Monteverde!

06/03/2011

Today first traditional breakfast: rice and beans for breakfast look strange at first but no less that bacon and scrambled eggs.

At 8:50 nearly everybody was ready. Waiting for the last to come, Chiquitin gave me a lecture about the difference in the plates of the cars/buses. It was very interesting because they are all different depending on the vehicule (car, bus, touristic bus, trailer, trucks....) but also of the province of origin. For exemple our bus, the Chiquitin Express, is HB and numbers. It stands for Heredia which is the province in which it was immatriculated and B stands for bus.

 

9am: Time to go to Monteverde!! 5 hours in the bus. The beginning of the journey went smoothly as they were all watching 127hours.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-3AHv2E5jg

The second part of the journey was a bit less smooth as they began to get bored and weren't interested by the second movie: "Yogi the bear"...I can't blame them for that ^^ Robert could not bear thejourney by car and we had to stop to let him breath some fresh air...the only problem is that there is no "fresh" air on the way to Monteverde: it's dry and very hot, around 30 degrees! After some time he began to feel better and we moved on. The views were amazing and it was hard not to ask Chiquitin to stop the bus every 100meters to take a picture.

 

You can see a bit of San Jose just under the mountains

 

  Sugar cane fields

I coudn't understand why it took 5 hours to go to Monteverde as Chiquitin just told we we were 20km away...and we had only driven a bit less than 4 hours... I got the point when Nuri offered us an hour of free massage:

 

It took us 1 hour to do the last 20km because it was impossible to drive faster than 15-20km/hour! But it was nice to see the countryside and we even saw monkeys.

 

 
Once there, we ate at a local and typical restaurant called "Tierra y mar" which means "Land and sea". It was delicious and we all chose speciality the Casado (remember it?) or the "arroz con pollo" which means "rice with chicken". I had the second one, having tasted the other the day before.

  

 

After filling our belly, we went to the CPI of Monteverde wich is 7 minutes from the city center by bus and I insist on that point "by bus"...as it's mountain...you can imagine that it takes a lot more time if you need to climb it...especially if you are carrying bags...You'll understand that point in a few minutes.

WELCOME CPI MONTEVERDE!!

 

 

There I met Arelys that I knew only by name and whe was younger that I thought. We got on very well and I'm looking forward working with her. She told me I will mainly work here in Monteverde to help her out with the organization of groups!

The kids were asked to settle a spanish exam to see their level and splint them in different groups: no more than 4 students per class, that's CPI's policy. As there are only 7, I think we'll have 2 classes. Tomorrow morning they will have their results.

 

All concentrating on their exam...so nice not to be in the same situation jajaja

 

At 3pm we gave them the instructions about their stay here in CPI and some information about the classes and way of living of their family. Indeed, by pairs, they are all going to leave in a family. The three families came to pick them up and it was funny to see all the kids half excited and half scared about what will happen. Once gone, Arelys showed me my appartment which is high standart! I didn't think a second having a room like that.

 

 

 

 

It was already 4:30pm which is quite late here as they eat at 6pm. I took some time to go back to the city center on foot. It was walking down there that I realized the city center was further away that I thought. I bought a LOT of fruit giving that I only staying in Monteverde up to friday afterwhat it will be week end with the group and Flamingo (=beach^^). It was coming back to the CPI which was the hardest part: bananas, 2 bottle of orange juice, pineapple, mangoes, milk...well all that is quite heavy especially when you need to climb! I don't want to imagine when I will have to climb the volcan in Panama with my big and heavy bag on my shoulders...you might not see me again after the 20^th of August lol! But let's keep that away from my mind, I still have plenty of time to figure a way out^^

I was very happy of my shopping as it was realy cheap! Oh gosh Costa Rica we DO understand each other :)

 

 

All that for 7€!! But the best equation ever is this one:

        +

=

 

Banana Shake!! YAMMY!!!

My banana-orange juice milkshake was sooo good! I'm very impatient to try another recipee tomorow...I still don't know what it will be...maybe Pineapple-banana and orange juice...YAMY!

I got out around 6:15 to see the sunshine, it was really wonderful! You might not see it on the picture but between the two row of mountain...you can see the ocean! It was really a beautiful sight and I think it's one of the best place I found so far to meditate. Especially as on sunday night the school is close and you are alone on the hill with this beautiful sight in front of you. I'm going to love spending my time here!

 

Well that's all for today! It's 10pm and it's time to go to bed because my eyes I'm exhausted!...I'm getting old!!! But as they say here: PURA VIDA!!!