Life in Costa Rica and Monteverde (late September)

I have not written in the blog for a while, partly because we went to Monteverde for a long weekend, but mostly because my computer charger died suddenly, leaving us with 2 computers for 4 very active users. This has been a long week of heavy negotiating! I tried to find a new charger very quickly, but the first quote I received was for $194. That was for a part that Dell sells for $66 and you can find for about $40 on the cheapo internet sites. Many other stores did not carry it. One store told me it would be 2 or 3 days to first determine the price, and then two or three weeks to receive the charger. This was not what I wanted to hear. So I tried to see if Fed Ex might be a solution, but not at $356 (plus the $66 for the charger in the first place). I realized I really am living in a third-world country, and that I would have to wait until someone could bring it from the States. Now here is the zen of finding a charger. . . After giving up on the project, I happened to walk by a store I have passed by on numerous occasions. Of course, not needing a charger during those walks, I had never noticed it. Now I saw "DELL" emblazoned on the storefront, and so I rang the bell and once I was let in, there they all were: Chargers galore! 40,000 colones later (@ $80) I was the very happy owner of a working computer once again. So now I can tell you about Monteverde and show you some photos.




Monteverde is a beautiful town high in the mountains in what is known as the cloud forest. It was founded by a few Quaker families from the US after WWII, and is where much of the cheese in Costa Rica was and is still made. These families also started to protect the could forest and as a consequence of their efforts, there is now a huge reserve that is home to many many species of plants and animals. We arrived early afternoon on Friday, after a gorgeous drive up the mountain with spectacular views of the Nicoya gulf, and all the valleys for miles and miles around us. On the way, the bus got stuck in the mud on the unpaved road heading up the mountain, and all the students, the Halberstadt-Weston family, and some folks passing by who stopped to help had a great time getting very dirty pushing the bus out of the mud and up the road. We were very glad for our careful and capable driver, Jorge, and there were definitely moments in which we thought we might lose him and the bus over the edge of the very steep road.

Once we arrived some of us toured two of the notable schools in this area. We first went to Centro de Educacion Creativa , which is a child-centered school that focuses on environmental education and includes reforestation in its curriculum, and then we went to the Monteverde Friends School! Then to the hotel where we had a spectacular view of the Golfo de Nicoya, and sometimes, I confess, enjoying the view from the hot tub.


Saturday began with a fabulous tour of the cloud forest. On the way, we saw several carts carrying the morning's milking to the cheese factory, including this one: During the tour we saw fabulous trees, with incredible numbers of plants (I am pretty sure that Melvin, our guide, said that mature trees have upwards of 200 different species of plants living on them, and that they eventually fall over from the weight of all the different plants living on them). This is one of many examples; I was trying to take the photo to show all the dew midday still on the tree in the cloud forest, but it also shows how many different plants are living on the tree. Then there was the tarantula that kindly came out to play, and there most of us are on the continental divide, which is also in this cloud forest.











We spent the afternoon walking about in the town, and for some of us, reading in one of the lovely coffee shops. Sunday was the zipline canopy tour, and it was fantastic! The bus ride home was uneventful, except for the standing ovation for Jorge, when we finally did reach a paved road.

The school week that followed was also uneventful, so readers did not miss much when I was without computer. During the next weekend, Anthony went on a class trip to Tiribina, where he got to see all sorts of frogs, insects, bats (close up!), birds, etc. Anna Ruth and Molly decided to stay home to do a service project with their school which involved planting trees. Costa Rica is very busy reforesting the country. This is funny to me because I think of Israel's attempts to reclaim the desert by planting trees, and Costa Rica seems so completely forested to me. But this is a serious business here, with a great deal of concern to absorb the overabundance of the world's CO2.

This week began with Rosh Hashanah, and good wishes to all for a sweet new year! On Tuesday night, Ruthie also had a Serenata. This is an unauthorized event that seniors create, the girls for the boys (usually in the fall because, according to the school counselor, the girls get organized a bit faster than the boys), and the boys for the girls. This is what happened this time anyways: The girls created costumes (for themselves and for the boys), rented a party hall, and planned the buses to pick up the boys, then called the boys' parents to alert them of the date. Then about 5 in the afternoon they got into their costumes (German barmaids in the color of this year, so orange skirts, with black suspenders and white shirts), and went to surprise each boy in their homes. I thought they might sing to them because of the name "Serenata" but no, they seem to splash beer on them instead. Once they have picked up all the boys, they all go together to a party hall and dance the night away. Around 5 in the morning they had the typical breakfast (gallo pinto which is rice and beans), and Ruthie returned about 7 in the morning, and slept for much of the day. I hope for a photo forthcoming of the event.

Tomorrow night we go to a Juanes concert, and I hope to have posts more often now.