An excellent day....

This morning I thought I was being taken to the high school just to meet the teacher of an English class. Before I got there, I came across a practice session for Saturday’s Independence Day celebrations and parade. It was so much fun to watch all ages practicing together. I can see that this is a very important event. Just as they finished up, Hannia met me at the corner. We walked the four blocks to the school where she introduced me to the teacher, Freddy, and then she left. It was about 9:45 Am. Freddy took me to his classroom where some students were just finishing up their lesson. He asked me to introduce myself to them. After they left, he told me that he learned English here in Costa Rica and has not yet been to an English-speaking country. He also told me that even though most students do take English classes over many years in school, they rarely speak the language, only read and understand. That is why he said he was happy to have a native speaker come in to encourage the students to speak the words even if they are not sure of the sounds. I assured him and them that it is impossible for them to do a worse job of speaking words than when I speak my little bit of Spanish. Freddy and his wife are planning a trip to Miami in November. He seemed surprised when I told him he would not hear much English there but instead mostly Spanish. Maybe he will change his mind and go to Orlando instead...they are only staying one week. He was also surprised about how far Orlando is from Miami.

Before the next class came in, we went to the gym for a student led assembly. Apparently they do this every day as he later told me his English Department must be in charge tomorrow. Because I was a special guest, I was asked to sit with the school principal and also with Freddy. The principal seems like a very talented lady but she gave no indication that she speaks any English. Fortunately we did not have time for much conversation so I think I have not created any international incident! The leader opened with a few words, then the national anthem. Some awards were presented to students who took part in a Special Olympics event. There was a skit about domestic violence. Then some traditional dancers gave a performance. Freddy had to leave for a meeting but he told me they have a lunch break at 11 and return to classes at 12 and end classes about 1:30 PM. Yikes, I thought to myself. That does not leave me much time before taking the taxi to the coffee plantation at 2PM and I did not bring my closed toed shoes with me this morning. I am getting really good (for me) at walking faster and timing what I need to do here. I got back home in time to grab my things, explain that I did not have any time for lunch and that I would see them later…and PLEASE do not worry about me today. Back I walked to the school only to realize I had no real idea where the classroom was….. A young woman helped me find the classroom but it was locked. I just sat on a bench outside and cooled down until Freddy came back to open the door.

With the next class he decided to have them write down three questions to ask me. They did pretty well and it was fun for me…. I imagine it was hard for them but they were pretty good about it all. Tomorrow we will try a few other things to get them TALKING. It was a good day…. I did not take any pictures at the school because I did not ask if it was allowed. Perhaps tomorrow… school begins at 7 AM. That means an early day for me!

I needed to get to the park and wait for the taxi so I hurried along until I was close enough and had plenty of time. Speaking of time, the cheapy watch I bought stopped working today so I resorted to using my cell phone as a replacement time piece. Our cell phones do not work here at all for phone service but it apparently can pick up wi fi and time. I bought a cold soda and waited on the park bench across from the church. The air was cool and breezy and it felt much better than earlier today. The park is a pleasant place just to sit and observe anyway.

Soon I saw Karina as she was walking to her family home. She needed to change her shows too so she came back in about 15 minutes. The taxi arrived right on time (seems like a miracle to me as most things run on Tico time here…) We were whisked away up a narrow, curvy road to the Organic Coffee Farm about 20 minutes outside of Atenas near San Isidro. A most remarkable young man and his wife operate a totally unique and organic farm there along with several other family farmers. It is called the Café de Toledo and tripadvisor highly rates it as a very good tour. Karina and I loved it! A couple from Montreal were the only other visitors today. He talked about how they began this process about 14 years ago and all the obstacles they faced. He is very connected to the land and has incorporated other methods to make the farm productive and environmentally pure. They also have a small tilapia pond and added trees and plants that assist in the crop productivity. He educated us about different kinds of beans and roasting procedures to get varied levels of flavors. Then they brewed some using the old fashioned drip method. We had to guess which was the light roast, the medium roast and the dark roast. Gabriel and Yvette are wonderful hosts! Here are some pictures from our tour…

This is how Yvette brewed the coffee...using cotton filters, hot water and the stand is made from coffee limbs.

And this is me enjoying the delicious coffee.

This was one of the best educational tours I have ever taken anywhere and I highly recommend it to you. Finally we needed to call for our taxi and let them get ready for tomorrow’s market days in both Atenas and Grecia. And yes, I did buy one bag. It smells so good …….


I have to get this posted so I can get some sleep tonight. Bedtime comes early and so does wake up time here. And tomorrow, I really need to get going early…. So much happened today and I hope you get some sense of the excitement it brought. It was a very special day….. Pura vida!