Our home away from home

Buenas tardes,

Today I thought I would share with you some pictures of where we are staying in Grecia. The “casitas” as we call them are on the grounds of the family who owns and runs the school where your children take classes. In English I would refer to it as a compound. The casitas are one or two bedroom, one bath, with a kitchenette, dining table and chairs, t.v. and love seat. They are maintained by the groundskeeper Andrei, and his wife Marlisey. Marlisey and Andre also prepare our breakfast and do our laundry. I find the landscaping of the grounds to be particularly beautiful. There is a huge mango tree in front of  my casita and a star fruit tree behind. The critters wake me early in the morning fighting each other for their breakfast.

The building you see with no walls is called the “rancho”. Some ticos have a second property in the countryside and will build a rancho on it, which is then used for family outings.  Ours is  where we have breakfast and  sometimes do homework.

http://www.acce.co.cr/gallery.html

Rain has begun. Need to log off before I get cut off!

Pura vida, Gina

Here are some more pics!

Hello all,

no post yesterday as we had some heavy storming. All is well, however. It still amazes me, after years of coming to Costa Rica, how you can wake up to the mildest day, with brilliant blue skies, and 5 hours later be soaked to the bone. Still no complaints from the kids, though. They are little troopers.

So today’s pics are from dance class where we learned the basic steps to salsa, cumbia and bachata. Also there are some pics of the kids in action playing soccer yet again. It was the last day of school for one of the private schools, then they get a 2 week break, so you will see the band performing for the parents in the foreground while our kids were on the field.

Pura vida, Gina

Cutting a rug

Soccer @ Nuevo Milenio

How nice of them to serenade us!

Back from Monteverde / Arenal

Hello all,

We are back safe and sound from Monteverde (the cloud forest) and Arenal (one of two currently active volcanoes right now).

Friday night was Family Night and we had fun eating homemade food and playing silly games (including soccer with a ball made from tape) with a big tico (Costa Rican) family. We are trying to arrange another Family Night for this week but it´s tough as the tico kids have final exams these two weeks we are here.

Once in Monteverde, the kids wanted to watch the US / Ghana game so we got to the walking bridges tour late. And we all know it rains every afternoon in rainy season, right? So we got drenched on our hike and didn’t see any animals (they don´t come out in the rain, they´re smart! ) but you know what? NO ONE COMPLAINED AT ALL!!!! I was amazed!

We also took a long horseback ride along Lake Arenal and had some awesome views of eruptions (either white or black smoke– not much lava yesterday). We then rode to the other side of the lake by boat and then off to the hot springs to soak our weary bones.

Now we are back in Grecia. Students are in class and I am off to get the movie for “movie night”. Gotta make sure it´s #1 PG-13 and #2 in stock!

Pura vida, Gina

Magic Carpet Ride

Crossing Hot Chocolate River on marshmallows

Sam and Ian cooking Arroz con Pollo for our dinner.

Our fearless riders

Ian & Spencer w/ Lake Arenal & Volcano behind

Crossing Lake Arenal

Doing good deeds

Today´s morning activity was our humanitarian project, which changes every year. This year,  you would´ve thought it was Arbor Day (am I dating myself?). We went to a neighboring town, Poas, to visit an elementary school and help with their school beautification. A donor had donated at least 100 trees and we brought 10 or so. Almost all were planted by our wonderful students and some cute 4th and 5th graders. We had a quick snack and then the children invited us to play soccer for recess. We  got beat, 7-2. Too bad they don´t have that talent on their national soccer team!

 Pura vida, Gina

Ox carts / Carreta de bueyes

Today we went to Sarchi, the neighboring town, famous currently for its woodworking and furniture making. But Sarchi is also where the oldest ox cart factory is, and we went to check it out.  Sarchi is also home to the “largest oxcart in the world” and registered in the Guiness Book of World Records.  Sorry I don´t have the picture attached but all students took one!

The ox cart is one of the main cultural symbols of Costa Rica, as it was used in the olden days to transport coffee and sugar cane from the highlands to the sea ports. One day it occurred to someone to paint his, and that evolved into the carts you see today used mainly for decoration in homes, restaurants, and in parades.

We visited the workshop to see how they are made and then went to a painting class to paint our own “ox cart wheel”. Cyndy won the prize for painting the most authentic looking one and was given a similar “wheel” painted by the artist who taught us during our class. See attached pics!

Futbol

As you may know, futbol is the word for soccer in Spanish. Yesterday, inspired by the U.S. win, the students went to an indoor soccer field to play a bit with some Costa Ricans. Our guide Minor brought a couple of his nephews and a friend of theirs, and our groundskeeper Andrei also played. The competition was fierce, even though the final score would make you disbelieve that– 13 to 6.  Lauren scored the most goals with 7, Ian was close behind her with 6!

Here they are in action, with a shot of all players at the end.

Pura vida, Gina 

Cooking Class

Hello everyone,

here are some new pictures of today´s morning activity, cooking class. Dona Liviana taught us how to make Arroz con Pollo (chicken w/rice) and the kids helped out. The big standouts were Baxter, Lauren, and Jake. Everyone is coming home with the recipe so your son/daughter can host a “Costa Rican Night” for you.

This afternoon we have indoor soccer, which we will play with some local teens. Hope they don´t beat the pants off us!

Pura vida, Gina

Pictures!

Here are a few pics of our first “full day” in Grecia. They are of some fruits we saw in the market (the hairy ones in the back are lychees), the kids in their classes, a view of Grecia´s famous metal church, and a view of the hills from the school´s balcony.  Pura vida,

Gina

Un saludo desde Grecia – Greetings from Grecia

Hello everyone!

We have arrived safe and sound in Grecia. We´ve had time to unpack, rest, and enjoy yummy Costa Rican food. They are already asking to go back to where we dined last night!

The kids have taken their placement tests and are in class as I write this. They will be in class from 1:15 ´til 5:oo everyday, with one quick restroom break and a longer snack break (snacks provided by the school). Today, they will have some time after class  before “movie night” to write emails and call home and I will encourage them to do that!

The web address here at the school is www.acce.co.cr if you´d like to get a visual as to where we are. I will try to put up some pics when I get that figured out.

The group seems to have blended very well, it´s sweet to see how easily they make friends.

Pura vida,

Gina

Hola!

Hey everyone, looking forward to meeting you all Saturday/Sunday! Please be sure to pack lightly and bring lots of sunblock!

I am on vacation right now, but counting the days until we are together in beautiful Costa Rica, my second home.

If anyone has a camera that uses an SD card, I forgot my cable to be able to upload pictures to this site. If someone has one and could bring it, that would be great. Then your parents can see us on our adventures without having to wait for us to get home.

Hast Pronto (see you soon),

Gina Calescibetta

Trip Leader, Natural Wonders