Pura Vida

We have been living the good life in Costa Rica! It was hard to leave our host families and new friends to head back to Charlotte, but we take with us memories to last a lifetime! A big "thank you" to Jennifer, Odilie, Estevan and Eduardo for organizing every detail and taking such great care of us! Sharyn Voncannon... You have been the inspiration we all needed to make this awesome trip happen! Thank you!!


- Posted from Costa Rica

Herradura Beach

Today we went to a beautiful Costa Rican beach on the Pacific Coast that was called Herradura (horseshoe) beach. We parked under a coconut tree and set up our chairs under the shade of the palm trees. Some people walked on the beach while others jumped right in to catch a wave or two!







Posted from Costa Rica

Zipline Adventure

Today we zip-lined through the coastal rainforest. It was over two miles of spectacular views of the Herradura Bay and Island. We saw scarlet macaws, toucans and white-faced monkeys! The zip line had 14 platforms and 12 cables, so we had opportunity to see Costa Rican nature at its best.










- Posted from Costa Rica

Cooking Class

Today we learned how to make empanadas and fried plantains. Delicious! Odie and Eduardo decked us out in aprons and hats! We hope to take a little of the cooking skills home with us as well as the language.









- Posted from my iPhone - 2012

Coffee Farm

On Sunday, we visited an organic farm which grows coffee at the highest standard of organic farming. We learned about the benefit to the grown product, the benefit to the land and soil, and the benefit the environment and health of people through this process. What a great way to learn what we can do and what we can share to support long-term healthy globalization efforts!









Posted from my iPhone - 2012

Rainforest

Our experience in the rainforest was amazing! The pictures below will give you a glimpse of our adventures with the animals and waterfalls!













Posted from my iPhone - 2012

Volcano Poas

We had an amazing trip to the Volcano Poas on Saturday morning. The weather was cool and the scenery was beautiful on our drive up to the volcano. Once there we hiked to the outer edge of the crater and we saw.... heavy mist and fog! Our group headed back down to hear a great lecture by a volcanologist while we waited for the fog to lift. The photos below show the view from the side of the volcano on trip two!!






Posted from my iPhone - 2012

Trip to INA Language Exchange and San Jose

Today we visited a great group of Costa Ricans who are learning English as part of an employment program. We participated in cultural discussions and learned a great deal from them!

San Jose was a busy place as we enjoyed lunch in the big city, shopping at the marcado and a very long ride home in traffic!

Tomorrow we are off to Volcano Poas!

Latin Dance Class

Dance class was so much fun! We were in a beautiful tropical resort with an amazing teacher who showed us how move to the Latin music!







Posted from my iPhone - 2012

Local School Visit

We just returned from a wonderful trip to a one room elementary school, Escuela San Jose Norte. The children were full of energy and great to work with. The children were excited to work and learn with us. We learned from them and hoped they learned from us, too. For privacy reasons we can't post the children's photos online, but we are posting a few pictures of the school.

Spanish Classes!!

Estamos en clase de espanol en estos momentos.



- Posted from my iPhone - 2012

Community Orientation and World Issues

Wednesday morning, we spent time learning about the community of Atenas. We visited an INA Language Exchange School and discussed global issues with 17 of their students. Everyone enjoyed their first night with their host families!



- Posted from my iPhone - 2012

We Have Arrived!!

We are enjoying a spectacular view of Atenas, Costa Rica from the Spanish Immersion Center. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and are learning all about life in Costa Rica!




- Posted from my iPhone - 2012

Smart Phone Help

If you are lost without your iPhone or iPad, below are a few suggestions to help you on the trip to Costa Rica.

1. If you are worried about missing phone calls, consider forwarding your iPhone calls to another number.  (Settings >Phone>Call Forwarding>Turn On> Enter number in which you want calls forwarded)
2. Disable 3G (Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data > Off).  Also check to ensure your data roaming is turned off, also.  
3. Make sure wifi is enabled (Settings > wifi > Wifi > ON)
4. Turn off automatic pushing of email (Settings > Mail > Contacts > Fetch new Data - Push > OFF and set to Fetch Manually.
5. Put the phone in airplane mode ( Settings > Airplane Mode > ON) Please be sure to do this at the Charlotte airport just before the flight leaves and don't change it back until we return to Charlotte. 
6. If you wish to reset the usage counter to zero in order to monitor it throughout the trip and ensure usage remains at zero, go to Settings > General > Usage > Cellular Usage > Reset Statistics.

When you arrive in Costa Rica, simply log into an available WiFi network and Presto!  You should have access to the internet, email and Facebook/Twitter.  When you return back to Charlotte, simply reverse the process to get back to you normal mode.  Your iPad will work just like it does in the US when connected to WiFi.  

The Countdown Begins

Hello everyone and welcome to our travel blog!  If you are like me, you are probably very busy preparing for our adventure in Costa Rica!  T-shirts have been ordered, clothes are being packed, checklists are being... checked!  The day will soon be here for us to board that plane for Costa Rica!  Now the question is, are they ready for us?

Share the link below with your family and friends to see updates from our trip! This link will also work great on a smart phone, too!
www.teachersincostarica.blogspot.com