Day 46 (Alajuela - Poás Volcano/La Paz Waterfall)

Day 46 - Since my fellow classmate, Bonnie is leaving Costa Rica next week...She wanted to see Volcano Poás before leaving. So, I decided to go with her. This time around, I was be able to get better photographs of the Volcano Poás:












Since we were out and about on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, we asked our taxi driver to take us to La Paz Waterfall Gardens. This large private reserve features a large butterfly observatory, hummingbird and orchid gardens, and nicely designed, safe trails along the La Paz River with 5 large waterfalls. One will find lush, verdant green rainforest, lots of colorful birds, flowers and butterflies. We did not go inside the garden, just outside to see La Paz Waterfall:













Later in Grecia on my way home walking through downtown, there was a horse show going on for a local trade show exhibition:

Day 45 (Sarchi - Souvenir Shopping)

Day 45 - My friend Bonnie and I went to Sarchi to go souvenir shopping. Sarchi is a 15 minute bus ride from Grecia. Sarchi is most widely recognized for its colorful and decorative oxcarts that have been made there for over a century:

Sarchi Central Park


A Costa Rican Art Monument: World's Biggest Ox Cart.
It is 20 meters in length and 3800 of inches of bitter cedar and laurel.
It was built and painted in 3 months with the support of 3 painters and 3 crafters.


Ox Cart Pattern


Inside Los Serranos Souvenirs, I took a few pictures of the area in which Ox Cart artist work.








While finishing this week's blog, I am munching on Café Britt: Cashew Britt Chocolate. So good! They come in all different flavors: Chocolate Covered Pineapple, White/Dark Chocolate Covered Gourmet Coffee Beans, Dark Chocolate Covered Banana, Dark Chocolate Covered Guava too name a few. Click here for more information on Cafe Britt products.

Days 40 - 44 (Grecia - 3rd Week of Spanish School)

Days 40 - 44 (Grecia - 3rd Week of Spanish School)
Why do I want to be conversational in Spanish? These immersion classes are tough. In the morning I have 2.5 hours of conversation totally in Spanish. Por ejemplo (for example), "What did you do after school yesterday?", "What did you eat for dinner?", "What did you watch on t.v.?", "Where will you be in 5 years?" And the more dreadful questions, "Why?" and "What else?" All answered in Spanish! I currently speak Spanish at the level of a 4 year old. But, I read/comprehend Spanish at a 7 year old level. HA! So to help me up my reading/speaking level, I have this new reading material:

Pinocho (Pinocchio)


Anyone care to translate?(laughing)


Oneday I will be able to read/comprehend:
Harry Potter y la Piedra Filosofal which is reading level:
Ages 9-12

Too help with adding new words to my Spanish vocabulary, my teacher and I play a game of Scrabble. She only one by 1 point! My word "sexo" gave me about 15 points. Ha! No translation needed for that word hunh:

A Game of Scrabble with my teacher


One Friday, April 27th Grecia celebrated the founding of their city and celebrated by a parade around downtown Grecia. The teachers of AC-CE allowed us to take a break and watch most of the parade. This parade is made up of Junior High/High Schools in the providence of Grecia. They hold banners to represent their school and the school's band represents by marching and playing instruments:

Parade Commemorating the Founding of Grecia
























Here is a little video footage of a junior highschool band. The drum section was always one of my favorite sections of band during my days in school:


The President of Costa Rica, President Arias visited that day to give encouraging words regarding education to the children of the schools. He was scheduled to eat lunch at the restaurant across from my school. I photographed the servers preparing for his arrival from the balcony of my school: