Paseo a Lago Arenal

Yesterday, Maritza's sister Pita, who is a public school special education teacher, had the day off.  Actually, the teachers were striking because for years they have continued to lose benefits and vacation time while taking on more responsibilities (like having to do the canvassing for the national census!) without any extra pay.  So they sent a little message that they are serious about not accepting the latest of what the education minister is demanding of them.  I don't understand it all, but I know I got the benefit of the strike because she took Christina and me on a little outing to Arenal Lake.  It's a man-made lake that is one of the primary sources of power (hydroelectric, of course) for Costa Rica and even Nicaragua.  When a drought a few years ago had everyone scared of a national lack of electricity, they began to install windmills around the lake, as you can see.  You can also see the big Arenal volcano.  We didn't get that close to it, but perhaps I'll take another little paseo on my own during a free weekend between classes and explore it a bit more.  On the drive home, we finally got to see some monkeys, which supposedly are everywhere but seem to hide from me, playing on a telephone pole and wires.  Surely the people in the five cars behind us understood the importance of waiting while we got out to take pictures.  :)

I will take a bus tomorrow to San José.  I learned last night that I will be staying in a home with two other students, who are probably my daughter's age, so they'll end up in a home with two old ladies.  (And they're probably thinking that they're getting away from parents for the summer.) I'm fine with whatever the arrangement, especially now that I know the host has internet -wi-fi, even- so I will be able to keep Skyping with my husband and children and keep up with this blog from my room in the evenings instead of from some random spot on campus during the day.

Tomorrow evening, in fact, I should have some time to organize and post a few more pictures of Cañas.  So stay posted!  (Pun intended.)

Still in Guanacaste

In between Playa Flamingo and Playa Potrero on the Pacific side of Costa Rica.  We stayed for two nights in this relatively private area, played in the surf, burned our skin, and enjoyed the sea breeze.  There are few places like a beach on the ocean to make me happy.  :)

L-R: Wanda (Maritza's niece), Christina (her daughter); Maritza; me -they had to pull me out of the water for a picture; Zaida (her sister-in-law); Anita (her mom) and Pita (her sister).

I'm here!

Yesterday I flew directly from Atlanta to San José. Seeing the city from the sky reminded of me of flying into Cuzco, Perú: a valley of colonial-style architecture mixed with modern, surrounded by green mountains. Maritza and her daughter Christina picked me up at the airport, and after arguing with a few taxi drivers who didn't realize that she's a) smart and b) native, we finally found one who would take us straight to the bus stop. All the others wanted to take us, as we say in Indiana, "around Charles' barn" and charge us more. Then we sat on the bus for three hours through a landscape that was less mountainous than the Andes, but equally beautiful, to arrive in Cañas.  Glad to be here during their winter, I think the rain must temper the heat that surely comes without cloud cover. Maritza is worried that I will melt without air conditioning, so she goes around putting the fan directly on me, which I appreciate.

I was really tired last night, and I slept so hard that I woke up tired.  After my first cup of coffee and a little moving about, I think I'm recovered from the fatigue of getting ready to be away from my family.  I left them with 100% clean clothes and perhaps 50% clean house.  They're on their own now.  We talked via Skype last night, which we plant to do often, so I don't really feel that far away, nothing like 25 years ago when I was in Madrid and had to wait a week for a quick phone call from Rob.  The internet is such a wonderful thing.

Once the daily rains let up, we plan to go out and about so I can see this place where Maritza grew up.  I'm sure there's more to see than if I took her to my childhood neighborhood, which would be "There's another cornfield. Oh look, this field is soy! And here's the creek where we caught crawdads."  I don't know what plans she has for me for these next few days, but I do hope she gets over the idea that I cannot even pour my own coffee.  I think I could never live up to her high standards of hosting people in my home.

So I have until next Thursday here, at which time I will return to San José to move in with stranger(s), whose home I will call my own for a month.  More on that later...

Mi amiga costarricense y colega de Texas y querida amiga, Maritza, a quien pude ver en Cincinnati y a quien visito (con su familia esta vez) en Cañas, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. ¡Me faltan tres días!