Day 4: Monserrat School Visit/Community Service

Today marks our third and final day in the Monserrat Cloud Forest. The past two days have been full of learning, hiking, and more learning with a concentration on the flora and fauna of the Cloud Forest.  Today is our day to give back to the Costa Rican community of Montserrat with a service project focused on their little community school. The majority of us gals hopped into the back of a light blue pick-up truck and took a short, but very bumpy, fast, and hilarious ride to Monserrat School while the others jammed out to the radio in Margherita's small SUV. This school was a sight to see.  A long narrow building sitting on the crest of a hill, it contains four rooms: a classroom, a cafeteria, a library, each measuring about 12 by 14 and a very small bathroom measuring about 4 by 5.  Six children of different ages and grade levels make up the student body of the school with one teacher, Maria, who gives four lessons based on grade level each and every day.  The students live in the surrounding hills and walk to and from school, rain or shine.  All of the student wear uniforms which consists of a white polo or button down shirt and a navy skirt, shorts or long pair of pants.  

 

Since most of us are education majors 9/11, and even those of us who are not, we were amazed by this teacher and how well behaved her students were.  First, we took a tour around the yard. Down, in front of the school, there was a swing set and teeter totter that look like they could use some help, but the children played happily without any notice of it's imperfections. To the left of the building stands the small greenhouse the ASU students from 2012 built.  Bordering the right side of the school is a row small rose bushes and hibiscus that were partially in bloom.  A chain linked fence surrounded the total school grounds.   Looking around at this school, its yard its equipment, the children, forced all of us to take a step back and reflect at every detail of our own lives, causing us to realize how many things we all take for granted, and marvel at how lucky we all were during our school careers.

Next, we stopped by the green house that was built by the ASU 2012 Costa Rica students who traveled here last year. Every few months, the teacher and the students take time to plant seasonal fruits and vegetables that they later harvest and give to the children and their families. Currently, they had planted radishes, and are planning to plant strawberries next. It is nice to see that the project complete last year by the ASU ladies is still very meaningful to the teacher and students who attend Monserrat K-8 

school.  We were very excited to have the 
opportunity to add to their joy by offering our own service project to beautify and preserve the well warn school. Knowing that Maria was so proud of the green house, we instantly felt the pressure to impress her just as much this year with our contribution as they did last year. Our gift......to prepare and paint the entire outside of the school.

Our duty for the day was to prepare the outside of the school to be repainted.  The plan was to spend a few hours working, then have a lunch break, and finally finishing working until about 4pm. It may sound like a simple task for eleven girls to complete, but we soon found out that it was much more difficult than we had anticipated. After a few misunderstandings, many good ideas that failed, we finally figured out how to go about sanding down the old paint and slapping on some new colors. Even though there was some frustration with how long it was taking to remove the old paint, we all worked our butts off and felt accomplished with the work that we completed. We may have even walked away with futures as painters if teaching doesn't work out!   Or not.

Half way through our day we were invited to break for lunch.   The family across the road from the school prepared and served us our lunch.  Our lunch consisted of 
rice and beans, salad, chicken and juice.  It was very delicious.   The meal was prepare in an outdoor kitchen.   The thatched roof covered the six wood tables.  We sat among the tables eating and enjoying a light rainfall.   During our luncheon, we watched the local news on the outdoor television set.  At one point during our lunch the news was covering local topics and we watched an interview with Margherita about the area.   We were all so impressed with seeing Margherita on television.    We screamed for her to come and see.   Margherita is a very humble person who did not and does not make a big deal about her accomplishments.

After lunch and with full bellies, we returned to the school to complete the painting of the outside.  Within a couple of hours we were at a stopping point.  Clean up took just as much time as the prepping of the building.

Even though we had an early start to our morning,  believed our task to be a piece of 
cake, and that we would finish with plenty of time left to do even more, we were only able to finish painting a portion of Monserrat 

School. Although this disappointed us, we instantly received much appreciation and gratitude for giving our time. The joy it brought us to see the community so happy with what we did, even though we didn't finish, reinforced our love for the people of this country. Most of us, along with most Americans, do not take time to help others unless there is a national, devastating disaster. Today helped us realize that being a volunteer is rewarding and we ask all of you to try to spend more of your free time volunteering to those in need.  It is very gratifying to give without an expectation to receive something in return.  The appreciation from the community was heartfelt and softened our hearts.

