The Whole Enchilada: Wrapping Things Up

Personal Journal Week 13

With my coursework completed, my daughter and I spent the last week visiting several Rotary Clubs, the world famous rainforests above Monteverde, and the beaches around Manuel Antonio.

Club Rotario de Cartago

The day after completing our course Huckleberry and I visited the Rotary Club in Cartago. After visiting the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de los Angeles and eating a fabulous dinner at a nearby restaurant, we headed over to the Social Club to meet with the Club Rotario de Cartago. It was a very pleasant time where I learned about the club’s efforts to help build a new hospital and provide drinking water to a small indigenous community in the southwest corner of the country (they asked me to share this work with the Grand Junction Rotary Club which I will do upon my return). I presented information about similarities and differences between the US and Costa Rican educational systems and my work with local students in Santa Ana. Afterwards, we were invited to an elder member’s house for dinner and we spent the night with another family before heading off to Monteverde the next morning.

Living on a Farm and the Cloud Forests of Monteverde

While Monteverde is normally packed with tourists we were lucky because most of the tourists left a month earlier. Once we arrived we decided to live on a small 350 hectare farm with about 40 dairy cattle. Over the next few days we explored the farm on horseback, learned about the milking process, and played with a new litter of puppies.

The story of this community is an interesting one. According to the Lonely Planet Monteverde was founded by a small Quaker community who left the United States in 1949 after some members of this pacifist group were arrested for refusing to serve in the military during the Korean War. After moving here they settled into farming and dairy production. As part of their work they preserved a small remnant of Costa Rica’s rare cloud forests.

Wondering through (and zip-lining) these misty forests left me in awe of the diversity that once covered most of the mountains in this area. There are several efforts to preserve the remaining stands of old growth forests and restore others. Perhaps the most interesting one is the Bosque de Los Niños which is further described in my daughter’s website.

Surf´s Up Dude: The Beaches of Manuel Antonio

After a few days in the cloud forests it was time to head out to the coast to visit the beaches and Parque Nacional de Manuel Antonio. Manuel Antonio is your typical surfer town with laidback beach bums teaching sun burnt tourists how to stand on a moving surfboard. Knowing that my professional surfing career ended tragically by being born in Colorado years ago, I opted to bogie board while my daughter took surfing lessons. We both had a great time playing in the waves. Afterwards we gobbled down some nachos and local drinks and then headed into the National Park. While having imminently beautiful sandy beaches, lush forests, and wondering groups of monkeys, the park is being loved to death by the numerous tourists and intense development sprawling around its boundaries. Although I am worried about the parks futures, we enjoyed our time there. Our experience in Manuel Antonio was topped off with a picture perfect sunset.

Club Rotario de Ezcazul

I was invited to attend a Rotary meeting in Ezcazul. This club has been working on a wide variety of projects in Costa Rica including donations of books and glasses to local schools, medical equipment to a nearby clinic, and scholarships for scholars. They also have been supporting a Rotary Club in Iraq which recently celebrated it’s fortieth anniversary. Like my earlier presentation in Cartago, I discussed the similarities and differences between our educational systems. I also discussed the importance of having teachers from different nations work together on behalf of children in all nations. This final formal presentation helped reinforce my belief in the power of cross cultural dialogues. It was also a nice way to cap off my experience here in Costa Rica.

During the last few days Huckleberry and I are visited Zoo Ave (a wildlife rescue faclilty near San Jose), watched the The Isle of Nim in Spanish, and packed for our journey home. The flight back through Houston post Ike should, unfortunately, be quite eventful.

¡Hasta Luego!

Escuelas Publicas y Los Volcanes

Personal Journal for Week 12:


My daughter Huckleberry is joining me for the last few weeks here in Costa Rica. Like me she has school work to complete. She has been posting some of her work on her own blog (http://costa101.blogspot.com/). This week I want to write about completing my service work here, recent experiences in local public schools, and our trip to see Arenal (a volcano).

