I have officially arrived in Monteverde, in the state of Puntarenas, Costa Rica. There is a lot to be said about travelling into a foreign country.  It was definitely an adventure with the airport in Mexico, but I managed to arrive safely – more than I can say for my luggage which I still haven’t received yet over a week later.  With any luck, I might see it tomorrow.

The ride up to the mountains was much rougher than I expected.  The road was rocky and washed out in many places.  I arrived in the late afternoon at my home stay and it was great to meet my new family for the next 5 months.  My home stay family has a daughter my age.  Her name is Roxana.  She is in the same grade at the school I am attending and I was excited to find out she also could speak English fluently.  This came as a relief as her parents only speak Spanish.  She took me into town with her and showed me around.  It is a small village and is very quaint.  My host family has a cool business and runs night tours on their property.  They live on a farm and have Coffee and Banana plants.  They have cows and a horse as well.  The night tours run from a reception area close to their home.  I was lucky enough to be able to join in on a night tour the second night once I had some sleep and had recovered from my travels.

On my first night tour I was amazed to see a mother and her baby Sloth.  Apparently these are a common sighting on their property and I have now seen a total of 6 in the week I have been here.  I even saw one come out of a tree to go to the bathroom on the forest floor, which only happens once a week and isn’t something you would normally encounter.  I saw a five band Armadillo, an interesting tarantula but wasn’t sure if it was the Costa Rican Tiger Rump, or the Costa Rican Zebra Tarantula, an Opossum, a Fluorescent Scorpion which they put under a UV light to show how it glowed.   It was really interesting as scientists have found evidence that there is a chemical in their exoskeleton which causes this to happen. They don’t really know the reason for this characteristic yet though.  It may be to help scorpions find each other, or to confuse or attract prey.   I am posting more about the animals on the Discoveries page.  Check there for more details.

I experienced my first official day at the Cloud Forest School as well.  It was pretty exciting.  It is a very artsy school with lots of murals on the various buildings that are class rooms.  We go outside every time we switch classes.  I am taking a full course load.  I am enrolled in English, Spanish, Pre-Calculus, Science, Environmental studies, Social Studies, Art and Music.  I have 11 youth in my grade 11 class, in which all of them are from Monteverde.  It has been a great first week.  I am enjoying all aspects of the Costa Rican lifestyle.

On the weekend my host family took me to the farm their parents run.  They have a few more animals such as chickens, and pigs.  I saw how they juice sugar cane and tried fresh squeezed juice.  I also watched them play a sport on their horses.  It was interesting and a lot of fun.  The food is really great hear.  I am enjoying fresh mangoes – my personal favorite and lots of tasty beans and rice.  I am a vegetarian and have not been hungry yet.

Well, it has been exciting so far.  Everyone is so nice. I am looking forward to retrieving my luggage tomorrow and trying out my telephoto lens to take some great pictures to share here.  I have seen a few beautiful birds as well and will post more later.