Day 5 - Fortuna - Monteverde/Santa Elena

Our hotel has been without internet until this moment, I apologize for my absence! I also can not add pictures right now, but I hope to tonight or tomorrow.

And so our day of travel was a bit exhausting but filled with highlights. We left Fortuna early and were a little disappointed to not be able to see the Arenal Volcano as was covered in clouds. We began a beautiful drive around Lake Arenal, a man made lake that produces a large amount of hydropower for the country. During our drive John told us all about power generation in Costa Rica and how the vast majority of it is remnewable. They use a lot of hydropower, some wind and a fair bit of geothermal energy generated from the volcanically active region. We were also able to see a vast wind farm on the shores of the lake.

We made a stop in the mountain village of Tiluran for a snack and bathroom break. Just as we emerged from the bus we were fortunate enough to view a Good Friday ¨parade¨. The village walks through town going through the stations of the cross as it stops along the way. There are people dressed as Jesus, carrying a cross, Mary, Mary Magdalene, shephards, children that appeared to be wearing alter boy type clothing and so much more. My limited Spanish prevents me from understanding more but suffice to say it was a great opportunity to experience the culture.

We continued on the bus to Cabaceras Nuboso, or the Cloud School, not a school of meterology but an elementary school that is in the cloud forest. There the students were able to meet the 21 kids that attend the very, very basic school. The children sang the Costa Rican National Anthem and did several beautiful traditional dances for us. It was a very touching experience for our students to see these bright, energetic children that were so happy we were at their school especially when the school was so bare. Coming here makes us all thankful for the amazing facilities we have and more conscious of how difficult it is in other places. The students are already talking about raising money for this tiny, one room school.

We continued on to our hotel in Santa Elena, a town in the cloudforest near Monteverde Reserve. We changed quickly and headed out to go on a horseback ride through the forest. What a great time we all had! Some of the students had never been on a horse before and they were elated by the experience. There were a lot of laughs and smiles as we rode through the stunning scenery.

That afternoon we visited town where we saw another Good Friday service and procession and had local cheese and coffee. Later we were off the see the Ranario, a local frog zoo. We had a gret time there and learned a lot about the local amphibians.

I´m sorry to end abruptly and with a whole day not yet entered, but the bus is leaving to take us to a Butterfly Garden andInsectarium before we continue on our drive to the Pacific in Guanacaste Province. Thank you for your comments, we all appreciate them so much.