Playa Tamarindo

We just walked in from another wonderful weekend away. While we didn't end up staying in Playa Grande as planned (for various reasons including car insurancr and a bus) we still managed to get away for the three day weekend to Tamarindo. For Joe going back to Tamarindo seemed to be like visiting and all friend and finding out that it had gotten older (or in this case more developed) over time. To me Tamarindo did not seem nearly as commercialized as the San Jose area in which we live. The rain was a definate presence this weekend but did not spoil our fun at all. We arrived midday Saturday, got some lunch, Joe surfed, and I read. In the evening we tried to watch the sunset but it was too cloudy so we wandered around and explored a bit. We eventually found our way to a truly unique dining experience (unless you are an ancient Roman) . The restaurant was called the Lazy Wave and Joe remembered having gone there before..but it had changed some. There were two dining choices, at a table with chairs or surounding a much shorter table and sitting on one of the beds or bean bag chairs that surounded it. We made the obvious choice and had an excellent dinner while lounging around like the two cats that kept us company. On Saturday we debated between a 25$ cab ride to Playa Grande or a 25 minute walk, partly through crocodile infested waters. We opted for the walk, which may or may not have been the smart choice. We began our walk at low tide and came to the crocodile river mouth. I was a little scared but it didn't seem that deep or that far so we went for it. About 1 minute later I stepped on somethng squishy and wanted to abort the mission. Joe encouraged me and we kept going. Finally we made it to the other side, or so I thought. But it was really just a little break in the river about half way across. There was no turning back now so we kept going through the river which at times was up to my chest, and of course it began to pour rain. Don't worry though, we made it across. In fact, just as wehad made it across Joe pointed out the water taxi further down the river which we could have taken. That realization prompted a multi-verse song (sung to the tune of Comin' Round the Mountain) that goes something like this "We're taking the water taxi back, oh we're taking the water taxi home. We're taking the water taxi so the crocodiles don't attacks me, oh were taking the water taxi home. We're taking the water taxi back, oh we're taking the water taxi home. We're taking the water taxi if we want to make it backsi, oh we're taking the water taxi home" While we sang our new mantra we walked along the beach, which all other beachgoers had appreared to abandon due to bad weather. That didn't stop our walk at all. We had a terrific time walking down the beach, looking at stray dogs and hunting for sea shells. The one unfortunate part of our walk through Playa Grande was the lack of surfable waves in this apparently very consistent surf spot. We didn't end up turning around for about 3 miles when we stopped at the only hotel we saw on the beach (which ended up being the one we had planned to stay at). We got bocas and drinks and casually asked our waitress when the water taxi stopped running. She said that it could be as soon as 45 minutes..so needless to say our 3 mile walk back was at a much faster pace then the walk there. At first when we approached the river (which now that the tide had come up was no longer forgable) there was no water taxi in sight. We got a little nervous but the one other person waiting for a taxi on our side of the river did not seem worried. A few minutes later a man came and picked us up in his multi passenger motor boat, and about 45 seconds later we were across the crocodile river. We had another nice dinner last night at an Italian restaurant on the beach and woke up to catch our bus at 6:30 this morning to make it back. It was another very nice weekend in paradise.

rain, rain, and rain

Many people have said that October is the worst month of the rainy season. We were laughing about this a week ago, because the beginning of October started with three rain-free days (hallelujah). However, the last few days it has been pouring non-stop. Until recently, the rain did not start until the afternoon. Mornings were bright and warm, and then right around the time that the students get out of school (3:00), the rain would start, like clockwork, for a few hours.
However, lately it has been raining day and night. You go to sleep listening to rain, wake up to the sound of rain, spend the school day in the rain, and go home while it rains. The creek behind our house is a rushing chocolate-colored river right now.
Umbrellas are cheap here and can be found all over the place. If you forget your umbrella and need to get to walk across the street to another part of campus, the guards have extra ones that they will lone you.
The students are going a little crazy in the rain too, and with good reason. They have no opportunities to run around, except during PE twice a week. They are abnormally loud and energetic in the cafeteria as well as the classroom. Today some of the third-graders practiced the waltz at lunch (they are studying Germany for the upcoming international day), and they seemed more like rubber balls bouncing off the walls than students.
There are some people who are happy about the rain at Country Day School: the cleaning ladies. Usually they have to mop the shiny floors nonstop to clean off the thick layers of mud that accumulate in the halls after the recess soccer games. However, now that the water-saturated recess fields are off-limits, the floors have been clean and sparkling for days. I think that the cleaning ladies wish it would rain all day everyday.
Fortunately, this weather should be coming to an end shortly. October is typically supposed to be the last day in the rainy season. Also, many people are claiming that when it starts raining in the morning it is a sign that the rainy season is going to end soon. We are going away to Playa Grande in the Pacific Northwest for our extra long weekend (thank you Columbus). Hopefully there will be a few opportunities to get some sun and see some turtles, but who knows if that will be the case.

