Saturday, July 12

After yet another delicious breakfast (which this morning included fried yucca with sour cream, a new group favorite!), we geared up for an all-day teacher summit here at the Eco Retreat.  Two primary school teachers from a local school in nearby Puerto Viejo joined us for 6 hours of workshop training on intercultural communication for educators led by Leila Mata Alvarez, the deputy head and director of residential life at United World College Costa Rica.  Founded by Kurt Hahn in the years after the second World War, the United World Colleges are a network of 14 schools around the world that offer a 2-year International Baccalaureate program for students from diverse backgrounds.  Leila was accompanied by an intern from Mumbai who graduated last year from United World College in India and just finished her first year of college at Trinity College in Connecticut. 

Some of the goals of the workshop, which was hands-on and very engaging, included recognizing the effects of our perceptions on intercultural relations and identifying aspects of non-verbal communication that affect intercultural interactions.  During the workshop, we played interactive games in small groups, participated in several hands-on activities, discussed the difference between description, interpretation, and evaluation, and took a break to enjoy a tasty lunch of tamales in banana leaves (yet another group favorite).  We got to practice our Spanish with the two teachers from Puerto Viejo, who added a wonderful perspective to our conversations and activities.

After “graduating” from workshop (with certificates and everything!), we had some free time in the afternoon, and most of the group walked into town to purchase umbrellas.  We are happy to report, however, that the rain has stopped for the time being! 

We ate dinner tonight with a group of high school students who are in Costa Rica for three weeks with a New York-based program called Sustainable Summer.  It was fun to talk to them about their trip so far; they seem to be learning a lot about sustainability, and several students said that they think the trip will change the way they live their lives back at home.

After dinner, we grabbed our headlamps, pulled on rubber boots, and went on a night hike through the rainforest on the Eco Retreat’s property (they own 25 hectares of beautiful secondary rainforest!). During our hike, we learned all about the amazing plants in the rainforest, heard an owl overhead, and saw millipedes, long-nosed bats, poisonous blue jeans frogs, poisonous spiders, and a red-eyed tree frog. 

Tomorrow we will all move in with our homestay families and will no longer be eating dinner together every night, so our blog posts next week might be more erratic than they have been thus far.  We will do our best to keep in touch!