second-graders, while the sixth-graders finished their classwork. After wearing the kiddos out (and ourselves--it was really hot), the sixth-graders came out looking for new opponents to play in futbol. We rallied after a brief snack break of jelly-filled empanadas and sweet, sweet papaya nectar. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and we wished our friends a fond farewell with hugs, last-minute photos, and the gratitude of the teachers and principal, both hoping for CBS to return next year.

A fun-filled morning deserved a brief reprieve in the early afternoon, where the group had a few hours at the hotel with the option to catch up on much-needed sleep, cool off in the many pools around the property, or read a book on the beach before our next adventure began. However, while much of the group took the opportunity to relax, Michael used his free time to continue the adventure, by taking one of the kayaks down the coastline to scout out surrounding beaches. He came back with plans to show us the many wonders he saw tomorrow.

Naturally, the CBS Costa Crew does not rest for long, and we were off to our evening river tour guided by Rancho los Tucanes. Our guide pointed out a whole colony of white-faced monkeys on the river banks and let us watch them frolic in the foliage for twenty minutes, much to the glee of the girls who could not stop taking videos and photos of the "soooooo cute" monkeys. Monica may have found her spirit animal! Other highlights of the tour included seeing the pygmy anteater (Madeline's spirit animal), and learning about the mangrove ecosystem. The guide took us and one hapless family, who got stuck on the boat with us crazies, down the river, all the way to the ocean to see what an important part the mangroves play in supporting Costa Rica's ecosystem. We finished off, once again, with the dinner typico of Costa Ricans: rice, beans, and chicken. Believe it or not we're not tired of it yet!

Back at home after another day of adventure, we capped off the big day with an even bigger treat of warm brownies and ice cream--yum! Cole and Kyle experimented with the espresso machine, and will probably be awake until Sunday after trying all of their new recipes. The rest of the decaf crew finished the evening rolling on the ground in laughter telling embarrassing stories, playing Bananagrams, and looking like goofballs during "Heads Up."

We can't believe we're already going into this weekend, but in the meantime, we are living Pura Vida: enjoying every moment as it comes!

This journalistic entertainment has been brought to you courtesy of the dynamic duo/former roomies of 611/brothers from other mothers...so on and so forth...

Teddy & Reed

Sloth Watch 2014 (Its been a roaring success)
Day 7: 1
In total: 4
We met Alin, the sloth, on the beach today hanging out with the other cool cats. He was very itchy and spent much of his time scratching his fur. 

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