Sámara

A couple of weekends ago,  I took a trip with some of the other teachers to a beach town called Sámara.  It was an absolutely beautiful beach that I highly recommend to anyone who comes to Costa Rica.  We took private transportation down (so we crammed 11 staff members in a van and drove down to the beach).  We relaxed on the beach, played beersbie, a horseshoe-like game where you throw a frisbee at a stick that has a beer can on it.

The bittersweet part of the trip was that Bob and Linda, who were 2 volunteers at the school returned to the US at the end of their trip.  They are a married couple who celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary with us and stayed for a couple of months.


The highlight of the trip for me was that we rented kayaks and snorkeling equipment and kayaked out to an island near the beach and snorkeled around for a while.  I´ve been told that sometimes you can see different types of rays there, and that my one co-worker saw a turtle the last time she went to this island.  Unfortunately, we did not see either of those, but it was a lot of fun to see lots of different fish and plants under the water that you usually cannot see.  I want snorkeling to be a part of my next few beach trips, and at $10 an hour, the equipment was very cheap to rent.

I also really enjoyed that our hostel had boogie boards for us to use, and that the person working at the hostel was from Madrid, so I got to reminisce about my time in Spain.

Happy Birthday Dr Seuss! and a note on Samara

It has been a couple of weeks since my last entry.  So today I am going to try to summarize two fun events from the beginning of the month. 

March 2nd was Dr. Seuss´s birthday and to honor the amazing author the Creativa decided to celebrate his birthday that Friday.  We started the day with the whole escuela getting together as we would for sing, but this time it was with crazy clothes and crazy hats in memory of the fun drawings from Dr Seuss´s books.  

(picture of me from the celebration to come)

Together with Tera, the kinder teacher, I read Oh, the Places You´ll Go by Dr Seuss to the school.  From there each class went outside and had a read-in of their favourite Dr Seuss books, a parade of the crazy clothes and hats.  Finally we took a tour to see how each class had decorated their door to represent one or more of Dr Seuss´s books.

(picture of Oh the Places We´ll Go to be uploaded shortly)

Samara

That previous weekend my friends and I went to Samara, which is a beach on the Pacific Coast and we went snorkeling, kayaking, boogey-boarding, swimming and played frisbee.  It was a very enjoyable and relaxing weekend.  Unfortunately I wasn´t able to get any pictures because I didn´t want to bring my camera onto the beach.

Pesto!

Pesto pasta is one of my favourite dishes I´ve learned to make here, and one of the first I was trusted to make on my own...

Ingredients:

• 2 bags basil
• 4 small cloves garlic
• 1/4 Cup olive oil
• 1/2 Cup parmesan cheese
• 1/2 Cup walnuts
• 1/8 Cup water

Instructions:

1. Use food processor to chop walnuts
2. Add 1 bag basil, oil, garlic. 
3. Blend
4. Add Cheese
5. Blend
6. Add remaining ingredients
7. Blend
8. Add seasoning to taste

Gallo Pinto

Gallo Pinto is one of the most traditional dishes here in Costa Rica.  There are also other variations that are common around Central America.  It is one of the many dishes here that is made up mostly of rice and beans.  Here in Costa Rica we tend to use black beans and serve it with fried plantains (as seen above).  In Nicaragua they tend to use red beans and have a higher beans to rice ratio.

To make it...

• 4 cloves garlic, crushed with garlic press or something similar
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1/2 tsp basil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1tsp black pepper
• Salsa Lizano (a local condiment) to taste
• 1 lb tico cheese (the local cheese, swiss might be a good substitute, or mozzarella)
• 2 cups beans, soaked overnight, cooked 45min-1hr
• 2 cups rice cooked

Sauteé garlic, onion and pepper in large skillet until onions are translucent

Add beans and rice, stir in hot skillet

Pour on Salsa Lizano a gusto

Serve with fried plantains for lunch or dinner.

