Summer is here and passing...
Since I haven't done a post in AGES, I suppose I should do a bit of catch up. School finished up June 13th, and we had a nice, fun end to the school year. Jett came towards the end of the day and helped with the afterschool program's last fun day (she did caricatures.) Then she helped me get stuff cleaned up and put away.
We had puppeteering the next two days and things went smoothly with our performances (okay, so as the swing puppeteer I really just sat back stage and watched.) and tear-down was accomplished in our two hour time frame.
My next scheduled adventure was the trip to Costa Rica. Everyone showed up at the airport with passports and other than a flight delay from DWF, the trip down was uneventful. The trip itself was great! Our course leader was a guy named Fernando. The place we stay in Sarapiqui (which is our most "rustic" accommodations- no a/c, no tv) has added a LOVELY pool, which made for a cooler option for the kids in their free time. The bat night hike was way cooler than the bat lecture last year. We got to go out with them to check the mist nets and then go back and see other bats caught earlier in the evening (we got to check out three or four when we caught in the mist nets.) White-water rafting is always a blast, and the only negative of the day was when I jumped in to the water and broke the LCD on my camera. We had big fun rafting and saw toucans, tiger heron, sunbitterns, and kingfishers. Since I had four students and one parent that came with me, we all fit in one raft. :)
While we were at the hotsprings it began to rain. It was really lovely sitting in the hot water with the cool rain falling. The steam that rose above the water made it all the more magical. When we went to Arenal Volcano, we didn't hike in like we had the previous year. There had been an eruption that had poured down the side a few months back. We did go to a spot to be able to view the volcano. When we first got there it was totally fogged in. After a bit, the lake opposite the volcano began to clear, and eventually we got a clear view of the volcano. The birds that we saw from the observation deck at the hotel were so colorful! I saw honeycreepers, and tanagers in blues, greens and reds.
Our time in Monteverde was one day shorter than last year. We hiked the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve, went to the butterfly gardens and the frog pond. The canopy tour added in two more "zips" by adding a new longer line that doubled back. My camera stopped working that morning, so I didn't get to video any of the zips like I was planning.
The trip home was uneventful, and we arrived to find some of the parents waiting for us. It was a fantastic trip and I am already excited about next year's trip.
We had puppeteering the next two days and things went smoothly with our performances (okay, so as the swing puppeteer I really just sat back stage and watched.) and tear-down was accomplished in our two hour time frame.
My next scheduled adventure was the trip to Costa Rica. Everyone showed up at the airport with passports and other than a flight delay from DWF, the trip down was uneventful. The trip itself was great! Our course leader was a guy named Fernando. The place we stay in Sarapiqui (which is our most "rustic" accommodations- no a/c, no tv) has added a LOVELY pool, which made for a cooler option for the kids in their free time. The bat night hike was way cooler than the bat lecture last year. We got to go out with them to check the mist nets and then go back and see other bats caught earlier in the evening (we got to check out three or four when we caught in the mist nets.) White-water rafting is always a blast, and the only negative of the day was when I jumped in to the water and broke the LCD on my camera. We had big fun rafting and saw toucans, tiger heron, sunbitterns, and kingfishers. Since I had four students and one parent that came with me, we all fit in one raft. :)
While we were at the hotsprings it began to rain. It was really lovely sitting in the hot water with the cool rain falling. The steam that rose above the water made it all the more magical. When we went to Arenal Volcano, we didn't hike in like we had the previous year. There had been an eruption that had poured down the side a few months back. We did go to a spot to be able to view the volcano. When we first got there it was totally fogged in. After a bit, the lake opposite the volcano began to clear, and eventually we got a clear view of the volcano. The birds that we saw from the observation deck at the hotel were so colorful! I saw honeycreepers, and tanagers in blues, greens and reds.
Our time in Monteverde was one day shorter than last year. We hiked the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve, went to the butterfly gardens and the frog pond. The canopy tour added in two more "zips" by adding a new longer line that doubled back. My camera stopped working that morning, so I didn't get to video any of the zips like I was planning.
The trip home was uneventful, and we arrived to find some of the parents waiting for us. It was a fantastic trip and I am already excited about next year's trip.