We are all sad to say goodbye to Monserrat and its people. This community and its people have been more helpful and welcoming than we could ever ask for. We all became a small family, and they will be missed dearly. Tonight we will spend our time taking in our favorite place (at least so far). Our agenda for our final night will contain a few of our favorites: singing songs native to Costa Rica, playing games, and growing life long friendships.

Buenas Noches!

Love from all in Costa Rica.

Pura Vida!

Day 3: Hike, Hike, Bird.

Buenos Dias! Saludos desde Costa Rica (Good morning and greetings from Costa Rica)!!  Today, our day was exhausting and full of excitement.  We began Monday ( May 27th) with nature shaking our bunk-beds because we experienced our first earthquake in Costa Rica (according to Adrian, our tour guide, the earthquake had a magnitude of 5.7.) But, no worries family and friends, we are all safe and sound. Some of us (Patty and Abby) didn't even notice their bunk beds swaying from side to side and just kept right on snoozing while others were cautiously calling for Dr Mo!  This 3:40am wake up call did not prevent us from quickly calming down and falling back to sleep.

Two and a half hours later  we were ready to birdwatch with Dr. Mo, Margarita: our amazing biologist, and Adrian.  Equipped with knee high rubber boots, binoculars, cameras and water bottles were set out to enjoy a sunrise and the sounds of the forest coming to life.  While we were out, we saw beautiful birds - some of which we recognized from our "Mo bird teaches" back in Arizona and others that were brand new. As Mo would call it, our bird list 'firsts.'   It was an amazing walk as well as a learning experience. The birds in the Cloud Forest range in size, color and shape.  Margherita is an amazing birder,   she can hear a few notes of the call and identify the bird making the sounds.  She and Dr Mo were quick to locate the birds, help us find them in our binoculars and spotting scope then show us in their bird books so we could confirm and place in our memory banks the color, size and shape!  The colors of the birds in the cloud forest are vibrant!  As the bird flitters to and fro, they flash their colors.  





We learned that usually it is the male bird that is most colorful so they can attract and gain the attention of the female.  In no time we had accumulated thirty-eight different species we had spotted!





We returned from our bird-watching experience and had a traditional Costa Rican breakfast back at the Lodge.  The breakfast consisted of fruit, scrambled eggs, rice, beans and hand-made corn tortillas ( note, these tortillas are quite different than the Mexican tortilla). Nevertheless, they were delicious!  Along with foods, we had costa rican coffee and juice.

Soon we were off on our next adventure.  Our morning hike was to be a hike through the Cloud Forest.  The goal was to experience the flora and fauna up close and personal. Though we thought that we were going to start our walk by walking through a cow             

pasture, we ended up walking through what seemed like the opening scene in the movie The Sound of Music.  The ground was soggy from the early morning rain and normal misty conditions.  We sloshed along watching out steps and enjoying the immense beauty of our surroundings.  After about 40 minutes, which included Dory getting her boot stuck in the mud, we came to a beautiful look out.  We were high up and were able to see the thick rainforest in the distance.  It was so gorgeous that so many photos were taken, we felt like  
     we were going to prom. We started through what is known as the Cloud Forest of Monserrat. On our journey we walked through a narrow path filled with rocks and mud that at times reached up to our knees.  

The jungle was dense and the amount of light reduced drastically.  Every once is awhile we would come to an area where a tree had fallen and the sunlight streamed through the opening enhancing the different colors of green.......   The the next thing we knew Adrian was missing from the pack.  When he rejoined the group we learned he experience a wasp battle and the wasp won!  He was the proud owner of a wasp sting and welt. Though Heather was bummed that we didn't find any snakes everyone's bladder had moved from empty to full and it was time to start heading back.  On our way back to the lookout we were once again stopped to see a rare bird that was playing hide and no see.  However,  with  Margherita bird calls and Mo's ambition they were able to track it down.  Though the hike in was pretty easy going, mostly down hill, going back to the learning center was a much bigger challenge, it was all up, up and up.  It was now time to climb up those rolling hills, which basically felt like a 90 degree angle. Though many of us fell in mud, ran out of breath, and required Fabio's rescue efforts we all made in back in relatively one piece.  For those of us who do not hike much, the hike was a challenge.  However, the experience....the beauty....the new experiences made it so worth the effort.

After surviving the much difficult tiring journey through the cloud forest, we came back to another lovely lunch spread. You would think that everyone would be starving and wanting to devour all the mouth watering food,  most of the girls solely desired a shower and a nap!  

