Day 8 - Leaving Costa Rica

On the road by 6:20 am. Another drive through mountains - the scenery is so beautiful every where we go. We are going up and there are clouds in pockets between the mountains and in the valleys. Unfortunately where Matias wanted to take us for breakfast was not yet open and it had a breathtaking view. So on we went on another highway barely 2 lanes wide, twisting and turning. Stopped for breakfast in San Isidro where we had shopped for the school supplies. Our descent was slowed now by fog and trucks. We arrived in San Jose at 10:30 instead of our anticipated 9:30 am, so no time to stop and see the coffee roasting equipment. But we arrive at the airport nice and early for our flight back to Canada. We say heartfelt good byes to Matias and thank him for a wonderful week - and hope to see him again.

Costa Rica is so amazing! Pura vida!

Breakfast area in San Isidro

The drive into San Jose

Day 7 - Ziplining, Rainforest, Ocean Sunset

A restful morning - breakfast buffet and then Wendy and Anthony went to the pool and I talked shop with Matias. Lunch was fish soup on the way to Baru Ecological Reserve. Matias decided to work on his laptop, and the 3 of us joined a group of young American men for a rainforest walk and zipline experience. This is an amazing thing to experience! You are hooked to a cable and you shoot across the forest to the next platform. Not good for people with a fear of heights though. This took us 3 hours so we arrived on the beach hot and sweaty and with "helmet hair", but we wanted to watch the sunset and this was the time! A glorious half hour listening to the surf and watching the waves roll in and the sun slowly sinking. Back to the hotel for a most welcome shower and then supper. Then time to pack for a very early start in the morning. So hard to believe it has been a week and now it is over. But what an experience!

Our pretty hotel in Dominical

The one platform not on the ground!

The backwards finale

The Pacific Ocean

Creation in full glory

Day 6 - April 17, Tour of Boruca Schools, ESL Center, Medical Clinic, Museum, Drive to Dominical

Breakfast at 6:30 by Don Ismael's wife Margareta was fantastic of course. I am getting so spoiled having hot breakfasts prepared for me! Then we went up to the primary school - by the way school in Costa Rica starts at 7 am! - to deliver all our school supplies. Since there is no teacher at the moment for the ESL program, all the supplies except for the books and placemats went to the regular school program. We then got a list from the kindergarten teacher of supplies that are needed - this was hard work as she did not want to ask for anything - and it made her cry! We also met Kevin from Maryland who is working in the school for a year. He brought some students to meet us so they could ask us a couple of questions in English. The children are all so polite and it was a delight to look into their classrooms. We then went to the High School - which was strangely quiet. It turned out that the teachers were on strike - and had been for 22 days - because there was a glitch in the accounting system and they were not receiving their pay! And this had been going on since September. The principal of the high school, Leo, was working and he spent a lot of time with us. He would not ask us for any supplies as he firmly believes in "teaching someone to fish, not giving them a fish". However, there may be some ways we can help with their organic gardening and other practical projects they are developing. Leo took us to the computer lab - a wonderful room - set up in 2003 as part of the Disc World program - maybe 2 dozen computers, 3 air conditioners (the only ones in Boruca), a smart board - AND NO INTERNET CONNECTION! Service is available but costs $250 a month. I guess governmental "logic" is the same all over the world?! In Leo's office he showed us some carvings and a banner made by Oliver. He then gave me the carved gourd and said that the spirit of the Boruca would travel with me in that gourd wherever I took it - and I was to take it to the church. I felt so inadequate with my lack of Spanish in trying to talk with this humble man who seemed to be carrying the heavy burden of looking after his school at this time. We then go back to Margareta's and hear the story of the formation of the Women Weavers Co-op. We go into our respective homes for lunch, delicious of course! - and then across the street to see the ESL classroom in the Community Center. A very simple but beautifully appointed room - and Matias said to me that Wendy looked quite at home there! Then we found the little museum that told in pictures, artifacts, and replicas, some of the history of the Boruca culture. By now Don Ismael's 7 year old granddaughter Genesis was following us around, and when she suddenly took my hand as we walked I knew that I would definitely be coming back to this place again! Anthony observed that these people are probably happier than a lot of people because they live simply in extended family groups in beautiful countryside, and not a lot of "stuff" to worry about. We also visited the medical clinic as the nurse was now back from her rounds. It was more than I had hoped for, and yet still not adequate - she had no medicine for children's fever and pain. Matias got a list from her of needed items and he was going to ship them back to her from the city. It was now time to say our good-byes, leave our new friends, and head for Dominical. The drive out of Boruca was absolutley breathtaking. The winding red dirt road is on the top of a mountain ridge and the view on each side was worth many a gasp. Eventually we were on flat ground and Don Antonio asked Matias what river we were beside - to which Matias replied - it is called the Pacific Ocean! So we arrived in Dominical to see the sun setting gloriously on the ocean.