My Service Project Winds Down

While I am still trying to coordinate visits with regional Rotary Clubs with my students to discuss the possibility of future exchanges with the US(because of cultural differences this goal has been difficult to accomplish), my classes concluded this week. We celebrated with a pizza party at a local restaurant.

Recent Visits to Schools

Over the past several weeks I have visited several public schools in Costa Rica. Similar to my experience in while visiting schools in Mexico, I was impressed with the passion and dedication Costa Rican teachers bring to their students. At Escuela Anoches Bella in Santa Ana I met a wonderful sixth grade teacher named Patricia Benamburg Guerrero who beamed with pride over her students. Senora Guerrero teaches math, science, and social studies to approximately twenty five students. Her class is mixed ability. There were no textbooks or other books in the class (every classroom was the same) but the school had a nice library. The students wrote everything in their notebooks. They also glued in worksheets, newspaper articles, and other sources of information that they needed as they studied different subjects. During my brief visit in her class, she and her students were working on cards for Dia de Las Madres (Mother´s Day).

While schools here would lack many of the resources our schools have in the United States, Costa Rica´s literacy rate is approaching the level of many other rapidly developing nations and is the highest in Central America. While the classrooms are sparse, students in these schools have more access to written materials than their counterparts in Mexico (which would suggest why their literacy rates are slightly lower than Costa Rica).

Although one teacher told me her class was one hundred percent proficient, the director of another school said her students were only seventy to eighty percent proficient on yearly assessments. The director felt that issues of poverty (drugs, abuse, neglect), a complete turnover in her staff this year (teachers move to more affluent private or public schools), and the lack of resources necessary to teach adequately are factors contributing to the schools current level of success.

Students do not progress to the next grade without passing their exams. Some students are repeating the same grade for the third or forth time. While there are special education laws on the books, the schools I visited had no support or special accommodations for SPED students and all but the most severely disabled students were mainstreamed. I was not able to visit a facility for these students but as far as I know at this point they are taught in separate facilities.

While I wish I could help these schools more, I couldn’t help but admire what the teachers were trying to do for their students. On more than one occasion I was warmly invited into different classrooms to share different projects and talk to students. In addition to learning about the system of education here, the teachers in Costa Rica asked about schools in the United States (which I was glad to answer). The real value for us as educators here in Costa Rica and back in the United States is to maintain an open dialogue where we can learn, understand, empathize, and in the future support each other. I hope to return to schools like this in the future not just as visitor, but a colleague who can breach cultural barriers and initiate true partnerships for change and transformation. Both educational systems in developing and developed nations have something to offer and receive.

Living at the Base of a Volcano

I am going to defer to my daughter´s website on this topic (see addres above) with the following addition. Seeing a large, rumbling and active volcano for the first time and living underneath it for two nights in our hotel is humbling to say the least. The power these geologic giants have to transform, extinguish, and support life is something to behold and I hope everyone gets the opportunity to see an active volcano in their lifetime.

¡Pura Vida!

Mis Estudientes #3: Embajadores Culturales

Trabajo Voluntario de la Comunidad:



La experiencia yo desfruto mas aquí in Costa Rica es trabajo con mis estudiantes en a biblioteca publica. Durante mi tiempo aquí yo digo a David Kaufman que he sentido fantástico cuando yo ayudo la comunidad que me ha dado mucho. Corrientemente tengo siete estudiantes maravillosas. Ellos tienen 13 a 17 anos. Durante las siete semanas pasadas esos estudiantes trabajaron muy duro.

Para mi esos estudiantes son lo mismo que yo. Ells son embajadores culturales de Costa Rica que me enseñen muchas cosas diferentes aquí en Costa Rica. Me gusta la oportunidad de enseñar y aprender con ellos.

En los EE UU los niños de las inmigrantes son embajadores culturales también. Ellos son los testigos ricos con muchas información de los lugares y las culturas diferentes. Yo creo que muchas gente en los EE UU necesita aprender para ser joven embajadores especiales en el mundo.

