Tuesday, July 15

We started today with breakfast with our homestay families. We find ourselves over and over again complimenting our Costa Rican hosts on the delicious food!

We had two school visits this morning, which were both very close to our home stay families and the Chilamate Eco Lodge.  The first was to a primary school, Cristo Rey, which is the largest school in the region. The neighborhood the school is in is a poor area that struggles with drug addiction, crime, and other problems.  The director of the school was very welcoming to us, and was extremely proud of the school. He showed us several trophies that the girls' soccer team has won!

A kindergarten class at Cristo Rey Primary School.

At this school, we were able to visit many classrooms and talk with several teachers. They were all very receptive and willing to talk with us about their experiences teaching here. Because this school has many more students, they receive more funding for school resources from the government than the schools we visited yesterday.  They had a library, special education rooms, a computer lab, garden, and a music teacher.  In this building, each grade level group stays in one room and the teacher teaches all subjects to them. Students either attend in the morning, or the afternoon. The students were overall very well behaved and engaged in classroom activities.  A kindergarten class sang us a song about the days of the week, and a sixth grade class was very curious about life in the U.S. and Canada.  We were happy to answer their questions and ask some of our own!

In talking with the staff, their caring commitment to the students was very evident.  They discussed with us the struggles of some of the poorer families.  For example, if a family does not have an umbrella, their students may stay home from school if it is raining. Many students were missing today for that reason.  One teacher at the school is dedicated to helping those students who have failed a grade level  (perhaps multiple times), in hopes of accelerating those students to the appropriate grade level.  They also described their participation in the special olympics.  They have about 15 students who will participate in that soon, and they are very excited for it!

Secondly, we visited a much smaller school, Linda Vista.  This is a one teacher primary school, that has all students in grades 1-6 in one room.  The class room contained approximately 15 students, and were grouped by grade level. The groups work on an assignment and the teacher rotates between them.  This school has less resources available, but had a very warm, welcoming atmosphere.  After getting a tour of the school, which included the classroom, a space for eating, and a garden, we were able to spend some time getting to know the students.  We talked with them, asked them about what they were learning, what they liked to do, and they were very excited to see our cameras and help us take some pictures.  Spending time with these children was a very heart-warming experience for all!

The farm where we ate lunch.

Lunch today was at the home of Sergio and Mayra, who are a home stay family who has a beautiful farm.  They cooked delicious fresh food for us which included yellow and white yucca, a delicious paste made from a type of squash, rice with chicken, fresh vegetables, freshly cooked pork rinds (from a pig roast they were preparing for a group of high school students who were coming for a cooking lesson that evening), and sugared figs for dessert. Sergio gave us a tour of his farm, which had many animals, and a beautiful view of the hillside.

In the afternoon we went on a "Chocolate Tour," which we were all very excited for.  The tour guide was very engaging and funny. He first showed us the tree where the cacao grows, and we headed into a shelter where the rest of the tour took place.  He described and demonstrated the process the indigenous people would use to take the seeds from the cacao fruit to create Cacaoa, the "drink of the gods." During the process from seed to what we know as "chocolate," he let us sample several different stages and they all were delicious!  Several of us purchased some chocolate to bring home with us.

Enjoying a drink made from a mixture of ground cacao seeds, and more.

The evening was spent with our host families again.  Some activities included cooking lessons, a card game called "Tonto," watching a funny television show called "Combate," and more time spent getting to know each other better.