Hola! Como Esta? (How are you?) Moi Bien. Puda Vida (I’m very good. Pure Life in Costa Rica). Busy week at Geoporters trying to get the quebradas (streams) in the town mapped before the wet season starts and before Semana Santa celebrations (Holy Week) begins on Friday.
On Tuesday morning, Amy, Luz, Jovino and I went mapping the quebradas again from Bahia’s historical house nearby the beach entrance through the outskirts of the town up to the main highway! It was interesting to see roads that cross straight through the stream, people who direct grey-water into the stream and the pollution from the supermarkets and shops along the highway. Of course we couldn’t help but have fun too; eating fresh papayas from a nearby tree and catching a small snake that I almost walked into!
On Wednesday Amy and I spent the whole day at Escuela Verde. In the morning I presented a PowerPoint and speech about Australia – the population, climate, geography, fauna and flora – to grades 4, 5 and 6. The students were very interested to learn about where I have come from and what its like to live there! In the afternoon, Amy and I continued our lesson with grade 5 students on using the computers to look at maps and understand populations and geography. The students are quickly picking up important computer skills – I feel really happy to have made an impact and taught them these new skills.
Thursday morning was the weekly basura (rubbish/ trash) collection in conjunction with Dolphin Tours. This week we had a smaller team but managed to collect all the way along La Forgata Road. This road runs along the outskirts of Bahia and although we saw many more cars driving along the road, there was much less trash than last weeks collection along Plias Chaman Road.
Friday marks the beginning of Semana Santa (Holy Week) where everyone in Costa Rica is on holidays for the Easter celebrations. I had a morning walk along Chaman beach to the whale tail and back home – beautiful view of the beach and clouds reflected in the water! Friday night, I went with Rafa (host father), Kendall (host brother) and Sofia (host sister) to watch the bull riding – a traditional celebration here in Costa Rica at the Festiva Civica (town festival).
This weekend we are planning to hike up the mountains to visit my host grandparents house…Asta Luego for today but I’ll be back with my hiking adventures later this week.
Fiona