The Delicate Balance Between Progress and Preservation in Costa Rica

Author´s Note: Due to camera glitches I pulled many of these images from the web. I am working on the kinks and will correct this ASAP.

Personal Journal Week 10:

Throughout my travels here I have been impressed with the amazing diversity of life here in Costa Rica. I am also impressed in the sense of pride Costa Ricans have regarding their national parks. In an article by Newsweek about environmental stewardship, Costa Rica was identified as one of the most environmentally responsible and sustainable countries in the world. Within the last fifty years, this small nation has protected and conserved thousands of hectares of endangered habitats in a complex system of national parks and refugees.

While controversial in some rural areas that resent land use restrictions, Costa Rica´s unique geological, natural, and geographical importance is critical in this part of the world. According to the Lonely Planet, what is now Costa Rica rose up from the ocean 3,000,000 years ago linking North and South America. This provided a rich landscape for the biodiversity of both continents to comingle and diversify.

More than 46,000 species of plants and animals live within a diverse range of habitats in Costa Rica ranging from dry deserts and plains in Northwest Guanacaste to the rich montane and tropical forests in the central mountains and along the coasts. Costa Rica supports numerous marine species as well off its coasts and within the World Heritage island of Coco off the Pacific Coast.

In addition to it´s national park system, Costa Rica´s energy sector is more sustainable than any other nation in this hemisphere. Excluding imports for it´s automotive fleet, more than 95% of this countries electrical power comes from renewable resources (solar, wind, geothermal, and hydro-electric).

Despite Costa Rica´s success there are significant challenges as well. Costa Rica´s rapidly expanding population and development is overtaxing environmental and sanitation systems. Massive developments (including many luxury hotels and other tourist industries) threatens sensitive habitats. Future demands on the electrical grid will create significant challenges (including whether or not to build more large scale hydroelectric projects in environmentally sensitive areas along the endangered Pacuare river.

While Costa Rica is a model for environmental stewardship in this region, there are still significant challenges here. However, it affirms my belief that many of the solutions to complex environmental and energy issues in our own country can be found in the environmental experiments and research that exists in other nations like here in Costa Rica. The key to solving many of the world´s most complex environmental problems will be founded on internation cooperation and research.

¡Pura Vida!

My Student's 2: Costa Rica's Cultural Ambassadors

Service Work in Santa Ana




Over the past several weeks my students have been working on a wide range of ESL topics including: education, professional ocupations, community/country geography, asking questions and working in both the past and present tense. Recently two other students from Conversa have joined me as voluteers. Jane works for the world bank and Kyle is a college student in Texas. Both Jane and Kyle joined my students and I on two recent field trips at a local store and an ice cream parlor where my students helped the English speakers "shop." We also went to an ice cream parlor where my students helped Jane, Kyle and myself select and order ice cream using english with us and translating into spanish for the staff. Afterwards Jane, Kyle, and I praciticed our Spanish after my students told us what they wanted to eat in English. Fieldtrips are much more easily accomplished down here (much less paper work as well) where the numerous small shops offer rich opportunities to use and apply the language.


Our students this week are Joslin and Stefan and their videos are below.

Maña y Julieta Venegas: Los Maestros de Musica Latina

Diarario Personal Por Semana 9


Durante mis experiencias aquí en Costa Rica escuche mucha música en Español. Me fascina la música en español porque los ritmos y sonidos de las canciones son muy bonitas. En este momento tengo dos cantantes favoritos, Maña y Julieta Venegas. Maña es un grupo de cuatro artistas muy famoso en México, Los Estados Unidos y aquí en Costa Rica. El viernes pasado yo cante “Las Mariposas” de Maña en un café de Kareoke. El grupo Maña es de México y ellos trabajan para los derechos de las personas pobres, los tortugas del mar, otras animales especiales en nuestro mundo.

La otra cantante me encanta es Julieta Venegas. Ella nació en EEUU pero vivió en México con la gemela idéntica. Los ritmos, sonidos, y el estilo de la México norte. Recientemente, Julieta Venegas hizo el concierto de MTV. Yo compre un CD de esta concierto excelente. He escuchado este CD muchas veces. Para mi ahorra Maña y Julieta Venegas son maestros/maestras de la música que me enseña muchas palabras y ritmos Latinos.