As a service project to Monserrat and as one of our assignments for the Cloud Forest, we were scheduled to observe and record the interaction between animals and plants.  The goal was to record how many and which type of animal visited a plant.   We were also to make observations about the health of the plants which included recording the herbivory, bit marks from animals and if anything like moss or lichen was growing on the plant or plant stem.   Each girl was assigned two trees/bushes to watch for animal activity. Everyone went in pairs or groups and took notes of the different activity on each plant. We collected all of our data and made sure to give it to Margherita. All of our hard work will be combined with last years ASU group work into a book to map the area (to look at how the plants effect the animals and how they work together in an ecosystem) of the cloud forest. 

After our research project, we enjoyed yet another delicious dinner.  Our dinners were family style.   We all sat around the U shaped arrangement of tables eating, chatting and laughing a whole lot.  After dinner we lined up to take our cold shower, even though there is a change of hot water!    Another wonderful day of exploring Costa Rica was under our belt and a forest filled choir fill our night of sleep. On to another day!

With love from all in Costa Rica

Pura Vida

Day 2:  Farmer's Market/ Butterfly Garden / Cloud Forest Montserrat

As the sun rises in Costa Rica, so do we for it is an early start for us today and every day.  Our natural alarm clock will be the birds.  Their first chirps can be heard even before we, humans, can see the first slivers of sunlight!  The agenda is packed full so to keep us moving, learning and experiencing Costa Rica.  We first head down to the hotel lobby for breakfast. To our surprise (and enjoyment) the spread laid out is full of fresh local fruits, eggs, bacon, and gallo pinto (traditional rice and beans combination). We also got to experience some fresh local coffee which we can promise tops any and all Starbucks. 

After breakfast we gathered our belongings and head to the bus for today we begin our trek to the Cloud Forest of Montserrat.  Once in our bus we head to the church in Coronado, Vasquez de Coronado - an old Gothic styled church,  so we can meet up with our biologist/guide who will lead us to Montserrat.  We arrive at the church, after an 30 minute drive and Margherita is their to warmly greet us.  We all quickly become friends and our Cloud Forest adventure begins.

On our way out of town, we stop to explore a local farmer's market where Adrian and Mo have designed and planned a scavenger hunt for native fresh fruits. On the list of this scavenger hunt were nances (cherry-sized, yellow and bitter), guanabana (sour sap-resembles a white watermelon), carambola (star fruit) , mammon (similar taste as bing cherries), pina (pineapple),  and granadillas (passion fruit). With colones in hand and a list of things to get we got broken up into two groups and sent out on our search/mission. Though the local people found most of our accents and Spanish speaking attempts amusing, they were very kind and patient with us as we tried our best to communicate.  As we walked from stand to stand the locals where among us completing their shopping and enjoying friendly conversation.  Vendors were quick to offer samples of their delicious stand contents.  The fruit here was absolutely amazing. Everything including price, color, size, and taste far surpassed anything we had ever experienced before back home in the produce section of Frys.  For example, three fresh pineapples for a dollar!  AND....when we say fresh, we mean fresh....vine ripened fruit.

As we loaded back into the bus, Adrian explained some of the local fruits, that were new fruits to us and we got a chance to taste them too. One was very yummy.  You gently peal away the outer skin and pop a marble size yellow flesh into your mouth.   You suck on this flesh working with your tongue to remove all of it from the marble sized pit.  All the fruits were interesting, and one in particular had us scrunching our noses at the taste.  We can't even begin to describe this fruit besides saying that is an an acquired taste.  

As we drove up the bumpy road towards Monserrat, bumpy road has a who new meaning here, we once again got to experience Gabriel's "need for speed" driving skills. It quickly became clear that there are two speed limits here in Costa Rica: fast, and really fast.  The road in Costa Rica are worse than Arizona roads after a heavy monsoon season.  Big holes, exposed rocks and dips to make you feel like you are on a roller coaster.

Once we reached the little town of Montserrat, we flooded out of bus to take a look at a local church, a very small church built by the local people. After taking several pictures we started on foot down the bumpy road towards the butterfly garden.  The local people understand the need to develop natural ecotourism thanks to the help of Margherita.  As we walked down the road, we saw many local birds including: Clay-colored Robin (the national bird which is cray colored- shocking right?), Violet Sabrewing (largest humming bird, up to 6' with glimmering and violet hues) Green Hermit (dark blue and green upper parts), and the Purple-throated Mountain-gem (purple throat with a turquoise head and green body).  Our birders, Margherita, Mo and Adrian were quick to point out these fuzzy, feathered friends.  We also saw wild cows feeding their calves, many stray dogs, flying insects and the Golden beetle, which is the size of a quarter. Some of the braver girls held and posed with the beetle for pictures and Mo even wore it as jewelry! 

