Highlights of Road Trippin’...

... with the Honors Frosh JTerm group, Sunday through Tuesday + Wednesday activities: (just trying to hit on some of the main stuff here)

Loading the buses, just as dawn breaks.

On the busetas... at 5:30 am!

• Got up at 3:55 Sunday morning in preparation for the trip and to leave at dawn. Troubles getting going in our two busetas, but finally left around 6:00. We were in for a long drive. Only just the beginning of a lot of road tripping. And a LOOOONG first day.
• Arrived in Río Celeste around noon, a small, rural, agrarian community along a gorgeous indigo-blue river. It was humid and sunny/rainy at times throughout the afternoon… and about 20-30 degrees 

  

  In the school building in Río Celeste

  warmer than on top of our mountain (so, around 90ºF). The group for organization of development in the area provided lunch and dinner, as well as spoke to/with the students all afternoon.
• A Peace Corp volunteer in the area also spoke with us. It was great to hear of the vision for development and progress in the area, as well as to talk with her about the Peace Corp program, how it works, and her sentiments/experiences/reflections on it all. It will be good to keep in touch with her.



Breakfast: yummy fresh cheese,
tortillas, tamals, and gallo pinto

• The students had home stays in Río Celeste that night. We staff members were provided this gorgeous cabin for the night. Only ₡7.000 (siete mil colones = $14 USD) per night! Kristina and I decided we’re definitely coming back to hike the Río Celeste at a later date, in order to see the Río Celeste waterfall and to get a view on a clear day from the cabin porch, catching a glimpse of Lake Managua in Nicaragua and Volcán Arenal or other mountains. Soooo peaceful and beautiful, with rolling green hills and pastures with cows grazing, pineapple fields just across the road. Fresh cheese and sweet tamal and gallo pinto and fresh piña for breakfast. Mmmm!



The cabin

• Story about getting to this cabin… we were driven around, getting lost and detoured, resulting in riding around on potholed dirt roads for at least 90 unnecessary minutes, late into the night of an already long day Plus, two very tired children under the age of three were in the back seat, grumpy and hot. Josh (one of the profs and father to the children), ever hungry, was in the back seat with his wife and family, just eating his family-sized bag of Skittles, and flicking my ear because I lost the bet as to whether we were going around in circles and lost. We were all so giddy and giggly (except for Rick, the other prof, who just wanted to lay his head down in a nice bed), having been up for so long in the heat and humidity, driving, listening to lectures and panels, talking and interacting with locals, slash taking care of all our “children” (oh, and Josh’s children in addition to the Jan Term frosh, hahaha), etc. Honestly, I’m not really quite sure what all we talked about on that car ride, but I am certain that all of our sarcastic, sardonic remarks really weren’t as hilarious as our sore abs would have us believe the next day. But it was great and entertaining in the moment! Josh just kept saying, “This cabin had better be so fantastic that it makes this ridiculous drive worth it!” (The showers were cold, but at least the place was beautiful, indeed!) 



The "bridge" over Río Celeste


• And the best part about the incident? Finding out the next morning as we WALKED to the meeting center, that the trek to walk across slippery boards (remnants of a fallen bridge) that crossed the raging Río Celeste (Turquoise River) below) only took 10 minutes to walk!
• Wednesday, our busetas, laden with sweaty and tired yet ever good-spirited souls, took another long drive over potholed roads and around Lake Arenal to finally drive out toward the Pacific Coast, where we stayed at the UNA Station (a marine biology extension campus for the Universidad 



Cocodrillo (crocodile!)

• Nacional, near Punta Morales). What a night that was! It might have included making spaghetti for 40+ people, in the company of a variety of ant species (typical in CR kitchens), cockroaches, toads, and decently-sized rats... with some crocodiles in the pits in the nearby backyard. Just another day in the life.

• 

  "Mandrew Fierce" (Andrew) participates in 
  the stick fighting activity to fight for
  Alexandria, another one of our students.

  The next day (Monday), we visited the Malekú indigenous community, having a meal and learning about cultural traditions, the language, and way of life, as members of the community shared food and customs with us (dance, stories, pastimes such as bow and arrow shooting, and the Malekú language). Participating in the activities, some of our students ended up taking their shirts off to dance around the fire and fight with sticks. Primal, yet entertaining and terribly cliché. But entertaining. And educational too, I guess. 



Fútbol at the Playa Blanca, near Punta Morales

• A beach day happened on Tuesday. So did sun burning, despite frequent applications of SPF 40 sunscreen…. ALL. OVER. OUR. BODIES. Apparently, regardless of numerous applications of Hawaiian Tropic, Banana Boat, or Neutrogena protective products, CR sun + white winter bods = red, hot, blotchy, itchy bods. Quite an uncomfortable four-hour bus ride back home to our mountain top for some individuals (where the calm night greeted us, bright shining moon and stars illuminating the mostly-clear night sky and fluffy, harmless clouds. What a peaceful way to end a gorgeous, rainless day! Imagine that!?). But the mood remained cheery, with singing, dancing, and a couple stops for ice cream and at a fruit stand to purchase tropical fruits!



Some of our SUNBURNED students!

• My lavender oil, tincture, and salve, plus aloe provided remedy for those who were worst off. They enjoyed the relief that the wondrous herb provided them (as do I).
• This morning, Wednesday, we had yet another early morning (I have managed to average four hours of sleep a night since Saturday. Gross.). We had an 8:30 appointment at the U.S. Embassy, receiving briefings from consular advisors and foreign service officers… which meant breakfast at 6 and then driving through all the morning rush hour traffic to get to San José, well rather, NOT driving in it.
• This afternoon, Whitworth VP and Dean of Academic Affairs Michael Le Roy arrived, and he’s headed to pick up Whitworth President Beck Taylor from the airport right now. We shall be graced by their presences the next several days. Already since Michael’s been here (as well as in preparation for their arrival), we’ve had the place tidied, signs posted, and wifi is being set up to cover our dorm rooms! Plus, the sunshine all day today and people fishing in our lakes, students playing fútbol and tossing the ‘bee just made things seem so springy and warm and happy!
• I love my life.

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever." ~1 Chronicles 16:34