Es posible a eschucar de ellos en Youtube.


¡Pura Vida!

Where Ever You Go There They Are: Las Vacas de Costa Rica

Personal Journal: Week 8

Author´s note: Okay, if my dad read the internet he might enjoy this one. My mom may have seen some these when she and Tom were in Denver.

While I am surronded by roughly 2,000,000 people in largely urban and suburban landscapes, you see horses and cattle in the most unusual places. One national art exhibit that is very popular right now in Costa Rica is Las Vacas Nacional de Costa Rica. I don´t have much to say other than you find these large decorative cattle (by different artists) where ever you go here. I posted some of my favorite pictures.

¡Pura Vida!

My Students: Costa Rica´s Cultural Ambassadors

Service Journal: Volunteer Work in Santa Ana



One of the experiences I am enjoying the most here in Costa Rica is volunteering to teach English at the local library. As I told David Kaufman at Conversa, it feels great to give back to a community which has given me so much. Currently, I have seven wonderful students ranging in ages from 12 to 17. In this post you will getting the opportunity to learn a little about these students. In my mind, each of these second language learners are like myself: cultural ambassadors. As cultural ambassadors our ESL children are a rich source of information about new people and exciting places. I will let the videos of our first cultural ambassadors speak for themselves.

Chasing Dreams, Keeping it Real, and the Family Heart

Personal Journal Week #7

In the final weeks of my experience I will be reporting about a wide variety of interesting experiences ranging from artistic cows, large waves, luxury hotel construction sites, running through the forest in a downpour, and learning about organic coffee production. However, right now I want to write about the most important people in my life. Why? Well, I have not seen them in a while and I want them to know how important they are “in” my life.

My Wife:

Sheila is the most beautiful woman in my life. I still cherish the memories of our meeting and early life together in the Pacific Northwest. Larry Levine, the godfather of my daughter, knew from the start that we were doomed to fall in love. And fall we did. Throughout our relationship together I have been both fascinated and enamored with Sheila’s loving personality, vitality to live simply and sustainably, and eagerness to share unique adventures both in the States and abroad. Right now she is wrapping up a graduate course in England and I am so thrilled she was able to act on her dream. I count myself extremely fortunate to have such an intelligent and vivacious lady as my lifelong companion.

My Daughter:

While I am not unique in declaring that my daughter Huckleberry is the best girl in the world, in my mind she is. From the very moment doctors showed me this screaming soul, I knew my life had changed for the better. Since those first days when those little fingers could barely wrap around my pinky, I was enchanted by how she has grown in mind, body and spirit. Huckleberry’s ability to not only adapt but thrive in the different places we have called home constantly impresses me. While many of her international peers struggled to fit in while we lived in Mexico, Huckleberry mastered the language and navigated the challenging world of what is childhood in a foreign country. During our time in Colorado and on the road, I always marveled at her insights and ideas. As an artistic and creative spirit as well, I know she will be successful and bring a fresh perspective in whatever personal and professional interests she may have (that would include practicing law). As with my wife, everyday in her company (with the exception of times I can’t get her to clean her room) is a gift to be cherished and I am looking forward to her joining me here in a few weeks time.

My Families and Friends:
My last name is Hammond-Todd and if someway you are connected (and you know who you are), know that I love you as well even when we may not understand each other. Our shared blood in the family heart is what seals the deal here. The same can be said for my friends. You are fun to be with, a sound board for some of my craziest ideas, and rock when times get tough. Enough said.

Past and Present Employers:

Throughout my professional careers at Wolf Haven International, the Aspen Community School, and most recently at Nisley Elementary in the Mesa County School District, I have been lucky to work with a fantastic cadre of dedicated and professional individuals and teams. I count the support of those within District’s ESL and Migrant program in this group as well. Thank you all for your willingness to listen to my thoughts and ideas (even if you find them sometimes a little too far out of the box). In many cases I have learned more from my peers than my students. We are all enriched by our work together.

