Another busy week in Monteverde!

The biggest surprise about our life in Monteverde is how absolutely busy we are. Above you can see a picture of my Spanish Class. From l to r are Cristina (she is from Madrid, she's our next door neighbor and she's the class instructor). Ryan (from San Diego and is married to Hayley's English teacher at the Cloud Forest School), Liz (she's a parent of three children at the Cloud Forest School and is from Baltimore), Joe (he's a dairy farmer from Rhode Island and has a daughter that attends the Monteverde Quaker School), Fran (from Colorado Springs and has one son at the Creativa), me, and Ann (also from Colorado Springs and has two daughters at the Creativa). We had Spanish class each day this week from 0900-1200. We had a lot of fun and all improved our Spanish conversational skills.

Clearly the most entertaining part of the week of classes occurred after the class was completed on Friday. The end of the class coincided with the start of Family Day at the Creativa. So as soon as class was over, we all jumped into the Ninga Turtle, ran around town picking up a couple of other parents and tried to make it up the incridibly steep hill to the school. I had a record 7 adults packed into the Turtle and we had to stalled the engine 3 times trying to get up the hill before deciding to take an alternative route that wasn't so steep. At any rate it reminded me a lot of some stunts that I tried to pull with a bunch of high school kids in the back of my 1978 Dodge Truck that I had when I first turned 16 and got my license. Here's a photo of everyone piling out of the Turtle after we finally reached the summit of the mountain and the gates of the school.

Family Day at school was a great treat. To the right is a picture of Jack's classroom at the Creativa. It was a nice time to meet all of the kids' friends, their families and their teachers. Below are pictures of Jack's homeroom teacher Erica (from the US) and his Spanish teacher Isaura (from Costa Rica).

Both Jack and Hayley, as expected, are picking up Spanish with greater ease than their father. They constantly correct my grammar.

Also during the week we continued our Salsa and Merengue dancing lessons at the Rio Shanti on Wednesday night. We are all getting a little better on that front as well. The class is taught by a British guy named Nick St. Clair and he, too, is a parent of students at the Creativa. This week there was excellent participation. Probably about 30 people showed up ranging in age from infant to 80's. Unfortunately, we didn't remember to take the camera so no pics.

In the spirit of completely breaking out of our shells (as if Salsa dancing isn't far enough), Hayley and Jack (and a ton of other Monteverde kids) take a kids yoga class every Thursday afternoon taught by Heidi ( a fourth grade teacher at the Creativa). Pictured to the right are Hayley and Jack demonstrating what they learn during class. Hayley is doing "Sun Salutations" and Jack is in near perfect "Downward Dog". Did I mention that I have taken a census and I am the only Republican in this entire town! I am the President, Treasurer and Secretary of the Monteverde Young Republicans.

September 15th is coming up. That is Central American Independence day. Every student at the Creativa is somehow involved in the celebration. Jack will be a drummer in the band during the parade. Hayley and several of her friends will be marching and dancing as Bastoneras (dancing baton twirlers). Here she is practicing her bastonera routine with her friend Isabel.

By Friday afternoon, the pace of the week finally slowed down a little. Hayley and Jack had friends over for a little decompression time, Costa Rican style. That is to say that they climbed trees to get to the blueberries (Maria berries). They had a contest to see who could get the darkest tongue. Pictured above are Hayley, Nimsi and Isabel with purplish tongues. In the middle is the first runner up, Jack's friend Josue and at the bottom is the overall winner of the purple tongue contest, Jack.