Once down the hill we met a local woman, Cecila, and her family. They had set up a tropical and sustainable green house behind their home which housed several Monarch butterflies and beautiful flowers.  Butterfly garden/green house was two tiered (sloped) and was about 75 feet by 80 feet and packed with butterfly loving, nectar flowers of many different colors.   We saw many large fluffy caterpillars as well.  








After taking the tour (and several more pictures) we made our way into her home where we had the chance to make our own tortillas from scratch. The process began with us grinding up the corn into corn meal.  After adding a bit of water, the corn dough was rolled into a ball and then taking it into our hands and patting it down into flattened patties. Once flattened, we put the corn tortillas onto the wood burning stove to cook.  Every two minutes we took turns flipping them. Finally lunch was served! Our tortillas turned out great and the food prepared by our hosts, noodles and fresh fruit was delicious. Many of us left with bulging bellies. 

Once again we enjoyed a bumpy drive from the butterfly garden up the mountain to the Monserrat organic farm.  While the distance between the town and the Montserrat Lodge was maybe a mile and a half, road conditions caused the drive to be over thirty minutes.  We had to separate into two groups, one group in the four wheel truck and the other group on foot.  As we made our way up the road, the cloud forest became more dense.   Birds could be heard chattering and the mist of the cloud became more dense.  As the walking group climbed towards the Lodge, we discovered many forest secrets.  We viewed many forest birds, insects and enjoyed the sights and sounds of a waterfall.  What is amazing, is how healthy everything in the cloud forest is.  Green is the color, big is the size and noisy is the sound.  The Poor Man's Umbrella is a HUGE leaf that can be used to protect the holder from a downpour.   Three of us easily fit under the Poor Man's Umbrella that we picked up and there was room to spare.  

Once at the Lodge, we settled into our two bunk rooms.  The sustainable farm of Montserrat is where they offer many things including: education about sustainability, a lodge for being in the Cloud Forest, forest hikes, birding, flauna and flora studies and environmentally safe farming.  It is a teaching location for all ages.  

The "rain" part of this rainforest is really starting to kick in, and we are starting to pull out our boots and ponchos. We sat on the porch of the large gathering room and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the rain.  The blanket of clouds gave the Cloud Forest a mystical appearance.  The mist can easily be seen rolling in quickly and delicately covering the valley causing a wall that began to shorten our view.  You could feel the mist moving over us filling the gathering room and drifting off.   

Tomorrow we will get the chance to really explore the farm and work on some service projects. It is only the second day and we have had many once in a lifetime experiences already. 

Love from all in Costa Rica!

Pura Vida
nnn

Day 1: Arriving in Costa Rica

Greetings from Costa Rica!

Though the flight was long and in the end bumpy (with a lot of chilly air conditioning in between) we landed safe and sound and excited to learn.

Walking outside we felt the rush of humidity surround us, giving us Arizonians something to talk about as we looked for a place to eat. Ironically, we settled on Denny's where we were astonished to find our bills totaled 5,000 and up. We will get use to colones eventually! (haha)

Our tour guide, Adrian, seems very knowledgeable and excited to teach and luckily for us, being in a group of 11 ladies, the fact that he is easy on the eyes gives us an extra bonus.

After leaving Denny's, our bus driver Gabriel led us on what felt like a Fast and Furious speed chase up a bumpy road which ended at our beautiful hotel. The LaCondesa Hotel in Heredia looks like a picture out of a home magazine. The columns are lined with dark mahogany and the furniture gives off an authentic Spanish feel. We can't believe we actually get to stay here!

We have only just begun our journey and we can already tell we are going to become great friends and have a life changing experience. We would give you more details about tomorrow but Mo likes to keep us in suspense.

So hang on to your keyboards because there are many adventures and pictures to come as we explore the beautiful country of Costa Rica.

Love from all in Costa Rica,
Pura Vida!

From left to right: 

(back row) Elizabeth, Dorian, Kelsey, Heather, Jennifer, Becca 

(front row) Mona, Abby, Sierra, Patty