Birthday Weekend

Yesterday was my birthday, and I had a really nice time celebrating this weekend. On Friday morning when I got to school my kids were already in the room (let in by the cleaning lady) decorating. They were writing me nice notes on the whiteboard and putting up balloons. Then, another student arrived with cupcakes she had made for me. The two other fourth grade classes marched into our room about half an hour after school started to sing 'Happy Birthday' to me and to give me cards that they had made. My class was very well behaved all day and I went home feeling really good! Then, on Friday night, Joe and I were invited along with our neighbor (and fellow 4th grade teacher) Jason to another teacher's house for a dinner party. There were 7 people there and one of them was a semi-professional DJ. He set up his DJing equipment in the house and there was great music to accompany our evening of great drinks, fun dancing, amazing food, and entertaining company. There was even birthday pie for dessert (not pumpkin though). It was an amazing Passion Fruit pie that was sweet and tart and delicious. We had a lot of fun that night and went home exhausted. On my real birthday, yesterday, I spent much of the day recovering from the fun night before. We did manage to make it for a little while before it started raining. We went and got pizza for lunch and it was just amazing. It was fresh everything with a thin crust and very authentic Italian tasting. We were planning on walking around more after our meal, but then it looked like it was going to rain..so we walked home instead. The later afternoon was spent lazing around the house and watching a movie (Pan's Labirynth). Then last night we got dressed up and went out to eat at a sushi restaurant owned by the family of one of Joe's students. We had a great dinner and got a lot to eat and drink. Joe asked if the owner was around because he had never met his student's dad before. Anyway, Joe ended up talking to his student on the phone and his dad came over to talk to us a few times...and when we went to pay our bill (which was not cheap) it was on the house! We were (and still are) very excited about this. Today we have a few possible plans in the works but so far have been reading and drinking coffee. It really has been a terrific birthday weekend!

Butterfly farm fieldtrip

Today my class went on a field trip to a butterfly farm with another third grade class. Allie's class will be going on their first field trip to a volcano in a few weeks.
The farm is in La Guasima, outside of Escazu and they raise butterflies which they send all over the world. The farm has so many different types of plants and flowers in it, because different butterflies prefer different plants. We got to see how the farm takes care of the butterflies in all of the different stages. They are sent to customers when they are in the chrysalis stage.
The blue morpho butterflies were beautiful, and they were giant and very smooth when they were caterpillars. The kids had a lot of fun, although they were really wound up.

4runner

Yesterday we bought a car! We have been checking the Costa Rica car ads online and in the papers since we got here, and a couple of days ago we came across a 1991 Toyota 4 Runner. We had both conveniently received our second paychecks that day , so after draining our accounts we had just about enough money to buy it.
It was a little bit stressful trying to understand what the guy selling the car was saying while test driving it, but after a few hours it seemed like a good car for us. It is very spacious, has automatic windows and an alarm, and as the vendor said "other cars get out of your way because it is so big." There is plenty of room for surfboards in the back as well. One of the things that made the car very appealing is its ground clearance and 4WD. The roads are horrible around here; they are very narrow and there are potholes all over the place. In the rainy season some of the roads wash out also, so this seems like the kind of vehicle one wants to have around here.
We got our Costa Rican drivers licenses during the first week that we were here, so the only things left for us to do are to buy insurance and have a lawyer notarize the papers in our name. We usually go to and from school on the school bus, which goes right by our house. We will probably keep taking the bus, but now we won't have to spend money on taxis every time we want to go somewhere. We will post pictures of it soon.

pictures

Here are some pictures from Tres Cruces taken a couple weeks ago. Uploading pictures takes sooooo long, so these one never made it up with the blog entry.