What a crazy week in Monteverde! Part 1

As usual the last week at la Creativa and elsewhere in Monteverde has been interesting.  I had one student who was suspended for cutting another student´s wrist with a rusty nail.  Luckily it was only a superficial cut, but since this was not his first problem in school he was suspended, for the second time this year.  I found out on Monday that his mother had decided to pull him out and to put him in the public school, where she works.  This was sad for me because he is a student who needs help and was making great progress, especially with learning English, and it´s sad to see him leave.

Later in the week we had a pot luck at school on Friday that was in honour of our High School Spanish teacher and her last week before going on maternity leave.  We had a baby shower that was decorated by the 5th and 6th graders!  It was the first baby shower I had ever been to.  We played a game where we had to guess how big María´s belly is by putting toilet paper around us and estimating.  I was pretty close, but someone luckily, was right on, because supposedly whoever guesses correctly will have the next baby.

After the baby shower when we got ready to leave, Gloria (the HS Social Studies and Civics teacher) got in her car and tried going up the hill from the parking lot to the exit of campus where the battery died.  It took 8 of us about 20 minutes to push her car up the hill so that she could then coast half way down the main hill and intentionally off the road until a mechanic could help her out.  (Photo to come).

Later that day we had another pot luck for some teachers to meet with a board member.  At this pot luck everyone except for my roommate Paulina and I brought leftovers from lunch´s pot luck.  Paulina had made banana bread for lunch which was quickly devoured, so I made a second one for dinner.  The dinner was great, Beth, who is a member of the board and a former teacher of my students hosted the meal so that the teachers could have their voice heard by the board.

that´s all for now, more to come later

Escazú

This school year I have had the great opportunity to spend quality time with my Uncle Tom and the newest member of the Bartlett family, my Aunt Terri.  They live in Guachipelin, Escazú, San José, Costa  Rica.  That means they are only about 50 miles (or 5 hours) away.  

Not only are my aunt and uncle extremely hospitable (hosting me and so far 3 of my friends, sometimes even when I´m not accompanying them) they are amazing chefs and know Costa Rica´s sights well as they had an 18 month jump start on me, and the means to travel more.

Also, their amazing house has beautiful views of 3 of the cities in the Central Valley

View of one of the volcanoes from their house

Also their house is beautiful.  They have what they call the "El Rancho" to hang out, read and relax, complete with a sink, electricity and a bar that overlooks the city.  I would like to say that it is a home away from home, but it´s much more modern and comfortable than the homes I´ve had since I left my parent´s house in 2004.

Unfortunately, there was a break in at their house a few weeks ago, and another attempts shortly after.  As a result they have hired a guard to watch the house whenever they are not around.  His name is Marley

Marley

Cartago

Back in December, I visited my aunt and uncle for a few days.  While in the Central Valley we took a trip to Cartago.  Cartago was one of the places in Costa Rica I had been most excited to visit, because it´s name shares roots with Cartagena (see note below).  Cartago, the former capital of Costa Rica is a beautiful city filled with stories and traditions dating back to the pre-Columbus era.

One important story about Cartago is the story of the ruins (seen above).  The ruins are the remains of several building attempts (therefor they are not actually ruins by definition) to build a cathedral on this one plot of land.  Locals will tell you about how an earthquake in 1910 and a few other earthquakes later in the 20th century each destroyed attempts to build on this site.  After a few attempts, they decided to abandon their efforts and leave the area as a park.

The other highlight of Cartago is the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles.  Every year on the 2nd of August thousands of Ticos (and I assume some foreigners) make a pilgrimage to the Basílica.  The Basílica is well known for the legend that surrounds it.  Legend has it that a young girl found a small object that looked like Mary holding baby Jesus.  She brought it home and left it at her house.  The next day she was wandering and found the same object.  Again, she brought it home and locked it in her box.  She went back to the area where she found the object a third time, and a third time it was there.  She then brought it to her pastor and explained what had happened.  Legend has it that this "Black Madonna" was repeatedly found on the spot where the Basílica now stands.

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Cartagena is a city in Spain.  It is the 2nd largest city and formerly the main city of the Autonomous Region of Murcia (where I studied in 2007).  Cartagena is a beautiful seaport city that had such a claim to be the sede of the province over Murcia that the administrative part of the government is actually in Cartagena. 