Okay, you are probably thinking I am homesick and to a certain extent you are right. In addition to the second language experience I wrote about last week, this experience has also allowed me to meditate on the complex relationships between chasing your dreams, keeping it real, and maintaining healthy and empowering relationships with the most important people in our lives. That is what I am trying to do right here, right now.

¡Pura Vida!

My Life as a Second Language Learner

Personal Journal: Week 6


Probably the most significant aspect of my experience here is my life as a second language learner. While I consider myself a fairly intelligent fellow, it is a deeply humbling experience (to say the least) to learn Spanish. Everyday in class the professors are constantly adding new and challenging elements while correcting skills I have not quite yet mastered. Normally I am an active learner. However, here I feel liken my mind and tongue are a lump of clay which is constantly being molded by those around me. Para mi, Español es una montana grande a aprender.

Like expedition climbers in the Himalayas, my journey up this mountain is slow, arduous, and continually challenging. There are times when the language cascades down on me like an avalanche nearly suffocating in its complexity. At other times the language looks like a huge, impregnable, black and polished face of granite seemingly impossible to scale. But there is an expression here, “Poco a Poco” (Little by Little) which keeps the mind burning.

As is the case with the best climbers in the world I need the gear and companionship of excellent guides to scale la montaña. In the photo are some of the tools essential in my journey to learn Spanish. In addition to the class text, I find having both print and electronic dictionaries helpful in finding unknown words. As a gift from my daughter, my Franklin Translator has proven itself time and again as invaluable in quickly unlocking the meaning of unknown words. The paper dictionary is my backup when the electronic translator fails. I believe we should purchase more of these tools for our students. (Side note: Look closely at what I typed in my translator and you will learn one of my favorite words in Spanish).

Other essential tools include my MP3 player where I can listen to Spanish music and possibly audio books in Spanish. The Lonely Planet guidebook and binoculars help ensure that I am constantly being immersed in rich learning environments where I have to play close attention. The Spanish edition Newsweek (I also enjoy reading National Geographic in Spanish) gives me opportunities to read authentic literature. Although I do not understand everything I am reading and the process is much slower, the articles are muchos mas interesando to read than the text. My Rotary pen allows me to record my thoughts and experiences here in Costa Rica.

Finally, like the climbers in the Himilayas, I have many excellent guides here. In addition to my professors, I have learned a great deal from other students, taxi drivers, tour guides, ambassadors, Rotarians, waiters, and other random encounters with kind souls. While I know the journey I began five years ago to climb this montaña grande will not be over when I return to Colorado, it is becoming apparent with each step that the view only gets better.


¡Pura Vida!

Taxis, an Ambassador, and Los Caballos de Calle

(Note: Before getting into my post I want to acknowledge the passing of my wife´s grandmother Solweig Hammond recently. During the time I knew her she exerted a powerfully loving influence within our family and I will greatly miss the woman who many of us knew as Farmor. I offer my sincere condolences to her family and apologize for not being able to be there. My thoughts are with the family.)

Personal Journal Week #5:

I mentioned in my post last week, my camera is off in a Costa Rican taxi doing work for the good Nuestra Senora de Las Angeles (see the post for more specific details). As a result, my post this week might be a bit skimpy on visual details (like photos), but it was interesting none the less. The story of how I lost it involves the US ambassador to Costa Rica who spoke at a Rotary event I was invited to earlier this week.

You see on Thursday all the Rotary scholars at Conversa were invited to attend an event in downtown San Jose. The location for the event was Club Reunion right across from the beautifully ornate federal post office (at this time we were running late so I did not get a picture-which you will never see- until after the lunch). Five scholars (all fascinating folks with interesting bios) and I sat down to enjoy lunch after being warmly welcomed to the event by Thomas Ghormley. He asked each of us to briefly introduce ourselves and I presented the banner from the Grand Junction Rotary to the San Jose group and they presented me with one of their own.

