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!