Sherri Weiler's Blogspot

This is my last blog post from Costa Rica, sad to say. This third week was much like the first two in terms of my volunteer English teaching and my Spanish lessons, but at the end of the week I rented an ATV with Marta and her two daughters Daniella and Layla. They’re the ones sitting on the gunwales of the old fishing boat. We made a circular journey down the coast to Cabuya, where we stopped for breakfast in a roadside bakery. We then went to Isla Cabuya which is a small island only accessible at low tide, when you can walk over. There is a cemetery on Isla Cabuya which was spooky, serene, and other-worldly all the same time. We found many, many fossilized conch shells on the rocky walk out there. The pathway to the island consisted of volcanic lava from an eruption centuries ago. Only one or two of the graves were actually marked with names and dates. I suppose those to whom it matters know who is buried there. The ATVs were a lot of fun but carried a steep learning curve. The r...

So much to write about this time! I was invited by a former student at the University of Alaska Anchorage (10 years ago!) to join her and her current teacher as they conducted a two-week long opera workshop for a weekend of wonderful fun and camaraderie in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Monteverde is situated in the Mile-High cloud forest at just over 5000 ft. altitude, but only 30 or so miles as the crow flies east of the Pacific. The warmth and constant humidity coming from the ocean (and remember we are only 9 degrees north of the equator), not to mention the subduction of the tectonic plates that run under Costa Rica’s central mountain range, contribute to a moist and misty environment with many natural hot springs occurring. Palm trees are mixed in with deciduous trees, and most of the leafy trees support other ferns and small palms in a symbiotic relationship. It truly is an enchanted forest and reminds me of how Camelot and Avalon must have been in King Arthur’s day…very mystical, ve...

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 swi...

It’s the rainy season in Costa Rica and it rains at least once every day, sometimes lightly, sometimes very heavily. Lucky for me this morning it rained during the night—thunder and lightning—so the walk down the hill will be easier since the road will already have dried out somewhat. I am involved in language classes 3 hours a day, either taking one in Spanish, or teaching one in English. This actually counts double for me, because as I teach my class a word in English they teach me its Spanish equivalent. Sometimes it feels like my mind will explode! But I’m improving. It never ceases to amaze me how much people want to learn. The rapt attention paid by the Costa Rican adults in our two classes is a sight to see. These are young men, mostly jewelry makers and street vendors, between the ages of 25-30. One young man in particular has Rastafarian hair past his hips! He said he’s been growing it for 7 years, since he was 19. You’ll see him selling to a couple of tourists in these pictur...

Classes began on Monday with “pre-schoolers,” but in reality, all ages showed up. Children are not required to attend school until the age of 7 in Costa Rica, and they are allowed to quit at 12! What’s more, they attend school for 3 hours per day only, with a morning group and an afternoon group in order to minimize the available space and maximize the teacher’s time. So a given teacher might teach 7 year-olds in the mornings and 12 year-olds in the afternoons. Like most everything else, there is a very relaxed attitude in Costa Rica about education! But children are children the world over, and except for the language, I saw little differences from American children and Costa Rican children insofar as their spirits, their attitudes, and their desire to learn. They already knew numbers 1-10 in English, and all the colors. They practiced printing the English alphabet in upper and lower case and answered simple questions about “how many” and “what color.” They started to get antsy, so w...

Greetings from Playa del Montezuma on the beautiful Nicoya Peninsula! It’s late afternoon, and a thunderstorm is threatening, but I think it’s moved beyond me without actually raining. The weather has been typical coastal climate, not unlike Florida’s Gulf Coast. Prevailing winds (and storms) come from the west and move across the Peninsula towards the mountains of the Central Highlands, which is where San José, Costa Rica’s capital city, is. It was actually chillly in my B&B last night! But here on the coast—forget it. I arrived on a tiny 5-seater from San José this morning, then had a 20 mile taxi ride to Montezuma. About 7 miles outside of Montezuma, the roads turn to gravel with lots of potholes. But, hey, I’m from Alaska—nothing I haven’t seen before! We found my “hostess,” Kerri Bowers with Proyecto Montezuma, with little trouble, and I waited, and waited, and waited for my apartment to be cleaned. After some lunch, my landlord brought me up here, and it truly is a lovely sp...

Thanks for joining me on my journey of exploration to the "pura vida" country of Costa Rica! I fly from Tampa to Miami, then to San Jose, CR, on Saturday, July 4. On Sunday I fly in a very small plane to the Nicoya Peninsula, across the bay from Puntarenas, where I will spend three weeks studying Spanish intensively, teaching English and music, and enjoying the freedom of experiencing this vibrant culture firsthand. Costa Rica is known as "the Switzerland of Central America" because they abolished their military some 20 years ago and have maintained neutrality in a region that has long been rife with juntas and other hostile takeovers. Costa Rica began to cultivate North American tourism not long after that; "green" tourism is Costa Rica's largest industry, with most tourists coming from the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia, and speaking English as their first language. Therefore, the Costa Rican who speaks English well will always have a job waiting ...