Maluku Village

After the falls, we visited an indiginous Costa Rican village.  I would compare this to setting like Plymouth plantation or Sturbridge village.  It was a replica.  It was super muddy but it didn't matter because we were already wet from the falls.  

They greeted us with capi capi, their traditional greeting, gave us a traditional fermented drink and told us about some of their medicinal plants. We tasted one that made our tongues tingle which they use this as an antiseptic.  

They showed us some masks they make and the leader, through a translator, explained the meaning oft he designs:

Jaguar represents the Leader and one who loves Mother Earth.  

red macaw or oola.  The feathers stad for fidelity.  

Prampa or the blue morphology butterfly means peace, love and good luck..

Toucan represents the beauty of women.

Coral Snake represents the shaman.

Owl is good vision and wisdom.

They did a dance ceremony for us called the God nature and man ceremony dance and again, again, through the translator,  the leader said the following,  

I look at the sky 

I look at the earth

I see the great spirit 

Something is happening here.

Great spirit what is happening with plants and animals? 

I see jaguar.  He is in danger of extinction.

I cannot drink water.

What's happening great spirit?

I know you are here.

Don't destroy Mother Earth.

Thank you Mother Earth for our medicinal plants.

Thank you Mother Earth.   Thank you Great Spirit.

We look to you for guidance because we are killing her.  

Help us Mother Earth. Help us Great Spirit.  

Soooo.    despite the fact that whole thing smacked of a sales pitch, I still got something out of it because it reminded me that there still are cultures in the world which are in danger of extinction, including their language and all their customs and traditions. Once these cultures are lost, they are lost forever.  

Esquela Santa Elena

Dance presentation by the children. They are just beginning to learn some of the dances if the region.   

We went outside and played with the children. A few were playing soccer together. Others were playing on the playground. 

They had prepared some refreshments for us...Good coffee, tropical juice.  thin bread with homemade jams...guava. Banana strawberry, pineapple, 

What a special visit!

Monteverde

This place is beyond amazing!!

 After a slightly hairy drive up from Sarchi to Monteverdi, expertly navigated by our driver, we finally made it last night. The plan was to get up early and see the birds but the winds were whipping and it was raining too.  So will try again tomorrow.  

Ready for a new adventure today...stay tuned. 

Cuba...

So beautiful flying over the ocean. Seeing the clouds below and I even see their shadows on the water.  I think we are flying over Cuba now. Have to look it up when I can on a map. Cuba is someplace I definitely want to visit.

I can see ther coral feels and the spur and groove formations   Oh I want to go snorkeling!!!!

Biodiversity

Being located in Central America, all the wildlife in both North and America converge and overlap and this results in a super high concentration of biodiversity!  

The Institute of Biodiversity says that of the estimated 500000 species in Costa Rica only 94000 species have been discovered.   It is estimated that between 1-2 new species are found DAILY!

 

Here are some facts I leaned today:

There are 6 species of monkey.  4 are common including the howler monkey, squirrel monkey, and capuchin.

Sloths. There are 3 species: two toed, three toed and five toed.  Ha ha. JK.  Five toed is us...humans.

Bats:  there are 110 species in Costa Rica.  In the United States we only have 47 species.  3 of these are vampire bats.  Some bats sleep during the day and make tents in dead leaves on the ground. Some roost on tree trunks.  There are fishing bats in Tortuguera too!  We may see bats flying around the lights in Monteverdi 

Frogs:  sadly there are 60 % less species now than 20 years ago due to Climate change.  

 There is as a Fungi which kills off frogs because their skin is so sensitive.  Harlequin frog. Golden toad of Monteverdi is 30 years extinct.  

 Most frogs are nocturnal. Some are as tiny a pinky nail 

Glass frog have Translucent bellies. Can see all organs. Amazing beautiful. 

