Fourteen of us from kinesiology and recreation traveled to Costa Rica for a 9 day cultural immersion visit in May.
"Indifference is the worst problem. Let's act now to change this!"
Our guide, Filander, delighted in showing us his beloved Costa Rica. Here we are on a walking tour of San Jose, the capital.
We spent a few days at la Universidad Veritas taking Spanish classes, auditing classes in English, and checking out college life in a foreign country.
Our first meal out together at Nuestra Tierra Restaurante, San Jose. Lots of rice and black beans were consumed on this trip.
"La Chola" by Costa Rican artist Manuel Vargas in downtown San Jose. Rather than seeing women depicted as thin sex symbols as we so often do in the media, Vargas seeks to prove that
big is beautiful.
Outside Universidad Veritas.
While the Costa Ricans are quite warm and friendly, they can be crazy drivers. In fact, Costa Rica has one of the highest per capita death rates from traffic fatalities in the world. Suffice it to say, we looked both ways before crossing!
Here we are learning about Juan Santamaria, Costa Rica's national hero who set fire to a building back in the late 1800s with US filibuster William Walker inside. Walker wanted to turn Central America into a private slave-holding empire, but thanks to the valiant efforts of young Santamaria, Walker and his wacky ideas were defeated!
The Rio T
รกrcoles watershed provides a crucial habitat for American crocodiles.
Pacific ocean shoreline. Notice the black sand due to volcanic minerals and lava fragments in the soil.
Every day we awoke to delicious Costa Rican coffee!
Here we are in the center of the country near Mondeverde, a cloud forest. In the distance is the Pacific ocean!
Cerveza Imperial
Howler monkeys in the trees along the road side.
Crossing Laguna Arenal, an artificial lake in the highlands between Monteverde and La Fortuna. It was constructed for a hydroelectric project in the 1970s.
If you click to enlarge this picture you'll see someone ziplining across this valley.
La Fortuna waterfall. We walked down 500 steps to be able to swim at the base of these falls. I've spared you the bathing suit pics.
Hot sauce! I influenced 4-5 people on our trip to embrace the delights of hot sauces on everything!
Sights along the route to the ocean.
Lunch at a typical restaurant.
College students making a beer run on the last day. I was enlisted to help them achieve their goal.
Trying some Honduran cigars.
Scratch and sniff!
They tried to make me eat a mango, but I said no, no, no! Actually, it wasn't too bad...
Visit Costa Rica if you can, it's a beautiful place!
