Costa Rica 7-11






Two of our adult students are Javier and Jondi. Both are street-side vendors who make and sell their own jewelry (primarily macramé with beads and local stones). They are at very different places in their knowledge and ability to use English. I asked another one of my students earlier this past week how many of his customers spoke English, and he laughingly told me “All of them!” And this young man barely spoke any English. I am impressed that these young men value what Proyecto Montezuma offers them free of charge on a daily basis. You wouldn’t think that dread-locked street vendors would have such a yearning for knowledge, but as we all know, there’s nothing like true need to inspire you to learn something new, right?
This weekend was a marvelous time to relax and see another side of Costa Rica. On Saturday Brennan Marsello and I took a tour to Isla Tortuga (Turtle Island). This included snorkeling, a fabulous lunch of fresh-caught fish on the beach, and plenty of time to sun and swim. I bought can cozies at the gift shop and played in the water and on the beach with Angela, one of our 6 year-old students from Montezuma. Angela’s father operates one of the tour boats (but not the one we were on) to Isla Tortuga, which is about a 45-minute boat ride (with twin Evinrude 250s for those who care to know, and you know who you are!). When we arrived on the beach after our snorkel expedition, Angela came running up to 
Brennan and me to say hello. One of our Costa Rican friends, Alejandro, encouraged us to play swimming games with Angela in the water, and as he pretended to be a shark, Angela screamingly swam to Brennan and me after first shouting our names. It was fun to enter into a game in Spanish with such forgiving company! Her father whistled for her, and she responded immediately by returning to his boat. Alejandro went back on their boat and told us last night that Angela fell sound asleep within two minutes! It doesn’t seem like such a bad way to grow up to me. By the way, Angela is the pretty child whose picture appeared on one of my earlier blogs as she colored a picture.
Sunday morning we had nothing scheduled, and that marked one week that I have been in Costa Rica. I celebrated by doing the laundry, a chore I really dreaded. Based on the length of time it takes my swimsuit to dry out overnight (NOT!) I was sure it would take DAYS for my clothes to dry on the rigged-up clothesline on my porch. Alejandro, Brennan, and I went to Cóbano Sunday afternoon for lunch (it’s about 7 km further away from the coast—see the map on my first blog, if you’re interested. When I returned 2-3 hours later I was stunned to discover that my clothes were basically dry! I went down to Montezuma to lie on the beach a while, and when I returned at sunset, my clothes were completely dry! The good news is that I’ll probably be wearing clothes that are cleaned more often…. We have a washing machine free to use here in our gated compound, but clothes have to dry the old-fashioned way. Of course, it was also a hot, sunny day with no rain (yet).
As I write this, it’s only 7:45, and it’s been fully dark for at least an hour. I haven’t eaten yet because we had such a big lunch earlier, but now I’ll fix a ham and cheese sandwich and figure out how to entertain myself with no television, no internet, and 40-watt max lightbulbs in the two lighting fixtures in my casita. Costa Rica is only 10 degrees north of the equator, so during the summer they get about 13 hours of daylight. But that allows plenty of time for prayer and meditation!

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