After our introductions and a fabulous lunch, the Chief of Mission from the US Embassy, Peter Brennen (second from the left in this US embassy photo I did not take but you can imagine me somewhere in the country if you would like) discussed many interesting facets of US – Costa Rican relations. I particularly enjoyed listening to the wide range of questions, concerns and comments the audience directed towards him after he finished. Because the Costa Rican Colone is linked to the US dollar, many participants were worried about the deteriorating value of the dollar. Brennen was concerned as well and said the present and future administrations are or will make strengthening the dollar a priority.

Afterwards Brennen met with the scholars and congratulated us on our work. I discussed Obama´s recent comments about having students learn a second language like Spanish. Always the ambassador, he said that the press probably took Obama´s comments out of context and that he to felt that knowing a second or third language was important in today´s geo-political and world economy. I was impressed at his willingness to discuss current and future administrations and I got the sense that both he and many of the participants in the room are looking forward to a future where US attention is not solely focused in other parts of the world. We took some photos (imagine them here) and skid addled. I clicked a few photos none of us would see again. We hopped into the taxi and returned home.

The shock of losing my camera passed quickly as I needed another pronto for Santa Ana´s largest festival of the year. After a quick consult with the spouse in her Queen´s country, I purchased another and arrived at the fiesta de Santa Ana with a new camera in hand. The festival was fantastic and quite a bit like Turrialba except that they ride motorcycles and horses around while launching huge (did I say Huuuuuuuggge?) firecrackers. It was beautiful. Most of the horses are trained to march (similar to Tennessee walking horses. At one time more than 2,000 prancing equines were dancing in the streets ridden by some of the happiest souls I have met so far. About midday our municipality lost water but there were no worries as we have plenty of Imperial (that is the local Costa Rican beer).


¡Pura Vida!


Next week: My Life as a Second Language Learner

Personal Journal Week #4: My Week is In Ruins

Personal Journal Week #4:

While many of my fellow students are returning I am continuing to plow on in my Spanish courses. Next week my classes are switching from super intensive to regular classes in order to give me time to work on community projects and go out and practice using the language. Given all that I have learned over the past four weeks I am looking forward to having time to master some of these new concepts.

Well, as I stated in the title, this week my life is in ruins. Exploring ruins that is and I have three quick stories. Over the weekend I traveled to Turriabla. Turrialba is a small town located in the central mountains located near (can you guess it?) a volcano by the same name. While a major train hub that connected both the Caribbean ports to San Jose in the past, only the remnants of this history can be found in a few exposed tracks here and there. An earthquake much worse than the little tremble I felt a day earlier put an end to Costa Rica´s railroad network about eighty years ago. It was replaced by highways.

Today this quaint little town is know for sweet cheese (they feed the cattle bananas people don’t eat), white water rafting and canoeing (more on this in the coming weeks), and professional baseball bats. According to my guidebook Barry Bond’s record winning homer was hit with a bat (enhanced?) from this very town. As I wrote to my daughter, it can be a bit crazy at night. The locals enjoy large fire crackers that randomly go off and trigger car alarms. Sleeping here was an interesting experience, but I digress…

Anyway, the next day I hired a local guide Raul Garcia to take me out to Costa Rica’s largest and most significant ruins. As we headed out he told me that archeologists have only explored about four percent of the site. While nowhere near as extensive as larger cities in other parts of the Americas, archeologists estimate that Guayabo housed approximately 20,000 people. The site is interesting in that it:

• Was built in a lower area. Many of Mayan and Aztec cities were built high in order to survey the surrounding landscape and provide better defense. Apparently !Pura Vida! was not an entirely Spanish concept.
  
  
• No large temples or other religious structures have yet been discovered though archeologists believe a large rock near the market was used as either a sacrificial stone or form of capital punishment.
  





• The freshwater cisterns, which are more than two thousand years old (when cleaned out of sand) still work perfectly. Pretty cool.
• Was mysteriously abandoned around six hundred years ago. There are many theories but no concrete ones. My own twenty colones (two cents) would guess that the city collapsed as European diseases spread throughout the indegenous world shortly after contact.

