Home stays are over but the fun continues...

We arrived this morning to pick up our first group of students from their home stays.  Almost immediately the stories began, and as predicted, the time spent was so full of new cultural experiences.  As the students chattered away on the bus, I tried my best to make note of the sound bites that really capture the experience.  Here goes:

• Our house had 30 chickens.
• OURS had 30 cows!
• We talked about guapo guys for like 2 hours.
• If these guys are “just average” then WHAT is “good looking”?
• I feel like my Spanish is SO MUCH BETTER.
• We learned a TON of new vocabulary.
• I wish we could have stayed the whole week.
• WE picked guavas.
• ALL the fruit was SO good because it was just picked.
• The food was SOOOO good.
• It is NOT the same as your usual life.
• Milking a cow was really fun!
• I was invited to play soccer on a girls’ team.  They gave me a jersey and I changed in a dark shed and went on to score 2 goals.
• One of our boys said to one of our girls, “Oscar is all ours.  Edwin is YOURS!”

Needless to say, the home stays continue to be the highlight of the trip.  Many are leaving with new Facebook friends and email addresses. 

Our first stop was the much awaited canopy tour (zip line).  Nine long lines later, the students had a new level of confidence in their harnesses.  From there we quickly changed clothes and got in to our rafting gear.  Once we divided in to 5-6 boats and received our training from the lead river guide, we were off!  The Sarapiqui River is considered a class 3 river.  (Further upstream from where we went in is a class 4 – only for the more adventuresome!)

For the next 7 miles, everyone laughed, paddled, and squealed as each raft would ambush the others.  The weather was very warm, and the water refreshing, but with enough cloud cover that we all managed to escape getting sunburned.  About 5 miles in to the trip, we stopped for a pineapple break and cliff jumping.  Most shocking were two boys who commented that here in Costa Rica is the first time they have ever eaten pineapple and watermelon.  (I had never dreamed that I would introduce my students to such a first.)

Tonight we will arrive to La Fortuna that sits at the edge of Arenal Volcano.  The plan for this evening is for showers and journaling.  I’ve let students know that a river ride doesn’t constitute bathing, and I like my group to smell good.