Looking at the classrooms from the office area

Donating the school supplies



The kindergarten classroom

Part of the schoolyard

The front of the high school

Leo with his carvings.....the gourd which he gave me

The school banner made by Oliver

A woman weaving

A boy learning to carve

Melvin finishing a carving


Margareta's house

The ESL classroom

Genesis in the museum

Shopping for artwork

Don Ismael and family

The road out of Boruca

Day 5 - April 16, Inner City School, Down to Earth Coffee Farm, and Drive to the Boruca Reserve

A delicious breakfast buffet at the hotel and then Matias picked us up about 8:30 am and we drove to the Oratorio Don Bosco. This is an inner city school that is dependant upon donations, although the government does pay the teachers. They can hold 120 children, and there is wating list of 150 more. It is a day program but they would like to offer shelter facilities as well. There are 2 psychologists and 2 social workers on staff who take a man with them when they visit homes for their protection. They originally were set up for elementary only, but now offer high school level classes in the late afternoon. They would like to run high school during the daytime as a full program - but they need to increase their revenue. In Costa Rica you can only attend high school until you are 18, and many of the children that arrive at the Oratorio are already behind their grade level or face other challenges, so when they complete Grade 8, they do not fit in well in a regular high school. In order to fund the increased programming costs, the Oratorio was given a plot of land and they would like to develop a recycling center on it. But they do not have the start up costs for the equipment. We were given a tour of the school by a teacher named Yorleni. The children were all so clean and tidy and polite - and happy to be in school. As in any large city, these children are from homes with typical inner city problems, but the Oratorio gives them the opportunity to learn and be healthy. We heard the choir practising a song - and it was a good thing I could not understand the words or it would have made me cry. I could tell it moved Anthony and Matias. Matias told me afterwards what the song was about. We visited Yorleni's classroom and Wendy, Anthony and I talked with the children and looked at their workbooks. I am not sure if they knew quite what to make of us - but I thought they were all sweet, beautiful and loveable! Yorleni told us her classroom CD player had been stolen via a very small smashed window. When Matias told us this, Wendy, Anthony and I agreed that we should buy them a new one with the money we had for such a purpose. Matias translated this to Yorleni and she looked at me with big tears forming in her eyes. I told her she could not cry as it was making me cry too and that was not allowed! We had an interesting drive through downtown San Jose to an appliance store and Yorleni and I went inside - her clutching my hand and arm to make sure I do not get kidnapped walking the 10 feet from the vehicle into the store. She chose what she liked and would be durable around children, I paid for it, she hugged me and told me she will learn more English because she wants to visit Canada. We now leave the city and head towards the Dota Mountains - home of the Down to Earth coffee! The view of the mountains is breathtaking. Some of the roads are a bit winding and have lots of trucks on them. It was quite exciting to stop and see my first coffee plant up close. I had thought we would miss the blooming, but all the plants were in bud - the puyas. Matias gave us the background on his family and the coffee business, and why he is not in the co-operative anymore. On his farm we meet Miguel who is in charge. There was no work happening at the moment - other than the worms doing their job of composting. The town of Santa Maria de Dota is charming and surrounded by the gorgeous mountains that make our coffee taste so good! We have another great meal in a roadside stop and Matias has another new fruit for us to try - granadilla. It is about the size of a tennis ball, orangey-green, but you break it open and it is full of individual sweet, jelly-covered seeds. It was very good. We stopped in a city called San Isidro (not the one we went to near La Fortuna on Day 2) and Matias took us to a school supply store. I let Wendy choose lots of basic classroom supplies to supplement what we had brought with us. These we were now going to take to the Boruca school. We continue the drive to the Boruca Reserve, but Matias now stops at - are you ready for this - WAL-MART! It is not called by that name but that is what it is. Matias and Anthony go in to get groceries and Wendy and I sit in the vehicle and watch the action in the parking lot. We stop again for a supper - I never get tired of the rice and beans and chicken! - and finally arrive on the reserve after 9 pm in pitch blackness. Eventually the trees are replaced with houses and we have arrived in the village. Wendy, Matias and I are staying with Don Ismael and his wife Margareta, and Anthony is staying with Don Ismael's sister-in-law, Margareta. The homes are only a few houses apart from each other, and both include extended family groups. We first meet Damaris where Anthony will be staying - she is Margareta's daughter and tells us that Margareta is not yet back from a medical appointment. Once we have Anthony (and his ability to speak Spanish) safely in the hands of Damaris, her cousin, her 2 young daughters, and another female relative, Matias takes us up to Don Ismael's home. I do not know how many people were disrupted by our arrival, but Wendy and I were given a large room with 2 beds, and Matias had another bedroom. Don Ismael and his wife welcome us warmly, as do his son Melvin (another talented mask maker) and his wife Adelena. I am still not sure how many people live in the small homes on this property, as the next day we met Melvin and Adelena's young daughter, as well as Don Ismael's older son Oliver who is the French teacher at the high school, and my beautiful little friend Genesis who is 7 years old and the daughter of Don Ismael's daughter who is a police officer and was away working. The home was very rustic, but it was an honour staying in the home of the man recognized by his country

for his skill in Boruca mask making. Wendy and I go to bed early, and this is when we learn that Costa Rica has a rooster that does not sleep at night.

The choir at the Oratorio Don Bosco

Some of the classes - the children were so wonderful!

Yorleni's classroom is at the top of a narrow spiral staircase. The triangular window at the top right is how the CD player was stolen.

Yorleni, and her helper Nicholas from Germany. They had 4 foreign students doing 1 year with them - fresh out of high school.

Yorleni's classroom

My new friend Luis is in the bottom right. He had the biggest brownest eyes and a smile to melt your heart!

The Dota Mountains!

My first up-close look at a coffee plant by the side of the road.

The view from part of Matias' farm

One of the roads on the Down to Earth farm

Another view from the farm - you can see that it is at a high elevation. That is what makes the coffee so good!

Matias showing us the "puyas" - the buds about to open in bloom.

Which they did the day after we came home!

Some more puyas

Some of the hardest workers on the farm - California red worms. Busy all the time making compost from the unused part of the coffee harvest.

Matias and his overseer Miguel.

(and several thousand un-named worms)

The biodigester that purifies the water in 4 days.

A typical home in Santa Maria de Dota

Don Ismael's awards and honours

An unpainted carving of hummingbirds

Different styles of masks

Some of Melvin's work

Close-ups to show details