Selvatura Park, Monteverde, Santa Elena, Costa Rica

More From Day Three- Santa Elena Cloud Forest

On day three we spent the morning hiking through the Sana Elena Cloud Forest Preserve. Lots of interesting things to look at and the sounds of the forest were incredible!

For the most part this forest was pretty dim, not much light came through the trees. I loved the way the sunlight looked as it peaked through the trees!

Everywhere you looked you could find tons of plants and flowers growing everywhere, even on the sides of trees! 











If you looked closely you could even find all sorts of interesting bugs like this one.

At one of the higher parts of our hike there was a lookout tower that allowed us to view the forest from above the canopy. It was very windy up there!





What a beautiful place!

Teachers from the Hooks Elementary School

Third Day, Monday, February 21, 2011

Is Kevin stuck?

We all flew on the zip lines through Selvatura Park, Monteverde, Santa Elena, Costa Rica. We zipped on 13 lines through the rain forest with ease. The last zip line was over a mile long above the canopy.  I don't know how many miles of rain forest that we viewed, but it was amazing!

Bean looks calm and cool on her first zip line!

These are images of La Fortuna waterfall. They don't really do the place justice. You can't hear the roar of the water or its echo off the stony walls. We swam in the pool at its base. The force of the water constantly pushed you back toward shore.

Lake Arenal from a bridge at sunset.

We kayaked around here today. I think today is Wednesday. Yeah... it's probably Wednesday. Aaah Costa Rica.

An Unusual Church

This was a church we visited briefly early on the second day of the trip. It is called La Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de Mercedes.

From this view, you can't really see why this is more than just a gingerbread themed building. We found out that the whole thing was ordered out of a catalog. It had to be shipped to Costa Rica, then brought part way on a train. Finally, it had to be loaded onto ox carts and taken to its currently location.

The whole exterior is made of metal sheets that were riveted together and painted. You'd think a metal church would be really hot on the inside, but something in the design made it quite cool.

We're still at Logan airport, but I'm really excited and now I'm smiling for the camera! -Stephanie Haffa

Hotels

In our EF travel info, we were given the web addresses for hotels. 2 hotels did not have web pages listed. I believe I have found those web addys.

Definitely check out the sites....La Baula in particular is GORGEOUS.

http://www.labaulalodge.com/

http://www.monteverdetours.com/hotel/monteverde/hotel_atardecer.htm

As a reminder, we are going to be in Gran Hotel Costa Rica for 4 of the nights and it looks lovely.

http://www.grandhotelcostarica.com/ It even has an exercise room!

And last but not least, check out El Sesteo: http://www.arenal.net/hotel/el-sesteo/

Posting Time

I set the posting time to Costa Rica's time zone!

Important Information

Emergency contact information:

a.      Education First Emergency Service number: 617-619-2913 (if calling from overseas, call collect)

b.      Education First Emergency Service during business hours: 1-800-637-8222 (press 9 at the prompt; also works after hours)

c.      Mary Bourque’s cell: 617-645-3020 (I will have it with me in CR and have already been to Verizon to ensure phone and text availability. I will not have email access…too expensive! I can feel the withdrawal anxiety already!  I guess that means nobody wants to sit next to me on the plane?

d.      Jon Blachly our EF tour leader: 603-568-1558.

e.      Marcos Soto our Tour Director in CR: +506-8335-1092.

3)     Remember we are meeting at the gate not at check-in. Liliana reminded us that this is February break for schools so we may want to get to the airport early.

Mary's latest post 2/10/11

Can you believe we are down to single digits until we leave???  Just a few updates, reminders, and requests as we come down to this last week before we leave.

1)     A question was asked as to appropriate dress for the school visits. I have cut and pasted the answer from Andrew Hagopian here:

Re: school visit attire, there is no need for anything formal, or even business casual.  I would recommend khakis, if possible, but whatever travelers are wearing for the rest of the day’s activities will be fine.  Women do not have to wear skirts/dresses, and men shouldn’t bring dress shirts/ties.
These schools will be fairly rural—there will probably be a chance to play a pick-up soccer game for the kids, and the facilities will be much different than what we’re used to here.

2)     Regarding school gifts for the children. We were going to send around a list and ask for you to check off what you intended to bring. We have decided not to do that. Rather, bring to the three schools what you feel is appropriate based on our discussion on January 19th. Please remember, there is no need to overload your suitcase with gifts as there are 34 of us bringing items. It is the thought that counts in these educational/diplomatic visits.

3)     Please remember to bring with you Saturday morning, two envelopes. In the first envelope, please place $54 to tip the tour director and in the second envelope, $36 for the bus driver. EF will collect the envelopes and take care of this task for us.

4)     If anyone is having a problem finding insect repellent, check out the sporting goods section in Target.
Ok, that is it for now.  Get excited for 85-90 degree days!!!  And pray to the Snow Gods to stay away next week!

Mary
 

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