Turrialba, Costa Rica

Nice and sunny this morning, we left Heredia in a university provided van and headed out for Turrialba.  There are two professors from Costa Rica traveling with us, and six people in the group from CSULB.  The road to Turrialba was scenic, but incredibly curvy.  We were able to visit two schools and speak with students and teachers.  The students have benefitted from a charity that provides them with 'X O' computers, which are tough little computers that operate on Wi-Fi.  Some are pictured below.  Students in my 5th grade class in Long Beach don't have this, but in a small rural school in Costa Rica they do.

I've been able to connect to Wi-Fi just about every place I go in Costa Rica.  When I first visited the country in 1991 I thought I was at the end of the world.  If I wanted to call home I had to wait in line at a store, then write down the phone number for the guy behind the counter, then he would make the call for me.  Today I can call home from just about anywhere in the country that's near a road, and it's not expensive.  I can also teach my classes, correct papers, keep up with e mail and do anything the internet has to offer.  Suddenly Costa Rica is just not that far away any longer!

Tomorrow we will stop to see some ruins, then visit a bilingual school as we head back to Heredia.

The view from my neighborhood in Heredia

Inside the classroom, one of the XO computers.

The exterior of one of the schools, Escuela San Ramon.

We weren't allowed to take photos of the students.  There weren't many in the schools, but they were friendly and well behaved.  They are not allowed into the schools without uniforms.  Also found out that the public schools here teach religion (Catholicism) once per week.  There was a young Canadian woman working at the school through a charity called World Teach.  She had been there since February, and planned to return to Toronto in December.  Canadians are very polite people.

This is a second school we visited, the front area of the school.

This was a roadside restaurant where we ate.  Costa Ricans display their flags like Americans do.  They are everywhere.  The colors are familiar to my American eye, and I like to see how patriotic they are.

Butterfly outside the hotel.  Haven't seen any lizards, but I have seen many cool spiders.

This is my group sitting in the plaza in central Turrialba.  It's a nice group of teachers and academics.