While petroglyphs exist, archeologists have yet to crack the code. I headed back to San Jose with more questions than answers about this place. One follow up to this is that we saw quite a few bird including a group of toucans. One reason scientists are hesitant to dig up more of this area is because of the numerous species of rare tropical plants and animals supported here.



The Third Story Later on This Week: My Visit With the Lucky Lady La Negrita (Basilica de Nuestra Senora de los Angeles) in Cartago.



Okay, I am going to finish this story despite the fact I lost my camera (see the post for week 5). The Lucky Lady La Negrita (more formally known as Nuestra Senora de Las Angeles) is a small, beautiful, and quite mysterious artifact located in the main Basilica in Cartago. According to local sources Cartago is the oldest Spanish settlement in Costa Rica and was once the capital city. Unfortunately this city was located in an unstable area and many parts of it (including the origional basilica) have been repeatedly destroyed by volcanos and earthquakes. However, the Lucky Lady La Negrita has surrvived it all to inspire and heal in this region. In fact, there is a story that she even returned to the exact location after being stolen by a local writer. I took several pictures of her and of local pilgrims profering to her on their knees but those photos mysteriously disappeard in a local taxi (actually I probably forgot to get my camera - but why did I forget? Hmmm....). Anyway I am content to believe that my images of the Lucky Lady La Negrita were returned along with my camera to do important work here in Costa Rica.

¡Pura Vida!

Week #3: Bob Marley and the History of Spanish

Personal Journal Week #3:

In addition to a full week of classes, a classmate and I decided to head out to the coast to see how Costa Rican ferries compare with their Pacific Northwest counterparts. After staying in the seaside community of Puntoarenas we boarded the Tambor (possibly an old ferry from New York?). As the bustling and overloaded boat lugged out of port we were treated to several Bob Marley prayers (Don’t Rock this Boat and Don’t Worry About a Thing), which seemed appropriate to the nature of our short but slow journey across the bay. The boat mostly had Tico passengers but there were a few hippy passengers sojourning to the port town of Montezuma where they could enjoy the laidback bohemian lifestyle of the coast.

Once on the other side, we stopped in the very small community of Paqetera (sp?) that was strategically located near the National Refuge we wanted to visit the next day. The evening was spent relaxing and conversing with the locals who walked or rode their bikes up and down the only street in town. On the next day we went to Curo where we saw all kinds of monkeys (the animal kind) and other animals. The park is reintroducing the spider monkey, which has been extinct in this area for the past three decades (most were either killed or captured as pets). After spending some time relaxing on the beach (no turtles but lots of interesting crabs). We hitchhiked back into town and slowly made our way back home via the same route.

Question for Those Interested in Spanish: How old is it as a language?

Given that human beings are roughly 500,000 years old as species, one would think (incorrectly) that most languages are quite ancient. However, in the case of Spanish (and English for that matter) the language is quite young. According to a site I listed below, Spanish emerged from the break up of the Roman Empire where its Latin root was the official language. Prior to the 14th century when Spanish finally dominated the area we now know as Spain, many different languages were spoken including: Arabic, Portuguese, Basque, etc... As Spain became a world power Spanish would become the official language of 21 countries and spoken by approximately 330 million people worldwide. For more information check out this website:

http://www.todaytranslations.com/index.asp-Q-Page-E-Spanish-Language-History--13053095

Week #2: Broken Noses and the Museum of Gold

Personal Journal Week #2

Having arrived last week, this week was spent traveling in and around San Jose looking at various museums and other cultural sites. But first a short story about a broken nose. Denise Childess another student here at Conversa was playing soccer with some other players when she broke her nose during the game. The staff at Conversa responded quickly and took her to the best hospital in the city where she received X-rays, had her nose reset, and set a cast. Over the next five weeks she will be monitored by doctors. Denise also reported that she is in contact with her doctor in the United States.

