Sierra & Alan See the World!: CR Days 3-4: Alajuela and Monteverde

My third day in Costa Rica was very wet. We got up early to beat the other tour groups to La Fortuna waterfall. It was pretty, and we were able to have about 10 minutes before 5 other huge tour buses pulled up, driving us out of the water and up the hundreds of steep steps.

La Fortuna

We headed back to the city of La Fortuna for lunch and for exploring the plaza area.

Ah, plazas.

We had a great experience in a fruit shop. Costa Rican fruit sellers are so friendly, and so eager to introduce us to tropical fruits.

Our next stop was kayaking on Lake Arenal, which offered a great view of Volcán Arenal. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures, because I'm terrified of bringing my fancy camera over open water. My travel companions took some photos that I plan to steal later.

I also didn't take pictures at our next water stop, the Baldi Hot Springs. It's a fancy place, with various large pools of various temperatures. There are also slides and bars in the pools, and it doubles as a hotel and spa. Very touristy.

It's worth mentioning that Day 3 of our trip was also the day of the first game Costa Rica played in the World Cup. They played against Uruguay, and won! It was unexpected. In fact, our tour guide whispered to us that Costa Ricans very rarely expect to win during the World Cup. More on that later.

On Day 4, we started working our way into the Monteverde Cloud Forest. It was a lot of car time, and the road was bumpy and zig-zaggy as we wound our way around Lake Arenal (where we had kayaked the day before). I was relieved to get out for a pit stop at a small town.

Ah, murals.

One of the kids struck up a game of futbol with a local. I was so proud!

Chorreadas: Like cornbread pancakes

We spent the afternoon at a rural school, in a town called Cadeceras. As a fundraiser, students of the school, along with their families, invite tour groups into their campus about once a month during tourist season (Feb.-July). What I at first thought would be a contrived, awkward time ended up being a great experience.

The kindergarten building of the school. It was the most enclosed of the buildings.

First, several Costa Rican students showed us traditional dances (including bambito, which is difficult because it has two beats at the same time: one in 3/4 time and one in 2/4). Then, we were free to mingle. About half of the kids, from both the Costa Rican and U.S. groups, started up a soccer game. I don't think they kept score, and played through the rain.

Victor, our EF guide, explaining the traditional dress worn by the students.

Those of us non-soccer-playing folk had a ton of fun, too. The women of the village had arranged to teach some of us how to make traditional corn tortillas. We also played kids' lawn games, like duck-duck-goose and variations on it. We fell in love with a little boy whose name we couldn't understand no matter how many times he repeated it. We called him Blanca, because that's what one of our students had understood him to say, and he responded to it. I'm certain this was not really his name. This kid was fascinated by cameras, and amused us with his posing instructions.

Some of our group members, practicing their tortilla skills.

Playing Duck, Duck, Goose. The little girl in the red loved to be chased. She later taught us a game which basically was that we all had to hold hands and chase her.