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

I´ve decided since I don´t always have internet access these days, and we don´t get off the mountain to explore that often that I wanted to add some other aspects of life in Monteverde to the blog.  First I want to put up some recipes.  Most will be of tico (Costa Rican) food, but the first I think is the biggest crowd favourite.  Several students have told me that these cookies are the best they´ve ever had, and I figure 10-12 year olds are good judges of cookies.

We made this recipe sort of by accident when the pulpería was out of normal chocolate and we had to get mint chocolate instead.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dry ingredients

SIFT TOGETHER:

• 2 1/3 Cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Wet ingredients

MIX TOGETHER:

• 1 3/4 sticks softened butter
• 3/4 Cups white sugar
• 3/4 Cups brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla

Mix wet ingredients, add in dry a little at a time.  MIX

Add mint chocolate chps

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet 8-10 min at 375´F

WELCOME BACK

Well, I´m back in Costa Rica!  Actually I got back about 2 weeks ago, but we´ve had very little internet access in the last couple of weeks.  It is great to be back, the rainy season is officially over, so it´s warm weather, clear skies and sun burns from here on out.  I´ve been very happy to be back, and I was very excited about the little things.  I was even looking forward to garbage day.

My aunt and uncle picked me up at the airport in Alajuela (just outside of San José).  The next day we drove down to Monteverde and my friend Sarah and I took them to the famous strangler fig tree by our school.

Common Cup

The first week of school was nice because it was a little bit more laid back than other weeks because we had two days of staff development before the students came back (por dicha).  Also, the best coffee house in town (not just because it´s run by my student´s family) started their longer hours, so now Paulina and I try to go at least once a week to enjoy the hot chocolate,  internet and we play pass the pigs or card games.

Pues, there´s not much else to share right now, because we have just been getting back into the routine of things, but I´ve very glad to be back.

-Hasta luego

ENTRY FROM OLD BLOG (4 OF 4) 9-11-2009

GRANADA´S SELF DESTRUCTION AND A VISIT FROM VERMONT!

Granada´s Self Destruction

    I don´t know if it´s just me, but I believe that Granada is self destructing.  Last year I noticed a couple of construction sites starting.  One was supposed to be a 6 month project to build a skate park and expand the athletic complex near my old flat.  7 months later they are still a ways from finishing.  The larger project however, was to create a metro that should travel from the suburbs to Granada for easier commuting.  I think this is scheduled to take up to 4 years, which doesn´t seem too bad on its own.  But the problem is that the construction sites have effectively closed down a lot of the main roads in the city, and with it a lot of the businesses downtown have lost revenue or closed entirely.  Now I had thought that with such a large project going on they would hire all the construction workers to work on the same project to speed it along, and focus on 1 part of the lines first before moving on to the other lines.  For some reason I don´t understand they have done neither of these.  They are trying to build the entire metro system simultaneously, which is a very noteworthy goal, except that I can see some parts of the line are nearly completed in the suburbs, but in the urban areas (where all the lines are going to lead) they haven´t finished digging up the streets.  So I think it could be a few years before this part of downtown recovers economically (*NB The unemployment rate in Granada in February of 2009 was around 30%, I don’t know what it is today, but I don’t think it’s much lower than that).  On top of that many of the small streets in down town are being torn up and repaved.  I really like the way they are doing it, making the drains in the center of the street, and digging up the old pavement before laying more on, thus avoiding problems where the road becomes 6” (15cm) higher than the 

Bathroom issues

This past week we’ve had several issues with the cuarto baño (bathroom).  First the light went out, which meant a couple of days of darkness in the bathroom, since there isn´t a window there. That has been temporarily improved by putting a small red lamp in there.  It´s enough to shower and stuff by, but anything in the mirror is difficult.  Also, the hot water was not working for a couple of days, and now it´s the toilet that isn´t working so we have to ¨flush¨the toilet by dumping clean water into the toilet.  Not terribly effective but keeps moderately clean water on top.

Visit from a VTer! 

My friend Becky came to visit this weekend.  She is from Essex, VT and is teaching in Madrid.  We made pancakes for lunch for my roommates :)  We went out a little bit, but had a fairly relaxing weekend