The fact that she chose to seek treatment and stay in Costa Rica illuminates the quality of healthcare available here. In other countries and injury like this might be cause for returning back to the United States early. David Kaufman, the director of Conversa, discussed healthcare in Costa Rica with me during this week. The hospital she went to was one of the best in this region. International patients receiving care can expect to pay money for medical services but it is much less than similar care in the United States. In fact, Kaufman said that had he taken her to a regular municipal hospital the service would be free. An interesting difference when compared to the United States.

While in Mexico I came down with typhoid (and I am sure Sheila will correct me on this) and had to go to the hospital. If I remember correctly the visit to the doctor was free or at an extremely low charge. Most of my expenses were for the antibiotics ($20-$40). While not looking like the set of ER, I was impressed with my care as well. And like the case of the broken nose, similar care in the US would be significantly expensive. These direct experiences affirm my belief in greatly increasing American access to universal health care services.

Onto other topics. Over the past two days I visited several museums and cultural centers in Central San Jose while staying at a local hostel (the surrounding street and nightlife is interesting to say the least but that is another story). The three most important sites I visited are the Museo National de Costa Rica, Museo de Oro Precolombino y Numismatica, and Teatro Nacional.

The Museo National de Costa Rica is located in the former headquarters of the army (which was dissolved in 1948-Costa Rica currently does not have a standing army). It is a good place to get up to speed on the history of this country. Just below it is a vibrant little Mercado (now I know where to buy all those trinkets and hammocks I will be purchasing but I have to check in with LA ESPOSA first).

For those people who thought Costa Rica only had coffee and bananas (imported from Asia of course), there is a lot of gold around here as well. This is not surprising considering all the volcanic activity in this region. I found the gold work more detailed and sophisticated when compared to other cultures in the north. However, there are no large ruins similar to the grandeur of the Mayans or Aztecs in Mexico. Many of my photos are available in the slide show to the right.

Finally, I visited El Teatro Nacional. Located in Plaza Central the Teatro Nacional is one of few historical buildings that have survived numerous earthquakes. It is 111 years old and I popped in for a quick peak and some photos. The tour guides were happy to take my five bucks and move onto larger groups. However, before doing so they did point out where the president sits when he comes. If time and my budget permit, I am planning on sitting in on one of the numerous performances available later this summer.

Back to Santa Ana! Next week the coast (I think)!

Week 1: Arriving and Settling In

Personal Journal: Week 1

It was a long but exciting process of traveling from Denver International Airport (DIA) to San Jose. I am in a small barrio outside of San Jose called Santa Anna where the language institute I am studying in is located. The institute is called Conversa Linguistico and more information about this beautiful facility can be accessed in my links to the right.

On Monday our language skills were assessed and we were divided into groups. My wonderful language instructor this week is Professor Grace . Another student in my course is Marie who is a 16 year old twin from North Carolina. She is a bright young student and represents the diversity of students here at Conversa. I have interacted with elders, other educators, college students, American Latinos wanting to learn the language of their cultural heritage and middle schoolers from Oregon. The facility is well prepared to meet the unique needs of this diverse population. Most of my time during this first month will be spent in classes (6 hours/day 5 days a week) and on homework.

I am living with a wonderful host family in Santa Anna. Christin and Ana Traña Sibaja are a couple about my age with three bright children ranging in ages from 12 to 17. You will learn more about their stories as I spend more time with them.

Several interesting events occurred this week. On Thursday a major power transformer blew near my house knocking out our electricity and creating quite a buzz. During the same time two ladrones (thieves) were caught by a crowd of people in front of my house as well. There was no violence directed against these chicos (youths). The adults were lecturing them and telling them to remain calm while waiting for the police (which took quite some time). Some of my neighbors think the electrical short and the thieves are connected but I think it was a coincidence.

During the weekend a group of students headed into La Selva y El Rio (the tropic forest and a river) to explore, zip line, ride horses, and descancar (relax). There are many fotos (photos) of my experiences in the slide show area.


More next week!


Michael