Coast2Clouds

This week all of Costa Rica celebrated its country’s independence from Spain which took place in 1821. Every day of this week, in the morning at my school, with exceptions, there was a gathering of grades and teachers where we sang the Costa Rica anthem, puntarenas anthem (the ones that I knew) and two others. Students gave presentations on the country and how it came to be.

The first day, for me, involved the gathering. The second day, for me, I went to a farm or finca, and we played games and did team work exercises with the public high school. It was almost like a leadership day where we also talked about our futures and perseverance, as everyone at the event was graduating this year. It was really a motivating day.  I gained a lot from it, and they had a cool magician too.

The third day, in the morning we sang the himnos or anthems and had the gathering, and then the day continued normally. However, that night at about 11 PM, the public high school, Friends School and CEC – my school, all gathered and boarded a bus. We traveled to a town which was about a 2 hour drive away, and we welcomed the local “freedom” torch. The antorcha or torch is the symbol of independence here.  It was how the news of Costa Rica’s liberation traveled from Guatemala to Costa Rica on foot lit with a torch. Every year, the Independence Day festivities begin the day before with the reenactment of the notification of Costa Rica’s liberation carrying the “freedom torch”.

About 60 of us were put into groups and when our group was called we ran with the torch for about 10 minutes at a time. We ran all the way back to Monteverde with the torch.  Along the way, we met up with different groups in the street and sang a himno. We arrived back in Monteverde around nine in the morning. We all ran together on the last stretch to the finish which was at the public high school.  We sang the himnos and had refreshments and celebrated the torch run there. Afterwards, some of us ran up to CEC where the whole school was waiting to celebrating our arrival. We again, sang the himnos, spoke about the antorcha, and witnessed elders dancing traditionally. It was really amazing!  Even though we were all exhausted, we put in our 100% all throughout the night to get the torch to our school by 12 noon.  This was a once in a lifetime event for me that I will always remember.

The fifth day, was their true day of independence.  As I had previously explained in my last entry, at the beginning of the school year we had a choice to join different groups for Independence Day. We could help learn about the history, design the banner, or be in the Independence Day marching band.  The band was new to me so I decided to try something different. I learned about 5-6 songs on an instrument called the Lira, which is kind of like a xylophone but with 2 sets of bars.

By Independance Day, September 15, – our fifth day of Civics week, we were all hyped and ready for marching in the Independence Day Parade in Santa Elena. We started at the Centro Comercial and sang the himnos and began our march. It was very cool to be in a marching band, however I was a little nervous at first because the whole town of Monteverde was there watching. As we marched down the streets, and everyone cheered us along, it was a lot of fun!  And the sun even decided to come out for us, which was even better as we are in the rainy season now..

Overall, it was a very amazing and memorable week that encompassed the passion and the history of Costa Rica’s independence.

You can visit our schools You Tube Channel to see the Video of our March or click here.  Pictures below Courtesy of the CEC School Facebook Page.

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.