Red eyed leaf frog

The Poison dart Frog Eats ants and they glean the formic acid that the ants make.  They then make a Patracotixin which exudes though skin when they are stressed. It's a Neurotoxin stops heart 

Philobatis terribilis 

Quetzal bird mythic bird mid elevations highlands.  They Eat mountain avocados.  Monteverdi symbol is the quetzal and Indigenous people wear quetzal feathers. Indigenous people in the lowlands wear macaw feathers 

So many insects! 30000 species of beetle including the Rhinoceros hercule beetle. We will also see Walking sticks.

There are 12000 species of Lepidoptera...moths and butterflies. The longest migrations the green black moth that flies from Mexico to the Amazon.m 

There are 137 diff species of snake. 22 are venomous including the fearsome fer de lance.  

Costa rica is the main producer of antivenin.  Picallo inventor.  I need to look up the history of antiven.

They have even found Fossils in caves of Armadillos, mammoths and giant sloth which were 9-15 feet tall.  

Whoops.

Sooooo.  Here we are at the baggage claim waiting for our bags and we see ALL the other passengers walking away with their things, one by one by one.  Our luggage is nowhere to be seen and baggage claim is now deserted.  Whaaaattttt?!  Well, we have two choices...we can be upset and aggravated...and still not have our bags, or make the best of it and be glad we are finally here.  Flexibility and a good attitude when things don't go as you planned takes you far and we are here to have fun, by golly!  Nothing is going to get in the way of that!  

Turns out our stuff went to Dallas!  And they are going to get them on a flight tonight.  I can live with that!

Oh.  Did I mention it's 84 degrees?

Whoops. 

Florida

So cool". Flying over the Florida keys now!!!  

Where am I?

So...as I'm flying, I'm looking at all the cool landforms...rivers, lakes, hills...as well as roads and buildings.  And I'd love to know what I'm flying over!   I used to bring a paper map with me to try and figure it out.  That was fun but now I'm wondering if there is an app.  Anyone know?

Aaand we're off...

En route to Charlotte, North Carolina.  

.  We arrived at the airport at 4:00 so everyone is snoozing on the plane.  Ran into an 11th grade student and his family too!

On our way!

Tico!

I am Ms. Thibault's traveling companion, Tico.  

I will be hanging out on her backpack and sharing in the adventures!

Maybe I'll see some of my cousins here...

Snow!

As you know, we will be visiting a few schools while we are in Costa Rica.   My gratitude to those of you who have donated supplies!   The kids will be so happy!  

This is what a school in Costa Rica looks like:

We are also going to get to teach a short lesson to the kids there. The challenge will be that they don't speak English!  And I don't speak Spanish!  That is going to be fun!  I am super excited about this opportunity. 

I am going to do a lesson on snow.    ⛄️   Could you imagine what you would think if you were a Costa Rican child who had never seen snow or experienced cold and you came here for the first time to see all the snow we are having?!  What would you think?!  How could you get someone to begin to understand what it's really like if they have never experienced it? 

I'll let you know how it goes!  ❄️

Biodiversity!

Did you know that Costa Rica has a richer degree of biodiversity than Europe and the USA, put together?!   Do you know what biodiversity means?   We will be talking about biodiversity in my 8th grade classes after break to frame our study of Kingdom Animalia.  

Here are some of the megafauna we may see....

  

So many awesome animals!

Sloths!!

Baby sloth!

White bats. These an be found huddled up together underneath a curled up banana leaf. 

 

(He's a beauty but I am not sure I want to see him up close and personal. )

Here are some of the tinier animals we may see:

This little one is a new species of dwarf salamander discovered in 2009.

Ahh.  The iconic Blue Morpho butterfly.  Do you know why the wings are blue?  

A Flat Footed Bug.  This dude is related to stink bugs which are common in our area.  Notice the X on his back. 

Beautiful!!

Cicada!!!!   I love cicadas!  Remind me to tell you why when we get back to school...

Did I say tiny?