Wednesday Festivities and Thursday Fun

Last evening was the appreciation dinner for the Linda Vista school staff. We drove up some winding roads to a higher altitude so the view from the restaurant was amazing. The turnout was great as well as the food and entertainment. The Costa Ricans sure know how to have a spirit of celebration! One male teacher in particular got our group going with some song and dance. There were also some dancers that performed with working their skirts and doing a local version of a celebration scream that was quite an unusual sound-sort of how my little poodle mix dog sounds when I accidentally step on his foot. (No offense I hope). There were also the guys that wear the costumes with the big heads and grabbed different people in our group to go out and dance with them. Afterward there was a twizzler/firework display outside where one of the big head guys jumped out and scared the wits out of me. Lots of laughter and fun to say the least. It seemed that the teachers and school staff really enjoyed themselves and some of them said that they never had the chance to come to this restaurant. Today, the fun continued with leaving early to go to the most incredible waterfall park I had ever seen. The idea came from our local “Missionary Mary” because she had experienced it before. The design and landscaping were captivating. The park was full of interesting butterflies, hummingbirds, monkeys and even jaguars as we walked the paths down to the waterfalls. You’ll have to check out the photos to get a glimpse of the beauty of this place. So many pictures were taken that batteries went dead and memory cards got full. Afterward, we did some shopping for authentic Costa Rican gifts for family and friends and went out to dinner. It is now down to the last day of school this week and we got back to the hotel around 8 pm and are busy prepping for tomorrow. There is a lot going on with the photo/frame project, finishing the school lounge, and also a plan to do some coaching with the teachers led by our team educator Katie. More to follow tomorrow. Until then, team member Ellen